Can You Charge a Laptop with a Car Cigarette Lighter?
Laptops have become the center of our life. Most of our daily activities are now dependent on the use of laptops. The problem arises when the laptop’s battery shows signs of low power. I travel a lot and using a laptop during the road trip is a must for me.
Do you need power for your laptop when you are having a road trip? Yes.
Because I need it badly as I am a writer so while having a long drive I usually use my laptop for writing articles. I recently went down to California (15 hours) drive and I found something that was amazing, to use the laptop the entire way.
So I found this amazing device it’s an inverter, plug it into a cigarette lighter and you are able to plug in power cord. By this inverter, I charged my laptop and done my work at its time.
Contents
Can You Charge a Laptop with a Car Cigarette Lighter?
To charge the laptop from car lighter one should have an inverter. A car converts the mechanical energy into electrical energy in car lighter and by attaching the terminals of the inverter with the car lighter, we can easily charge the laptop during the road trip.
Types of Car Cigarette Lighters
cigarette lighter works on electrical energy but does not produce flame.cigaratte lighter converts 12 V DC from your car’s electrical system into110V AC.
6-volt cigarette lighter
- diameter is: 21.34–21.46 mm
12-volt cigarette lighter
- the diameter is: 20.93–21.01 mm
12-volt cigarette lighter
- the diameter: 21.41–21.51 mm
Step-by-Step Guide for Charging a Laptop With a Car Cigarette Lighter
This is a detailed guide and our editors the explained the entire process in a step-by-step manner. First thing you should take in your mind that to charge the laptop your car’s engine should be running.
Check the power supply:
Locate a power supply outlet or the cigarette lighter in your vehicle. Some vehicles have multiple outlets, a common place is on the passenger side on the side of the center console
Laptop Tool Kit:
The basic thing to remember during a road trip is your tool kit your laptop bag in which laptop charger must be present. Don’t forget to take the charger with you. Click here to buy laptop tool kit from Amazon.
DC to AC Converter for Laptop:
Buy an inverter or an adapter that can convert DC into AC. This type of adapter can easily be taken from the electronics market because it converts the car’s mechanical energy into electrical energy. So buy an adapter and make sure to it with yourself.
Click here to buy DC to AC converter from Amazon.
Inverters are handy gadgets that take a 12V DC input and provide a 110v. A small inverter can be added easily directly into the cigarette lighter. However, if you have a large inverter you may have to use an inline fuse.
Plug the adaptor into Cigarette Lighter
Plug the large end of the adapter into the power outlet or the main cigarette lighter. Be careful during this not to push the cigarette lighter as it will get hot. And your hands should be dry during plugging the adapter and keep a distance from the terminals of the adapter.12V dc current would be present there.
place the other end of the adapter with the laptop to charge it. converted current will provide the charging to the laptop only when the engine will be run. When you will ignite the car it will light up and start charging but you must run the car to take the better result of charging a laptop
Place your laptop in the right direction for charging
place your computer in the right direction to avoid the damage. Place it on the passenger seat for your feasibility. place it on your lap or any safe place that jumping off the car could not damage the laptop. Sometimes bumping can crack the screen of the laptop so make sure to place it in a safe place.
Start the laptop charging with a cigarette lighter
plug the DC end of your charger to the lighter. When you will start up your car, cigarette lighter will be light up and the laptop will start charging. it converts the mechanical energy into the electrical energy and the stored electrical energy in the battery of car transfer its energy to the laptop.
If you want to charge multiple laptops or mobile phone u should have to buy multiple splitting cigarette lighter with more power egg- 1000 power inverter can help in multiple tasking. I will suggest you should avoid this because it can damage your car battery.
Tools Required to Charge a Laptop with a Car Cigarette Lighter
Below is a detailed list of all the tools that you will need to charge your laptop with a car cigarette lighter.
- 500-watt power inverter:
It converts 24V direct current into the 240V alternate current (AC).
Nowadays there are latest inverters are available in the market that can direct plug into the cigarette lighter and can act as power extension.
There is some inverter used in cigarette lighter are:
- POTEK 500 power inverter
- Topper-E 150w converter
- BESTEK 1000 power inverter
It should contain an on-off button.5V USB port and LED indicator.
2) Crocodile clip cable: it connects the inverter with car’s battery.
3) Tool kit: necessary for the car.
Some of the devices you can plug into a cigarette lighter inverter include:
- laptops
- DVD players
- handheld video game chargers
- digital music players (i.e. iPod)
- cell phone chargers
Precautions for Charging Laptops with a Car Cigarette Lighter
Below is a detailed list of all precautions for charging your laptop in a car. I strongly suggest to follow these and you will be protected
- You need to keep your car running because during charging of laptop car’s battery could be drained.
- Do not frequent use of outlet it can drain your car’s battery.
- Even the music player can also decrease the battery level.
- Use 12V best quality adapter because a cheap adapter can cause a fire if the laptop is unattended.
- Try to avoid multiple tasking e.g. gaming, music, DVD during laptop charging.
- Avoided humidity during charging of laptop.
- Make sure that water or juices stay away from the laptop or adapter because it can cause a short circuit.
- Stay away from the children from the adapter due to 200V current present in the adapter.
- Place the laptop in the right direction to avoid the damage. Most probably laptop should be placed on the rider seat.
- Do not charge the laptop 100 %.
- Because it is an optional way to charge the laptop so does not depend on this way. You must have to charge your laptop during traveling.
- When laptop charge up to your work requirement removes the charger from a cigarette lighter.
- When a car suddenly bumps then charging discontinued.
- 12V powers in cars fluctuate badly.
Final Words
By using a cigarette lighter to charge a laptop or other devices one can save its time and can have entertainment during its long trip.
It is very amazingly good for me to have this type of device as I am an article writer so whenever I go out for long road trip I must take a laptop, mobile phone and cigarette lighter adapter with me. I usually charged my laptop from the home but it takes only 2 hours to die.
Then I charged my laptop with a cigarette lighter of the car. And it’s very easy and time-consuming for me that I can do my work during traveling .but I always avoid things like smoke or water or juices near the adapter.
Actually, it has multiple functions e.g. USB port from this DVD player, music player gaming and cell phone can be easily charged. It is also a source of entertainment during traveling.
Being as a professional human being I mostly used it for charging purpose. Car’s cigarette lighters are used widely in highway buses and boats.
Team – Whatlaptops.com
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