Has anything technically/physically changed with this kind of monitor power cables over last 10 years?

[vikaskumar2299]

I have a 10 years old Samsung SyncMaster 933 monitor. It has this kind of power cable and a monitor input design. Basically it's a 3 pin input. Middle pin is slightly bigger than other two and PSU of monitor is built inside the monitor only: (see Photo below):

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Similarly, many new monitors which also have built in PSU inside monitor itself, still use similar power cables and input. Here's a Dell monitor from 2020 input and power cable photo I found on YouTube:

They look same right? The only difference I could found out was my Samsung monitor cable is 6 AMP around 240 V with small plug for wall socket and this new Dell monitor has 16 AMP 250 V cable with a little bigger plug for wall socket. Which shouldn't matter from what I've learned because monitors use too less power. The other size of each cable (which we insert to monitor) looks same and same size - and that concerns me mainly.

Otherwise, basically they look same. I am curious, would that old power cable work with new modern monitors like this Dell monitor? Or the design of these cables and inputs still have some physical change which I might not notice and it won't work?

PS: Not to be confused with those laptop style brick cables where PSU is outside the monitor. That is a separate thing and has entirely different design and irrelavant to my question.

[SlashedM]

9 minutes ago, vikaskumar2299 said:

They look same right? The only difference I could found out was my Samsung monitor cable is 6 AMP around 240 V with small plug for wall socket and this new Dell monitor has 16 AMP 250 V cable with a little bigger plug for wall socket. Which shouldn't matter from what I've learned because monitors use too less power. The other size of each cable (which we insert to monitor) looks same and same size - and that concerns me mainly.

Otherwise, basically they look same. I am curious, would that old power cable work with new modern monitors like this Dell monitor? Or the design of these cables and inputs still have some physical change which I might not notice and it won't work?

They should still work as far as Im concerned, the middle pin is larger than the rest just for more safety iirc, having the earth pin longer. Practically the only real difference is the rating of the cable, which shouldnt matter for monitors that much unless its a power hungry one

[mariushm]

The connector is standardized, that's why it looks the same.   It's IEC C13 and C14 (male and female), see : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320#Appliance_couplers

 

The other most common connectors are C5  (mickey mouse) and C7 ... you see them in lower power things (laptop adapter/charger, small desk lamps etc) .. you can see how they look in the link above.

 

The contacts inside the connectors are rated for 10A for the C13/C14 connectors, there's a higher current version C19/C20 sometimes used on 1600w+ power supplies that's rated for 16A of current.

 

The current rating on the cable is just that, how much the cable can safely transfer - has to do with how thick the wires are, the insulation material used on the wires, spacing between wires inside the cable and between the pins in the AC socket, stuff like that.  The maximum current is set so that the cable would be safe to use in various environments and not have the wires inside the cable go above some temperature (for example using the cable at 10A may heat the wires inside from 25-30c ambient temperature to around 60c , while the insulation on the wires may be rated for up to 85-100c - so even at 10A, you would still have a big safety margin.

 

The monitor itself will consume under 100 watts, typically for a 17-19" monitor you're looking at around 40-60 watts. This means the power supply will consume less than 1A of current ( 110v / 60w = ~ 0.5 A) but switching power supplies don't always take power in a smooth continuous flow, like water pouring from a faucet ... some power supplies by design suck a chunk of power in a short burst then for some small amount of time they take almost nothing from the wall socket .... like for example let's say 1.5A-2A of current for 600ms then 0.1A for 400ms, then repeat, averaging out to around 1A of current.

So that's why you would see on the label of the monitor, something like  90v...250v 2A  input  ... because in 110v countries, the monitor may pull up to 2A in short bursts, but on average the power consumption will be way less.

 

The power cable is oversized for the needs of the monitor because these cables are mass produced and usually made by other companies - the company making the monitor doesn't make the power cable ... so they don't make a  250v 3A cable because the monitor will peak at 2A maximum, they'll just get the default mass produced 10A cable, and they buy 100k pieces at low price and use the same cable with 10-20 different monitor models.

 

So to answer your question, yes, the cables are interchangeable, you can use either one on your monitor, and you could probably also use the same cable to power your computer - the same connector is used on power supplies.

[Needfuldoer]

Those connectors have been around for about 50 years, and they haven't changed.

