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Home > Archive > alt.certification.a-plus > September 2003 > Dell Power Question
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Dell Power Question
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| Glenn \(SBfan2000\) 2003-09-12, 3:25 am |
| My Sister is going to France for 7 months to teach English! She wants to
take her laptop and I informed her she needs an adapter! However I have
never seen on or been to France so I have questions! First, does the
adapter just change the "shape" of the outlet or convert power over to 120??
Dell told her to just plug it in and the laptop would automatically adjust!
This seems alittle obserd but is it true?
I guess the info I need is; What do I need and where do I get it! My
sisters a procastinator and needs this ASAP. Leaving in two weeks!
Thanks
Glenn
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| David Hough 2003-09-12, 6:24 am |
| I have a Dell laptop at work, I'll check it out. In France, they are
running 200 VAC 50 Htz. I would think you would need a different power
adaptor. I would make sure you have the name and dept of the Dell
person before you plug it in.
| |
|
| I do believe that many (but not all) Dell laptops have what is called an
Intelligent Power Supply - usually it is labelled on them 110/250 AC Input
or something like that - if it just says 110/120V or 220/250 I would say not
one of the Intelligent ones. Not certain about the plug shape in France,
however adaptor kits are available at places like Radio Shack.
| |
| Ghost 2003-09-12, 10:25 am |
| In article <vm2s8rkoofet0b@corp.supernews.com>, "Glenn \(SBfan2000\)"
<webmaster@glenngriffith.com> wrote:
> My Sister is going to France for 7 months to teach English! She wants to
> take her laptop and I informed her she needs an adapter! However I have
> never seen on or been to France so I have questions! First, does the
> adapter just change the "shape" of the outlet or convert power over to 120??
> Dell told her to just plug it in and the laptop would automatically adjust!
> This seems alittle obserd but is it true?
>
> I guess the info I need is; What do I need and where do I get it! My
> sisters a procastinator and needs this ASAP. Leaving in two weeks!
>
> Thanks
> Glenn
All of Europe is on a 220VAC standard. US and Canada is 120VAC. You
cannot just simply "plug it in" and it will adjust. Besides being twice
the voltage we use, the plug shapes are definately different. She needs a
vlotgae transformer. Sh can pick them up in Circuit City, Radio Shack,
etc.
| |
| Outgoing V. Incoming 2003-09-12, 11:25 am |
| On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 03:04:02 -0400, "Glenn \(SBfan2000\)"
<webmaster@glenngriffith.com> wrote:
>My Sister is going to France for 7 months to teach English! She wants to
>take her laptop and I informed her she needs an adapter! However I have
>never seen on or been to France so I have questions! First, does the
>adapter just change the "shape" of the outlet or convert power over to 120??
>Dell told her to just plug it in and the laptop would automatically adjust!
>This seems alittle obserd but is it true?
>
>I guess the info I need is; What do I need and where do I get it! My
>sisters a procastinator and needs this ASAP. Leaving in two weeks!
>
>Thanks
>Glenn
>
Staples or Office Depot or Radio Shack will have the adapters. They
also have complete kits that will allow her to use the notebook in
just about any country.
| |
| Tom MacIntyre 2003-09-12, 7:26 pm |
| On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 13:29:53 GMT, user@user.com (Ghost) wrote:
>In article <vm2s8rkoofet0b@corp.supernews.com>, "Glenn \(SBfan2000\)"
><webmaster@glenngriffith.com> wrote:
>
>> My Sister is going to France for 7 months to teach English! She wants to
>> take her laptop and I informed her she needs an adapter! However I have
>> never seen on or been to France so I have questions! First, does the
>> adapter just change the "shape" of the outlet or convert power over to 120??
>> Dell told her to just plug it in and the laptop would automatically adjust!
>> This seems alittle obserd but is it true?
>>
>> I guess the info I need is; What do I need and where do I get it! My
>> sisters a procastinator and needs this ASAP. Leaving in two weeks!
>>
>> Thanks
>> Glenn
>
>
>
>All of Europe is on a 220VAC standard. US and Canada is 120VAC. You
>cannot just simply "plug it in" and it will adjust. Besides being twice
>the voltage we use, the plug shapes are definately different. She needs a
>vlotgae transformer. Sh can pick them up in Circuit City, Radio Shack,
>etc.
Right..better safe than sorry...just get the appropriate adapter and
forget about it. :-)
Tom
| |
| Glenn \(SBfan2000\) 2003-09-13, 12:24 am |
| her "power supply is a nice size box outside the computer! Says 120-240v
input 20v output, so this supply can accept both, correct?
