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    Charging 9550 with 12V inverter?

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by antik, Jun 19, 2019.

  1. antik

    antik Notebook Consultant

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    I’m heading away on a road trip and was wondering if I could safely charge my Dell XPS 15 laptop on a 300W modified sine wave inverter. I only intend to charge the laptop whilst driving, it won’t be used whilst charging and I don’t want to charge without the car running. The laptop charger specs are:
    Input: 100-240V 1.8A 50-60 Hz
    Output: 130W 19.5V 6.67A

    Thanks
     
    antik, Jun 19, 2019
    #1
  2. custom90gt

    custom90gt Doc Mod Super Moderator

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    You shouldn't have any issues charging it with that inverter. Charging the laptop should be <60W or so continuous draw which the 300W inverter should have no issues providing.

    Another thought would be the 65W (or higher) USB C adapter for the car. It would be less versatile than the inverter, but likely smaller and could be used on newer devices like cell phones as well...
     
    custom90gt, Jun 19, 2019
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  3. antik

    antik Notebook Consultant

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    I wasn’t worried about the inverter being able to handle the wattage, more so the modified sine wave...
     
    antik, Jun 19, 2019
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  4. jeremyshaw

    jeremyshaw Big time Idiot

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    In which case, a direct DC-DC car adapter would still be better.

    If the 9550 can handle USB-C charging, then I'd go for that. Lenovo sells one such adaptor, as does Dell. Both are 65W, which would be enough for charging purposes (if the XPS 9550 supports that).
     
    jeremyshaw, Jun 19, 2019
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  5. seiyafan

    seiyafan Notebook Evangelist

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    Well, the input is AC and the output is DC, usually the modified sine wave matters if the output is AC. A good AC to DC converter at the output stage should take care of the dirty power with good filters.

    Edit: please ignore, lol, I misunderstood the question.
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2019
    seiyafan, Jun 19, 2019
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  6. antik

    antik Notebook Consultant

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    I don’t want to buy a USB-C charger just for this trip. I already own the inverter so I just wanted to know if it will safely work, not what other better options are available
     
    antik, Jun 19, 2019
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  7. custom90gt

    custom90gt Doc Mod Super Moderator

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    I've never ran into an issue running laptop power adapters off of a modified sine wave The Dell adapter isn't a real sensitive piece of equipment, nor is it an AC motor. If you're worried, the safer/better option would be a DC power supply...
     
    custom90gt, Jun 19, 2019
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  8. Drew1

    Drew1 Notebook Virtuoso

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    I'm curious about this. So you want power on the go right? But you will be using it outside? Some one mentioned to me you cannot use that in your own apartment right? I mean like say you have power outage, and need backup battery on your laptop.


    How many hours would you get out of it? Also what battery do you have in your laptop, 56 or 84 or 97? I have the small 56wh one because my xps a long time ago came with 2 hard drives as oppose to 1.
     
    Drew1, Jun 25, 2019
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