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Dell XPS 15 9560 and WD15 docking station
Greetings everyone!
So I bought a WD15 docking station for my XPS laptop, but it didn't come with a power cord (bought it used).
I do however have a Dell 130w power adapter that seems to work great with the docking station.
I am only using the WD15 to power a Logitech unifying receiver, a 1080 display over DisplayPort and the line in port for my speakers.
My laptop is charging and the dock seems to work perfectly. Are there any downsides to not having the 180w power supply unit?
Best regards
Jakob
U2CAMEB4ME
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September 14th, 2019 07:00
Welcome to the Dell Community @Lotnam
With the setup you presently have there should be no downsides.
If you look on the bottom of the WD15 you should see the power requirements.
19.5V ~ 6.7A/9.23A
Volts x Amps = Watts
In the future if you decide to add to your configuration it would be best to purchase a 180W or 240W AC adapter.
Best regards,
U2
U2CAMEB4ME
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September 14th, 2019 09:00
@Lotnam
It can produce 240 watts of power.
But the System and Devices will only draw the power that is required.
On my bench I have a 19.5V ~ 12.3A = 240W.
I use it to test everything, even though the laptop may only require 19.5V ~ 3.34A = 65W
Regards,
U2
Lotnam
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September 14th, 2019 09:00
Lotnam
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September 14th, 2019 11:00
U2CAMEB4ME
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September 14th, 2019 11:00
@Lotnam
19.5V ~ 6.7A = 130W is the minimum.
You can go higher but never go lower than the system requirements.
Then the system could try to draw more power than the AC adapter can provide.
That will cause the AC adapter to overheat and fail.
Regards,
U2
jphughan
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September 14th, 2019 15:00
@Lotnam I have to disagree with @U2CAMEB4ME here even though he is normally correct. The WD15's FAQ page here clearly states that when using the WD15 with an XPS 15 model, a 180W adapter is required. As the table indicates, when you only have a 130W power supply connected to the WD15, it can only pass through 90W to the attached system, and the XPS 15 models are designed for a 130W power source. When a system is run by an undersized power source, you can end up with results such as slower battery charging as well as CPU and GPU performance throttling under load as the system tries to operate within its reduced power budget. As a last resort, the system will continue draining the battery even while connected to a power source in order to make up the deficit, but that's a last resort in that setup, the system could potentially die even while connected to a power source, so it first attempts to slow itself down to a "sustainable" performance level. The fact that you don't have much connected to the dock won't matter here because the dock still "reserves" some power capacity from the AC adapter for itself in case you connect things to it like high-powered USB peripherals, etc. If the dock didn't do that, the documentation would have to say, "You can power your system properly as long as you don't connect too much stuff to the dock," which obviously wouldn't be a great user experience or product design.
I'd recommend getting your hands on a 180W power source for the WD15, and for proper operation it would have to be a Dell power source. Alternatively, you could keep the XPS 15's own 130W AC adapter directly connected to the system in addition to having an AC adapter to power to the dock. That will allow the system to access the amount of power it's designed for, but but of course it's not as convenient.
<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>
U2CAMEB4ME
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September 14th, 2019 16:00
@jphughan
Thank you for the link.
Some of Dells publications are very difficult to find.
I have that one Bookmarked for later reference.
I hope to improve my proficiency in the future.
Thanks again,
U2