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    m17x car adapter

    Discussion in 'Alienware' started by hoofhearted, Dec 10, 2009.

  1. hoofhearted

    hoofhearted Notebook Evangelist

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    Does anyone know of a DC-DC car adapter for the m17x?

    The brick reads:
    OUTPUT: 19.5V 12.3A

    To me this seems that 240+ Watts will do the trick.

    I noticed a 3rd conductor on the plug. I am guessing that this is some sort of Dell proprietary power supply thing (Dells other notebooks seems to sport this type of connectecion - and they even give error and refuse to charge if you use certain universal adapters although one company seems to have got it right).

    Anyway, I did find a company that made a DC-DC car power adapter for may Gateway 7811 a while back and that has worked fine to this day. (EDACPOWER ELEC)
    http://www.edacpower.com/ Under DC-DC adapters in case anyone needs this (Model ED1010).

    Anyway they go up to 120W.

    I was curious if any engineering types know the details of Dell's third conductor and maybe a schematic for what it would take to make one if one isn't available to purchase.
     
    hoofhearted, Dec 10, 2009
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  2. TurbodTalon

    TurbodTalon Notebook Virtuoso

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    You get a DC to AC inverter that can handle a good bit more wattage than your power brick pulls. You then wire it directly to your battery, because your cigarette lighter most likely cannot handle the amp draw of your laptop under full load. You can get those inverters in a lot of places. Unless you don't plan to fire those GPUs up. If that's the case, whatever you rig up will do just fine. Under full load though, any modern gaming laptop will nearly stall the engine of your car.
     
    TurbodTalon, Dec 10, 2009
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  3. Mazdaspeed_6

    Mazdaspeed_6 Notebook Evangelist

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    Mazdaspeed_6, Dec 10, 2009
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  4. TurbodTalon

    TurbodTalon Notebook Virtuoso

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    Yup. That's what I'm talking about.
     
    TurbodTalon, Dec 10, 2009
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  5. cpaqf1

    cpaqf1 Notebook Evangelist

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    hey guys, i have a question about using a laptop in a car... is the vibration bad for it ?
     
    cpaqf1, Dec 10, 2009
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  6. TurbodTalon

    TurbodTalon Notebook Virtuoso

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    Depends on the car you're in. If you're in a stiff suspension vehicle going down a rutty dirt road, you might have some issues. Just cruising down the road won't hurt anything. I've done it plenty of times.
     
    TurbodTalon, Dec 11, 2009
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  7. hoofhearted

    hoofhearted Notebook Evangelist

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    I was more interested in a DC-DC solution. I don't see how under full graphics this would stall your car though. People have audio systems in their car where one speaker draws more power than this.
     
    hoofhearted, Dec 12, 2009
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