More Thinkpad hardware failures - power bricks

[keithsketchley]

Standard power brick for T480 FAILed, fortunately I had a backup one.

High capacity power brick for UltraDock FAILED, fortunately that dock is used with my mule T480.

(Besides high capacity, that brick has different connector:
- standard brick is USB-C
- UltraDock is rectangular (yellow plastic insert).)

Have to have spare of everything!

[dr_st]

In over 18 years of using Thinkpads I haven't had a single power brick fail. Everything else failed from time to time - motherboards, storage drives, screens, batteries, optical drives, plastics, even WiFi cards. But not a power brick. I wonder if it's an extreme streak of bad luck, or something in the electricity in your area that kills them...

But, yes, it's prudent to have spares.

I am trying to remember the last time that the docks had different power brick connectors from the Thinkpads. I think it was in the R5x/T4x/X3x era, when the Mini-Dock and Dock II had those 120W monstrosities with 4-pin yellow connectors.

[astral]

thinkpad g40 and g41 used a big yellow four pin too. sounds like the same one.

[keithsketchley]

'astral', the Ultradock for T480 and similar, that have USB-C normal power jack, is yellow but two contact paths AFAIK - a pin and inside of rectangle, it is used on some older large Lenovo computers

I was able to find two real Lenovo PS on eBay so have the dock running again to get its extra ports, and have a spare.


dr_st, I say 'so what'?
Quality does deteriorate in companies, certainly has in some aspects of design of Thinkpads.
I don't recall any failures of PS in my former thinkpads and docks, but reality is I have with new ones.

[keithsketchley]

There is a 170 watt PS with the plug for the AJ dock, standard one is 135 watt.

I purchased an aftermarket one, checked voltage and polarity, and tried it - appears to work.

It is intended for a large Thinkpad of some model.
Earlier large Thinkpads such as the dual display model of several years ago use a different connector, such as a round one rather than the more recent rectangular one.

[keithsketchley]

Hey 'Admin', your PS experience is not relevant unless you had hardware that uses much power.

The Ultra (AJ) dock for 2019 and later Thinkpads uses power, especially if many devices connected.

There's several USB ports and monitor ports (HDMI and VGA, I only use HDMI) plus dock's own need plus the computer which runs hot (as covered in this forum).

Perhaps I was just unlucky, but having two AJ docks and investment in the T480 lashup I took the opportunity to have a Lenovo spare. (Plus a higher powered PS as second spare.)

Someday I will split the failed PS with a broad chisel and look for point of failure.

[keithsketchley]

Trouble with T480 on UltraDock, seems power variable.

We know connectors on T480 are weak, probably on dock as well.

I noticed that Lenovo list two versions of UltraDock - with 135 or 170 watt PS. Interesting. (The UltraDock includes monitor jacks including the old VGA format.)

There are 170 watt PS on Lenovo's web site, connector looks generally like the yellow two-contact one of UltraDock but Lenovo does not detail in Specifications - not even voltage! They list several, each identified as for a laptop model - a slimmer PS than ones I have, prices vary widely.

(Models for Europe do list voltage in a table for EU certification, some models have several voltages listed.)

Whee!

(Yes, try contact cleaner spray.)

[Scorpion8]

I have multiple "spare" power bricks and grab them at yard sales or thrift store when available (and cheap). But none of mine ever get plugged in without a substantial surge suppressor/UPS unless the rare times in a hotel room. Since I ain't so smart, it pays to be smart.