DC to AC car adapter $30 at Staples

SimMike2 · Mar 12, 2002

Tripp Lite PV 140 Watt PowerVerter with Cigarette Plug Adapter can be used to power your notebook, camcorder, digital camera or other small devices. More important it can recharge your batteries as you travel down the highway. I priced specific adapters for my Toshiba notebook and could not stomach the $100 price tag. This is more useful in that it will work with anything that plugs into AC. Sure you will have to tote your AC adapter with you, but most people are going to have these anyway.

This is a good item to get your total over $150 so you can apply the numerous $30 off coupons.

Search for item: IM1383389 at Staples.

Maybe there are better deals, but in my few days of searching the Internet, the best I could find was $50 for a no-name brand device. Feel free to post other deals. Keep in mind that 140 watt isn't lots of power, but it should work with notebooks, camcorders and other small devices. Probably won't run a regular TV.

The below link might or might not work:
http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Browse/SKU.asp?BCFlag=False&PageType=1&SKU=IM1383389

Evadman · Mar 12, 2002

I got a 300 watter from best buy just a few days ago. If not for the fact I am running a whole computer, I would have got this.

This is a huge deal. The cheapest that I saw for a 150 watt was about $50 as SimMike2 said. hot deal.

drewshin · Mar 12, 2002

thanks! good deal!

ive been looking for one for my mp3car project. my power supply is 150w though, maybe it won't work.
i could still use it for my laptop though.

longhorn · Mar 12, 2002

Fry's had a 150 watt unit for $20 last week.
Over 150 watts, you have to go straight to the battery.
Too much current for that cigarette lighter socket.

This is one of the items where you often can get a good deal on E*BAY.
Some the the places that handle returned items sell these for as little as $12.

technician · Mar 12, 2002

This might be nice too for PSOne and GCN owners

DrivinWhileBlind · Mar 12, 2002

The picture looks like it is a 300 watt inverter. I assume the picture is wrong.

smokingjoker · Mar 12, 2002

Great Deal, was looking for one.

Thanks.

brj8826 · Mar 12, 2002

I want to know who is running a fax out of their car

ckb21401 · Mar 12, 2002

buy.com has the PV140 for $24.25 (shipping 5.92) and the PV300 for 36.95 (shipping 6.49)

tward · Mar 12, 2002

Target occassionally has a 400 watt invertor on sale for $39.00.

gsaldivar · Mar 12, 2002

"...I want to know who is running a fax out of their car..."

ROFL

SimMike2 · Mar 12, 2002

Remember I qualified this deal by saying it was a good way to get over the $150 total for coupon use. Here is the deal I got. The Visioneer 8100 for $99 with $70 rebate. A Linsys notebook NIC for $40 with $10 rebate. And finally the DC to AC converter for $30. Total cost after subtracting $30 coupon, including free shipping and WA tax is $151. Minus $80 in rebates and final cost for everything is $71 total. Not bad for a USB scanner, notebook 10/100 NIC and DC to AC adapter.

I went for this deal originally because I wanted the adapter.

StageLeft · Mar 12, 2002

I thgought that amazon had a 300watter for $40?

RickDel · Mar 12, 2002

There's a 400watt at my local Sam's club for $30 too. (Dover, DE)

NeoSolo · Mar 12, 2002

is more W better??

beekeeper · Mar 12, 2002

Harbor Freight also has good sales on inverters sometimes. They can be very useful and if you are going to spend the money anyway, I'd get one bigger than 140 watts. I got a 600 and wish I'd spent the money for a bigger one.

JeffCutter · Mar 12, 2002

NeoSolo - more watts is better assuming you need to power something bigger. Most portable electonics / chargers will work fine with a 150watt inverter, but if you want to power something bigger you will need more.

I used to have a big Ford Bronco and went on a road trip from CT to FL and brought along a regular home 14" TV and VCR. At the time I only had a 300W inverter, and I would have to start up the TV first, which would usually overload the inverter once or twice, while it warmed up, but after resetting the inverter a few times I could get the TV to stay on, and then turn the VCR on. Worked like a charm, and the non-driver could sit in the back seat and enjoy.

Obviously, nowdays there are better ways of watching the tube in the car... but the moral is, if you find yourself near your inverters limit then just try to start the item a few times, and as it warms up it may run fine.

Techie333 · Mar 12, 2002

hey guys, i have a 300watt cont. power Rally Performance inverter. The max I will use is 41w right now to power my subwoofer in a 1996 Camry. Now when I use it, it runs fine.........but my friend says that the lighter wire is too thin to handle a sub and it will blow the lighter fuse................IS THIS True?

erickotz · Mar 12, 2002

Those of you that are electrically minded may want to open this up and examen the design. I've had LOTS of problems with inverters going bad (I'm on about my 5th one) and I'm not over-loading them-they're just built poorly. Often they have no heatsinks on the switching transistors, eventually the transistors overheat and short. Absolute worst design was a 300 watt one with a metal case. There were something like 8 switching transistors in it, two rows of four. The first four were heatsinked nicely to the case. The other four were plastic cast to plastic case on the first for-virtually no heat transfer. No heatsink at all on the second four. No wonders they overheated. Just open it up and look for stupid things like that, perhaps you can get a longer life out of it by fixing their poor design. That's what I've done and the inverters I'm using now are like 3 years old.

ScrapSilicon · Mar 12, 2002

erickotz, now that's a hot deal...a sweet cooling tip

ROXXY · Mar 12, 2002

AMES had a 300 watt (total output) dual outlet inverter by MVP marked $24.99,but rang up for $17.99!
I have yet to use it so can't comment on product,just price for now.
It's purple,pretty cool looking ...lol

GoRaptors15 · Mar 13, 2002

Hey ROXXY, What is AMES? more importantly where is AMES ?

thanks

wjones · Mar 13, 2002

TrippLite 300W for $36.95 + shipping. Not a hot deal but good price if you need one.

140W for $24.25
300W for $36.95
500W for $68.95

ROXXY · Mar 13, 2002

AMES is a cheap department store(which I don't like very much)
They exist in PA.area,that's all I know.

garsh · Mar 14, 2002

After reading your comment ROXXY, I ran down to my local Ames.

They didn't have an MVP inverter, but they had two other ones.
A 300 watt one, and an 800 watt one (sorry, I forget the brands).

They both stickered for $50. I took them up to the register, and they both scanned at $36.

There are a couple of other Ames stores not too far away. I'll keep looking for your $18 deal.
I may just go back and buy the 800 watt one. That sounds like a good price for it.

DC to AC car adapter $30 at Staples

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