I went to use my laptop last night and not only was the battery dead from sitting in my car too long but when I plugged it into an outlet in the house, it was still dead. I tested the output side of the adapter and instead of 16 volts I was getting an eratic 3-5 volts. I grabbed another power supply at the office today and the laptop is fine.

The last place I used the laptop was in the Escape - and I did have it plugged into the 110 outlet. I am suspecting that the "AC" current isn't true AC and this fried the power supply.

Has anyone else had problems with anything that they used with the Escape plug? Has anyone put a good meter or scope on it to see what the power looks like (sine wave, chopped, etc.)

And yes, I know the manual warns against using the 110 with sensitive electronics so no lectures please. I've used it before and didn't have any problems. I am just curious as to whether anyone else has has seen this.

Ray

The inverter used in the FEH and many others that you can buy typically put out a modified sine wave that averages 110 volts.

Definition: Modified Sine Wave
Modified sine wave or quasi-sine wave inverters were the second generation of power inverter. They are a considerable improvement over square wave inverters. These popular inverters represent a compromise between the low harmonics (a measure of waveform quality) of a true sine wave inverter and the higher cost and lower efficiency of a true sine wave inverter.

Modified sine wave inverters approximate a sine wave and have low enough harmonics that they do not cause problems with household equipment. They run TV's, stereos, induction motors (including capacitor start), universal motors, computers, microwave, and more quite well. The main disadvantage of a modified sine wave inverter is that the peak voltage varies with the battery voltage. Inexpensive electronic devices with no regulation of their power supply may behave erratically when the battery voltage fluctuates.

Some guy at the FEH Experience had complained, and the engineers there modified his AC Power outlet so that it would give more power, so something of his would run propery.

If it's a problem, you may want to contact them and see if they'd do that for you too.

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My phone takes longer to get a full charge on the 110 ( lost the lighter charger) than it does in the house, and once the battery is dead, the 110 plugged into the phone will not power the phone. I have to turn it off and charge it.

I still haven't bothered plugging a multi-meter into it yet to see what the voltage is but I am really more curious as to what the frequency and waveform are - need a scope or something for that.

I had to get the boss to spend $87 for a new power supply for my laptop and am probbaly lucky I didn't fry the laptop too. Guess I'll be more careful next time not to let the laptop go dead before going to the jobsite at 2 in the morning.

The strange thing is I have used cheap ac inverters plugged into the 12v in all my cars and never had a problem. Oh well....

Check your specs. A lot of the beefy laptops are pulling 190 watts these days.....in fact, some of the not so beefy. The dash outlet is rated at 150 watts, and may not be putting the power to it that it needs......and that will burn it out.

Thanks for the info. I am planning a trip from Va to Fla this weekend and my son had planned to use the 110v outlet. I think I will just bring an inverter for the 12v outlet.

Yeah... remember to check the INPUT power as well. The output might be different. It should be pretty close because the power supplies today are pretty good.

I'll see if I can plug a scope into mine tomorrow and I'll capture a waveform. If someone can show me how to include the thing in a post I'll put it on here.

If its a "simulated" sine wave and its pretty bad... switching power supplies like the ones on laptops MIGHT not deal with it very well. They tend to pull a large amount of current when they switch for a millisecond or so and that sometimes doesn't work well with the outputs on the "simulated" sine wave generators... I think it can generate some pretty nasty transients and voltage spikes.

I just finished building a switching power supply for a product the company I work for produces. I know a little about them....but frankly they are pretty esoteric and you can make a career out of figuring out the really complex ones.

Also... if it isn't something you already knew.... You do know the 110 isn't active unless the vehicle is on don't you? I don't think its even active when the key is in the accessory position but i haven't confirmed that.

Frankly I woudln't have anything plugged into it when I started the car either.... Thats liable to be a pretty nasty transient as well.

The voltage on mine tends to be very low. 95 to 107 VAC.

If the voltage is low, the amps go up to try and maintain wattage.

I suspect your laptop was under-volt and drew too much current through the light-duty power adapter that came with it.

Here's a thought. Why not get a 12v cigarette lighter adapter for the next one?
Your laptop probably has a 12v battery, or very close in the first place! ???