inverter killing dell power supply

[Blake Michaleski]

The inverter is wired directly to the battery with large guage wire and is fuse protected.

The same inverter that killed the original power supply and caused the spare to temporarily quit is now working fine. If this one ends up going, i'll be going DC-DC

 

[J West]

A Hell "tech support" person told me that one shouldn't have the power cord and battery installed simultaneously for long periods. I had almost always had both installed all the time prior to that. I'll believe David before a Hell "tech support" person 100% of the time.

We've had a Compaq M2100 laptop since they came out (~2004?) and it's still on it's factory battery, which is left installed 100% of the time. It's plugged into 120v more often than not, and this has never caused a problem with the battery becoming hot or overcharged. Any mainstream laptop should have a charging circuit that will maintain the proper power distribution.

 

[Stuart Robinson]

One thing to note is that some branded DC-DC converters are actually inverters housed in a single unit - the way to tell the differnce is the weight - true DC-DC are light as they are just electronics - if the unit is heavy it means that it has a transformer inside and is therefore it is a disgused inverter unit in a single package - I have seen generic DC-DC laptop suplies in the US (belkin) for about $60

Another thing ~ most DC-DC units are made of plastic - not metal