@MicrobicWalnut You won’t damage anything by using an undersized power supply (or an oversized one for that matter). The system will indeed attempt to adapt to a reduced power budget by reducing its power consumption, which will appear as slower battery charging and possibly throttled performance. Worst case the system will continue drawing from the battery to make up for a shortfall if the power source is simply too small and it can’t keep its power consumption within its limits, but that’s a last resort. So if you’re ok with the downsides, it’s completely fine to operate that way.
@MicrobicWalnut If the system recognizes the adapter as a Dell power supply, it will identify its wattage and not try to draw more power than is possible. That power supply might get warmer than usual because the high-draw system might be running the power supply closer to its max capacity than a system actually DESIGNED with that power supply in mind, but that doesn’t mean the system is trying to pull more power than the power supply is capable of providing.
And if a Dell system can’t identify the power supply either because it’s a third-party supply or there’s some sort of equipment problem somewhere, the power supply will be recognized as Unknown, and in that case the system will reduce its power consumption as much as possible in order to avoid trying to draw more power than the power supply might be able to handle. I don’t know how low the “play it safe” power consumption level is on an M17 R3, so maybe if you connect a ridiculously undersized AND third-party power adapter, you might still have a problem. But just don’t do that.
Thanks so much guys! I was doing a lot of Googling around this and couldn't really find an answer I was confident with. I've seen some people say that the laptop will try to draw more amps than the power supply can handle, which can cause the power supply to overheat and fail which in turn will damage the laptop. I've also seen someone else say that they tried it and their battery went super hot (I haven't experienced that).
I'll go ahead and use my 240W power brick at work then. If anyone sees this question and is confident that there will actually be an issue, please let me know! This is a very expensive machine and the last thing I want to do is damage it lol.
@MicrobicWalnut I've worked in IT for about 15 years now, most of that time in environments that used a lot of Dell laptops, so I've seen more than my share of power supply issues and have had opportunities to experiment with mixing and matching parts.
jphughan
9 Legend
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14K Posts
1
June 25th, 2020 05:00
@MicrobicWalnut You won’t damage anything by using an undersized power supply (or an oversized one for that matter). The system will indeed attempt to adapt to a reduced power budget by reducing its power consumption, which will appear as slower battery charging and possibly throttled performance. Worst case the system will continue drawing from the battery to make up for a shortfall if the power source is simply too small and it can’t keep its power consumption within its limits, but that’s a last resort. So if you’re ok with the downsides, it’s completely fine to operate that way.
RuskinF
2 Intern
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272 Posts
1
June 25th, 2020 06:00
Nothing is wrong with an undersized power brick.
The only bad thing about it is that you will have to charge the laptop every now and then.
And the system will always be on the best battery life mode instead of the best performance mode.
I hope this solves your issue.
jphughan
9 Legend
•
14K Posts
1
June 25th, 2020 06:00
@MicrobicWalnut If the system recognizes the adapter as a Dell power supply, it will identify its wattage and not try to draw more power than is possible. That power supply might get warmer than usual because the high-draw system might be running the power supply closer to its max capacity than a system actually DESIGNED with that power supply in mind, but that doesn’t mean the system is trying to pull more power than the power supply is capable of providing.
And if a Dell system can’t identify the power supply either because it’s a third-party supply or there’s some sort of equipment problem somewhere, the power supply will be recognized as Unknown, and in that case the system will reduce its power consumption as much as possible in order to avoid trying to draw more power than the power supply might be able to handle. I don’t know how low the “play it safe” power consumption level is on an M17 R3, so maybe if you connect a ridiculously undersized AND third-party power adapter, you might still have a problem. But just don’t do that.
MicrobicWalnut
1 Rookie
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3 Posts
0
June 25th, 2020 06:00
Thanks so much guys! I was doing a lot of Googling around this and couldn't really find an answer I was confident with. I've seen some people say that the laptop will try to draw more amps than the power supply can handle, which can cause the power supply to overheat and fail which in turn will damage the laptop. I've also seen someone else say that they tried it and their battery went super hot (I haven't experienced that).
I'll go ahead and use my 240W power brick at work then. If anyone sees this question and is confident that there will actually be an issue, please let me know! This is a very expensive machine and the last thing I want to do is damage it lol.
MicrobicWalnut
1 Rookie
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3 Posts
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June 25th, 2020 07:00
@jphughan wow I don't know how you know all this, but I appreciate the info! I feel much more confident using the 240W brick now Thanks heaps!
jphughan
9 Legend
•
14K Posts
1
June 25th, 2020 07:00
@MicrobicWalnut I've worked in IT for about 15 years now, most of that time in environments that used a lot of Dell laptops, so I've seen more than my share of power supply issues and have had opportunities to experiment with mixing and matching parts.