Trouble finding a barrel connector for laptop - Page 2

shotgunefx · 12-18-2006, 09:16 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by hypnotiq

What if i use a the connector from my orginial power source that has a third pin, would it trick the laptop into thinking that i'm using the original charger?

Quote: Originally Posted by hypnotiq

I was reading this post by bugbyte:

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...28&postcount=6

and it describes my charger exactly. So i also believe that i do have one of those connectors.

My originial question has never been answered though, if i cut off the end of my OEM dell charger would that work without a doubt with my p1900 since it will have the chip in it?

Thanks for all the help guys, i'm sure theres a bunch of other people with teh same problem

The cheap isn't in the tip, it's in the power brick, no power brick, no chip. No work.

Maybe if you could extract the chip out somehow and get it to work being powered by the p1900, maybe something could happen, maybe not. I don't know if the chip just reports info or something or it may actually be part of the charging circuit, no idea as it's all proprietary so no datasheets, etc.

Probably the most likely solution would be for someone with an oscilloscope try and figure out what's being communicated, and then making a dummy out of a PIC that says what it wants to hear.

shotgunefx · 12-18-2006, 09:29 PM

Another possibility might be to hack the BIOS to skip the check I suppose.

turbocad6 · 12-18-2006, 10:10 PM

first of all, the Lind is the only adapter that WILL let the battery charge.... I had a dell 700m with the large barrel connector... the Lind works 100%...

since I swapped out the dell for a gateway that also needed 19v, but had a different plug, I cut the plug off of the lind.... it uses 3 wires of course, but it's weird.. it has like 2 different voltage feeds, & I think one has a ground level that is 5v above the other... I didn't spend a lot of time analyzing it, cause when the 2 outputs are summed, the end result is 19v, which suited my purpouse....

I don't think there is any communication, just a weird voltage configuration.... either way, if charging the battery isn't important, then the p1900 will definitely do the job... otherwise get a lind adapter for your model & it'll charge 100%....

shotgunefx · 12-18-2006, 11:07 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by turbocad6

first of all, the Lind is the only adapter that WILL let the battery charge.... I had a dell 700m with the large barrel connector... the Lind works 100%...

since I swapped out the dell for a gateway that also needed 19v, but had a different plug, I cut the plug off of the lind.... it uses 3 wires of course, but it's weird.. it has like 2 different voltage feeds, & I think one has a ground level that is 5v above the other... I didn't spend a lot of time analyzing it, cause when the 2 outputs are summed, the end result is 19v, which suited my purpouse....

I don't think there is any communication, just a weird voltage configuration.... either way, if charging the battery isn't important, then the p1900 will definitely do the job... otherwise get a lind adapter for your model & it'll charge 100%....

Maybe it was just that they (Lind) didn't work at first??? Could have sworn I read it at some point.

Anyway, any reason to get a Lind instead of just use the PSU and a regular inverter? Certainly seems cheaper to get a regular inverter.

Anyway, if you go the Lind route, make sure it's big enough (watts) for whatever you are going to do. A dock requires a bigger one (at least the Inspirion) and it dies at the BIOS with a power message. Funny, it won't boot with a dock if you are on battery, though if you remove the power after the BIOS post, it all runs fine on the battery.

God I hate Dell.

hypnotiq · 12-19-2006, 02:23 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by turbocad6

first of all, the Lind is the only adapter that WILL let the battery charge.... I had a dell 700m with the large barrel connector... the Lind works 100%...

since I swapped out the dell for a gateway that also needed 19v, but had a different plug, I cut the plug off of the lind.... it uses 3 wires of course, but it's weird.. it has like 2 different voltage feeds, & I think one has a ground level that is 5v above the other... I didn't spend a lot of time analyzing it, cause when the 2 outputs are summed, the end result is 19v, which suited my purpouse....

I don't think there is any communication, just a weird voltage configuration.... either way, if charging the battery isn't important, then the p1900 will definitely do the job... otherwise get a lind adapter for your model & it'll charge 100%....

So how does the lind work? Do you plug into your cigerrete lighter? If so, how do you get the shutdown controller to work?

Thanks

Edit: I just googled it, damn its expensive

turbocad6 · 12-19-2006, 05:20 PM

yeah, around $100.... it is designed to plug into a cigarette lighter yeah, but you can cut the plug off & hardware it in no problem.... startup & shutdown can still be worked out... either with the p1900 or a stand alone controller, or webmasters relay thing, or a push button on the dash... I used to use this with an opus that did all my start/shut down...

again, this is only a concern if you must have the battery being charged for you while it's docked in the car.... you can run your laptop right off the p1900 & not bother... I don't know for sure, but I think it won't discharge the battery either, & may be very usable like this.... depends a lot on how you intend on using this, as an in-out daily, or in the car for weeks at a time I guess... either way, even if you threw the battery out, it would still work 100% as a carputer with just the p1900, just so your clear on that too...

I don't know what the issues might be with the bios if any though