Question Will a 120 watt inverter power my gaming laptop ?

[nelska]

I have a car that supports an inverter up to 120 watts so I got a 120 watt power inverter to make sure 100% that the fuse doesn't blow if it maxes out while gaming but my gaming laptop power supply is rated at 240 watts. Idling and browsing the power consumption is far less than 120 watts its about 50-100 watts maximum. But, as soon as I start up a video game and the gpu kicks on it ramps up to about 200 watts.

My question is what is going to happen? Is the fuse in the car going to blow or is the laptop going to understand there isn't enough power from the inverter and simply switch to battery power? I don't want to test it out and see what happens without any kind of general consensus from the forums. haha, thanks. (btw if this is the completely incorrect sub forums my bad!).

 

[Eximo]

The battery will start to drain. Not really a matter of the laptop knowing anything, the laptop always runs on the battery. Power in and power out. If less power comes in then is going out it will drain.

 

[nelska]

The battery will start to drain. Not really a matter of the laptop knowing anything, the laptop always runs on the battery. Power in and power out. If less power comes in then is going out it will drain.

ok so kinda exactly what I wanted to happen. I wonder if it'll still charge it at the 120 watts and draw the remaining 80 watts from the battery or if it will straight switch because the draw level is too demanding for the power reserve.

 

[natcha12]

If the inverter has overload protection, most likely is it just throttles the charging speed. Honestly though, if you are browsing and using 100w, why would you get an inverter that only charges with the remaining 20? That would take... 12x longer than a full power charge to finish, measured in days probably.

The only way I see this being useful is if you're on a road trip, gaming on breaks, and then charging with it off for a good few hours in-between pit stops

 

[nelska]

If the inverter has overload protection, most likely is it just throttles the charging speed. Honestly though, if you are browsing and using 100w, why would you get an inverter that only charges with the remaining 20? That would take... 12x longer than a full power charge to finish, measured in days probably.

The only way I see this being useful is if you're on a road trip, gaming on breaks, and then charging with it off for a good few hours in-between pit stops

Well the idea was the be able to at least game at full power with my car running but i read online if you try and draw power power from the 12v/120watt 10 amp cigarette lighter outlet then it will either pop the fuse or drain the battery even with the alternator running. I was gunna get a 300 watt inverter for my 240 watt laptop power supply.

I understand i can only draw up to 120 watts so I should get a 120 watt inverter but now I am basically understanding even if the cars running its not gunna last as long as i have gas im gunna have to take breaks and let it charge every so often (couple hours prolly).

 

[natcha12]

Well the idea was the be able to at least game at full power with my car running but i read online if you try and draw power power from the 12v/120watt 10 amp cigarette lighter outlet then it will either pop the fuse or drain the battery even with the alternator running. I was gunna get a 300 watt inverter for my 240 watt laptop power supply.

I understand i can only draw up to 120 watts so I should get a 120 watt inverter but now I am basically understanding even if the cars running its not gunna last as long as i have gas im gunna have to take breaks and let it charge every so often (couple hours prolly).

I mean, car alternator and engine sizes is getting a bit out of scope for the question, but I'm assuming it's only a small car or old to only have an alternator capable of powering a 120w accessory slot. (Older halogen light vehicles can have LEDs which opens more power overhead with the savings, but I digress)

Idling may also not be enough to replace the battery charge going to your laptop if it draws full rating continuously, I wouldn't risk being stranded...

The 10A fuse to your socket is there to make sure there's power left for the lights and dashboard, and that the cable powering it doesn't start glowing and melting things. By all means, this can be circumvented with a fuse change but cleverer people than us decided 10 was safe.

TLDR You'll just need to game less or drive more

 

[Eximo]

Or install a larger inverter directly to the battery, rather than use the power socket.

 

[nelska]

I mean, car alternator and engine sizes is getting a bit out of scope for the question, but I'm assuming it's only a small car or old to only have an alternator capable of powering a 120w accessory slot. (Older halogen light vehicles can have LEDs which opens more power overhead with the savings, but I digress)

Idling may also not be enough to replace the battery charge going to your laptop if it draws full rating continuously, I wouldn't risk being stranded...

