inverters

Wim,

The packaging of the Kerio adaptor lists all brands/models suitable for the specific adaptor inside and from memory there is more than one in their range.

Forgot to mention, the closer the size of the inverter is to the power requiered, the more efficient the power usage is.
Regards.

Hi sand man, I think you might have your figures wrong. I have never heard of a Laptop that used 15w and when you conceder the size of the battery inside a lap top, if you were lucky, it would last about 20 minutes at 150w. Are you sure it’s not marked as .150w.
My wide screen Panasonic only uses 100w with two 10w speakers and as I said, I have been doing this for 5 years with out a problem and over that time I have used a number of laptops, all without a problem and at times, while at the same time I was charging batteries up.
Regards

By the way, I ment 1.5w not .150w, sorry for the error
Regards

1.5W - .150W ????

I used 150W (one hundred and fifty watt) in reply to another forumite's reply as an example.

Most laptop's would in fact need at least a 300 Watt Inverter. This can be checked on the lable of the laptop power pack and an inverter (or other adaptor) with a higher output used.

Ooops ! Correction

Most laptops do NOT need 300 watts.

However, If someone was to invest in an Inverter then it would be silly to consider anything less than a 300 watt unit do to the other uses (such as camera battery charging) that it would also be used for and it is these charging devices that require a higher power demand.

Hi sand man the power pack is rated at it’s maximum possible output and not what it uses every time you turn it on. If you put a device on it that only required 1w the the power pack would use what ever was lost through the conversion to the lower voltage and the 1w. Most power supplies will have a loss of about 20% max depending on the quality of the power supply and as I said laptops may use more power than 15 watts, but if your lap top is using 150w then at around 12 volts you would be using over 10 amps, where is the laptop going to dissipate this sort of power and heat and as I stated earlier, how long could the laptops battery operate for at that sort of current rate.
If you have been in the computing industry for that long , and I’m not disputing it, but you would know the size of the typical battery that goes inside a lap top. There is no way they could power any device for more that a few minutes at that rate. If you got 20 minutes you would be very lucky and you would have one very very hot battery.
But I will give you the benefit of the argument.
The point I raised was that if irhearn was going to be using a number of devices then an inverter would be the cheapest way to go and as to what type of an inverter to get, well thats an individuals choice but as I put it, I had no trouble running a computer and a video camera battery charger at the same time off one 130w inverter.
May be, my computers are very lean when it comes to power consumption.
But as stated, it is no more than a suggestion
Regards

dont forget you have to be able to put the power on the IN side of the inverter. 2500w is a LOT OF POWER, 200amps at 12 volts, almost as mich as the starter motor uses and you'd need HUGE cables, lots of batteries in parallel and ...and...and... the logistics are awesome. and 5000w is even more.

drivesafe,

I think you may have the wrong perspective.

The power pack I am referring to is the one that comes with the laptop and it is this unit that determines the power (wattage) required.

P.S. I have been a Computer Professional for 27 years.

Thanks for all the replys. Sounds like Dick Smith cheapos should be avoided. I was leaning towards the kerio type adaptor as laptops are expensive to replace and the above posts have reinforced me of this opinion.
Thanks again

I have a DICK SMITH 300w sine wave inverter and its a beaut. Works well, runs quiet, two outlets, etc.

El cheapo units are just that. Stay away from them and spend that little bit more.