Precision 7530 & Precision 7730 owner's thread

It won't harm the system, but it might harm the external battery due to excessive current output.

 

So not really a "safe" way to get external battery power to a 7730? Hmmm.

 

I'm not really worried about either the system or the external battery being harmed. The system throttles (hard) when a low-powered PSU is attached, but that won't cause harm, just low performance. I'm sure that the external battery has a cap on its output to keep the power draw from being too high. I think that the only places you are going to get damage from is the constant charge/discharge of the external battery, and maybe your expectations of how well this will work (I think that you may find the system annoying to use with the external battery attached)

At least you don't have much "skin in the game", no money required to give it a try as long as you can find the "big end" power cable for your external battery.

 

Ideally you'd use something like a car battery or one of those gigantic portable power banks and a DC-DC converter, because notebooks nowadays can draw well in excess of 200 W at full load.

You'd exhaust any normal-sized external battery in a handful of hours flat, because the Precision's efficiency is lousy to begin with.

I'd sooner just keep a couple of spare batteries on me, and swap them out as necessary. Hibernate system, swap battery, boot up again.

 

Yep. It sounds like in a pinch it will be worth a try. If the 7730 is off, will the external battery charge the internal battery? If so, that might be the better option for scenarios when I have that time.

I was just thinking about this because I spent a weekend at a three-room treehouse without power. I might look at spending time there working on my laptop, so I'm looking at battery/generator options.

 

Sounds like a pain on the 7530, since swapping the battery now requires removing a bunch of screws to get the bottom panel off. (And isn't there a few screws for the battery itself?) One thing I really liked about prior systems, the battery could be removed without taking any screws out at all, something that is becoming increasingly rare in laptops. I looked at the 7730 manual and it looks like you can remove the bottom part of the bottom cover without any screws (it snaps off after unlocking) but there are still screws holding the battery in. Meh.

(Not to mention, there is no way to charge the battery externally as far as I know.)

Still, I can't really think of any better options. Something like an APC backup battery could work, if you don't mind the weight...

 

I was really hoping to find something more universal than a battery specific to the 7730, so I can use it for other purposes. Maybe something like the new Anker Powerhouse 200 would be a better option. https://www.anker.com/products/variant/powerhouse-200/A1702111.

 

Woot... that thing looks like hunting birds with anti-aircraft missiles...

 

haha. But if it works to save the day, it may well be worth while.

 

Yeah, additionally the odd faces you will earn in an appointment when you arrive with this monster may be worth it too ^^