Vaio SZ power adapters

I have seen some confusion relating to the Vaio SZ series power adapters and using the Kensington replacement adapters.

The adapter that came with my Sony VGN-SZ250PC was the:
Model: VGP-AC19V10
Voltage: 19.5
Amperage: 4.7

Wattage: 91.65
(To determine wattage, we multiply Volts and Amps)

Polarity: Ring, negative. Tip, positive.
Weight: .92 lbs

The important number to note here is Wattage. The kensington power adapters come in 70, 90, and 120 watt varieties. It is dangerous to use too low of a number when it comes to wattage. This is because the laptop will draw more power than the power adapter can keep up with and could cause a fire or short circuit.

You MIGHT be able to get away with using the 90 watt adapter, but you will be running the adapter at close to 100% or more. I think the safest option is to use the 120 watt adapter.

-PHiZ

 

Here is an interesting resource from sony, you can see what laptops use the same power adapter as you, and then presumptively you can use an older laptop model when looking for the right tip or wattage for a replacement power adapter.

http://vaio-online.sony.com/sg/vaio/Accessories/acce_compat_2.html

-PHiZ

 

If someone has one of those new-fangled wall power meter devices that will measure the actual power (watt) draw, we could see what the OEM power adapter and Vaio SZ-series laptops ACTUALLY draw.

Exampe: http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/kill_a_watt_electric_usage_monitor_review

It may very well be that the full 91.65 watts that the OEM power adapter can produce is only truly achieved when you have both processor cores maxed out, while maxing out the graphics card while 3D gaming, and power 20 USB devices

At which point we could deduce that it would be reasonable to run the laptop off the kensington 90watt model...

-PHiZ

 

Hrm, there appear to be some models available that are not on kensington's site. Remember AC means WALL OUTLET. DC means cigarette lighter or airplane outlet.

On kensington's site:
33196: 120 Watt Notebook DC Power Adapter
33197:120 Watt Notebook AC/DC Power Adapter

not on kensington's site
38004:120 Watt Universal AC Power Adapter

If you have no plans to use the adapter in your cigarette lighter or on an airplane you might be able to save some money by going with the model: 38004.

-PHiZ

 

If you check out Kensington's website, they would actually point you towards the 120W bricks if you selected the SZs while using their wizards.

So Kensington is officially telling you to use the 120W transformers.

I'd say that if you're using any Core Duo system or later, you should be using 120W for the high power draw.

 

i'm still worried about the tips. neither the n4, n15 or official n27 seem to fit as well at the sony

 

The fit sucks but it works.

 

yes it does, and it's way way lighter then the igo 120

 

While you are worrying about the fit of the tip I have been traveling all over Europe with my SZ-260 and light weight Kensington 120 AC/DC [120/240] with the N27 tip [N4 and 15 work also] and experiencing perfect performance.

The Kensington is currently the best product of its type on the market [features/weight/performance/price].

It is my opinion that you are worrying over nothing...

 

I use the 120 also and the N4 tip works just fine.

 

supposedly the 27 tip has the correct voltage. but i used the n4 for 3 months with no problem

 

I'm using the N4 tip right now, but I called kensington and they are shipping me the N27 Plug for free.

 

Kensington are a good company. You can't buy the 120 AC adapter in Europe, to do with safety regs. So I bought it from the US on eBay, phoned Kensington up explained what I'd done and they just sent me a UK power lead to save me using a US/UK plug adapter. Top customer service indeed.

 

they are a great company. they replaced my whole thin and light when i lost my dc adaptor (so now i have 2 one for ac only and 1 for both) sony should take some lessons from them

 

I've put it to the test and measured the actual power consumption of my SZ370P.

1.) I've measured on the primary side of the OEM power supply (VGP-AC19V10), which seems to have a very bad efficiency level. According to specifications (and my tests), the efficiency is as bad as 70%, so the actual power consumption of the laptop is even lower than the draw of the power supply.

2.) It IS true that Kensington recommends the 120W power supply for the SZ, but I suppose that's due to SONY's specifications and NOT due to the actual power consumption.

3.) It is NOT true that drawing more than the specified current from the Kensington adapter results in electric shock, fire, serious injuries or thermo nuclear catastrophes . I've tested that as well. The power supply simply switches off.

4.) Airplane power outlets are limited to 70W anyways, so you won't be able to use a laptop which draws more than 70W there.

Here are my test results:

When using Microsoft Office in "Maximum Battery" mode, the power consumption is 25W

When watching DVD the power consumption is around 35W.

Then I switched to "Speed" mode (NVIDIA GPU), maximum LCD brightness, maximum performance, put a UMTS data card in the express slot, used a digital PCMCIA TV card, connected 2 bus-powered 2.5" HDDs, switched on WWAN and put the volume to maximum, used an empty battery pack and a benchmark software to create 100% CPU and GPU load while ripping a DVD in the background. Maximum draw was 76 watts.

As the efficiency level of the Kensington power supply (at least the DC/DC) is WAY better than the one of the OEM power supply, I don't see a way to draw more than 70W out of the Kensington.

Volker