Pondy wrote:

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Hi All. we are setting ourselves up for doing lots of free camping. Already have plug in  chargers to charge the phone and tablet but need advise on the laptop. Will a 180watt pure sine wave inverter with a cigarette plug charge my Acer laptop or is there a charger like the phone one that I can buy for charger it. Thanking you

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Gday ...

Yes

It will charge the laptop and, given it is a 'pure sine' inverter you should be able to use the laptop while it is charging without harm to the pooter.

I started out with such an inverter and used the vehicle to charge the laptop while driving. However, advice I received was that the 12v to inverter then 240v out of inverter back to 19v through the '240v charger' for the laptop was quite inefficient.

So I had a 12v socket installed in the van near the table where I use the pooter, went to Jaycar and bought a laptop 'cord' that plugs into the 12v which changes it to 19v and charges the pooter. The 'cord' has a 'surge protector' inbuilt to protect the pooter.

I now don't bother 'charging' the pooter, I simply use the Jaycar cord like I use the 240v laptop cord. The laptop, if fully charged, remains fully charged while using it plugged into the 12v socket and draws absolute minimum 'amps' from the house battery to maintain the 'full charge'.

Others will have other ideas/advice so you will have a number of options to assess.

Cheers - John

What they are referring to is this type of adaptors:

90W Universal Automatic In-Car Slimline Laptop Power Supply

150W Car Laptop Power Supply

Whether you go with one of these or an inverter you may find the wiring to your cigarette lighter socket is too light to supply a full 12 V when the laptop is charging its battery. Even though I had my van wired with larger wire than standard I could not run my Telstra phone modem and 90 W laptop simultaneously through an inverter. I have since installed a Merit socket near the battery and changed the plug on the adaptor to a Merit plug.

Not only is most caravan wiring to 12 V power points suspect, the cigarette lighter plugs are not a good devices for use over a couple of amps. A 90 W laptop is likely to draw 9 - 12 A when running and providing a full charge rate to its batteries. Which ever way you go I can recommend that you replace cigarette lighter plugs with a heavier type.

I use the 150w one in the second link without any problems. I have been using it now for 3 years. I even have a spare just in case.