[MLB-WIRELESS] cheap inverter

[Jason Tedesco]

Some Good News,
	I called my account rep for Dell and asked if they sold in car power supplys.  After giving them the model number they gave me the info.  The one for my lappy is $173 ex gst.  The manufacture is Targus.  The power supply comes with a few different tips, and they even told me which tip number I should use.  The link can be found below.  Targus make these adapters for most big name manufactures.

http://targus.com.au/accessories_power.asp


-----Original Message-----
From: Craig Sanders [mailto:cas at taz.net.au]
Sent: Thursday, 16 January 2003 20:28
To: Jason Tedesco
Cc: melbwireless at wireless.org.au
Subject: Re: [MLB-WIRELESS] cheap inverter


On Thu, Jan 16, 2003 at 07:11:48PM +1100, Jason Tedesco wrote:

> http://www.batteryworld.com.au/v1/ProductEnquiry/Product%20Information/Inverter.htm

the "Piccolo 150 Watt" on this page is probably about right[1].  has a
cigarette lighter plug too.  

it isn't cheap, though.  the batteryworld.com.au site is pretty useless
but if you look at the Solar Eneregy Australia site[2] you can find a
PDF price list and a spec sheet.  RRP is $493.90 inc GST.  ouch!

these ones are true sine wave, which can be important.  some equipment
doesn't work well (or at all) with the near square-wave output of cheap
inverters.  the better the inverter, the less like a square wave the
output....and the higher the price, generally.



it's still worth testing the cheaper inverters for your particular
laptop though.  it might work.  take your laptop in to a
battery/inverter shop and test that it actually works off the inverter.
test that it will play a DVD for at least 5 minutes (remove the battery
from the laptop to make sure it's running off the inverter).  if it
does, you're in luck....you'll only have to spend under $150 rather then
nearly $500.




[1] if you're watching DVDs, the laptop will probably be at maximum
power consumption: heavy disk I/O plus heavy CPU load plus the video and
audio.  you want the inverter to be capable of well over the 70W
continuous specified by your laptop.

[2] http://www.solaraustralia.com.au/html/piccolo.htm 

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>

Fabricati Diem, PVNC.
 -- motto of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch

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