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July 6th, 2010 16:00
DC/DC (Auto) Adapter for Precision M6400 laptop
Is anyone aware of a 12v DC (auto) to 19.5v DC power adapter for the Dell Precision M6400 laptop? There are a few low wattage adapters (Dell OEM) for sale by a number of web retailers claiming to be compatible with the M6400 but they all have a low output (60-70 watts). The AC/DC adapter that come with the M6400 has a 220 watt output. Are any of these capable of powering the M6400 and charging the battery? pjs
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ieee488
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July 6th, 2010 17:00
What is the DC voltage and current on the AC adapter that you are using?
Also note that the AC adapter is both to power and charge the battery.
pjstarich
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July 7th, 2010 10:00
I received a notification via email that ieee488 replied to this thread......but I cannot see the reply message. Any hints on why the reply does not appear on this page? - pjs
pjstarich
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July 7th, 2010 21:00
The AC/DC adapter that came with the machine has a DC output of 19.5v and 10.8 amps, about 3-4 times the wattage of the Dell Air/Auto adapter.
simplesolutions1
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February 25th, 2012 18:00
This is an old topic but someone may also be looking for answer so.. this would not be possible to use a Mobile Adapter connected to your cigarette lighter plug. As you have already stated the M6400 standard adapter pulls 220w. Under full load without the GPU the power requirement is up over 160w. The automobile plug draws 12v through the plug and pulls the amount of amperage required to meet the power requirement. The transformer imbedded in the "brick" has to be fed enough power to power the laptop at 19.5v at over 12A. 18 ga wire can carry no more than 6-8amps to be safe, and 18 ga is a conservative guess to what most automobile cigarette plugs are. This is not enough to power an automobile AC adapter plug without burning up your wiring so they would not make an adapter plug that could carry that much power.
There is a solution however, you could use a smaller 220w power adapter and use an inverter to plug the power adapter into. The inverter will draw only the amount of current it requires and then a lot of small circuitry in the inverter will vary the output to meet the needs of the power adapter, you must use a inverter that exceeds the 220w that the laptop requires at peak load. Otherwise you will exceed the inverters capabilities and it will either burn up the inverter or blow a fuse. Good luck.