My power is currently out due to winter weather and the power company said it might be up to a day before its back. I have an important conference early tomorrow in which I need to present a few renderings of our products in a cad. However with the power out, obviously I can not use my PC to render the cad files. So would a car (using a DC to AC inverter) be able to power a gaming PC that will be drawing roughly 400w? The car would be left running to try and keep the battery charged. My math puts the battery's wattage at 180w (12v x 15amps) which is a bit short of 400w so you can see my concern. Thanks.
Can a car power a gaming PC?
- Thread starter yamguy12
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- Nov 18, 2008
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A normal pc might draw 250 watts . Maybe more if the graphics card was a heavy hitter .
Think 10 - 11 amps at that 250 watt level
Easy for the battery . The issue is how good the wave form off the inverter is and can the psu smooth that out well enough
Think 10 - 11 amps at that 250 watt level
Easy for the battery . The issue is how good the wave form off the inverter is and can the psu smooth that out well enough
- Nov 17, 2013
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with the engine running, you won't be pulling power from the battery (and where'd you get the 15A number from???) but mainly from the alternator. if you have a big enough inverter, it might run just fine. clearly you won't be plugging it in via the cig lighter socket - you'd need a direct connection to the battery terminals (to which the alternator also connects)
what about finding a neighbor who does have power? or someone with a generator?
what car do you have? how big is the alternator? if it's a 65A alternator, you'd have no more than 700W to work with.
what about finding a neighbor who does have power? or someone with a generator?
what car do you have? how big is the alternator? if it's a 65A alternator, you'd have no more than 700W to work with.
I have a 1000w marine power inverter, not certain of the exact brand. The power inverter has two 12v cig inputs as well as hookups for a battery terminal.
Also I drive a 2010 BMW M3 sedan but I haven't been able to find any definitive info on my alternator, but everywhere I've looked puts it between 140-180 amps.
In the mean time I went ahead and hooked it up in my garage and it appears to be running fine. After maybe 10 minutes the inverter got so hot it shut off and I couldn't even touch it, but I have a pan full of ice sitting on it right now and hasn't overheated since. Imagine it's overheating because something isn't right but I have no other choice as of right now. Hehe also just noticed the headlights are really dim, don't expect anyone here to be a car expert (I know I'm not) but I'm not sure that that is normal.
Also I drive a 2010 BMW M3 sedan but I haven't been able to find any definitive info on my alternator, but everywhere I've looked puts it between 140-180 amps.
In the mean time I went ahead and hooked it up in my garage and it appears to be running fine. After maybe 10 minutes the inverter got so hot it shut off and I couldn't even touch it, but I have a pan full of ice sitting on it right now and hasn't overheated since. Imagine it's overheating because something isn't right but I have no other choice as of right now. Hehe also just noticed the headlights are really dim, don't expect anyone here to be a car expert (I know I'm not) but I'm not sure that that is normal.
- Nov 17, 2013
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turn off the headlights. there should be a switch on the dash for that. each light can pull 100W or more, so having 2-4 of them on is using as much power as your computer needs!
see if pressing the gas pedal down SLIGHTLY makes any difference. it may up the voltage from the alternator and make it easier for the inverter to do its thing. no need to floor it, just get the revs up past 1200 or so.
see if pressing the gas pedal down SLIGHTLY makes any difference. it may up the voltage from the alternator and make it easier for the inverter to do its thing. no need to floor it, just get the revs up past 1200 or so.
It has daytime running lights so they're always on. According to the manual the only way to turn them off is to have the car's computer reprogrammed by the dealership. Also I figured out the alternator produces 140 amps at 3000 rpms (car idles at ~1000 rpms). Revving er up a little bit does actually help but the rendering will complete in a dozen or so minutes so I think I'm good. Thanks for your helps guys.
- Nov 18, 2008
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Don't worry. I could've left the garage door shut on accident which would've been one spark away from blowing the whole house up... So in that case, electrocution would've been a better alternative.
Note to self: buy a generator so I don't need to use my car as one...
Note to self: buy a generator so I don't need to use my car as one...
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