1 Rookie
•
15 Posts
0
18370
Add external USB power button to Alienware laptop
Hi,
I just wanted to check if there's a way to add an external power button, preferably using one of the existing ports and without hacking into the laptop? I laptop is a dust magnet and I am planning to place my laptop inside a safe drawer (properly ventilated of course) however in that case I wont be able to access the power button. Also due to some past bad experience with Dell docking stations i don't want to do down this path (see my other comments on this forum for details). I was wondering is there's some sort of simple, single wire solution (thunderbolt / USB / Ethernet) that can cold boot the laptop (not wake) ?
jphughan
4 Operator
4 Operator
•
14K Posts
0
July 19th, 2020 20:00
@prashkd85 Just as a data point, while I don't have a Kill-a-Watt that plugs into a wall outlet, I do have a USB-C multimeter that shows USB PD statistics, including voltage level and real-time power draw. Since this measurement is performed between the power adapter "brick" and the system itself, its power draw reading wouldn't include any inefficiencies incurred by the AC/DC conversion occurring within the brick itself. Measuring from a wall outlet would tell you that. But I had a laptop with maximum and minimum battery charge levels configured and the battery was within that range, so the system wasn't drawing power to maintain the battery's charge level. I put my system into standby and my USB-C multimeter showed that it was running 20V with 0.00A being drawn. The multimeter can detect draws as low as 0.05A, so whatever my laptop was drawing in standby was less than that. But for reference, 0.05A at 20V would be 1W, and at my local electricity rate, 1W would cost $1.03 per year.
Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006
5 Practitioner
5 Practitioner
•
3.1K Posts
0
July 19th, 2020 17:00
prashkd85
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
•
15 Posts
0
July 19th, 2020 18:00
I want the new setup to be clean and efficient. Keeping a laptop like Alienware on standby for 24x7 will not be efficient.
prashkd85
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
•
15 Posts
0
July 19th, 2020 18:00
That's a bummer !!! Would be really nice if Alienware team can add this functionality to Alienware too.. after all this use to be (and may still be ) their premium product line..
jphughan
4 Operator
4 Operator
•
14K Posts
0
July 19th, 2020 18:00
@prashkd85 If you want to be able to power it up from full shutdown, I don't know of a way to do that other than some ugly hack that would involve tapping into the same wiring that the actual Power button uses. Alienware systems right now don't even support the Power buttons on some Dell docks that are designed to be used as external Power buttons for the system. For some reason, the firmware-level support necessary for that function is only implemented on Latitude, XPS, Precision, and I think Vostro systems, with Inspiron and Alienware systems left out.
jphughan
4 Operator
4 Operator
•
14K Posts
0
July 19th, 2020 20:00
@prashkd85 Systems on standby consume very little power. If you doubt this, get a Kill-a-Watt Meter and measure the power draw of the system while in standby. They're not expensive and they're interesting to play with to see how much power your various devices actually draw. But realistically, a system on standby would probably cost you maybe $1 per year in electricity -- well, maybe a bit more on a laptop if you include the additional power draw to keep the battery topped up, but you would be doing that anyway even if the system was running. If you wanted to test just standby draw, configure your battery charging to have both a maximum and minimum charge level and check the power draw while the battery is between those levels, in which case the system will not try to keep the battery topped up.
Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006
5 Practitioner
5 Practitioner
•
3.1K Posts
0
July 19th, 2020 20:00
yeah but when the laptop is charging the battery why does it say in the diagnostics 0 watts being drawn.
Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006
5 Practitioner
5 Practitioner
•
3.1K Posts
0
July 19th, 2020 20:00
Now that’s a small Number of wattage.
jphughan
4 Operator
4 Operator
•
14K Posts
0
July 19th, 2020 20:00
@Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006 Probably because when the battery is charging, then the system isn't DRAWING wattage FROM the battery? You DRAW wattage from the battery when you DIScharge it in order to run the system on battery power.
Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006
5 Practitioner
5 Practitioner
•
3.1K Posts
0
July 19th, 2020 20:00
ah yes, this battery is powered by the power supply and thus uses the power supply instead of the battery.
thank you for the answer. I really liked the way you executed it.
Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006
5 Practitioner
5 Practitioner
•
3.1K Posts
0
July 19th, 2020 20:00
It’s really inefficient like you said.
prashkd85
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
•
15 Posts
0
July 20th, 2020 07:00
Awesome. I think I do have a watt meter laying around somewhere. If the numbers are same as you suggested then I think i can use this as final solution.
Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006
5 Practitioner
5 Practitioner
•
3.1K Posts
0
July 20th, 2020 08:00
That’s good for you!