The 10A fuse to your socket is there to make sure there's power left for the lights and dashboard, and that the cable powering it doesn't start glowing and melting things. By all means, this can be circumvented with a fuse change but cleverer people than us decided 10 was safe.

TLDR You'll just need to game less or drive more

exactly the opposite its a brand new 2022 corolla with like 10k miles on it off its first lease from somebody who wanted an upgrade after 2 years so brand new to me. I just don't want to break anything electronically trying to play halo in my car on lunch break, should I just get a steamdeck? hahaha

 

[nelska]

Or install a larger inverter directly to the battery, rather than use the power socket.

thats opening the whole can of worms. lol, i used to do that for 1500 watts on a sound system and the headlights would bump to the music driving down the road and one day the gas pedal just went to the floor and it never drove again. I duno why. hahaha

 

[natcha12]

I'm sorry, I did kinda assume no expertise due to the question that you wouldn't/couldn't run a new inverter directly through the battery etc.

If you were able to fit chunkier gauge cabling to the socket already there, and uprate the fuse, it would need less effort and be a bit less... tacky I suppose? Compared to spending lunch gaming with a laptop connected to a bigger inverter for an hour using a cable poking through a hole in the foot well from the battery lol.

Seriously though, going from dc-ac-dc will lose you like 10%. Consider dc-dc adapter. Your laptop is most likely 19.5 or higher voltage:

https://imgur.com/lJ2esLt

 

[nelska]

I'm sorry, I did kinda assume no expertise due to the question that you wouldn't/couldn't run a new inverter directly through the battery etc.

If you were able to fit chunkier gauge cabling to the socket already there, and uprate the fuse, it would need less effort and be a bit less... tacky I suppose? Compared to spending lunch gaming with a laptop connected to a bigger inverter for an hour using a cable poking through a hole in the foot well from the battery lol.

Seriously though, going from dc-ac-dc will lose you like 10%. Consider dc-dc adapter. Your laptop is most likely 19.5 or higher voltage:

https://imgur.com/lJ2esLt

the whole idea is becoming a big too much of a deal than i thought it would be as simple as buying an inverter powerful enough (300 watts) for my cigarette lighter so i could just plug and play with an amazon gift card from my microsoft rewards points but i am now learning they stopped letting you use reward points on amazon gift cards so now id actually have to buy it with money. lol, I found

$15. itll let me play in optimus mode so i could probably get away with actually gaming as long as im going through the integrated gpu and no just dumping my dgpu power consumption.

 

[nelska]

Although, I am still confused as to whether or not my laptop would even acknowledge that its plugged in if its not drawing at least the wattage of the laptops power supply (240 watts).

 

[Eximo]

Although, I am still confused as to whether or not my laptop would even acknowledge that its plugged in if its not drawing at least the wattage of the laptops power supply (240 watts).

Power in and power out. I am not sure what you mean by acknowledge.

240W-> In -> 200W Out = positive 40W (100Wh battery would mean 2.5 hours to charge, while gaming)

100W -> In -> 200W Out = net 100W drain
If the battery is the max 99.9 Wh that is typical, then you could sustain full blast gaming for 1 hour with 100W coming in.

60W -> In -> 200W Out = net 140W drain, sub one hour gaming

 

[natcha12]

Power in and power out. I am not sure what you mean by acknowledge.

240W-> In -> 200W Out = positive 40W (100Wh battery would mean 2.5 hours to charge, while gaming)

100W -> In -> 200W Out = net 100W drain
If the battery is the max 99.9 Wh that is typical, then you could sustain full blast gaming for 1 hour with 100W coming in.

