Prestone power inverter $19.99 Big Lots B&M

[allisolm]

Big Lots, MacFrugal's, and Pic 'N' Save whatever the name where you live has Prestone portable 140 watt DC to AC power inverter, factory reconditioned with mfr warranty for $19.99. Comes w/cigarette lighter plug, one AC outlet.

Great for using laptop in the car without draining its (the laptop's) battery. Also can be used for TV, DVD or VHS player for the kiddies in the back of the minivan.

Edited to clarify which battery I meant. Sorry for any confusion.

 

[bigdoggy]

I am very sketical about not draining the battery if the engine is turned off, good find, I really need this and at a great price, hope my local is not sold out by the time I get there this morning.

 

[HKS]

Which battery are you talkin' 'bout, doggystyle? The car battery or the laptop? Because if the car is off, some cars stop the 12V DC plug, but other cars let it ride... usually depending on what battery is running the car I suppose. For instance, on my Escape, the cigarette plug will continue to power devices even if the car is off, but on my Integra, it will not... I suppose the Integra car battery probably can't handle the drain, whereas with my Escape I've never had a problem plugging in peripheral devices with the car off, even if the alternator ain't charging the car battery.

 

[all168]

For those who has sam's member, Sam's club has a 350W inverter for $28.99.

 

[Shagger]

For running a TV and VCR or TV/VCR combo you need more than 140W... I have a 400W and I was unable to run TV, VCR and Radar Detector so make sure that you have enough juice...

 

[vortix]

I just got a 400W from Walmart for $50 - much better than paying a fortune at Radio Shack. Also, in the manual that came with mine, it said if you plan on using more than 300W, the inverter needs to be hooked directly up to the car battery. Mine came with both a cigarette lighter plug, and some wires to hook it up to the battery.

 

[Chevydriver]

I think mine is a 300 or 350. It also has a cigg lighter plug and a wire which hooks to that socket and has battery clamps to hook to the battery. It said in the manual to get the full use of it then it must be hooked directly up to the battery. This is true at least for my unit. I tried this and noticed it indeed would not give me full use of the unit unless it was hooked directly to the battery. I'm not sure how it knew when I had it hooked to the cigg lighter rather than the battery since its the same cable. The battery hookup wire just plugs into the cigg lighter wire on thre unit and provides you with clamps. This was no big deal since I already have 4 gauge wire leading into my truck into a junction box which I installed for my stereo equip.

 

[allisolm]

For running a TV and VCR or TV/VCR combo you need more than 140W

My 13" TV - 65 watts
VHS - 18 watts
DVD - 25 watts