Np9150 power brick and traveling. Do you really need the 180w?

I have a jeep Cherokee with a 150w ac plug and I travel with my laptop on occasion and use the plug to play games on my dell. I've used a DC power adaptor in the past without issues but the np9150 I have some concerns.

Is there anyway to power down thing so it will still work while traveling? Will it hurt the laptop? I know my jeep will just flip a switch of the draw is too great for the plug so there is atleast one safety built in.

Are there any travel options out there? A small DC or AC plug that you won't have the issue with the power draw?

 

Any ideas on this?

 

Check out this somewhat recent thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/668079-slim-lighter-power-supply-new-sager-np9150.html

Summary: you should be able to use a smaller/lower wattage power adapter, provided you avoid playing games or doing graphic intensive stuff that'll use the dedicated graphics.

Also, it's good to hear the Jeep has protection for high power levels. I drive a Saturn S-Series, and one issue that comes up on them sometimes is a charred connection in the fusebox that's generally believed to be caused by accessories powered from the cigarette lighter drawing too much power. Still, in this case it'd be nice if the Jeep would support something more like 200w.

 

Yea I might look into the option of increasing the wattage of the jeep, but that might a bigger project them just reducing the wattage of the laptop.

I read that thread so the main thing is you can use the stock PSU or a smaller PSU without issue as long as you don't use the GPU. Is there anyway to still be able to use the GPU but at lower wattage or power settings?

 

sure, just downclock the gpu (in my case with Nvidia Inspector for example) then it doesnt matter how much load u put on it

cheers

 

Down clocking it doesn't harm it correct? So down clock it to the same percentage I would over clock it to? Roughly 20%?

 

actually i downclocked mine to even below its stock idle clocks keep in mind that every gpu has idle, 2D and 3D clock states. i downclocked all three to below the idle state and my system never even breaks 100W during load with powersaving mode

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2

 

Do you still game with it down clocked? Does it still function as intended? Without issue? If this is the case I could totally use the 150w plug with the stock 180w PSU without too much issue and play games and everything else with it.

 

You might be able to game on LOW, but why would you want to do that? Does that switch in your jeep have a pop out circiut breaker that you reset, or is there a fuse? What size is the fuse/cb? The difference between 150w and 180w is .25 amps. (150w@120v is 1.25, 180w@120v is 1.5a). I see you posted on the jeep forum as well

Try this. If you unplug your charger, you gpu reverts to p12 state. If your satisfied with that, then you could try down clocking. Honestly it might be as simple as undervolting.

 

Main issue is I travel and I use the vehicle power while I'm out to get work done and during some of this ill be playing on it to kill time. The rest of the year I'll e using it plugged in my living room.

I'm trying to trouble shoot before I'm in the middle of no where frying my laptop or worse my jeep!

1. I'm going to have to get a kila watt meter and judge the pull.

2. Try it on the 150w plug. If it draws too much the jeep has a safety built in that will cut the power and the laptop will go into battery mode without the problem of it osculating between the two power states.

3. Try to replace the stick inverter with a larger one.

4. Buy a 200w dc inverter and hope it doesn't cook off fuses like crazy.

5. Try to lower computer draw through under clocking or other power management features.

 

With installing a larger inverter, you realize you need a larger gauge wire to supply it, as well as an alternator that will handle it.

What games are you trying to run, that will decide if you are doing a full downclock or an undervolt.

The power inverter is designed with built-in overload protection. If the power rating of 150 Watts is exceeded, the power inverter will automatically shut down. Once the electrical device has been removed from the outlet the inverter should automatically reset. If the power rating exceeds approximately 170 Watts, the power inverter may have to be reset manually. To reset the inverter manually press the power inverter button OFF and ON.

 

I'll hook it up to the kill a watt meter as soon as I get it if you wanna wait and let you know. What games do you plan on playing?

 

Sc2 Skyrim and diablo 3

 

I can help you out w/ Skyrim out of that bunch, lol. I also play HON and I have BF3 that I can use but I don't ever play it

 

haha no, i dont use those low clocks for gaming,wouldnt make sense since like 90% of the perf is gone but then again why would anyone be sitting in his CAR and play games????? (especially while the laptop is most likely sitting on his lap? thats gonna be hot! = ouch and unnecessary heat stress on the components ) the downclocking only makes sense if u wish to have a silent/powersaving machine that u can use for work/internet stuff/movies in combination with a smaller power adapter. anything connected to heavy load such as encoding or gaming just doesnt make sense in that situation. cant have everything

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2

 

I've gamed in the car before on long road trips while the wife is driving, lol

 

That's some win right there.

Wonder if a tethered 3g or 4g connection would be reliable/consistent enough for online gaming while driving down the road. I could just see the phone switching towers, you get sudden nasty lag, and bang, you're dead.

 

lol crazy hardcore gamers here on nbr, i like

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2

 

I remember reading it somewhere that if the current drawn by the power supply (in this case the 150w plug) is more than that it can handle (assuming that the 150w plug has a 5A limit while the np9150 needs 8A current), you will have a hot plug after some time and may eventually have a melted plug at the end. Check those power ratings to be safe.