I’ve been having a hard time looking for a 2 prong 100 W or more Laptop power adapter for my EXP GDC Beast v8.0. I plan to use my eGPU setup on my 8 hour trips to and from college during breaks on the greyhound where they only have outlets for 2 pronged devices. If it wasn’t for this restriction, then I would have purchased the Dell 220W DA-2 AC Power Supply Adapter.
To be clear, I have not built my setup yet, but will be doing so in the next week or two and so would like to know what power adapter to buy. I have also ruled out using a cheater plug as those seem to be dangerous based on what I have read.
I will be running an EVGA GTX 750 Ti SC in the v8.0 which should draw about 60 W from the outlet.
A link to my build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rdNz4C
Yeah, get a $1 de-noising adapter. Turns your 3 prongs, into 2. Keep in mind, that you loose your grounding wire so make sure what you’re plugged into is reliable.
Edit. Apparently, its real name is a cheater plug.
And let me just reiterate that you won’t find a ‘good’ 2 prong power supply in the US because everything is required by law to have ground that is above a certain wattage.
I use the dell DA-2 (220W) which is a big peace of power. So if I understand you correctly you want something that isn’t connected to earth and only have the phase and neutral wire to the brick? If that is the case I do not know any brick that is specifically designed for that on the market today.
I would just use the DA-2 without the earth, that is what I am doing at my parents house where there is no earth in the outlets.
In my case there is no adapter needed for that since the standard grounded EU plug fits the old non-grounded EU plug
No other way I think
I cannot use a cheater plug precisely because I don’t know whether or not the outlets I’ll be using in the future will be reliable or even grounded. If I go that route, I run the risk of electrocuting myself, a fellow passenger, or blowing out the outlet.
I tried contacting the seller about what voltage and amperage it outputs and if one of the twelve adapters is 2.5mm x 5.5mm, but I have not gotten any response in over 24 hours. Voltages are listed in the 2nd picture of the listing, but I don’t know anything about electricity and so I don’t know if it’ll be compatible with a 12V DC input the v8.0 has. It seems to have a 2 prong connector, but I’m not sure since there’s only one picture in the listing showing the connector.
Usinga 2 prong is safe as long as the power is clean and there is no damage to your cable. Ground exists in case of a short somewhere in the line. In smaller devices theres not much risk but higher stuff can’t afford to fail.
What I would suggest is also getting a small 150 W ups to make sure your power is clean and not at risk of surging, use it with the cheater plug and then use what ever power supply you want to connect to the ups.
This is what I would do, but I can see that it would be more of a burden to carry; but not by much.
Unfortunately, I can’t use the Dell DA-2 220 W because my use case requires that I be able to connect to outlets without the third prong that grounds a device. Removing the third prong isn’t an option for me either since I’m not willing to risk my safety just so I can play some PC games on a bus. I will not accept the use of a cheater plug as well since they pose several dangers. Several solutions to the problems I face are also unfeasible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheater_plug (Under the “Alternatives” section).
The ground wire prevents you from being electrocuted when a damaged wire touches metal parts. Normally it is an important safety feature you definitely want to have.
This does not apply in this situation however. First of all the power adapter does absolutely nothing with the ground wire - so removing it has no effect. Secondly consumer electronics use other means of protecting you from electricity: They use voltage so low that it’s safe to touch.
So unless you life in constant fear of being electrocuted by a laptop there is nothing to worry about.
Many power adapters in the EU only come with two pronged plugs if that helps calm you down. Those that don’t ignore the ground wire internally.
So does that mean I don’t have to buy a UPS in order to ensure clean power runs to my external GPU? I gave up looking for a 12V 2.5mm x 5.5mm laptop power adapter in favor of the Dell DA-2 220 W power adapter.
In light of my purchase, can I use the Dell power adapter with a cheater plug? I’ll be using it on a Greyhound bus for 4 to 5 hours during an 8 hour bus ride in two months.
