Charging my Vostro 3578 via USB-C PD charger

Question

Hello everyone,As you know that USB-C PD charger is quite popular these days.I just wonder if it would work for any previous gen of laptop which still use round 4.5x3.0mm one through an adapterIf there is any possibility to do it, please kindly let me know, I appreciate it. 'Cause I want to change my old laptop charger to a GaN one for multi-devices charging

jphughan · Accepted Answer

@ejn63 There actually are some adapters meant to take a USB PD signal and provide power to a barrel-style connector. This is one of them. I've never used one of these, so I can't speak to how well it will work. One reviewer claims to have successfully used it with a Dell laptop after changing the battery charging from Adaptive to Standard, though.

@Tien Anh If you want to research those, make sure your USB-C power source provides at least the amount of wattage that your laptop expects, and I would specifically focus on checking for compatibility with Dell laptops, because if Dell laptops can't properly identify the wattage of the power source, they treat it as an unknown adapter and reduce their power consumption as much as possible as a safety precaution, but that causes performance throttling.

ejn63 · Answer

There's no converter to adapt one of these to a round Dell DC input plug, no.

Charging over USB requires USB-C port (or a Thunderbolt port) that supports charging. This model has neither -- so the only way to charge it is with the OEM adapter.

jphughan · Answer

I'll also note that Dell itself makes an adapter designed for the opposite purpose, i.e. connecting a barrel-style charger to a laptop that uses USB-C charging.  But they don't seem to make one designed to go in the direction required here.

jphughan · Answer

@Tien Anh  If your system doesn't identify the power source properly, you'll likely see a message in Windows, but you'd also see one during initial boot.  You could also go into the BIOS.  I don't have your specific system, but on many Dell systems there's a Battery Information section in the BIOS that will show the battery and also the wattage of the attached power source.  If the system doesn't recognize the power source, that will show as Unknown.

Tien Anh · Answer

Hi @jphughan, thank you for your information. About the power source, I'm going to use the Baseus GaN 65W charger with USB C PD standard cable also from Baseus.
Btw may you tell me how to figure out if Dell laptop identify the power source properly

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Charging my Vostro 3578 via USB-C PD charger

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