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I'm going on a road trip soon and want to be able to use an HP Pavilion dm3 1030us in the car (no, not while driving). I could get an HP Smart AC/Auto/Air adapter but it's coming up on the last minute. (I don't really want to buy a charger that costs ~20% of the computer's purchase price.)

I do have a DC->AC power inverter on hand, and I'm wondering if there are any possible dangers to the computer or the safety of those of us in the car if I plug the computer's charger into the inverter.

My dad expressed concerns over the inverter's output (he said something about it not being clean) but I'm looking for other information.

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Your AC power at the house is not "clean" either. I have done this with several laptops without issue, you just need to be sure the wattage output of the inverter is more than enough for the AC adapter.

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  • Thanks, that confirms my thoughts as well as the result of a lengthy chat with HP support.
    – dgw
    Aug 11, 2010 at 1:35
  • You would be surprised how clean the power at your house is, unless you have electrical problems or on UPS battery power (IMHO) Aug 11, 2010 at 1:44
  • A bit of general advice: plug the invertor not in the lighter socket, but directly to the battery with aligator clamps. The lighter socket can't provide you more than 100-200W, which may be enough for your laptop, but if you want to use more powerfull consumators, wire it directly to the battery. Aug 11, 2010 at 6:08
  • @slartibartfast: Huh. That's not what the salesman trying to sell me the $200 "Monster Cable Brand" power strip told me ;-) Aug 11, 2010 at 12:44
  • Thankfully the charger only takes 65W. :) @Ivan: I'll keep that in mind if I want to run serious equipment in a car.
    – dgw
    Aug 13, 2010 at 4:21

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