Date:         Thu, 21 Apr 2005 21:31:02 -0700
Reply-To:     Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
Subject:      Re: CDN Tire Inverter questions
In-Reply-To:  <AIEFIGCNNANNIHLNFBPEOEKOPMAA.mailinglist@fastforward.ca>
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On 21 Apr 2005 at 18:25, David Marshall <mailinglist@FASTFORWARD.CA> wrote:

> My PI-266 lap top has a deal battery.  I have a 300W inverter and it works
> just fine for it.  Have powered a small B+W TV with it too.
>
> If the inverter can give out 300W then you just need to know this
> formula.... P = I x V  Where P is power in Watts, I is current in Amps, V is
> Volts.
>
> Assuming that the 1.5A is for 115VAC input, it would be P = 1.5 x 115 or P =
> 172W, as a rule of thumb always leave 10% for the gods, so 190W inverter would
> be the minimum needed.

I found out the hard way on our last trip just how much more the newer, bigger
laptops draw. I have an old, but good 150W inverter, which has powered a 13" TV
and VCR just fine for hours, along with various laptops. But the last trip, I brought a
long a big Dell 8600 with widescreen. Part way through a DVD for the kids, it died. It
seems the inverter was not capable of the load from this beast!
I picked up a 300W unit last week, so I will test it out and see how it does...
Shawn Wright
http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright
'85 Jetta D
'88 Westy 2.1L, soon to be 1.6TD 5 speed
 (see progress at http://members.shaw.ca/vwdiesels)
'82 Diesel Westy