[MLB-WIRELESS] cheap inverter

[Craig Sanders]

On Thu, Jan 16, 2003 at 07:11:48PM +1100, Jason Tedesco wrote:

> http://www.batteryworld.com.au/v1/ProductEnquiry/Product%20Information/Inverter.htm

the "Piccolo 150 Watt" on this page is probably about right[1].  has a
cigarette lighter plug too.  

it isn't cheap, though.  the batteryworld.com.au site is pretty useless
but if you look at the Solar Eneregy Australia site[2] you can find a
PDF price list and a spec sheet.  RRP is $493.90 inc GST.  ouch!

these ones are true sine wave, which can be important.  some equipment
doesn't work well (or at all) with the near square-wave output of cheap
inverters.  the better the inverter, the less like a square wave the
output....and the higher the price, generally.



it's still worth testing the cheaper inverters for your particular
laptop though.  it might work.  take your laptop in to a
battery/inverter shop and test that it actually works off the inverter.
test that it will play a DVD for at least 5 minutes (remove the battery
from the laptop to make sure it's running off the inverter).  if it
does, you're in luck....you'll only have to spend under $150 rather then
nearly $500.




[1] if you're watching DVDs, the laptop will probably be at maximum
power consumption: heavy disk I/O plus heavy CPU load plus the video and
audio.  you want the inverter to be capable of well over the 70W
continuous specified by your laptop.

[2] http://www.solaraustralia.com.au/html/piccolo.htm 

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>

Fabricati Diem, PVNC.
 -- motto of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch

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