Glenn
"Ghost" <user@user.com> wrote in message
news:user-1209030929530001@1.0.0.101...
> In article <vm2s8rkoofet0b@corp.supernews.com>, "Glenn \(SBfan2000\)"
> <webmaster@glenngriffith.com> wrote:
>
> > My Sister is going to France for 7 months to teach English! She wants
to
> > take her laptop and I informed her she needs an adapter! However I have
> > never seen on or been to France so I have questions! First, does the
> > adapter just change the "shape" of the outlet or convert power over to
120??
> > Dell told her to just plug it in and the laptop would automatically
adjust!
> > This seems alittle obserd but is it true?
> >
> > I guess the info I need is; What do I need and where do I get it! My
> > sisters a procastinator and needs this ASAP. Leaving in two weeks!
> >
> > Thanks
> > Glenn
>
>
>
> All of Europe is on a 220VAC standard. US and Canada is 120VAC. You
> cannot just simply "plug it in" and it will adjust. Besides being twice
> the voltage we use, the plug shapes are definately different. She needs a
> vlotgae transformer. Sh can pick them up in Circuit City, Radio Shack,
> etc.
| |
| Glenn \(SBfan2000\) 2003-09-13, 12:24 am |
| I told my sister the same thing! Get the name, dept, and an employee number
so she has recourse if something happened!
Glenn
"David Hough" <huffy1@metrocast.net> wrote in message
news:3F6192E3.4080404@metrocast.net...
> I have a Dell laptop at work, I'll check it out. In France, they are
> running 200 VAC 50 Htz. I would think you would need a different power
> adaptor. I would make sure you have the name and dept of the Dell
> person before you plug it in.
>
| |
| Tom MacIntyre 2003-09-13, 6:25 pm |
| On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 23:38:01 -0400, "Glenn \(SBfan2000\)"
<webmaster@glenngriffith.com> wrote:
>her "power supply is a nice size box outside the computer! Says 120-240v
>input 20v output, so this supply can accept both, correct?
The receptacle may not be the same, though...I am not all that
knowledgeable about European power hardware, but it is a possibility.
Otherwise, that should be correct.
Tom
>
>Glenn
>"Ghost" <user@user.com> wrote in message
>news:user-1209030929530001@1.0.0.101...
>> In article <vm2s8rkoofet0b@corp.supernews.com>, "Glenn \(SBfan2000\)"
>> <webmaster@glenngriffith.com> wrote:
>>
>> > My Sister is going to France for 7 months to teach English! She wants
> to
>> > take her laptop and I informed her she needs an adapter! However I have
>> > never seen on or been to France so I have questions! First, does the
>> > adapter just change the "shape" of the outlet or convert power over to
>120??
>> > Dell told her to just plug it in and the laptop would automatically
> adjust!
>> > This seems alittle obserd but is it true?
>> >
>> > I guess the info I need is; What do I need and where do I get it! My
>> > sisters a procastinator and needs this ASAP. Leaving in two weeks!
>> >
>> > Thanks
>> > Glenn
>>
>>
>>
>> All of Europe is on a 220VAC standard. US and Canada is 120VAC. You
>> cannot just simply "plug it in" and it will adjust. Besides being twice
>> the voltage we use, the plug shapes are definately different. She needs a
>> vlotgae transformer. Sh can pick them up in Circuit City, Radio Shack,
>> etc.
>
| |
| David Groth 2003-09-14, 12:27 am |
| As long as your power supply "brick" says something like "Input Voltage:
100-240V" you have an auto-adjusting power supply. The only thing you need
then is a plug adapter to adapt the US-only plug to the the appropriate
European plug. Radio Shack should have several different types and styles.
When in doubt, buy several different ones. It would suck to be that far
away from home with the wrong adapter.
I've been to both France and the U.K. and most of them use the small rounded
two-prong power outlet, but it never hurts. My hotel in Paris had a couple
different styles (one style in the room, another in the cafe).
I hope your sister enjoys herself!
David
"Glenn (SBfan2000)" <webmaster@glenngriffith.com> wrote in message
news:vm2s8rkoofet0b@corp.supernews.com...
> My Sister is going to France for 7 months to teach English! She wants to
> take her laptop and I informed her she needs an adapter! However I have
> never seen on or been to France so I have questions! First, does the
> adapter just change the "shape" of the outlet or convert power over to
120??
> Dell told her to just plug it in and the laptop would automatically
adjust!
> This seems alittle obserd but is it true?
>
> I guess the info I need is; What do I need and where do I get it! My
> sisters a procastinator and needs this ASAP. Leaving in two weeks!
