Thursday, 1 April 2010
Cell Phone Charger - ac-dc converter, power inverter
We needed an adapter for our portable DVD (kids broke the cord). None of the "universal" adapters fit our ports, so we began to look at this kind. Many are very low output and do not provide enough continuous output to run a device, only charge it. Very happy with this product. Great continuous output for our needs. Gets a little warm after 4 hours of use (but so does every other device, including the player). Have not tried using the USB port at the same time yet. Takes a little getting used to the bulk of it when plugging in, but green indicator light lets you know when you've got good contact.
Would recommend in a heartbeat! DBTech® 175 Watt Portable Micro Power Inverter With USB Port --- 12v AC to 110v DC Car Plug Converter For Your iPod, iPad, iPhone, Droid, DVD Players, Laptops, Netbooks, And cellphones
Be cautious to consider buying this product. The device is loud, in that it has a fan inside and this fan runs all the time.
The product gets hot within a few minutes and remains hot while in use.
So hot in fact that one may worry that it is overheating. In addition, the net battery recharge gain to a regular Dell laptop in terms of recharging a battery while driving is nominal.
One thirty minute drive/charge yielded less than thirty minutes of renewed battery.
Obivously, in an emergency or to convert a cars dc to ac for use while driving; this device works.
It is not a very successful converter. Sorry to have to be unsupportive, but hopefully the manufacturer will upgrade the product.
Replaces a much more cumbersome unit. At some point I may wish it had more power, but it will charge my computer or portable speakers while on travelling and camping, which was the main purpose for this purchase.
Bought this 3-21-11 and have used it once briefly to verify it works.
The first time I plugged the inverter into the cigarette lighter I already had my laptop charger plugged into the inverter and the other end of the charger plugged into the laptop before doing this. That blew the 20 amp fuse in my cigarette lighter. So after putting in another fuse I decided to plug just the inverter in first, then the laptop charger, then the laptop. That worked fine and I tried that several times and it worked fine each time (Dell D600 laptop and charger and laptop which probably draws no more than 90Watts on average)
Possible order matters as the laptop charger appears to have a big capacitor in it and possibly trying to charge that up and power the laptop plugged into the charger draws to much current all at once initially.
Also verified the inverter would drive a 60watt light bulb as well.
Will report back after our vacations this year as to how well it has worked over time.
Greg
Great product, works great to charge anything and everything on long car trips. The only knock I have against it is the connection between the devise and the car isn't snug enough so I had to rig up a holding wire so it won't fall out.
This is the smallest 175 watt inverter that I have been able to find. I use it on planes when I need to plug in my laptop or charge items with USB (which is everything theses days). I also keep one in my car for emergencies. Works great.
when i bought this product with the price that it had on it, I didn't think it was going to be worth my money. When i got it I put it right to the test with a cross country trip. I was in the car for over 100hr in a few weeks. I always had my laptop (MacBook Pro 13") Plugged in charging. After a little bit you could start to hear the fan that was in it. But if you have music on even at a low level you cant even hear it. Best product i have ever used for charging my laptop in the car.
I just got mine today from Amazon.com. Upon opening the sealed package, I noticed a rattle inside the inverter.
Turns out that there was a loose screw in the inside. Other than that, the 175w easily powers my Dremel_100 (145watt) for emergency lock cutting and on the road emergencies. Connected fine to my portable booster battery's
cigarette lighter. A portable dremel comes in handy for that once in a year situation.
The plastic looks really cheap. I won't rely on this quality for daily use. Given the cheap plastic, I just hope this thing is fire safe. Nevertheless, the price is right. - Car Charger - Power Inverter - Ac-dc Converter - Car Adapter'
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