EmPower on DL 738 broken?
 

I discovered via SeatGuru.com that DL's 737-800s have EmPower under the seats. On flight 747 yesterday CVG-SEA, which used a 737-800, there was indeed an EmPower port under my seat. I have a car charger for my computer which converts to an EmPower plug by unscrewing the top of the adapter, but when I plugged it in, it didn't work. I also tried the other EmPower port (I'm sure the gentleman in the other seat was wondering what the heck I was doing under his legs...:D), but it didn't work either.

Wondering what others' experiences with this are. I see three possibilities:

1. My adapter is broken or the prongs are set too far back (I've never had a chance to test it on any other EmPower-equipped planes to see if it works, though it works fine in the car)
2. EmPower was out to my row
3. EmPower was out to the whole plane

How often does EmPower work? Is there anything special the FA or captain needs to do to turn it on?

On AA, the flight attendant needs to turn the system on - on the MD-80s, for example, the on/off switch for the system is located on the wall immediately behind the area where the forward fold-down seat for the flight attendant is located (at the plane's entrance door).

Most times, the system is already on when I plug in, so I assume that turning the system on is part of the FA's standard procedure.

The FAs have to turn the system on for CO 767s as well. Dunno about other equipment/airlines.

On US and UA birds, empower jacks have a lamp by the socket. If the light is on, and green, empower is on. If it is off or red, empower is no working. I haven't flown DL in 6 years so I don't have any direct experience there.

Several months ago, I bought a Targus empower adapter, and had mixed luck using it. Some planes it worked, some not. By work I mean on some planes it charged my laptop, and some it didn't. In all cases, the blue light of the Targus adapter came on. Finally, on a flight sitting next to somone with an iGO, I noticed he was fine, and my Targus was not working. I borrowed his adapter and my laptop charged just fine in my empower jack with his iGO.

Conclusion: my targus was no good. Solution: buy an iGO. Resolution: bought an iGO and been very happy ever since.

Anyone wanna buy a barely used Targus empower adapter? ;)

So I would look at #1 or a variation thereof as being your problem. The adapter might well be working to its design, and might be working to the
empower specfications. But it might not work with all empower sources, at least not when powering/charging your device. And that's what matters the most.

I look at it this way: iGO's whole business model depends on having products charge devices on planes. Everyone else is into that business as a sideline and it shows.

I flew Delta last week, LAX to MCO. I don't recall the aircraft but neither my nor my neighbor's empower jack worked. My neighbor asked the FA and she said the system was on and should be working. Still, no go. It happens.

Well, the green light on my adapter wasn't on, so it wasn't receiving any power (it will come on even in a a car with a really low battery--it'll just start pulsing on and off when you then plug it into the laptop).

I might look into an iGO product, but I was mostly just excited to try it out for the first time (especially after advocating in the AS forum that AS should install power ports to go along with their on-board wireless Internet). I've got another set of DL flights in a couple weeks--will have to see if there are any EmPower-equipped aircraft and try it again...thanks for the help!