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    Dell power supply auto-detection, how does it work?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by deskwarrior, Oct 1, 2006.

  1. deskwarrior

    deskwarrior Newbie

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    I have a shiny new Dell D420. The BIOS tells me I'm running a 65w (?: it's a while since I rebooted) supply so I assume it figured this out somehow. I'm wondering how it knows this.

    It seems to be a 3-pin connector cunningly disguised: the plug is a cylinder with central pin, cylinder is metal on inner and outer surfaces. This knackered Dell C500 has a 3-pin thing too.

    Hmm, http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2003/12/10/bunnie.html says
    I wouldn't've bought it if I'd known that. 8-(

    Questions: where can I find out more about this? If I want to provide power myself, what are my options? (Other that mains inverter or submit to Dell's iron rule)

    Thanks.
     
    deskwarrior, Oct 1, 2006
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  2. Jagged73

    Jagged73 Notebook Guru

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    The Dell power brick does definately communicate with your laptops mobo. Its how my motherboard failure was diagnosed....by the light on the power brick.

    As far as supplying power Im not sure what your wondering about. With my E1505 it says right on the brick that it is 110-240. This means that with a simple adapter on the end of the cord I can plug it into any socket european or North american with no worries.
     
    Jagged73, Oct 2, 2006
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  3. DrJ

    DrJ Notebook Enthusiast

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    The Kensington 120w adapter powers and charges my Dell e1505 just fine without producing the warning message at boot up (like the 70w Targus adapter which I returned did)...it acts just like the factory supply and works fine....
     
    DrJ, Oct 2, 2006
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  4. deskwarrior

    deskwarrior Newbie

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    DrJ: thanks, "works with 3rd party PSU" is good to hear. "With a warning" is fine too, I'm good at ignoring warnings from computers :rolleyes: but without power...

    Jagged73: I wanted to know what my options are: if I'm somewhere without the PSU, or where there's no mains to run it, or just want a spare PSU to leave in the office.

    I might hesitate to hang the shiny new laptop off a DC supply I made myself, but the old Dell C500 might get that treatment. Laptop power-over-ethernet, perhaps. The load is probably too high for standard PoE kit, but maybe if I'm on a short run... 12v (ish) tapped from a UPS battery -> 48v PoE -> 19v laptop supply, that's the vague plan. One day, when I have spare time.
     
    deskwarrior, Oct 9, 2006
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