Connect laptop to car cigarette lighter?

Weird question, perhaps. I'm driving across country from Colorado to New Hampshire this June and I want the company of tunes, but don't want to shell out $100-200 for an mp3 player (unless I can get something decent for <$100...recommendations?). Anyways, my preference would be to bring my laptop in the Budget truck with me and connect it to the cigarette lighter, but have no idea if this is possible. Is it? If so, what do I need to get?

Thanks!

 

Yes it is very possible and easy to do all you need is a something like this http://www.educational-software.com/thomson-auto-power-inverter-details.html

 

Thanks, that looks pretty good. Now the question is whether I want to spend $25 on an "auto power inverter" that I would only use for this one trip, or spend $80-90 on a lower end Creative Zen or Zune mp3 player that I could use longer term. My only problem with buying an mp3 player now is that the flash technology, from what I understand, is about to take off so we'll see a sharp incline of value-for-dollar over the next year. Right now I can get a 4gb Creative Zen for about $90...when later this year I might be able to get a 16gp for that same price (I'm only speculating out loud here, but any opinions would be welcome).

 

yes u can get a car kit for most laptops or u can get a power converter and use your power cord. to conect to the radio u can get a radio transmitter that will plug into your headphone jack. the power converter and transmitter wont cost much. get a power converter that is at least 75watts. walmart has them for $15 the transmitter u can get at radioshack they dont cost much. the car kit for your computer (so u can just plug it into the cig lighter)
will probly cost more then a mp3 player.

 

Wally world will have cheap power inverters, and they will probably have the FM broadcaster you need to tune in any signal from a headphone jack (I have used them in the past they are like 10$, quality varies tho depening on the signal it sends and how good your reception is from your car)

You can be like me and avoid MP3 players by getting a phone that plays mp3's that way I dont have to carry 2 things around and always have it on me when I want it.

 

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=car+power+converter&category0=

something like this for $15 shipped?

I just have one question

are these car cigarette lighter chargers dangerous for the car battery ??? can something happen? like that it would drain the car battery etc.?

 

I have left a 300 watt inverter with a small cooler hooked to it overnight and not had a bit of trouble cranking a 5.7 Durango the next morning.

 

If you go to Home Depot/Wal mart/AutoZone you can find a good selection of different inverters, ranging from high powered ones you wire to the battery or more cheap/basic ones to plug into the cigarette jack. You should be able to get an inverter and a FM transmitterr for under $50 total. I used to have a Belkin FM transmitter I got from Wal-Mart before I hard-wired my iPod to my cars CD player and it worked pretty good most of the time.

 

While the car is running it will not be an issue as long as your vehicle is in sound mechanical condition, your alternator will keep the battery charged. While its off it will drain the battery, but unless your battery is old and near the end of days it wont put it into a state where you wont be able to start your car.

When I go to the drive in movies I have my stereo going with my subwoofers they draw probably like 400w of power and I can go thru a 2 hour movie fine and never had issues. I still like to start my car every 30-45min just for a few minutes tho to let the alternator run and charge up the battery some.

 

why spend 80-90 for a creative zen when you can get an 8 gig sandisk for the same price? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HZ9CCA/ref=dp_cp_ob_title_1
btw, creative sucks. if your product ever breaks down during the warranty, good luck trying to get them to replace it....

 

Look for a targus Lighter to outlet converter. It is what I use, i bought it at local WalMart for $40. it pluggs in to your lighter plug and then gives you a regular outlet to plug your PC into. It also has another lighter outlet so you dont lookse the one it took up. it also fits in the cupholder. So in the end, it works great.

BTW, Refurbished SanDisk Sansa on Buy.com (e260 -4gb- is like $60) Its what I recently had before getting the iPod Touch.

 

I've been told doing this can burn out the fuse for your cigarette lighter since you're cranking more voltage through it than it's really meant to handle.

Does anyone know whether this is true or not? Doesn't really matter as fuses are fairly cheap and easy to replace, just curious.

 

Cigarette lighters have a much bigger fuse IIRC .... In my Taurus, I have a cigarette lighter and a 12v outlet. I have blown the fuse on the 12v outlet but not the lighter.


I've had to run the laptop and coolers before off of the car. When I do this, I use one of them jumpstart packs. I have one with a 400CCA battery and 400watt inverter. I plug the laptop into the inverter and then plug the battery pack into the car. Atleast this way, I have 2 batteries and hopefully wont completely discharge the car battery.

 

I'd go with the car kit. That way you can also charge your cell phone, GPS etc. Heck get a GPS for your laptop with the money you would spend on an MP3 player.

 

http://search.ebay.com/search/search...ter&category0=

so what if I'd get like this and then let's say, I'd connect a toaster to it while camping somewhere... is the car going to last ? or what could eventually happen to the car battery ?
does it matter if I have the engine running or not ?