Power outlets
 

I was wondering whether somebody had experience with power outlets on Continental airplanes, particularly on the Boeing 737s. Recently I had two flights and wanted to charge my laptop computer, but it just didn't work. There are plenty of power outlets, but just as I had plugged it in, the green outlet light would go off and no power would be available. On the first flight, the flight attendant just didn't care and said she was not an electrician (unfortunately that's too often CO's customer-service attitude), on the second flight at least the flight attended tried to explain that my laptop possibly was drawing too much energy. I couldn't follow that example, it's a standard Dell laptop and not a vacuum cleaner. He explained that the circuit was designed to shut itself off against overloading, otherwise the plane would lose power and we would fall off the sky. (Honestly, that how he explained it!) He said he had just tried to charge his iPhone and it took him several attempts to finally get it charged.

I wonder what happens, if those plugs are not working and for decoration only? Maybe somebody wants to share some insight for my further flights on CO. I would think that my experience is not unique, or am I doing something wrong?

The power limits are very low, something like 75W. With 85-90W laptop adapters common these days, it's possible the FA was correct.

It took me a few times to get my laptop to work on Monday.

The green light would turn off like you indicated. I eventually got it to work for 2 hours of my flight.

I actually believe that you can plug a grounded outlet in wrong. I think I was plugging it in too high or two low the first few times I tried.

Might want to feel around a little bit.

The flight attendant is exactly right. The power limits on the in-seat sockets are very low, and once you hit the power limit it trips something that's like a breaker that cuts power off.

Take a look at the charger for your laptop. There's probably a voltage and amperage rating on it. The maximum power draw is the product of those 2 numbers. If that number is > 60-70W, I wouldn't be surprised if your laptop trips the breaker.

You almost certainly have a 90W laptop. I don't think there's a lot you can do besides bring an extra battery.

I had no problem using the power outlet on any CO planes until recently when the same thing happend - the green light would go off when I plugged. I tried everywhich way but it just did not work. Frustrated, I just used my battery until it was dead. Then looking at my plug, I noticed that the prongs were bent - my dog unplugged it running under the charger and it got bent. I squeezed the prongs with my fingers, tried it again and it worked! A few days later, the same thing happend - it got unplugged from the wall and the prong got bent and it would not work on the plane until I adjusted the prongs.

I don't know much about voltage limitations but for a standard Dell laptop, I think the sockets on the plane are sensitive compared to wall outlets (afterall, same bent prongs works in the wall outlets). Now I carry an extension plug that has straight prongs.

Hope this helps.

ONe workaround I've read about is pulling your battery, so you aren't charging the battery, and using plane power for direct power (this is supposed to use less than the wattage limit of the plane power system).

Downside, if they cycle the power unexpectedly your computer shuts off immediately...not too terrible if watching movies, but if you just lost your word or excel document before a save, that kinda sucks.

I agree. One time I can't get my standard US prongs to work (green light goes off), but when I plug it through a UK-type adapter, it works.

I can't power my laptop and use it at the same time. I can sometimes power it when it is turned off to give me a bit more life over the course of the flight. Not great, but better than nothing).

I think they're designed to *power* but not *charge* so the previous reply to pull you battery, if possible, should work. YMMV.

Explain to me how this is a workaround - if the plug doesn't work, how do you use the plane's power?

It's not that the plug doesn't work, it's that the outlet is designed to deliver only a certain wattage, like 65 or 75, and if the draw is in excess, the circuitry shuts power off to the outlet to prevent overheating or pulling too much power from the circuit, like when a circuit breaker trips on your home when the line gets overloaded. Not sure of the specific amount, and many laptops today draw 90 watts or more when charging the battery, but draw much, much lower wattages when simply ONLY delivering power, and not charging a battery.

I understand the design of overheating or pulling too much power; however, my experience with bent prongs indicate that the light does not work if the prongs are not aligned but when gapped closer it does. So in the case of bent prong, this is not a workaround, right? I think there are two issues here - faulty prongs and high wattages - right?

Dear fellow flyers, this is/was my first post and I'm positively impressed by the quality and quantity of the replies, thanks!

My Dell is a bigger one and indeed uses 90W. (I also have a smaller Lenovo which only needs 65W.) With due respect to the professionalism of Boeing's and CO's engineers and any technical limitiations, I wonder how it can be that the circuit doesn't support 90W - do they expect us to charge handheld radios only? I would assume that most people will charge laptops (particularly as DirecTV's IFE is now USD 6 on CO.) The flight attendant mentioned that he had problems even charging his iPhone and that's certainly not like a vacuum cleaner.

As much as taking out the battery seems a smart work-around, given the unstable power supply I wouldn't want to risk losing my data once the power suddenly goes off and I have no back-up battery.

Next time on CO I will certainly try to put the prongs straight and upside-down, but I'm not sure if this will help as I tried four plugs on both flights and am sure that I used several positions.

I e-mailed CO's Customer Service with the same question but haven't heard back from them (yet?). Once (if?) they reply I'll post their response here.

Happy flying!

Another thing that works for me is turning the power settings down on my rig. Use 'power saver' mode, turn down the screen brightness and throttle back your graphics hdwe if possible.

Alternatively, I try to come on the plane with a fully charged battery. This way, I can have the performance turned all the way up with full screen brightness. The battery isn't pulling any juice so it's like having no battery in there at all.

The other choice is to turn off the rig and charge only.

The engineers have to set some upper limit to the capacity of the outlets. No, they weren't meant for high power-draw notebooks. As far as I know, they don't modify the generators on the AC so the seat power system has to fit within the envelope of 'surplus' power provided by the generators.