Power Inventer

Hey guys,

I'm looking to buy a new Power inventer because my new laptop takes too many watts for my old one to handle.

The question I have is how can I find out how many watts my new laptop uses? And if anyone has a rough estimate ? Bc I'm tight on money and I'm looking to buy the cheapest one possible, so the lowest watts that will support my laptop. Also if you can recommend a good power inverter that would be great also.

Laptop is...

Dell XPS 1530
T8300 2.5Ghz
4Gb RAM
GeForce 8600M GT

Thanks for any help.

Edit: Power Inverter* Guess I was feeling inventive when I created this post.

 

What are the ratings on your old power inverter? I believe a desktop with a light C2D and the 8600 GT can survive under a 350 W psu, so that should be a good upperbound.

 

the dell xps 1530 uses a 95w adapter

didn't the laptop come with an adapter?

 

I'm not for sure, but I believe it was somewhere in the area of 175W-200W...So I'll be needing a new one for sure.

Thanks for the quick reply...You think I'd be safe with around a 400W?

And if So can anyone recommend some reasonably priced, reliable inverters?

Above poster...I'm looking for a DC/AC inverter for the car.

 

watts = volts X amps

many laptop adaptors are 115v at approx 3.5A or 402Watts so a 400 is usually quite safe unless you use one of the high draw 4.5 - 6A adaptors

 

Alright think I'll go ahead with the 400W...

Thanks for the replies.

Edit: Was thinking of something along the lines of...

http://www.theinverterstore.com/the-inverter-store-product.php?model=pwrinv400w-top-rgb

Think that'll work?

 

should work nicely

 

the m1530 uses a 90W adapter (19.5V not 115V) so a 400W is overkill.

 

m1530 uses a 90W (output) adapter... take worst-case 50% efficiency...

200W.... if you want to use other devices... 400W seems overkill, but why not?

 

sorry, but you talk rubbish.
If the original power adapter only has 90W OUTPUT, why should he need more than 90W then?
If he finds a power adapter with 90W, then it's ok.
If he wants to connect a lot of external devices to his notebook then he can consider buying a 120W power adapter.
But 200W is stupid and 400W is soft-headed. It's not only a huge and heavy brick, it's also not portable any longer, less efficient, generates more heat because it's less efficient and it is more expensive.

The efficiency has nothing to do with the output power. If the power adapter is able to supply 90W then he is able to, this has absolutely nothing to do with efficiency. It has something to do with the input power, but that's totally unimportant now.

If the original power adapter has 90W, then he only needs a 90W power adapter. The stock power adapters are already overdimensioned, too.

And have you ever thought about how much power a laptop consumes? His laptop may consume about 40Watt + Battery charging = less than 90W.

 

Input to the power adapter is more important than output to the laptop. Efficiency comes in at the fact it usually takes more than 90W watts of ac power to output the 90watts of dc power. So what the power adapters maximum draw (input) is is the ideal inverter power. But remember running either of the two at their limit is never a good idea. Also nice to be able to charge your cell while using it for the laptop.

My power adapters output is 120 Watts (19v * 6.32) now the Input amperage max is dependant on the voltage and what is actually used is up to whats being drawn but at the minimum voltage 100v it can use up to 2 amps which would suggest 200 watts. Now if I said it actually drew 200 watts I would be suggesting its very inefficient. Because its a world wide power compatible adapter without measuring it its hard to determine what the actual specs on my power system is. Needless to say its widely known a PC PSU takes more than 500 watts to supply 500 watts of power, there is always a loss and this is where efficiency comes into play.

The adapters input is always greater then the output even if the efficiency where 99% which it isnt. If its 90 watts a 100 watt inverter would work, though I think 120 is common. Also note most most inverters can provide more than their max for 2 to 5 minutes before shutting down, not a good idea but its there in case power spikes a little.

 

@ClutchX2
Do you know why I haven't explained the relation between input/output/efficiency?
Because no one cares, it does help the thread starter nothing and he does not have to know the efficiency and input power rating of a power adapter, and he does not care about it, especaially because he searchs for the cheapest solution.

The most important thing is the OUTPUT power rating.
Who cares if the power adapter itself consumes 200 Watt or more. Important is that the power adapter is able to supply the power the laptop needs, and this value is given as OUTPUT power.
So if the original power adpater is a 90 Watt adapter, then he has to buy a 90W or higher power adapter, too. And if this power adapter consumes 160W in the end to supply the 90W, that doesn't matter.

PS: Why don't you just buy a power adpater from eBay?

 

Itll matter when the user comes in asking why the inverter shuts off occasionally after 5 minutes, under the circumstances of, gaming without a charge over 95%. It will be explained with a "duh" and then the user will realize to avoid the situation or get something with more power.

Middle weight laptop would just grab a 120 or whatever you can afford near that. I tried charging the laptop when brand new while off on a 65 watt charger (remember myne is a 120 watt output) charger cut off three times, i went fishing for the 120 i had from a previous installation. During gaming the laptop draws about 10% of the power that would normally be charging the battery while on, not a huge over draw. Nothing like the W90 is, you would be hard pressed to charge it while going full blast.

I bought both of myne years ago, its cheaper to buy an inverter then to buy a car adapter for every little thing. Good investment no reason to skimp out on it.

Whats the budget and location? 50 bucks gets what I would go for if your shopping around correctly.

 

As i asked budget and location.... not really ever sure what brand of inverter to go with like power supply's its always a pain to choose the right one.

On the cheap at best buy
24.99 - 200 Watt - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9044198&type=product&id=1218012131624
31.99 - Very excessive 400 Watt - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9044358&type=product&id=1218012116616
54.99 - Bit expensive? 175 watt - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9040986&type=product&id=1218011736471

The first two dont have a connector there meant for installation the last one does.

Radio Shack
39.99 150 Watt with 12 volt pass through plug - http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2194429
29.99 140 Watt (Calls itself a 175...) - http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2366199

I have a 65 watt non passthrough version of the first one.

 

@clutchX2:
I'm so sorry. You are right. Important is the input power ratings. I always thought about a power adapter from AC (110V) to DC (19V).
But now I understood, that the threadstarter searches for a power inverter from car battery to 110V.
Sorry for the wrong informations I've posted above.

 

Its cool with me, I am argumentative so you have to forgive me. Yeah he is going from DC Battery 12V to 120V AC to DC again. He doesnt have an "unlimited supply of power" (forget 15 to 30A, 120V, 1835 watts?) as he would on a wall outlet.

If he were buying a DC to DC car adapter for the laptop then also yeah output power would only matter. Glad we got that cleared up I was wondering what you were thinking but Now we both understand each other.