I don't know, I never had a problem with mine.
You could always put a fuse inline on the power cable out to the laptop.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Kao [mailto:dtkao0205@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 11:43 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM; pdooley
Subject: Re: Invertor ?

The one on eBay is an aftermarket Universal DC adapter.
Inside it is a small switching power inverter with adjustable
(selectable from a switch outside) DC output voltage.
it is dirt cheap because it is an aftermarket brand that
carries just about no liability or warrant. OEM adapters
will sell at prices several times of that.

The quality and reliability of an aftermarket one is a
concern to me. But most of them will work fine except a few
out of a few thousands may burn and trash the equipment it
powers.

David

--- On Fri, 2/27/09, pdooley <psdooley@VERIZON.NET> wrote:

> From: pdooley <psdooley@VERIZON.NET>
> Subject: Re: Invertor ?
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Date: Friday, February 27, 2009, 5:49 AM
> David, did you mean to say DC notebook adapters are quite
> "in"expensive?
>
> You can get a DC adapter that plugs into the cigarette
> lighter for less than
> 11 bucks with free shipping.
> Doesn't get much cheaper than that.
> http://tinyurl.com/agfkzd
>