In my experience, if you have limited wattage your laptop may not charge while operating. It may also run off its battery while plugged into the charger. Most times, however, you can shut it down and it will charge through a low wattage charger (slowly). Depends on the equipment, but that has been my experience.

Anyone else here using a Battery Geek Portable Power Station?

I have the 140 Wh model mainly because it seems to have the best Energy to Weight ratio. Gotta say, it's much nicer than the APC battery I used to have. Where else are you going to find 140 Wh and 200 Wh batteries??

It also works with MacBooks/MacBook Pros. I was rather upset when after upgrading to a MacBook, my APC external battery became useless.

Another great thing is that it has a built in USB port. The drawback is that you need to keep the battery output at 5V and thus probably won't be able to power your laptop while using USB power. Because of that, I'm considering either getting one their smaller power power packs or just another 140 Wh.

I use the Kensington 120W Universal AC/DC Power Adapter. It has tips for nearly all of my gadgets and with the flat, rollup power cord and the "hydra" adapter tips, it is small, light and can charge the notebook and two gadgets at the same time. When I purchased it, they had a promotion such that most tips were $10 with a $10 rebate, so I stocked up.

Recently, I saw they released another version with a USB charger. As stated in an earlier post, there already is a mini USB tip for Blackberry devices for this version. The iGo wasn't a good option as only the 70 or 90W had tips for my Sony Vaio notebook. Tip selection was better than the offerings from Targus. It has worked great and is drafted into daily use in my office with the original Sony adapter in another area to save moving it constantly.

A couple of months ago, I picked up APC Universal Plug, which is a small, very light weight convertable world power adapter. This takes the place of my largish adapter with slide selectable plugs. It was $14.99 and is really nice and was an unexpected find at Fry's.

This is the smallest, lightest adapter I've seen and is sturdy in use, though it is mostly plastic and doesn't feel as solid as some heavier adapters at first. It is also extremely cool in how it converts between plug configurations.

Here's the URL: http://www.apc.com/resource/include/...NPA&tab=models

Click on the "More Images" to see how it reconfigures.

I'm not sure why this isn't more known and available, but it is easily my favorite world plug adapter.

Thanks for this - I have never been able to get empower working through the Kensington on BA - I will try these tips :)

Boeing 777 from Newark to Beijing
 

I'm sure that this has been covered somewhere here, but I haven't been able to find it by searching.

Has anyone recently (last 2 months) flown from Newark to Beijing on Continental? If so, do I need a special adapter to plug in to power my laptop or can I just use my standard one I use at home? I have heard from a couple of people that you can and others that say you need an empower adapter.

Thanks in advance.

I just bought one of these at Fry's. ^ Thanks for the pointer.

I also bought a Kensington 33362 Ultra Portable Power Inverter 150, which is very light (similar to the RS version mentioned above, but without the USB connection.

Much lighter and less expensive than the other inverters at Fry's and a higher wattage to boot. Makes me wonder what I missed that people sell heavier, more expensive, with less wattage inverters. . . :eek:

CPAP use
 

I have found little information about this on FT and discussions with airlines are contradictory and confusing. I use a CPAP for sleep apnea, which on long overnight flights adds great comfort, for me and for passengers around me who will not have to endure my snoring.

The machine is small (2.5 lbs, 7.5" X 5" X 3") and with the following electrical specs: 100-240 VAC, 50/60 Hz, 1.70 A. Trip is SFO-SYD-HKG-FCO-ORD-SEA in business. So far, CX (SYD-HKG-FCO) has been the most helpful, but the problem is that the machine is very new and probably not on their "list" of approved devices. QF (SFO-SYD) is "looking into it" - again, not on the list. Any advice?

Main question is about AA (FCO-ORD-SEA): will the in flight power ports in business class support this device? I have iGo adapters but not sure how I would use that with the regular US plug on the cpap.

Thanks for any help.

Glad you like it, the APC UniversalPlug. It is the smallest, lightest and least expensive world adapter I've seen. I don't know why that virtually nobody knows about it. I wouldn't have either except for noticing it in an inconspicuous area at Fry's.

I bought the Kensington 120W Universal power adapter myself and use it as a second adapter, so the laptop has adapters in place in the office and living room without constantly moving one around. With this adapter and the tips, this is the only power adapter I need to take for all of my devices. Inverters apparently work well but don't lessen (actually increases) the number of device power adapters one needs to pack.

Tumi Ultra Slim Universal Power Adaptor
 

After reading this thread twice, I had decided on the Kensington 120V Adaptor. However, after reading reviews of it on Amazon, I read that the Tumi adaptor is basically the same thing but with a retractable cord and a *much* nicer carrying case. However I have not been able to confirm this.

The Tumi adaptor can be found here:

http://www.tumi.com/search/ultra_sli...?modelid=83777

Does anybody know if this is true? Thanks!

I just received a Tumi adapter. Going by the pictures, your conjecture is correct. The Tumi came in a lovely Tumi box, wrapped in black felt. The carrying case itself is extremely nice. I'm quite pleased.

Wagan Tech Smart AC 120 USB
 

I picked this 120 Watt power inverter up at Frys for $19.99. It is smaller than the APC inverter mentioned earlier in this thread, and much less expensive. It has connections for both car and Empower, and a USB port to charge things that can do that. It has a nice felt carrying case that holds everything.

I used it on a flight from ORD-NRT-BKK with little issues. The only problem I had was when I placed it so that the fan was blowing into a blanket and the device overheated. Once I moved it into the open, it worked great. I did not have the opportunity to try to power a laptop and charge a USB device simultaneously, but the instructions say this is possible. It did power my Dell Inspiron 9300 (a beast!) with no problems.

I'm still going to get the Tumi universal notebook power supply b/c my Dell power supply is going to break soon, but I thought others might be interested in this little gadget.

I'm sorry, but I am sort of confused right now. I am looking for a way to power my Samsung notebook in UA business class.

Do I understand it correctly that the Kensington Inverter will provide me with a standard wall outlet? I could then just plug in my regular charger and would be ready to go?
If so, then why are you talking about device specific tips - wouldn't it be much easier to carry one universal inverter and be able to plug in the same chargers one uses at home than buying a special tip for every piece of hardware?
I am not criticizing, I just want to understand. :)

Very Confused???
 

I am probably the most confused person here. I don't understand all this talk of inverters, converters, tips, etc.

I want to use my Fujitsu Lifebook on an airplane that has Empower (according to the airlines website: DL and VS).

After reading the postings here, I looked on the Kensington site and found the Ultra Portable Power Inverter 150. http://us.kensington.com/html/10359.html

Is this all I need? I tried to find the wattage of my computer and couldn't find it on the AC adapter I use in my house. (black box thing that has one cord to the computer, and another to the AC wall outlet at home).

:confused::confused::confused:

Maybe I should just forget the whole thing and read a book!;)

The Kensington device you linked to converts an empower connector to a standard US wall outlet. Your lifebook power supply would plug into that.

Look at your Lifebook power supply again: Watts = Amps x Volts, but your computer probably will not draw the maximum for which the power supply is labeled/rated.