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From: BillW50 on 26 Apr 2010 21:04
In news:hr50l4$r5l$1(a)news.eternal-september.org,
Barry Watzman typed on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:30:06 -0400:
> You change the "power tips"; they don't "auto sense" the needed
> voltage, that was the OP's misunderstanding of what was happening.

I don't know... Smart power adapters is the next step and autosensing
the polarity and the voltage is the next step.

> Here was what he posted: "This Chinese thing comes with a whole bunch
> of different plugs ...."

Read again:

Lars typed on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:11:01 +0200:
>> It is supposed to "sense" what kind of juice the different laptops
>> need.

> The plugs are not JUST to change the connector; they also set the
> polarity and the voltage.

Some plugs can be reversed, but some others can only be connected one
way and the polarity needs to be switched on the unit. And all universal
power supplies up to now had a switch to select the right voltage.
Selecting the right plug doesn't select the right voltage.

> I've never seen anyone use 30-watt adapters for laptops, or claim that
> you could. Even 1995 laptops drew more than that.

Radio Shack did. And they recalled them. Although I still have mine. lol

> But a number of older universal supplies are 60 watts, which is really
> too low for many of today's laptops. You can, however, get away with
> a lot less than the stated power requirements. The laptop's OEM power
> supply is rated to handle a worst case situation .... maximum load on
> everything while charging a discharged battery. And the laptops still
> usually draw 10% or more less than the rating. I routinely do use 60
> watt adapters with laptops rated for 75 to 90 watts, and have never
> had a problem, although I would not say that I never would have one.

All of my four Gateways use 65 watt supplies. Although if you measure
the wattage without a battery, the laptops use 22 watts or less. And
they work just fine with a 30 watt supply. Although all bets are off if
they are charging a battery too. All of them run Celeron M CPUs which
are known for their low power use.

This M465 for example with the second battery and an extended main
battery can run about 7 to 8 hours. And the second battery allows you to
swap out the main battery without powering down the laptop. So if you
have spares like I do, you just keep swapping batteries and keep on
going without effecting what is going on with the laptop.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3


From: Charlie Hoffpauir on 26 Apr 2010 22:08
On Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:04:12 -0500, "BillW50" <BillW50(a)aol.kom> wrote:

>In news:hr50l4$r5l$1(a)news.eternal-september.org,
>Barry Watzman typed on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:30:06 -0400:
>> You change the "power tips"; they don't "auto sense" the needed
>> voltage, that was the OP's misunderstanding of what was happening.
>
>I don't know... Smart power adapters is the next step and autosensing
>the polarity and the voltage is the next step.
>
>> Here was what he posted: "This Chinese thing comes with a whole bunch
>> of different plugs ...."
>
>Read again:
>
>Lars typed on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:11:01 +0200:
>>> It is supposed to "sense" what kind of juice the different laptops
>>> need.
>
>> The plugs are not JUST to change the connector; they also set the
>> polarity and the voltage.
>
>Some plugs can be reversed, but some others can only be connected one
>way and the polarity needs to be switched on the unit. And all universal
>power supplies up to now had a switch to select the right voltage.
>Selecting the right plug doesn't select the right voltage.
>
>> I've never seen anyone use 30-watt adapters for laptops, or claim that
>> you could. Even 1995 laptops drew more than that.
>
>Radio Shack did. And they recalled them. Although I still have mine. lol
>
>> But a number of older universal supplies are 60 watts, which is really
>> too low for many of today's laptops. You can, however, get away with
>> a lot less than the stated power requirements. The laptop's OEM power
>> supply is rated to handle a worst case situation .... maximum load on
>> everything while charging a discharged battery. And the laptops still
>> usually draw 10% or more less than the rating. I routinely do use 60
>> watt adapters with laptops rated for 75 to 90 watts, and have never
>> had a problem, although I would not say that I never would have one.
>
>All of my four Gateways use 65 watt supplies. Although if you measure
>the wattage without a battery, the laptops use 22 watts or less. And
>they work just fine with a 30 watt supply. Although all bets are off if
>they are charging a battery too. All of them run Celeron M CPUs which
>are known for their low power use.
>
>This M465 for example with the second battery and an extended main
>battery can run about 7 to 8 hours. And the second battery allows you to
>swap out the main battery without powering down the laptop. So if you
>have spares like I do, you just keep swapping batteries and keep on
>going without effecting what is going on with the laptop.

Bill,

FWIW, I also still have my working Radio Shack 30 watt supply,
although I admit it's not used very often. Still works fine, though.
--
Charlie Hoffpauir

Everything is what it is because it got that way....D'Arcy Thompson
From: Barry Watzman on 26 Apr 2010 23:11
This was fact:

"This Chinese thing comes with a whole bunch of different plugs ...."

This was the OP's conjecture:

"It is supposed to "sense" what kind of juice the different laptops need"

There is no way to auto-sense the needed voltage or polarity.

On MOST of the "Universal" adapters, there is a "tip" specified for each
model of laptop. The tip sets the voltage and polarity (there are
components other than the connector itself in the interchangeable tip).
On some, you set the voltage an polarity manually, and changing tips
only changes the connector.
From: BillW50 on 29 Apr 2010 13:23
In news:6mhct5pcp1ltkt9dqga0ochv8ohah3klmq(a)4ax.com,
Charlie Hoffpauir typed on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:08:57 -0500:
> On Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:04:12 -0500, "BillW50" <BillW50(a)aol.kom> wrote:
>
>> In news:hr50l4$r5l$1(a)news.eternal-september.org,
>> Barry Watzman typed on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:30:06 -0400:
[...]
>>> I've never seen anyone use 30-watt adapters for laptops, or claim
>>> that you could. Even 1995 laptops drew more than that.
>>
>> Radio Shack did. And they recalled them. Although I still have mine.
>> lol
[...]
> Bill,
>
> FWIW, I also still have my working Radio Shack 30 watt supply,
> although I admit it's not used very often. Still works fine, though.

Hello Charlie! Good to hear from another Radio Shack 30 watt universal
power supply user. And yes, I could see that not many would use a 30
watt power supply too often. Still very handy when you need one though.
;-)

Cat No. 273-1826
Input: 11-16VDC 5A MAX
Output: 9-24VDC 30W MAX

Manual
http://support.radioshack.com/support_accessories/doc64/64796.pdf

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2


From: BillW50 on 29 Apr 2010 13:26
In news:hr5km2$aqt$1(a)news.eternal-september.org,
Barry Watzman typed on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:11:56 -0400:
> This was fact:
>
> "This Chinese thing comes with a whole bunch of different plugs ...."
>
> This was the OP's conjecture:
>
> "It is supposed to "sense" what kind of juice the different laptops
> need"
> There is no way to auto-sense the needed voltage or polarity.
>
> On MOST of the "Universal" adapters, there is a "tip" specified for
> each model of laptop. The tip sets the voltage and polarity (there
> are components other than the connector itself in the interchangeable
> tip). On some, you set the voltage an polarity manually, and
> changing tips only changes the connector.

I guess we should ask Lars. As I was under the impression that the one
Lars is talking about, all you need to do is to select the right tip and
everything else like voltage and polarity is automatically set for you.

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2


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