What power banks are compatible with Precision 7530?

@rgames  I don't think there's any hope with that system, and even if you found one that worked at all, it would be a terrible experience.  And there are a few reasons for this.

There are two relevant specs when it comes to power banks.  One is the energy capacity, expressed in either mAh or Wh.  The other is the energy delivery rate, expressed in W.  There are lots of power banks on the market that have fairly substantial capacity but that can't actually deliver it very quickly -- and that's a problem when trying to use it with laptops designed for high wattage power sources like the Precision 7530.  I have a RAVPower 20,000 mAh power bank that can deliver PD output at up to 60W, which is much higher than many power banks on the market and enough to run most laptops.  The much more expensive Dell Notebook Power Bank Plus has similar capacity and can act as a 65W power source.  But the Precision 7530 is designed for a 180W power source.  Laptops do often support being used and charged from lower wattage power sources, although they'll adapt to that reduced power budget by slowing their battery charging and throttling performance, which of course isn't ideal.  But there's also typically a limit to how much of a shortfall they'll deal with.  For example, I have a 135W laptop.  It will work with a USB-C power source as low as 60W, but it won't even bother trying to use something less than that, like 45W -- and even at 60W the performance drop is noticeable, and the battery charge is extremely slow if the system is running.

Additionally, many Dell laptops currently on the market limit themselves to drawing 65W from non-Dell power sources.  I have no idea why Dell imposed that limit, and they seem to be relenting somewhat based on the fact that the new XPS 15 9500 is confirmed to accept at least 90W with non-Dell sources, but the 7530 was created before that, so it may have this limitation.  But again, I don't know that the 7530 will even bother trying to work with a 65W source.  This means that even if you found a power bank capable of providing 100W output, the current max of the official USB PD, chances are the system wouldn't use it -- unless it came from Dell, but Dell doesn't make something like that as of this writing.

If you're wondering what sort of USB PD source the 7530 would work with, that would likely be Dell docks, particularly the WD19DC, which can push up to 210W over USB-C because it plugs into two USB-C ports on the system.  And even Dell's single port docks like the WD19 and WD19TB can push 130W over USB-C -- not enough to run the 7530 optimally, but still a lot more than a power bank would supply.  (Dell did something proprietary to stretch the USB PD spec out to run 130W over a single cable in order to support certain systems designed for that amount of power, like the Precision 5000 Series and XPS 15 models.)

Thanks for the detailed info - I understand that there's no power bank that will run the laptop at its full power draw but it seems like it would at least charge the battery when the laptop is off or offset the load when it is on. I've seen indications that there are other laptops that work that way, even other Dell laptops if I recall correctly. As far as I can tell, the 7530 is an exception in that regard, at least as far as laptops form the last several years are concerned.

Certainly this is an issue for a lot of people, isn't it? I can't get more than a couple hours out of my 7530, and with a 30 minute connection between flights when traveling cross-country that means I can't recharge and I'm spending half my time in the air without a laptop. Back in the day I had multiple batteries, which I guess is still an option if you want to disassemble the laptop on the plane.

Seems extremely odd that there's no convenient way to do mobile work with a mobile workstation. If I had known this was the case I certainly wouldn't have purchased the 7530.

Thanks again,

rgames

@rgames  Well in fairness, it's possible that the 7530 will accept a substantially lower wattage power source -- but I don't know what sort of wattage your Anker power bank puts out because you didn't specify the exact model you have, and Anker makes a lot of them.  I'm a big fan of Anker, but maybe you just don't have the right product for your purposes.  If it's less than 60W, then maybe your system would accept a 60W source and you simply don't have a way to test that.  If you happen to have a 60W wall charger, my first step would be to determine whether the system will detect a power source when you have that connected.  If so, then you have some options, including that RAVPower power bank I mentioned (link).  Anker is making their own power bank that supports 60W output and has more even capacity and more ports, called the PowerCore Elite 26800 60W, but it's predictably bigger, heavier, and more expensive.  They're even planning a PowerCore Elite 26800 100W, which is physically identical except for the higher output (link).  But the RAVPower charger is actually pretty reasonable to carry around even as a phone power bank (assuming you've got decent-sized pockets), whereas that really wouldn't be practical with Anker's offerings.

But if your system won't use a 60W power source, then I'm not sure what to tell you about why this problem exists.  The fact that Dell has until very recently been limiting their systems to 65W draws from third party chargers -- even on systems like the XPS 15 models that would benefit from more -- while ALSO not making any power banks themselves that offer more wattage than that is certainly an unfortunate combination.  But maybe the overlap between people buying Precision 7000 Series systems or equivalent models designed for 180W power sources and the people who need supplemental charging while on the go and away from an outlet isn't all that large.  Having tried to use an XPS 15 on a plane, I'm actually amazed you can comfortably use the even thicker 15" Precision 7530 in a plane at all -- and if you were in business class or better, I'm guessing you'd have access to a power outlet, in which case you wouldn't need a power bank.

