"Lobster" wrote in message
...
I'm thinking of buying an 12V - 240V for the car, to enable me to
charge/run devices such as a laptop / mobile phone(s) / AA batteries for
gameboys & camera etc etc while on the road (one at a time!); they seem to
be as cheap as chips these days and this would enable me to use the
standard mains chargers for all the above devices rather than buying
separate low voltage kit to connect each of them up to the cigar lighter.

Sounds good in theory, but are there any gotchas? Eg, safety? Does it run
a car battery down more to power up a laptop via a 240V inverter than
directly to the cigar lighter? etc etc

Can't help feeling an inverter would be much better if wired or plugged
into the car some other way than via the god-awful universal cigar-lighter
plug...

Only thing I can think of is they do (or mine does) get rather (read heater
in winter) warm in operation.

I have never used mine without the engine running, but I suppose the main
issue will be current drawn. mines only 150 watt, so I wouldn't put much
more than a charger into mine. but it has already paid for itself in the
amount I have saved buying car chargers for camera's, mobiles, etc etc.

My only annoyance is its recommended not to plug anything else in to car
socket at the same time as the inverter (no socket doublers/tripplers) so
mines hardly used now I have a PDA sat nav always plugged in.

loopy



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