Originally Posted by
wto605
Electricity is both the life-blood of complex avionics (and in the case of the 787 used extensively in the flight controls) and of extreme potential danger to the aircraft. Both of those needs come before the outlet under your seat and require complex systems (with very conservative limits) to service.
So you're saying that a system that can provide enough power to power a laptop for 180 (or however many) passengers on a 777 has the ability to bring down an aircraft, and thus the power is rationed to prevent this. I can totally accept this answer.
Now, in the case of the narrow-body aircraft (less 737-900s), that only have power in F and Y+, would there be maybe a little more power available for each user, since fewer people are plugging into the system?
Originally Posted by
WineCountryUA
Beside the steady state current value, the other key parameter is the turn-on surge -- the current that is drawn at initial turn-on / plugging in. It is determined by the design and is typically not an issue with normal 15A service but can be in a reduce capacity system like this situation.
So for a high powered device such as a MacBook Pro, might it be first come first serve? In other words, plug it in as soon as you reach 10,000 feet and keep it plugged in?