>
> Thanks
> Glenn
>
>
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.515 / Virus Database: 313 - Release Date: 9/3/2003
| |
| Tom MacIntyre 2003-09-14, 11:26 am |
| On Sat, 13 Sep 2003 23:13:39 -0500, "David Groth"
<dgroth@cableone.net> wrote:
>As long as your power supply "brick" says something like "Input Voltage:
>100-240V" you have an auto-adjusting power supply. The only thing you need
>then is a plug adapter to adapt the US-only plug to the the appropriate
>European plug. Radio Shack should have several different types and styles.
>When in doubt, buy several different ones. It would suck to be that far
>away from home with the wrong adapter.
On the other hand, that adapter may be obtainable in the country to
which the person is going. Better safe than sorry, though.
Tom
>
>I've been to both France and the U.K. and most of them use the small rounded
>two-prong power outlet, but it never hurts. My hotel in Paris had a couple
>different styles (one style in the room, another in the cafe).
>
>I hope your sister enjoys herself!
>
>David
>
>
>"Glenn (SBfan2000)" <webmaster@glenngriffith.com> wrote in message
>news:vm2s8rkoofet0b@corp.supernews.com...
>> My Sister is going to France for 7 months to teach English! She wants to
>> take her laptop and I informed her she needs an adapter! However I have
>> never seen on or been to France so I have questions! First, does the
>> adapter just change the "shape" of the outlet or convert power over to
>120??
>> Dell told her to just plug it in and the laptop would automatically
>adjust!
>> This seems alittle obserd but is it true?
>>
>> I guess the info I need is; What do I need and where do I get it! My
>> sisters a procastinator and needs this ASAP. Leaving in two weeks!
>>
>> Thanks
>> Glenn
>>
>>
>
>
>---
>Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
>Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
>Version: 6.0.515 / Virus Database: 313 - Release Date: 9/3/2003
>
| |
| Barry Watzman 2003-09-15, 5:26 pm |
| Re: "All of Europe is on a 220VAC standard. US and Canada is 120VAC."
True
Re: "You cannot just simply "plug it in" and it will adjust."
Wrong .... sort of.
In most cases, the switching power supplies used in laptops will work
with anything from about 90 volts to about 260 volts, and with any
frequency from well under 50 Hz to well over 60 Hz.
It's not that they "auto-adjust", it's that they just don't care, no
adjustment (auto or manual) is necessary.
A more detailed explanation of this requires some knowledge of how
switching power supplies work, but the bottom line is that in most
switching power supplies, the incoming AC is simply brute-force
rectified to high voltage DC, and the power supply can run with that DC
over a very wide voltage range (more than 2:1). Frequency doesn't
matter either, because the diodes don't care, and the capacitors that
provide filtering of the high voltage DC don't care either, again,
within limits (very broad limits).
[If you want to know "the rest of the story", the high voltage DC is
switched on and off rapidly (20 to 100 KHz) through a pulse transformer,
and the output of that transformer becomes your laptop DC power.
Filtering is trivial, because at 20KHz to 100KHz, a very small capacitor
can provide LOTS of filtering. The output voltage is determined by
pulse-width-modulating (PWM) the switching of the primary (the switching
of the high voltage DC), which is turn is done by comparing the actual
output voltage to the desired output voltage.]
But the bottom line is that the power supplies for 90% of all laptops
will work on 90-260 volts, 50 or 60 Hz, with no adjustments or changes.
Obviously, the plugs are different in different countries, so you will
need either a different cord or an adapter plug.
You can verify that this is (or isn't) the case by looking at the label
on the power supply itself.
Ghost wrote:
> In article <vm2s8rkoofet0b@corp.supernews.com>, "Glenn \(SBfan2000\)"
> <webmaster@glenngriffith.com> wrote:
>
>
>>My Sister is going to France for 7 months to teach English! She wants to
>>take her laptop and I informed her she needs an adapter! However I have
>>never seen on or been to France so I have questions! First, does the
>>adapter just change the "shape" of the outlet or convert power over to 120??
>>Dell told her to just plug it in and the laptop would automatically adjust!
>>This seems alittle obserd but is it true?
>>
>>I guess the info I need is; What do I need and where do I get it! My
>>sisters a procastinator and needs this ASAP. Leaving in two weeks!
>>
>>Thanks
>>Glenn
>
>
>
>
> All of Europe is on a 220VAC standard. US and Canada is 120VAC. You
> cannot just simply "plug it in" and it will adjust. Besides being twice
> the voltage we use, the plug shapes are definately different. She needs a
> vlotgae transformer. Sh can pick them up in Circuit City, Radio Shack,
> etc.
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