[edoggsmooth]

I am going on a cross country trip in my '04 Seaside Pearl (5,000 miles) and I wanted to bring my laptop along so that my friends can watch movies on it.

My question is what dangers, if any, do I run plugging my laptop into the power adaptor? Will it drain the battery? Furthermore, will it influence gas milage much?

Thanks in advance.

-Ed

 

[moocatdog]

I am going on a cross country trip in my '04 Seaside Pearl (5,000 miles) and I wanted to bring my laptop along so that my friends can watch movies on it.

My question is what dangers, if any, do I run plugging my laptop into the power adaptor? Will it drain the battery? Furthermore, will it influence gas milage much?

Thanks in advance.

-Ed

There are rocket scientists here who can explain precisely why I am either right or wrong, but I don't think running a laptop while traveling is going to have a noticable impact on either your battery or mpg.
Drive happy,
Moo

 

[RSnyder]

Just keep in mind that the 12 V power plug is not powered when the car is Off. It is powered when the car is in Acc, but it will then be draining the small 12 Volt battery which will not last very long. If you drain it all the way, you won't be able to start. So only leave your laptop plugged into the car when it's in Ready. I think the plug only has a 10 Amp fuse, so if you're using a power inverter for your laptop, be sure it's a small one that isn't rated more than about 100 Watts. If your laptop can plug directly into 12 Volts, that's probably better.