Anyhow, if you haven't already, I'd try to verify that your system would accept a 60W power source.  If so, then you've got options, even if the specific Anker power bank you have isn't a suitable choice.

@rgames Interesting, didn't know about that 87W option.  Or maybe that's what they intended to release as the 100W version and downgraded to 87W.  That's what happened to the Lifepowr A3 power bank.  It was pitched as a 100W power bank on Indiegogo during the design phase, but in the end they had to limit it to less than that due to thermal concerns.

Anyhow, it sounds like you're stuck then.  In terms of airline outlets, I don't think the power output is quite that low.  I know that Lenovo systems have a utility that allows you to set them to "airplane power mode" so they limit their power draw through their attached power source specifically to avoid that outcome, but I haven't seen Dell offer that.  And Dell makes a 90W auto/air adapter here, which suggests to me that 90W is typically attainable on a plane, and that adapter's laptop-side barrel connector is correct for your Precision 7530 (it's the 7.4mm barrel that Dell has used for over 15 years now), but I don't know if planes have the type of power outlet that adapter relies on anymore since I've never had to worry about it.  You'd need a DC outlet rather than AC, which incidentally is why that power adapter doesn't need a "brick" like regular laptop chargers that plug into wall outlets have.

I tried the Dell Docking Station that was designed for the 7530, Dell WD18DC, with this double-cable (both Thunderbolt 3 plugs are connected, like a fork).

It charged the laptop (if I remember, at a lower rate than the power adapter), but the dock had a lot of issues, and also if the cable was just a little bit moved, it broke the connection and it had to be unplugged-replugged. There was a long forum thread about it.

I have tried many PD power sources, and so far I didn't manage to find one to charge the 7530. The only thing that worked so far is the power-brick that came with the laptop.

My latest try is USB-C PD charger from aliexpress, it can do 100W PD. I didn't find 100W PD chargers elsewhere.

It charges every gadget I have very well, except the Dell 7530 - it just displays the usual error message and doesn't charge. I updated to the latest BIOS, it doesn't help.

My conclusion is it only works with the original power brick... I am at the verge of selling this laptop anyway, too many issues. Noisy fan, loud coil wine, I have to drag this huge powerbrick all the time, no display over USB-C, etc.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001313791168.html 

About the dock issues with the 7530:

https://www.dell.com/community/Precision-Mobile-Workstations/Precision-7530-USB-Issue-TB18DC/m-p/7328567

https://www.dell.com/community/Precision-Mobile-Workstations/Which-docks-will-work-for-Precision-7530/m-p/7328570

@hakapes  You mentioned the WD18DC.  There's a TB18DC and a WD19DC, so I'm not sure which one you're referring to there.  In any case, 100W chargers are unlikely to be very useful either because at least until very recently launched models, Dell limited USB-C charging from non-Dell power sources to 65W, even if the source provided more and the system would benefit from more.  So there's a decent chance your 7530 is treating that 100W charger as a 65W charger. If you want to check, go into your BIOS Setup and click the Battery Information section.  Underneath the battery graphic, the wattage of the attached power source should be identified.  (Also note that in order to go over 60W, you need cables specifically rated for 100W.)

YD19dc DOES fully power my 7530 while running at full performance.  This doesn't help much since it is a AC plug in as well.  The only solution I have come up with is very inefficient.  12VDC Battery (car) to 200W Output AC inverter to 7530 Power cord.  This is not portable in my humble opinion.

Bump a year later since I spent all day yesterday on airplanes with a dead laptop battery - has anyone found a way to charge the supposedly PD-compatible 7530 with a PD charging device?

@rgames  Unfortunately power banks to my knowledge still haven’t advanced to the point of being able to deliver the level of output expected by that system. 87W as referenced above is still the most I’ve seen. Keep in mind that the USB PD spec supported by most devices on the market is still a standard that has a 100W limit, even ignoring technical challenges achieving that. The Precision 7000 Series systems work around that by relying on drawing power from two USB-C connections simultaneously, as occurs when they are paired with the WD19DC dock. The USB PD spec was recently revised to support 48V output, increasing maximum power to 240W, but I still wouldn’t expect power banks as opposed to wall chargers to support that anytime soon.

I've found that even a lower powered power bank will extend the life of a battery but may not have a snowballs chance of actually charging it.

I've used an older PD Anker and RAVpower bank to keep my 5530 charged - giving it an hour or so of life, but it won't charge it from 10% to anything - and won't keep it at 10% long. It'll keep it at above 75 or so for quite some time though.

When I'm off the grid and know I'll need more time, then I plug the power bank in very early.

It may not even change the "time to empty", but it won't change very quickly - it'll basically stay the same until the power bank discharges.

Yeah the thing I don't get is why there's still no way to *charge* the laptop from a power bank.  Sure it charges more slowly than the AC adapter but at least it would provide some charge and/or slow the battery drain while working.

Still yearning for the good-old days of removable batteries... This is progress?!?!

rgames