P15xHM - Inconsistency between 120 & 180 watt power adapters?

Hey Guys!

I own a P151HM1 with the 120watt power adapter, and i decided to do some testing...

So i went out and got the australian equivelent to KIL-A-WATT or whatever its called, and i tested how much watts the laptop was outputting...

So loaded up Crysis 2, DX 11 + high res pack, 1080p, everything on "high" and the wattage was 116watts, every now and then it would spike to 122-128watts then back down again to around 115 and above, it did at one stage record a spike of about 130 and something ! (theres a setting that reads max watts detected) so it seems its sitting on edge.

Now i went ahead and purchased the 180 watt power adapter my clevo model laptop, and repeated the same steps, on same day, same savegame location same everything (not that it matters to much) and its struggling to hit 80 watt peak, its hovering around 60-75watts...

Now i havent lost any performance what so ever, 3d mark is identical, and game fps are identical...so does anyone know which one is lieing if at all?

The specs are of the adapters are;

Liteon "120" watt adapter;

Input: 100-240V ~ 2.15A 50-60HZ
Output: 19V, 6.3A

"180" watt adapter;
Input: 100-240V ~ 3.0A 50/60HZ
Output: 19V, 9.5A

Anyone know?

Thanks Guys

 

whats the brand for 180 adapter ? is it liteon also ?

 

Nah It just says replacement AC adapter...

 

The adapter is massive and feels chunky though

 

it seems that the 120W adapter is just very inefficient - would you notice a temperature difference between the two?

 

Thanks for the responses guys...I'll have to test the temperature differences, but i do no the 180 watt still gets pretty warm.

 

I'll try my kill a watt later if I remember this thread in the morning

 

thanks dude!

 

Higher power adaptors have to be more efficient, while they are larger, at 180W it would have to dissipate 50% more heat than the 120W adaptor.

It looks like that 120W adaptor is pretty inefficient.

Also remember that the wattage draw from the wall is:

Wall power draw = system power draw + PSU waste

10% waste is a good figure, 20-30% is bad.

 

well usually they are rated for around 80% efficiency so im not sure where you are getting those figures from.

 

There is this standard, but I don't think it applies to mobile parts:

80 PLUS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

80% is a bit rubbish tbh, at these sorts of wattages you should be aiming for 90%.

20% of 180W is 36W, which is over half an old style lightbulb.

You can get 90W adaptors that range from 91% to 88% efficiency over 20% to 100% load.

 

Something is crazy here, my kill-a-watt is reporting that my power draw at the wall is 150W when playing a 3D game. Tried GTA IV, Witcher 2, and CS. The power draw is from the 140s to 150s. I only have the "120W" adapter.

Perhaps it's because the battery was in? I'll try again with the battery removed.

-edit: with the battery removed, it's a lower draw but still 140W minimum.

 

Well you need to remember the rating of these supplies are at the output to the load, so if you have an 85% efficiency that equates to 140W at the wall.

Also the output rating is usually a little conservative so you may get up to 110% of rating on a continuous basis without harm to your supply.

 

At least the genuine power supplies usually will lol.

 

Well the difference between PSU rating and the draw at the wall can help us determine efficiency right? As of right now, the draw at the wall is about 25% higher than the supposed rating of this powersupply. 75% efficiency?

Remember that a large factor in efficiency is heat. Notebook powersupplies are compact and sealed in a plastic casing with no way to vent off the heat inside. The heat probably kills efficiency. I've been playing a game for an hour and my PSU is bloody hot right now, even through the plastic.

 

Yes heat does hurt, but again you get hotter at higher wattages at the same efficiency.

 

actually heat probably makes it less efficient. if you have your unit cooler rather than hotter it will probably be able to output more watts more safely than an uncooled unit.