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July 4th, 2022 05:00
XPS 15 9570 only draws 65 Watts from 130 Watt Dell-made USB-C adapter
I just bought a Dell USB-C power adapter rated at 130 W to use with my XPS 15 9570, the thing works but when I check the BIOS, it shows up as 65 W power source. I'm surprised the 9570 can (allegedly) draw 130 W from docks like the Dell TB16 but not from a 130 W adapter manufactured by Dell.
My BIOS is up to date, I have checked for any available updates before posting.
Has anyone here tried a 130 W brick or dock with their 9570? Did the 9570 draw more than 65 W from it?
That brick wasn't cheap, if I knew it wouldn't deliver the full 130 Watts, I would have just bought any standard 65 W for less than half the price. I'm a bit disappointed.
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ejn63
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July 4th, 2022 06:00
USB-C charging standards have changed since this (relatively old) system was designed and built -- there's a discussion thread here:
https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-15-9570-USB-C-charging-specs/td-p/7342657
xps15-9570
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July 4th, 2022 06:00
Thanks @ejn63 I did see that post before making mine, but all I could learn from it is that standard 100 W is not supported, while 130 W is supported with specific Dell docks. Most importantly that discussion does not link to any reliable sources, and no users on that thread had a 130 W adapter to play with.
For example, there's this very relevant statement made by a user: "I also remember reading somewhere that the 130W USB-C charger won't work as a 130W source with "normal" XPS 15s, even though those systems can accept 130W over USB-C from Dell docks.".
Which turned out to be true, but oddly enough, this post from a while ago, has a user showing their 130 W adapter correctly identified by the BIOS as a 130 W source (much like the docks would work at 130 W). https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-9570-Bios-Update-1-13-0-broke-my-Thunderbolt-3/m-p/7391799
So my guess is, support for 130 W through that adapter was withdrawn through a BIOS update at some point. But was it retained for docks like the TB16 and others?
If the TB16 can still give 130 W to the 9570 but the 130 W brick can't I wonder what Dell's reasoning is.
This is more of a discussion than an attempt to resolve an issue, I'm really curious to see what other 9570 users' experience with 130 W USB-C/TB power sources was like.