60W -> In -> 200W Out = net 140W drain, sub one hour gaming

Exactly. And if the idle/browsing is up to 100w you'd basically have the same battery level as when you started if you used it at all with a 120 inverter. Make sure settings are turned down or something and it'll survive an hour if you start at full power

 

[nelska]

so itll use whatever it receives to power the laptop? thanks, wasnt sure if it wouldnt work unless it could draw 240watts since the power supply operates at 240 watts. theres no downsides to doing this it wont degrade the power supply at all running at half power?

 

[Eximo]

so itll use whatever it receives to power the laptop? thanks, wasnt sure if it wouldnt work unless it could draw 240watts since the power supply operates at 240 watts. theres no downsides to doing this it wont degrade the power supply at all running at half power?

Well, that is different. Your 240W power supply shouldn't be used on a 120W limited outlet. That will overload it. That power supply knows nothing of your circuit limitations.

You should get a 95W power supply.

 

[nelska]

Well, that is different. Your 240W power supply shouldn't be used on a 120W limited outlet. That will overload it. That power supply knows nothing of your circuit limitations.

You should get a 95W power supply.

well my gaming laptop came with a 240 watt power supply unit for the 90watt hour battery and I am not gunna change that. So, your saying I should only plug it into something that can draw at least 240 watts? Might have to forget the whole idea then cuz my car will blow a fuse trying too run a 300 watt inverter. haha

 

[natcha12]

What voltage is your laptop charger? Or what laptop are we talking about

 

[Eximo]

I would say you would need a more expensive inverter with a built in power limit to make that work.

Does the laptop support charging over USB-C? You could just get a 100W car adapter.

 

[natcha12]

I would say you would need a more expensive inverter with a built in power limit to make that work.

Does the laptop support charging over USB-C? You could just get a 100W car adapter.

Yeah I was thinking that, either type c limited or a hardwired adapter limited and set to 19.5v. Or type c to a DC jack using 20v would be ok too. I'm not sure what voltage something using 240w would be though🤷

 

[nelska]

What voltage is your laptop charger? Or what laptop are we talking about

20 volts. 12 amps 240 watts output. I had no idea how electricity worked until i started doing this. now im thinking about getting a solar panel instead since you can charge laptops with type c ports these days im guessing like a 40 watt panel would keep it fully charged while i browse. lol

 

[nelska]

I would say you would need a more expensive inverter with a built in power limit to make that work.

Does the laptop support charging over USB-C? You could just get a 100W car adapter.

omg i was gunna get a jackery with the solar panel but then google said just the panel would work cuz laptops can be charged via the type c port now a days i thought plugging power into usb fried the mobo at least it did a decade ago lol!

 

[nelska]

I would say you would need a more expensive inverter with a built in power limit to make that work.

Does the laptop support charging over USB-C? You could just get a 100W car adapter.

and holy crud my car has a type c port I could literally just plug that directly into my laptop and recharge it. its probably not enough to keep it running i think it only does like 5 watts of charge? but it would recharge it eventually.

 

[nelska]

omgoodness..
"The Type-C ports in Toyota vehicles can supply up to 15 watts of power for charging devices. However, the maximum power output for USB-C ports is theoretically 240 watts, depending on the device's capability to accept that power."

edit: thunderbolt 4 which i have can do 240watts. theres noway thats whats up? from a car usb port?

 

[Eximo]

omgoodness..
"The Type-C ports in Toyota vehicles can supply up to 15 watts of power for charging devices. However, the maximum power output for USB-C ports is theoretically 240 watts, depending on the device's capability to accept that power."

edit: thunderbolt 4 which i have can do 240watts. theres noway thats whats up? from a car usb port?

I didn't say from a car USB port. I said a USB adapter for your car.

One that plugs into your power port.

You are trying to do an inverter to get AC out of port. Instead, just get exactly a USB-C 100W unit. That solves your fuse problem and gets you the most power without having to wire an inverter to the battery.

Something like this. The top port is limited to 100W, and there are plenty like it with varying costs. Would need to check some reviews to find a reliable one.

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Charger-Ultra-Compact-MacBook-Samsung/dp/B0CZ7BL16W