So I believe the most likely problem is, that your power supply just draws to much current when powering up. This one seems to be of better quality and has none of this problems. This works.Īfter I found the reason is indeed the inrush current of the power supply I bought a generic 350W power supply which is compatible with the laptop. So Converter -> UPS -> Laptop power supply. Just for fun and to confirm my suspicion I connected a UPS in between. I cannot connect my laptop to this, it immediately trips some internal breaker. My laptop power supply is rated 300W, so it should work. I also have an DC-AC converter rated 500W for my car. The rest of the house has newer electrical installation, and there it works. In one part of my parents home there is a older electrical installation, and I can't plug my laptop in there without flipping a breaker. This is in general common for such power supplies, but the one provided with my laptop is extremely bad.īreakers have different characteristics and it takes them a different time until they flip. The switched power supply provided with my laptop seems to have an extremely high inrush current.
I have a gaming Laptop too and live in Austria. When the power supply will die of old age, you will have no residual current device to protect you and rely solely on your health to sustain the electric shock. People sometimes suggest to get a power cord without protective earth pin, which indeed will get your power supply working, without tripping any protection. If that doesn't help, get the power supply checked by a repair shop, or buy a new one. The cheapest step to take is to replace the power cord. This may be not noticeable while the current is low, but the danger is that it can increase unpredictably. Chances are, your PSU is leaking current from high-voltage part into the low-voltage circuitry, putting you at risk. While this is sometimes due to the power supply design and not an actual problem, it's better to be safe than sorry. AFAIK RCD protective devices are mandatory in hotels in the EU. It looks like your laptop is tripping the RCD rather than the regular circuit breaker: a device tripping the regular CB will simply start smoking if the CB doesn't trip, and your laptop seems to work in some places.
I'm also certain it was being plugged into a type F outlet, which is grounded. Does that make a difference? As I mentioned in the comments, my power cord has a ground pin and the adapter was for a Type C outlet so the ground pin did not go into the adapter.
In the first hotel it happened after about 30 minutes of using the laptop and at the second one it happened after a couple of hours of use. To add additional information, the breaker did not trip immediately.
I charged my phone and tablet through it with no problems. I only had one adaptor, so I couldn't try any others. What could have caused this and how do I prevent it in the future? I am going back to Austria and Italy this summer and do not want the same thing to happen again. I thought there would be no issue since the laptop was rated 100-240V. In both hotels I stayed at I flipped the breaker to my room while using my laptop. I used an adapter to plug into the C European electrical socket. It is an Alienware (Dell) and the power cord has a ground pin and is rated 100-240V, 50-60Hz. Last summer I took my laptop on a trip from the U.S.
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