On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:03:18 -0500, daytripper
wrote:

On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:35:46 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:

My travel trailer runs off solar panels ... I almost never have to use the
generator any more G

I have an inverter, BUT, it comes with the proviso that it doesn't always
work well with equipment that uses wall warts ... in other words, apparently
changing from 12volt to 120volt ( inverter ) then back to 9volt ( whatever )
via a wall wart for charging a cell phone or running a laptop is too much
voltage changing to work well. My experience confirms this and I got a car
charger for my cell phone.


ANYway, I'm thinking of trying to find a way to run my new laptop "directly"
off a 12volt plugin in the trailer and I see some "air/auto power adaptors"
advertised ... for not too cheap .... anyone tried/ using same and can
report on effectiveness?


If your laptop uses a wall wart for powering from mains service, rather than
sticking an inverter in series with the wall wart and suffering the additional
inefficiency, get yourself a device that takes the place of the wall wart.

I've been using a Targus air/auto converter for years with a trusty Dell
laptop, both in cars/boats and on commercial aircraft. It has always worked
perfectly.

http://www.targus.com/us/powerstore.asp

From here you can find the proper "tip" and converter for your laptop.

I'll second the Targus set-up if you wish to go that route - I've had
one for years, and have used it with a number of LTs.

And there are a number of other companies that sell similar devices...

fwiw, not all invertors can be used "universally" (ie: on any/all foreign
mains systems).

Er, huh? An inverter such as what Larry seems to be talking about can't
be used on _ANY_ mains system - it "replaces" it - it does one thing:
converts 12v DC to 110v (or thereabouts) AC 60Hz.


However, I haven't seen any recently produced laptop OEM wall
warts that won't work on *any* mains system, with a proper plug adapter (a
passive device). You can buy a set of those from Radio Shack for cheap money,
which will let you use the original wall wart anywhere in the world. I've used
these with the Dell's original wall wart in the US, all over the UK, Germany,
Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and Japan.

True enough.

Armed with the OEM wall wart, a set of the plug adapters, and the Targus dc
adapter, I've never been not able to fire up the laptop, whether on land, sea
or air...

Yep.

TC,
R

/daytripper