Hi I have a dell latitude cpi I have been looking for some time for the power socket pinout or at least the battery connector pinout can anyone point me in the right direction please ?? Thanks

The power socket is only three pins so with the aid of a multi meter, it shouldn't take you long to work out which is which - negative, positive and earth. You could do the same with the battery using a multi meter on the battery pins but you need to be very very careful you do not accidental short some pins. It could destroy the battery. Are you needing this information because you do not have a power supply or battery? if this is the case then you are going to have to find another Dell Laptop and with these components. You will probably get away with connecting a non-Dell power supply providing you can find one that has the same voltage, but more importantly, the same or better amperage. As for the battery, there really is no substitute for a battery except another battery of the same type. The chances of something going wrong are to high to contemplate using anything but a regular battery. I would guess that at least one of the pins on a laptop battery is a control pin so the system can monitor battery voltage. Stuart

its 20v DC needing max of 3.5A (=70watts) (think it will take 17v minimum) could be, 12v+, 5v+ and GND (-) I got the laptop cheap with a perfect screen and a good battery but case is in a bad state someone has had it open looks like they didnt have a screwdriver at hand I dont really need a battery but I though If I cant find the pinout to the 3 pin socket I could hook up a small atx PSU to one of the battery sockets I dont have an original PSU and for a small project I dont think it would be worth paying £20 for a psu from ebay would it ? I may be able to lend a psu from someone but can conecting between the pins with a multimeter be bad for there power supply? Thanks

My Dell CPi D266XT has a 20v 3.5a Power Adapter. The power connector uses 2 pins for power so you would need 20 volts. I don't see how you are going to make 17v out of 12v and 5v. unless you use two power supplies, the 12v and 5v have a common ground and the negative leads don't give enough current. If you try two you will have to isolate the metal cases and check for ground leakage currents. I tried supplying 14.4v to a Toshiba laptop rated for 15v and it did not work. I think your estimate of 17v is too low. By the way I believe there was a discussion about the power connector on one of the forums here.

Yes I think it uses the same power supply / conector (this one) http://www.powerstream.com/z/3pHRS.jpg I have also read in the past about the toshiba libretto when first powerd it checks for 15v and if its not there will not work, Theres a schematic that jumps the voltage upto 15v for detection then drops all the way down to 12v for running :) I didnt mean get 17v all together but I was assuming that the 3 pins could have been 2 voltages adding upto 17(or 20v)and the 3rd pin a common neutral for both of them I think Its not likely that the 3rd pin is connected stright to earth because the laptop is 20v DC I didnt know there was another discussion going on about the connector I did search before posting but I will have another look

If you try and hook through the battery, be CAREFUL--it won't be 20 +/-V there, it'll be more like 9 or 11 or 14 or whatever the battery is rated. However, these battery connections can fool you--usually there will be a "main" plus and minus, and the rest will be sensing, heat/thermistor, other connections, and you can cause damage if you hook up carelessly. There are many ways of haywiring a battery supply together for testing--I take PVC or other plactic pipe, drive long sheet metal screw through both sides of one end of the pipe, and use that for the "neg" connection. Stack enough batteries in the pipe to "make up" whatever voltage you need, and then use your imagination to "make" the other connection. Sometimes I use a carefully measured "second screw", sometimes with an extra spring in the bottom.