Use of power inverter w/ laptop

**dtothefizzle** · 08-24-2007, 12:05 AM

I've read a few other threads and FAQs about inverters but I think my situation is a (relatively) unique one:

My laptop's AC power adapter (the brick dealie) has that cord that connects to the back of the actual laptop, right? Well, about a year ago the laptop got real lame and the AC adapter cord kind of stopped connecting somewhere? So I would get like power sometimes, if I moved it around and stuff, but then sometimes it would just stop, and I'd start running off the battery.

So, what I was wondering, is if there was some way to more or less "skip" the middle man and like solder the power cord directly in somewhere, or some way to fix it? I realize that I could just buy another brick, but those things are expensive and I don't even know if it's the root of the problem, or if it's something in the laptop itself.

I guess this is more of an electrical question than strictly "carputer" but the end result is that I want the laptop in my car, so yeah.

Any ideas?

Also: The battery has acted up sometimes too, like when I intentionally run off battery, it would say I have a crazy amount of battery left, like 1%, or even 0%, but it would still run for 2 hours or however long. Any ideas on that?

Thanks dudes.

**WarDriver** · 08-24-2007, 11:28 AM

You need to isolate the issue. Is the connector in the back of the laptop loose? (Solution - re-solder contact pads) Or is the issue a broken wire in the "brick" cord (Solution -re-place the brick) Check eBay, they are not that expensive. Try a search titles and description with the part number in the search field on eBay. Chances are your power supply was used for multiple models.

**dtothefizzle** · 08-26-2007, 07:25 PM

If the connector on the back was loose, how would I go about getting at the contact pads? I know it's not likely anyone would know the exact way to do it with my exact laptop model (HP ZV5000 btw) but maybe there's a catch-all method...

And back to my original question, is there a way to like skip the connection entirely and just solder the wire right onto the contact pads?

Sorry if these are stupid questions.

P.S. If it wasn't clear, I don't care if anything makes the laptop unusable outside of my car, I have a desktop computer.

**WarDriver** · 08-26-2007, 08:21 PM

First...try and wiggle the laptop connector to see if it is loose.

Second. As for your question. Can you "skip" the connector. It is possible but I'm not sure you want to hardwire your brick into your laptop. That brick drops the voltage below 120v ac but usually to around 19v dc depending on the model.

Hardwired or a loose connection you will need to dismantle your case to solder it onto the board. I would measure the voltage output of the brick to make sure that isn't the issue before I started attempting to solder anything to the system board.

**FusionFanatic** · 08-26-2007, 08:26 PM

first off, to answer your question... yes, you could solder the wires directly to the motherboard's "contact pads". it doesn't matter what laptop you have the procedure would be the same for all of them. first you must remove the motherboard from the laptop casing, the desolder the power jack, then cut the "brick"s power connector off and strip/solder the wires directly onto the motherboard.

but to be honest it would be pointless to do this unless the motherboard's power connector is physically damaged. as of now you don't know what or where your problem is, if it's a broken wire between the "brick" and the laptop then soldering the wires directly to the board will not solve your problem.

my advice would be to avoid the possibly bad "brick" and inverter method altogether, and use a DC-DC power converter instead. you can either buy a nice universal DC-DC power converter like the Carnetix models or a cheap vehicle laptop power adapter off eBay for $30 or so. it's your money and your choice but if you're going to spend any money then spend it wisely and do it the right way