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Power companion is not compatible
My laptop is Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Series.
I bought a power companion recommended by the Dell representative.
Just received the shipment today, and it won't charge my laptop.
It does keep the battery stay on the same level, but it won't charge it.
Here is what I got as soon as I plugged the power companion into my laptop:
" Your AC power adapter type cannot be determined.
Your system will operate slower and the battery will not charge. This problem might be solved by:
1. Ensure the plug is inserted completely for best system operations.
2. Connect a Dell 65W AC adapter or higher."
I have tried everything and the problem still remains.
Frustrating!
robert p
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November 29th, 2017 03:00
Hi Herbacin,
Thanks for posting.
Apologies that your power companion is not charging your computer, however according to the information for the device, it's not intended to "charge" a computer, but only to provide additional power when the battery is low.
jphughan
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November 29th, 2017 23:00
The larger Power Companion (18,000 mAh) can act as a 90W adapter when it is ITSELF connected to power to charge both the Power Companion and PC simultaneously; it operates at a reduced wattage when it is not, although I can't remember if it's 65W or 45W. The smaller Power Companion (12,000 mAh) has a maximum output of 45W.
Depending on the Power Companion you have, system you're using it with, and the system's workload at the time, those wattage levels may or may not be enough to actually charge the system. On the XPS 15, for example, if you're maxing out the CPU and GPU simultaneously, the even the larger Power Companion in 90W mode will not supply enough power to even maintain the existing charge level; instead, it will simply slow down the DISCHARGE rate -- so you wouldn't want to wait until you dropped to 5% battery level on a video encoding job before plugging it in. This is partly why the Power Companion product page talks about charging laptops while they're in your bag (shut down). However, laptops with lower power requirements should indeed be able to charge even while powered on.
I don't know what wattage AC adapter your Inspiron 15 3000 Series ships with, so I don't know how much power it expects to get, but I doubt it's more than the XPS 15's 130W, so this does sound like it could be a defective Power Companion.
samos1111
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November 29th, 2017 04:00
"it's not intended to "charge" a computer, but only to provide additional power when the battery is low." ???
Got a 45W Dell charger which usually manages to charge the XPS 15 despite the 130W rated consumption.
If it says "Your AC power adapter type cannot be determined."
it more likely means that the third central data pin is not connected. Perhaps a faulty cable or socket.
herbacin
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November 29th, 2017 18:00
Thank you for the clarification. I wasn’t reading the description clearly enough and assumed it’s a powerbank. My bad. What if my laptop died from low battery and will it turn back on after I plug the power companion?and with the warning saying “my PC adapter is not recognized”, what should I do to make it stop coming on every time when I connect the device?
Thanks
herbacin
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November 29th, 2017 18:00
Samos1111:
Is the product called power companion or sth else?
I saw a lot of ppl having issue having the power companion “not charging” the laptop. They have the same issue as me that the power companion only keeps the laptop running but not charging the laptop battery.
I wonder if that’s a different product that you got.
Thanks
jphughan
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November 29th, 2017 23:00
One additional thought: What specific model of the Inspiron 15 3000 Series do you have? The series designation can include models that have been introduced over various years, and for systems designed for higher AC adapter wattage than the Power Companion provides, I believe BIOS-level support is required for those systems to use the Power Companion, so if your system predates the introduction of that support, that too could explain why it's not operating properly. Check your model against the list of Inspiron 15 3000 Series models listed on the page that DELL-Robert-P linked.
herbacin
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November 30th, 2017 12:00
jphughan:
My laptop is Inspiron 15 3542.
The original adpator came with the laptop is 65Wh, and the Dell power compinion I bought (18000 mAh model: PW7015L) is 65Wh as well.
jphughan
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November 30th, 2017 13:00
Yes, it's called the Dell Power Companion. There are a few different connection scenarios:
- If the Power Companion is connected only to the PC, it will of course charge/power the PC as best it can.
- The Power Companion is ITSELF charged by Dell AC adapters, and if it's only connected to that, then it will charge itself.
- If the Power Companion is connected to a Dell AC adapter and a PC simultaneously, the PC gets charging priority, and once it's topped up, the Power Companion charges. I believe if the AC adapter you've connected has enough extra wattage after meeting the needs of whatever system you're using, then the Power Companion can charge simultaneously with the PC, but I'm not sure about that.
samos1111
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November 30th, 2017 13:00
: Is the product called power companion or sth else?
I've got the Dell 45W wall charger.
I thought this was happening when the Companion was plugged in. If plugged in, I believe the message would mean there's a data communication issue. There's another possible message that the charger doesn't have enough power so that the computer will get throttled down.
But when not plugged in it makes sense not to charge the laptop battery, because this would result in some waste of charge due to less than 100% charging efficiency.
jphughan
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November 30th, 2017 13:00
I agree with samos1111, it sounds like there's an issue with the Power Companion -- although it seems I need to edit my earlier post. The manual on support.dell.com (Select product > Accessories > Power accessories) says that the PW7015L (18,000 mAh version) can output 19.5 V @ 4.62 A, which is 90W. It doesn't explicitly note that this is only possible while the Power Companion is charging, which is something I remember being mentioned in reviews. The smaller PW7015M's specs work out to 45W.
The part I'm not certain about now is whether the 18,000 mAh version operates at 65W or 45W when NOT connected to the wall. Given that it has 50% more cells (6 rather than 4), if it were wired properly, it could theoretically deliver 50% more amperage than voltage, and 50% more than 45W is 67.5W. One quick way to test would be to go into your BIOS and go to the Battery Information page, since that shows the wattage of the connected AC adapter, but if you have a potentially bad Power Companion, your results of course might not be correct.
herbacin
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December 1st, 2017 02:00
jphughan:
So here is what happens under two scenario:
1. When Dell companion (fully charged) connects to PC: Error msg received and the power companion WILL NOT charge PC rather maintain the power level;
2. When Dell companion (fully charged) connects to adapter AND PC at the same time, only the power companion is charged by adapter, and the PC's battery is maintained, but not charged.
jphughan
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December 1st, 2017 06:00
Ok, then I'd make sure your system BIOS is current, and then I'd recommend going into your BIOS > Battery Information interface to see what wattage it detects from the Power Companion when it's connected, both while it's not connected to the wall and while it is. If it's less than 45W, then it sounds like a problem with the Power Companion rather than the way it's supposed to work with that particular system.