odd (but probably easy) question... feel smart and help me out!

[welfareloser]

okay, this involves cars and game systems and home entertainment equipment, so i think that makes it appropriate off-topic fodder...

i will be borrowing my parents' ford winstar for a 3-hour trip on friday, taking positiverolemodel and evilbigmouth to pick up evilgremlin. that's three bozos in the back seat who need entertainment. the van has a pull-down 5-inch screen and a vcr. now, the vcr has the proper doohickeys to plug in a nintendo 64, which would be entertaining as heck. but what do i do for a power supply for the game console, since i can't plug it into a wall? is there some sort of a converter thingy i can buy somewhere to jam any old regular plug into the cigarrette lighter, or do i need an appliance-specific converter (like they make for cd players?)

thanks...

[mojo]

afaik a standard ac converter should do the trick. they're handy for miscellaneous items too, so you don't have to run and buy adapters for every damned thing you'd ever wanna put in there (blenders, mobile phone chargers, electric chairs)...so it's not like a rip-off.

[welfareloser]

Originally posted by mojo
afaik a standard ac converter should do the trick. they're handy for miscellaneous items too, so you don't have to run and buy adapters for every damned thing you'd ever wanna put in there (blenders, mobile phone chargers, electric chairs)...so it's not like a rip-off.

is this something i could find at a normal store, like best buy, or is it hard to find?

no guesses as to what that first word is (or was supposed to be...)

[mojo]

radio shack or some ish should have one. or even target in the automotive section (maybe). they could be called "dc to ac inverters" or something too. i've seen prices vary from $30 to over $60 for them, depending on i guess the maximum load you'd anticipate putting on the poor thing, and the amount of protection you want against things like battery drain and stuff.

[mcs328]

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_7/601-2680166-2369716?asin=B000069J8C

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_12/601-2680166-2369716?asin=B00006HCIG

Both from Target in the automotive section. First one is 40 and the second one is 60.

[seqiro]

Originally posted by welfareloser
no guesses as to what that first word is (or was supposed to be...)

afaik = as far as I know


:)

[chadlnc]

Walmart has one for $30 Walmart (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?cat=3947&dept=3944&product_id=1818510&path=0%3A3944%3A3947%3A96391) I bought one of these not too long ago, at the Walmart I went to they were in the automotive section with the car batteries. I had to find them myself because the employees had no clue what I was talking about.

[i6s1]

These things are as usefull as heck. I bought one for my laptop and now I use it constantly. I always forget to charge my phone/digital camera/digital video camera. This way, I can charge it on the way to wherever I'm going.

[hapoo]

Inverters are VERY usefull, but they're also very expensive (well they used to be, i'm surprised at the prices you guys found!) and inefficient. Most all electronics use DC current... all you need is a DC-DC converter to change the cars 12V power to the N64s power requirement.

[ArkiStan]

Sounds like it'll drain the car battery like heck... true?

[mojo]

Originally posted by ArkiStan
Sounds like it'll drain the car battery like heck... true? nah, she'll be driving and the alternator will take care of that. she'd have to run it for a good amount of time with the engine off before drainage would occur with a good battery.

[i6s1]

My inverter has a circuit that will shut off the power if the car's battery falls under a certian threshold, 9V or something around that.

[Memo]

Guys i'm going on a trip for Xmas too and it will be a few days in the minivan with family. Our minivan doesn't have a TV in it so I'll have to bring my own TV and use one of these power converters. I also want to bring my XBOX (if I get it for XMAS, PELASE PLEASE PELASE). Anyways, how many watts of power would the XBOX and a 20" TV take up approximately? I don't know if I should go with the cheaper 140W one or the 300W one. I'd RATHER not spend a lot of money.

[chadlnc]

Originally posted by UT Memo
Guys i'm going on a trip for Xmas too and it will be a few days in the minivan with family. Our minivan doesn't have a TV in it so I'll have to bring my own TV and use one of these power converters. I also want to bring my XBOX (if I get it for XMAS, PELASE PLEASE PELASE). Anyways, how many watts of power would the XBOX and a 20" TV take up approximately? I don't know if I should go with the cheaper 140W one or the 300W one. I'd RATHER not spend a lot of money.

I don't exactly what size you will need but for a 20" TV 140W is not going to cut it, and sometimes it doesn't even matter how large the invertor is, your cigarette lighter socket still has to be able to support it. My guess is that you will need at least the 300W.

[OC]

Memo, look on the back of the TV - you'll find a sticker that'll tell you how many watts the TV needs. Should be 100 or below. I have a 27" that uses 110. I dunno how much the X-Box will pull, but you just might be safe with a 140w inverter.

-OC

[Grimm]

Originally posted by welfareloser
...taking positiverolemodel and evilbigmouth to pick up evilgremlin. ...

Ok, I haved missed some eppisodes here.... who is evilbigmouth?

[welfareloser]

Originally posted by Grimm


Ok, I haved missed some eppisodes here.... who is evilbigmouth?

my sister. speaking of episodes... alternate names for my sister and my son are jango and boba, because the lil 5h!7 is a clone of her... which is unfortunate.