Possible dangers of using a power inverter to charge a laptop

Question

I'm going on a road trip soon and want to be able to use an HP Pavilion dm3 1030us in the car (no, not while driving). I could get an HP Smart AC/Auto/Air adapter but it's coming up on the last minute. (I don't really want to buy a charger that costs ~20% of the computer's purchase price.)

I do have a DC->AC power inverter on hand, and I'm wondering if there are any possible dangers to the computer or the safety of those of us in the car if I plug the computer's charger into the inverter.

My dad expressed concerns over the inverter's output (he said something about it not being clean) but I'm looking for other information.

Solution

Your AC power at the house is not "clean" either. I have done this with several laptops without issue, you just need to be sure the wattage output of the inverter is more than enough for the AC adapter.

Comments

[dgw]

Thanks, that confirms my thoughts as well as the result of a lengthy chat with HP support.

[Slartibartfast]

You would be surprised how clean the power at your house is, unless you have electrical problems or on UPS battery power (IMHO)

[Ivan Petrushev]

A bit of general advice: plug the invertor not in the lighter socket, but directly to the battery with aligator clamps. The lighter socket can't provide you more than 100-200W, which may be enough for your laptop, but if you want to use more powerfull consumators, wire it directly to the battery.

[David Markle]

@slartibartfast: Huh. That's not what the salesman trying to sell me the $200 "Monster Cable Brand" power strip told me ;-)

[dgw]

Thankfully the charger only takes 65W. :) @Ivan: I'll keep that in mind if I want to run serious equipment in a car.