Where can i find an AC power plug/socket converter for my car?

Question

a friend of mine owns and drives a pontiac vibe wagon. the car has a cool feature that allows her to plug-in and charge her laptop computer directly via the power source. there is one power outlet/socket (like the ones you would see on the walls of your home) on the dashboard. my car only has a cigarette lighter (which can be used as a power source as well but not with conventional plugs). is there an aftermarket adapter/converter accessory for people like me?

Answer 1

Yes. It is called an "inverter". The smaller ones usually come with cigarette lighter adapters, and you can plug it into there.

Most vehicles lighter outlets can only hand 120 watts. Some can handle 180. It depends on the fuse in your vehicle's fuse box which carries the currents which travel to your lighter outlet. If your vehicle has a 10 amp fuse, it can handle 120 watts. If it's a 15 amp fuse, it can handle 180.

If your lighter outlet gives power when your vehicle is off, you'll have to remove the inverter when you leave your car sitting, just to be safe. All inverters, even when they're off, try to draw just a little bit of power, and they'll kill your battery in a few days or so if left attached to a power source.

Some laptops' power supplies can't handle the heat created by "modified sine wave" or similar non-pure sine wave inverters, and they'll die. My laptop was fine.

If you don't want the inverter to plug into your lighter outlet, you can do a custom installation connecting it directly to your battery. To learn more about that, check out

www.empowerthyself.com/ node/2531

Enjoy!