I do not live in the EU. I should have made that clear in my response to @infigo, but I live in the US hence why I keep mentioning cheater plugs. Our neighbors to the north outright ban cheater plugs which is why I was concerned about using one myself.
I don’t see any relation between clean power and safety. @Dynamic_Gravity care to explain what you eluded to?
My point is that either the EU doesn’t care about it’s citizen’s safety or that the ground connection is superfluous. Choose one
Choose both if you pay the entwine cost.
Good. I’ve never heard of these plugs before, but they sure sound crazy. For reasons stated above there is no harm in using them in your particular situation however.
On a side note: I’d link some wikipedia articles to give background but virtually no english ones exist on these topics
There is a difference between the plugs that may explain why. The EU plugs are hidden from the live and neutral wire when the contacts is visible and touchable. This means that you can never come in contact with the live wires from the plug. The plug is recessed into the wall in the EU and (not brittain) but both have plastic on the last part closest to the connector so there is no possibility to touch the metall if the plug is plugged in. So cheater plugs that is designed that way (which is law) is safe.
In the US it is not like that and so you can come in contact with the live wires even if the plugg is plugged in. With no earth (when using the cheater plug) to protect you the circuit might not break the power and fingers and body is fried.
The earth is to protect us mainly but if there is no exposed metal to touch (that be live if case of fault) or you don’t touch the pins then you are safe (in theory)
There is no earth wire on many all plastic or low power appliances since it is probably not needed.
There is no other way other than a mobile earthing fuse (expensive and probably har to find since they are mostly for three phase convention) but from that there is no difference
Yep. There’s more than one way to skin a cat. Some devices use grounding, others rely on low voltage and most plastic ones are simply doubly insulated. Any one of these is enough to protect you.
#1 the greyhound bus is on 4~8 rubber tires so its insulated from ground anyhow, unless there is something I am unaware of. (this is the reason that there is no ground wire on the plugs in the bus the power needs to go somewhere am I right!)
#2 power tools you buy now a day’s don’t have ground plugs because they are completely insulated on the outside (plastic)(double insulated) so if a fault were to occur the user could not get shocked and the power fault will cause the breaker/fuse to blow. older metal power tools have grounds because you would get shocked by the metal case if something were to happen. (both of these power tools run on 110V AC from the wall dangerous stuff and yet no ground on the plastic ones)
#3 you have nothing to worry about past the power adapter once AC power is converted into DC power via the power adapter you wont get shocked.
#4 grounds are nice to have in electronics because instead of a potential power fault deciding to go through your fancy new graphic card and your motherboard killing them on the way back to the ac adapter it would simply just take the quickest and easiest path through ground, and the power adapter would immediately detect a spike in power consumption and turn off. (on a bus isolated from the ground, where would you like the power to go to?)
another side note. your phone runs on DC and also doesn’t have a ground…
a second side note, the 4 rubber tires on your car also insulate your car, and when you get out sometimes you get a static shock, because you just grounded the vehicle by touching the car and the ground.
This is just plain not true. I’m not sure where you got that information. Wattage makes no difference for grounding and bonding. What really matters is the material of the device housing doing the rectification.
I’m at a loss on what you’re talking about with this one. What does clean power have to do with a ground?
A UPS does not make your power “clean”. Some of them can make up for voltage changes, and others can even create more “pure” sine waves from rectification and then inversion but I dont know of any of them that are 150w. I want to see this one.
The ground in the adapter is not there for a reference ground on any of the circuits. Doing so would be a bad idea since the name of the game is clean power and grounds are connected to the neutral in a home. This would also put the ground at the same 120v potential as the rest of the circuit power was before it was transformed and rectified. Theres also chokes in the circuit to reduce high frequency noise, having the ground be your reference ground would essentially defeat that purpose.
Got one of these laying around?
Otherwise just use the cheater. It makes no difference my friend.
Dont just take my word for it though, go read a schematic for any old laptop adapter.
