XPS 15-9560, charging using USB Type-C

The XPS 15 9750 will charge from a 12W adapter on the USBC port, I left it at 71% overnight plugged into an iPad adapter and it was 100% in the morning.  Obviously no good for working with but useful in an emergency :-)

The BIOS even warned me that the powerout was a little on the low side

It works in a practical manner with chargers of 40-60 W just fine, it won't allow you to game and charge at the same time-> 60W adopter causes battery to discharge while gaming. However it will do slow charge while browsing. 

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@mdbridges wrote:

The XPS 15 9750 will charge from a 12W adapter on the USBC port, I left it at 71% overnight plugged into an iPad adapter and it was 100% in the morning.  Obviously no good for working with but useful in an emergency :-)

The BIOS even warned me that the powerout was a little on the low side

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@mdbridges  good info, thanks! I don’t remember that being the case with earlier XPS 15 models with USB-C ports. Also, I believe you meant to say 9570 rather than 9750?

I just purchased a Cygnett USB-C 27,000 mAh battery powerbank that does 60W USB-C PD (20v x 3A)

It charges my XPS 15 just fine. Still a warning that it really prefers 130W - but seems to behave as expected.

Cheers,

  J.

Interesting, hadn’t heard of that product (or even that company), but the specs and price do seem appealing. It’s a bit like Dell’s PW7018LC except it includes more capacity, an additional USB-C port, and 5W less output from the laptop port, although I doubt that last point matters too much. Nice find!

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@JBoman32768 wrote:
The PW7018LC is likely to work with XPS 15, but the XPS 9560 (from the OP request) is absent from the compatibility section. Its also bit expensive but a good premium solution that also doubles as a USB hub. Cheers, J.

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@JBoman32768   there are many cases of Dell not continuing to update an accessory's Compatibility list as new products arrive.  It doesn't necessary mean that the accessory isn't compatible with the next generation of that product.  The XPS 15 9560 didn't change anything power-related compared to the XPS 15 9550, in fact even the newer 9570 and 7590 aren't any different.  They're all designed for 130W power sources and can receive power over both the Dell AC adapter barrel connector and USB-C.  So although I haven't tested that combination personally, unless Dell went out of their way to remove support for the PW7018LC on newer generations of the XPS 15, I don't see why it wouldn't work.

I'm running Ubuntu on mine, and the Linux kernel shows useful info -
below is the result of plugging it into a 29W Apple power supply, showing that even if it doesn't charge the battery, the laptop does use the power.

charge_now 4442000 voltage_min_design 7600000 voltage_now 7576000
charge_now 4442000 voltage_min_design 7600000 voltage_now 7570000
charge_now 4441000 voltage_min_design 7600000 voltage_now 7577000
charge_now 4441000 voltage_min_design 7600000 voltage_now 7567000
charge_now 4440000 voltage_min_design 7600000 voltage_now 7575000
charge_now 4440000 voltage_min_design 7600000 voltage_now 7576000

At this point I plugged in the USB-C power supply

charge_now 4439000 voltage_min_design 7600000 voltage_now 7619000
charge_now 4439000 voltage_min_design 7600000 voltage_now 7635000
charge_now 4438000 voltage_min_design 7600000 voltage_now 7634000
charge_now 4438000 voltage_min_design 7600000 voltage_now 7646000
charge_now 4438000 voltage_min_design 7600000 voltage_now 7646000
charge_now 4437000 voltage_min_design 7600000 voltage_now 7644000
charge_now 4437000 voltage_min_design 7600000 voltage_now 7646000
charge_now 4437000 voltage_min_design 7600000 voltage_now 7631000

You can see the voltage increases, and the discharging happens around 30% slower.
So it does use the power, even if it is not enough to charge the battery.

Is there any possibility  to force the XPS 15 9560 to work in full power mode with the 130W USB-C Dell 0K00F5 Power supply? The standard's power supply control pin broke off, so i purchased the USB Power supply but i get the proms during boot and the laptop goes in to limited performance mode when the power adapter is connected despite the sufficient power the adapter can provide

@noe9  unless maybe a BIOS update changes things for you, I doubt it.  It seems that Dell systems limit themselves to no more than 65W draw when working with non-Dell or otherwise unrecognized USB-C power sources.  It seems that even the official Dell 130W USB-C adapter isn't recognized by the system as a "trusted" source.  I have a Nekteck 90W power supply that works at 90W with Lenovo systems but only 65W with Dell systems, even systems that would benefit from pulling 90W instead.  I wrote a thread about this a while ago.  It's pretty disappointing, and even more so when you encounter this situation with an actual Dell charger -- especially because that system can in fact pull 130W from its USB-C port because it does that when paired with an appropriate docking station.

im having similar issue. went through ac charger after charge then decided to try a usbC charger. I have not been able to get one to work. My usbc will charge my iphone but will not receive power from the charge i purchased on amazon...i plug it in and nothing happens. is there some setting i need to change to receive power via the usbc? this is a xps 15 as well. Love the computer....hate the charging options...

87W/90W USB C Power Adapter, WEGWANG Type C Power Delivery PD Wall Charger 87W(Compatible 61W, 45W, 30W and 12W) for MacBook Pro Air 2018, HP, Dell, Lenovo and Any Laptops or Smart Phones with USB C

@townsend.owens  no configuration necessary to enable power/charging over USB-C, in fact I don't even think you can disable that capability.  The product page for the charger you linked specifically the XPS 15 9550, which is the first model to support USB-C charging, and the charging requirements on newer generations haven't changed since then.  So it should be able to provide some amount of charge to an XPS 15 model to it even though it wouldn't be the full 130W -- which means that system performance might be throttled when connected to this power source even if it was working at all.  If you haven't already, go into your BIOS Setup and check the Battery Information section.  Underneath the battery graphic, the system will show an AC adapter wattage when an adapter is plugged in.  For USB-C adapters, that figure will be the wattage the system is willing to draw from the attached power source.  Some Dell systems I've found will only draw 65W over USB-C from non-Dell sources even if the source provides more and the system could use more.  What does your system report when that charger is plugged in?

If the charger isn't detected at all even though you've confirmed it works with other power sources, then I'm not sure what to tell you, although since you also mentioned you've gone through "charger after charger", I wonder if something is wrong with the system itself.

Thank you so much for your reply.

the charger will not show even in the BIOS setup. I’m thinking it is a bad motherboard. The only other person I’ve found with a similar issue said only replacing the motherboard fixed it. I think you just confirmed it. Much appreciated