Battery systems for Dell Laptops

[zipperiah]

Hi

Not too long ago I bought a Dell XPS M1730 laptop to do some filming with on location. Knowing that the battery on the system would last about 5 minutes I decided to get someone to build a battery pack that would power the laptop for a lot longer. The power supply rating on the XPS is as follows:

INPUT 100-240V~4A 50-60Hz
OUTPUT 19.5V ---11.8A

The power rating on my new battery packs is 20V 9Ah and they are NiMhd batteries which, although are heavy, are suitable for taking around the World with me on planes. I use two of these batteries at the same time and these power the laptop fine. However, when I turn on the laptop I get the classic Dell error message that tells me that the AC Power Adapter type cannot be determined and that the battery will not charge. I'm not using the internal battery (I've removed it to cut down on weight) but the other problem is that the system is not running at optimum efficiency because the Laptop detects that the Dell power supply is not plugged in. Having read numerous forums and articles (including this: http://www.laptop-junction.com/toast/content/inside-dell-ac-power-adapter-mystery-revealed ) I discovered that the central pin on the psu cable contains a signal from the power supply, which tells the laptop whether the power supply is a Dell one or not. I need to be able to replicate this signal somehow and put it between my battery packs and laptop and I'm not sure how to do it or if there is anyone out there that can do it for me.

One idea is obviously to use the existing power supply and just put a DC/AC converter in the chain between the battery packs and psu. However, this would increase the weight of the total system, which is already quite heavy, so I'd like to avoid that route if possible. Another option would be to buy a new laptop that doesn't have to use its own power supply to run at optimum efficiency, but then that would cost me a lot of money. I could also buy another dell power supply, strip it apart, take the uniqueware out and try and fit that into the chain.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance

 

[jombo]

You know I been searching for weeks for info along this line and I have seen no good clues along the way. My desire is to either build or find an adapter that will plug into the battery slot on old dell 1150's or 5160's any older Dell that uses the same battery as the 1150.

I need to use the battery slot for the DC input instead of the regular power jack on the back. So if I could find any assistance in building this it would be greatly appreciated. And also this would assist you zipperiah in your quest.

In my case I been collecting 1150's and 5160's for a long time off Ebay and I have several that are very good laptops but they have problems on the board that makes the power jack input useless. These are not machines that require a simple power jack replacement heck that is easy to fix. These machines have troubles elsewhere and will run only on battery. Some in the charging circuit on the board and other areas.

If I had a laymans pinout on the darn battery connector and the battery it would help me in my quest to build a ghetto device that would sort out this problem. In my case I have several crap boards here to test on and I have tried a couple times to get it done but I have failed so far.

Sorry if I am pestering you zipperiah posting this in your thread but it appears we seek the same data here.

And also zipperiah i found a post googling that states how to put the data chip in the dell ps into the laptop so you could use any power supply, this would fix your problem but I can't refind the link where I found this. It is a very simple fix the chip is just a 3 pin hookup. I will continiue searching for that cure and let you know if/when I find it.

 

[jombo]

Here is the link explaining how to put the data IC from a Dell PSU into the laptop. This would allow you to use any DC input to the power jack. Now this isn't for the model you are concerned with but the fix is most likely the same or very close for your model. I have did this fix a few times testing and it work great for the 1150's. In my case it was just so I could use any replacement PSU.
http://www.laptops-battery.co.uk/blog/dell-ac-power-adapter-type-cannot-be-determined-solution/