I think the Inverter is too heavily relied upon in Van dwelling. A necessary evil, i have two of them, but everything which I have which can run off of a DC to DC converter, is run off it.
For USB charged devices, I have a Blueseas dual port hardwired:
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Syst...8&qid=1391802139&sr=1-1&keywords=blueseas+usb
Do note that this product has a very small parasitic draw when not powering anything. I pull the fuse on mine when I fly to the other side of the country once a year. It is also electrically "quiet" when charging my MP3 player while also playing music through it, with other adapters, the ground loop humm was loud and annoying. It was much less when the Mp3 was charging through this Blueseas USB port but not entirely eliminated. I bought a ground loop isolator for the 3.5mm stereo mini plug which did eliminate the charging humm.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...rh=i:electronics,k:3.5mm ground loop isolator.
The Humm was always very bad when broadcasting laptop audio through car stereo. The GLI eliminated it entirely.
For charging my laptop, I use a PWR+ brand 90 watt car adapter. It uses significantly less electricity than using the inverter to power the included power brick. It depends on the task being performed but the electricity saved during typing a response in this forum is close to 50%, but while streaming a Video is about 15%.
My provided dell 90watt 120vac power brick failed. I bought a PWR+ brand replacement, and this one is slightly more efficient on the inverter than the Dell provided one.
Go into Amazon electronics, type in your laptop make and model number and add "car adapter"
Make sure it shows a picture of the ciggy plug.
Do note that the ciggy plugs wear out. I've replaced my adapter's plug several times, but this repair might be beyond the comfort level of many.
Next time this one fails, I'm just wiring up an Anderson powerpole connector. I already have one on the adapter input, but not one in the region of the ciggy receptacle where it is drawing power from as I type this.
There are better Ciggy plug/receptacle designs one can use which will last longer, and require no soldering.
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Syst...3072&sr=8-4&keywords=Blue+Sea+Systems+12+Volt
If anybody has a failed car adapter, it is likely just the ciggy plug no longer transmitting 12v to the brick. Wire up the above product for an easy fix.
If anybody is wiring up ciggy plug receptacles, getting quality locking plugs like the above one will save headaches later, which is worth more than what was saved by buying cheaper available plugs/receptacles.
