ZBook Power G9 DC power specification

[msssm]

Hi,

first of all where to find the documentation? The Quickspecs I have for the G9. But for the G8 I also have a "User guide" with a chapter Input power and the DC power specifications for charging via USB-C (is it PD Power Delivery?)

For instance for the G8 there is:

19.5 V dc @ 2.31 A – 45 W
19.5 V dc @ 3.33 A – 65 W

etc.

Is it the same for the G9? In the past I was never able to charge a G8 with PD chargers below 100W. Actually 45W or 65W should already be able to charge it, even if not at highest rate...

What about the G9?

[resistencia]

Hi @msssm 

in order to charge you must have a 150 Watt USB-C charger, the same power as the normal AC charger, otherwise you can only charge when the laptop is turned off.

[TzortzisG]

Hello msssm.

The HP Support page for you system has the maintenance manual which on page 150 mentions:

19.5 V dc @ 6.15 A – 120 W
19.5 V dc @ 7.70 A – 150 W

Both the manual and the QuickSpecs you've already seen list 120W and 150W chargers as the ones offered originally with this series. No mention of USB-C chargers, and this -according to HP- means you're on your own if you want to power this system from a USB port. This workstation needs a lot of juice and therefore 100W more than likely will not be sufficient. You still might be able to charge it when completely turned off.....

[msssm]

Okay this is not true. I have a 100W PD USB-C charger that able to charge while running, eventhough Windows is complaining about a low power charger. But it is charging. 

The charger even works when powering an usb-c Dock which itself charges the ZBook.

This works for G8 and G9.

Now only the G8 docs mentions the supported USB-C PD Standards. 

As you confirmed the G9 docs only mention the 2 available HP power supplies, and nothing about USB-C.

Anyway, G8 and G9 Specs are quite similar.

Now what I like to know if a USB-C kKVM switch supporting 60W (20V/3A) charging power would be able to drive this Zbooks.

From G8 specs it should work. There is nothing mentioning that these specs are only true while not running:

 

[TzortzisG]

Yes. Thank you for informing us that the G8 and G9s you own can be powered successfully with the 100W charger you have. Official HP policy on this matter, handed down by HP personnel is pretty much something along the lines of "If the manual or other HP docs don't mention an HP USB-C charger sold for this model, we don't guarantee that any USB charger will perform as it should." This is why I said "more than likely".

However, I had a similar discussion about this almost three years ago with another owner of this workstation, and it did seem that 100W was actually OK: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-Notebooks/Powering-150-W-HP-ZBook-Power-15-G9-from-100-W-HP-Z...

Anyways, I stand corrected. 100W will work for this 150W system. This 2023 post seems to indicate that 60W is not enough: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/ZBook-Power-G9-won-t-charge-wi.... Again, the answer is "more than likely" won't work.

[resistencia]

Probably charges you with 100w because you don't have a second disk installed. The power supply error message is just to indicate that there is not enough power.

Now the USB-C ports on these devices are Thunderbolt, this means that you need 5V/3A, a normal USB-C port needs 5V/1.5A so you need your charger to be 5V/3A minimum otherwise it will not charge on.

Some Thunderbolt devices may have the ability to switch to non-Thunderbolt mode for less than 1.5A current. In non-Thunderbolt mode, the computer continues to detect devices without Thunderbolt capabilities.

[msssm]

We received a TESmart HDC402-P23-EUBK that is able to charge via USB-C with 60 W (20 V / 3 A), but the ZBook rejects charging with a splash info...

So the specifications are wrong.

[resistencia]

With 60 watts you will not be able to charge this laptop, I'm pretty sure. But anyway you decide what to do.

[TzortzisG]

Charging a completely turned off system is one thing,

but wanting to run a workstation or a gaming laptop -powerful systems- with an extremely underpowered adapter is not a good idea. Various nasty throttling schemes are enabled, this techpowerup discussion has Kevin Glynn exp;aining why it's a bad thing that "Half of the market seems to think that a small inadequate power adapter that fits in your purse is a wonderful idea.". About the USB-C charging specifications in the manual, laptop manufacturers (at least in Europe) will be obligated to respect them AFTER April 2026, and it seems that these companies are pushing for a delay when it comes to beasts like the ZBooks or the Omens -for obvious reasons.

[msssm]

I have to admit, it charges when switched-off with the maximum provided power spec, measured active power on AC side ~58W.

It's just unclear from the spec, which power spec is applied for switched-off status only.

Technically speaking, 60W could actually be sufficient when draining battery on power peaks, allowed by the Boost converter option. In my opinion, none of the  low charging specs should be rejected but just taken as is. All mobile devices are working like that. I have Android devices continuously draining battery on low power chargers while navigating on high load, but still charging.

I tried disabling these options:

System Options / [ ] Turbo Boost: Enables Intel Turbo Boost Technology to improve performance...

System Options / [ ] Fast charge: When checked battery charge rate is actively managed by the system using current battery and charger parameters. When unchecked, rate is fixed
(enabled should also allow low power charging better than fixed rate charging)

System Options / [ ] Intel Dynamic Tuning: Manages power and thermal conditions to keep system from overheating, previously called DPTF

Built-In / [ ] Boost Converter: draws power from the battery when system is on AC to give the CPU a performance gain...
(this actually would rather help switched on to allow low charging power)

Power Management Options / [ ] Runtime Power Management: enables to run at lower frequencies when higher performance is not needed...
(usually switched on and actually would rather help switched on to allow low charging power)

Power Management Options / [ ] Power Control: enables support power management applications such as IPM+ that help enterprises reduce power costs

I also tried combinations of these options that I think are worth for power saving and low power charging. But 60W charging is always rejected during switched-on.