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Even if the question may go into the technical details of a laptop computer specifications, I would like to know general experience of travellers concerning that topic.

Some airlines offer power sockets at their seats where it is possible to plug a computer. So far, I have not been able to know limitations of the supplied power, such as maximum power output.

In my current case, I have an Acer Predator Helios 300 as my main laptop. It is a gaming-grade machine, meaning it should suck a little more power than the average MacBook. I do not find a clear power rating indication in watts, and intelligent power management of nowadays should modulate the actual power drawn according to the current usage. Let's say that typing documents requires less power than playing a top-tier 3D game.

Each time I plug it in, the green light on the airplane socket goes off. It means that the breaker has tripped, likely because I am trying to draw too much power. Surprisingly, it also happens when I plug the charger alone without the laptop at the other end.
This was my experience so far on Delta and United.

I usually ride trains quite a lot in Europe. Rail cars are equipped with sockets nowadays and my laptop was powered by them without issues in all situations. In France, for instance, the train sockets are labeled 100 watts max, therefore my laptop should be drawing less. So, why is is a problem when done in airplanes?

If a socket says "100 W max", it doesn't mean, that your laptop would be drawing less. Your laptop/charger will draw what it needs. The socket will provide the power that your laptop needs, until it reaches the rating of the circuit breaker, and it will trip (as you have experienced). Also, as the 2 comments already have mentioned, a load peak can always happen if you plug the charger in, even if there is no laptop connected, or if you only type a document on your laptop.

If it doesn't happen in trains, than it just means that the circuit breakers have either a higher rating (even if it says less on the socket) or are not that sensitive to short load peaks as the ones on the planes.

I had a laptop that drew too much power for the socket. So I didn't plug it in and use it at the same time. I used it on battery, then when I wasn't using it (eg during meals) I closed the lid and plugged it in. This reduced the draw enough to keep the breaker from flipping. This may not make any and all laptops work with finicky power supplies on planes, but it increases your chances of success.

When you power your laptop on, you're likely drawing the peak 180W. That may be causing issues with not just the circuit breaker, but any surge suppression or arc-fault detectors as well. While this is for Virgin Atlantic circa 2010, I can't see them being too terribly different from other airlines flying planes today

Each pair of outlets at every row of three can support a maximum total of 225 watts per this certification, but there is "enough power" onboard for every outlet on average to deliver 82 watts to every outlet in the aircraft at any given time.

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The issue we believe Mr. Rosen unfortunately encountered relates to usage/surge protection and can affect some laptop users, (per what the second post notes. Newer laptops and certain types of AC charger/adaptors in particular have been more closely linked to this occurrence. Seat guru, an airline blog has a good overview of this too here. Unfortunately some computer power supplies may present a request for power with a momentary amperage spike that is interpreted by the in-seat power system as a surge.

Unfortunately there is no negotiation mechanism between a mains outlet and your laptop. So your laptop has no idea that it needs to limit its current draw.

I would not take the "100W max" label on the sockets on the train as meaning much. AFAICT sockets on planes typically have local protection (the green light that goes out), while sockets on trains are typically connected to shared circuits.

Possible workarounds may include

• Turn the laptop off, so it only draws the current needed to charge the battery and doesn't try to run the laptop and charge the battery at the same time.


• Use a smaller power brick, some laptop vendors have a mechanism for indicating how much power the brick can supply to the laptop, so using a smaller brick lets you limit the power. When I Google your laptop the accessories page links me to a 65W adapter that may work for this. If you are lucky enough to have a laptop that supports charging over USB C then that may be an option too.


• Remove the battery, a laptop can't try to charge a battery that is not installed, on the downside if the power does trip out your laptop loses power immediately.


• Try to start your trip with a fully charged battery.

Trains are electric beasts - even a diesel train has the diesel engine driving a giant electric generator on the order of 3 million watts (a lot more for am electric). This electricity is divvied up between electric drive motors and hotel loads (galley, HVAC, your laptop). Power distribution is just like to your house: transformers, common off-the-shelf Siemens panelboards and receptacles handling mains 230V power. In fact, cleaners use it for their vacuum cleaners. The labeling is statutory: so the conductor can prohibit people from cooking or running heaters, and because the whole car must share 1 or 2 3680W circuits.

Whereas on an airline, power is at a high premium. A 737 has two 90,000 watt generators, which couldn't even power an Amtrak dining car... And as to power all the galley, lighting and avionics loads. Further, this power is not 120/230V mains; for that it must go through exotic converters, where wattage costs money. All this equipment must be aerospace grade. Further, fire is the worst nightmare in aviation, and electrical fires are the #1 cause. So provisioning power to passengers is a big deal, and it is tightly controlled.

Your gaming laptop is custom enough that there hasn't been a huge amount of engineering to reduce things like inrush current, which is caused by lazy power supply design. That's why MBP's work, Apple pays attention to details like that.

I agree that the laptop isn't pulling that much power if you're not crunching/gaming, so it may be possible. Your best bet is push back on your manufacturer to give you a better power block, or go onto the aftermarket and get one.

You can test it by sticking it on a Kill-a-Watt or logging ammeter and plugging the power supply in. The Kill-a-Watt will tell you power draw second by second, or the logging ammeter wil tell you about inrush-current spikes.

You are tripping because you draw too much current. Current is very time varying phenomena and the typical specs are not very useful.

If it happens when you plug in the charger without the laptop, it's probably tripping on the inrush current that's charging the storage capacitor in the power supply. You could try the following approach: disconnect the laptop and plug in the charger only. Reset and repeat as quickly as is possible: on each try you get some extra storage in the capacitors so if you do it quickly enough, the in-rush current on each subsequent trial will be smaller. If you are lucky, it'll stay on after three of four tries. If not, stop. Continuing this wouldn't help and can potentially damage things.

If it stays on, you can try connecting the laptop. That shouldn't create a big current spike so if you are not drawing too much current overall this would be fine.

You can try finding a compatible charger that supplies fewer watts, say 60 or 80 watts.

The effect would be that your battery might discharge slowly while you use your computer (much slower than if you are not using any charger) and it recharges more slowly when the laptop gets turned off, but hopefully it gets you round the problem you have. If you do this, turn the screen brightness down as low as possible. Turn WiFi and Bluetooth off as well, assuming they are no use on an airplane anyway.