Nonsi Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Can anybody tell me where to get a car charger for my Compaq notebook in the Pattaya/Rayong area, please ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoonman Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Buy a 500 watt power inverter from Amorn electrical in the basement of Tukom, bout 2000b from memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welo Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 (edited) Buy a 500 watt power inverter from Amorn electrical in the basement of Tukom, bout 2000b from memory. 500 watt is overrated as a laptop charger! Have a look at the label on your laptop charger, I guess it will be rated at 70 watt or something. Even if you consider that the input power will be slightly higher due to the conversion process inefficiency (like 10% if I remember correctly) 500 watt is still far too much. Not knowing all of this when I bought my inverter I got a '500watt' inverter too, with '400 watt continuous output power' and 1000 watt maximum (peak). Mine costed 900 THB in Chantaburi and I later saw exactly the same at Panthip for 750 THB (starting price). The case is solid aluminum. Of course the electronic parts inside are more important and will distinguish good from bad quality. Mine is surely not the best quality, cheap China stuff I didn't have any problems so far, but don't use it very often. One nice thing about a stronger inverter is that you can connect other appliances, too, your phone charger, maybe even a small cooling box. One time I used a small rice cooker to warm the food. But be careful, most cooking appliances will draw more power than 400 watt! The fuse in your device will blow in such a case, protecting you from more harm. Btw a higher rated inverter will still draw only the power drawn by the connected devices, not more. So if you don't mind the money... If you go with a stronger inverter you have to make sure that the cabling is done properly. You cannot connect the inverter to the cigarette lighter outlet. You must pull a cable directly to the battery. Use an automotive cable that is suited for the watt power, and protect it by a suitable fuse next to the battery. With fuses bigger is not always better, the fuse protects the cable from overheating and your car from cable fire when too much power is drawn (for whatever reason). If the fuse is too big for the cable size it is useless, since the cable might burn before the fuse blows up. It is also advisable to protect the cable with an additional fuse even if the device itself already has a fuse. You will also have to think about whether you want your inverter automatically switched off with the ignition or not ('unswitched'). Unswitched setup is easier but bears the risk that you discharge your car battery if you forget to turn it off when a appliance is connected. On the other hand, an unswitched setup will give you more flexibility. If you really want to charge only your laptop you can go with a smaller maybe 150watt inverter. It might be safe to connect this to your cigarette lighter outlet, but it depends on the cable/fuse size used in your car. You could also go with a DC-DC converter that plugs directly into your laptop and bypasses your laptops charger. DC-DC is more efficient since a power inverter will first convert the car battery's DC to AC, and your laptop charger converts back from AC-DC. In the car PC community DC-DC converters are favored for that reason, but an inverter is often the cheaper and simpler solution. Yeah, I know, this wasn't really your question, was it welo Edited December 4, 2009 by welo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raro Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 I just discussed the same issue with a shop in Pattaya. They will fit a 220V converter in the car with a regular power socket under the dashboard. They recommend Belkin as they have a stabilizer built in that guarantees stable 220 V. The cheaper models have a bit fluctuation which can cause damage to the laptop. Still waiting for the quote. The shop is more or less opposite the Bangk Pattaya Hospital, in the back of the LPG gas station. Makes a very professional impression and the guy who runs it speaks fluent English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoonman Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 (edited) 500 watt is overrated as a laptop charger! Have a look at the label on your laptop charger, I guess it will be rated at 70 watt or something. Even if you consider that the input power will be slightly higher due to the conversion process inefficiency (like 10% if I remember correctly) 500 watt is still far too much. Go fit a 150w converter then, I await the crying thread for when you toast your lappy. Raro, they gunna give you a leak proof warranty on that Belkin inverter...............thought not. Edited December 5, 2009 by Spoonman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welo Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Go fit a 150w converter then, I await the crying thread for when you toast your lappy. Why would a 150watt inverter fry your laptop? Don't get me wrong, I am the last person who would advise against a quality inverter. However, I would rather go with a stabilized 150watt quality inverter than with a 500watt cheapo (like mine - just didn't have the choice when I bought mine). But I am no expert on this and always willing to learn. welo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raro Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 Raro, they gunna give you a leak proof warranty on that Belkin inverter...............thought not. what is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 Raro, they gunna give you a leak proof warranty on that Belkin inverter...............thought not. what is that? Can't say I have ever seen an inverter leak He might mean guarantee the installation so no water can leak onto the inverter? But yes, all good advice in this thread, especially on cabling! Remember, the amps your load draws at 220 Volts will be multiplied by 20 at the 12 volt side! So a 220 watt device, which would draw 1 Amp on 220 volts, will draw 20 Amps on the 12 volt side! So yes, a 500 watt inverter needs dedicated cabling as it can draw almost 50 amps at full load. Which means some serious big cable, along with the proper fuse at the battery! Actually you'll find the inverters of that wattage having relative short cabling with battery clamps to connect directly onto the battery. On the cheaper models those cables are notoriously undersized (they can get away with it due to their short length). DO NOT just extend them with the same size cable if installing the inverter permanently in your car! Better let this do by one of those shops installing proffesional stereo installations in cars, as they normally have experience with safely installing high power draw equipment (big amplifiers)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkk_mike Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 They recommend Belkin as they have a stabilizer built in that guarantees stable 220 V. The cheaper models have a bit fluctuation which can cause damage to the laptop. Laptop power supplies are generally designed to work around the world. i.e. 100v in Japan, 110v in US, 220v-240v in most of the rest of Europe/Asia/Australasia. If you look at the power brick, it will usually say something like 100v - 250v AC 50-60Hz. The voltage would have to fluctuate by some very extreme amounts to cause problems for a laptop charger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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