 

The middle pin carries safety ground, it's longer so ground gets connected before live (hot) and neutral.

[RollyShed]

42 minutes ago, vikaskumar2299 said:

I have a 10 years old Samsung SyncMaster 933 monitor. It has this kind of power cable .... Basically it's a 3 pin input.

Do you only have one like that? At the Shed we probably have a couple of dozen, maybe 3 dozen hanging up or in use. Here there will be at least 10 being used in the home office and in the workshop at least a dozen more, most hanging up.

 

As Needfuldoer says, around for about 50 years. "As common as muck" is the British saying.

[vikaskumar2299]

40 minutes ago, mariushm said:

The connector is standardized, that's why it looks the same.   It's IEC C13 and C14 (male and female), see : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320#Appliance_couplers

 

The other most common connectors are C5  (mickey mouse) and C7 ... you see them in lower power things (laptop adapter/charger, small desk lamps etc) .. you can see how they look in the link above.

 

The contacts inside the connectors are rated for 10A for the C13/C14 connectors, there's a higher current version C19/C20 sometimes used on 1600w+ power supplies that's rated for 16A of current.

 

The current rating on the cable is just that, how much the cable can safely transfer - has to do with how thick the wires are, the insulation material used on the wires, spacing between wires inside the cable and between the pins in the AC socket, stuff like that.  The maximum current is set so that the cable would be safe to use in various environments and not have the wires inside the cable go above some temperature (for example using the cable at 10A may heat the wires inside from 25-30c ambient temperature to around 60c , while the insulation on the wires may be rated for up to 85-100c - so even at 10A, you would still have a big safety margin.

 

The monitor itself will consume under 100 watts, typically for a 17-19" monitor you're looking at around 40-60 watts. This means the power supply will consume less than 1A of current ( 110v / 60w = ~ 0.5 A) but switching power supplies don't always take power in a smooth continuous flow, like water pouring from a faucet ... some power supplies by design suck a chunk of power in a short burst then for some small amount of time they take almost nothing from the wall socket .... like for example let's say 1.5A-2A of current for 600ms then 0.1A for 400ms, then repeat, averaging out to around 1A of current.

So that's why you would see on the label of the monitor, something like  90v...250v 2A  input  ... because in 110v countries, the monitor may pull up to 2A in short bursts, but on average the power consumption will be way less.

 

The power cable is oversized for the needs of the monitor because these cables are mass produced and usually made by other companies - the company making the monitor doesn't make the power cable ... so they don't make a  250v 3A cable because the monitor will peak at 2A maximum, they'll just get the default mass produced 10A cable, and they buy 100k pieces at low price and use the same cable with 10-20 different monitor models.

 

So to answer your question, yes, the cables are interchangeable, you can use either one on your monitor, and you could probably also use the same cable to power your computer - the same connector is used on power supplies.

 

Thank you for detailed explanation! Just to confirm one thing, when you mentioned "power supply" you mean the monitor power supply which is inside these types of monitors right? And NOT the desktop PSU which is a separate topic and consumes way more power?

[vikaskumar2299]

40 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

Those connectors have been around for about 50 years, and they haven't changed.

 

The middle pin carries safety ground, it's longer so ground gets connected before live (hot) and neutral.

Thanks

[vikaskumar2299]

29 minutes ago, RollyShed said:

Do you only have one like that? At the Shed we probably have a couple of dozen, maybe 3 dozen hanging up or in use. Here there will be at least 10 being used in the home office and in the workshop at least a dozen more, most hanging up.

 

As Needfuldoer says, around for about 50 years. "As common as muck" is the British saying.

The thing is, this Dell 16 AMP plug for wall socket is too big and doesn't feet in my home sockets. The older cable is suitable for my wall sockets.

I was about to buy a new cable for this problem. And then I suddenly realized this ancient Samsung monitor already have what I need! So I posted a question to make sure! Thanks.

[mariushm]

5 minutes ago, vikaskumar2299 said:

 

Thank you for detailed explanation! Just to confirm one thing, when you mentioned "power supply" you mean the monitor power supply which is inside these types of monitors right? And NOT the desktop PSU which is a separate topic and consumes way more power?

Yes. The monitor has a switching power supply that produces 12-20v for the backlight (on older monitors, can be 40-100v on newer monitors which use leds for backlight), and 5v or 3.3v for the actual display processor which takes in vga, hdmi , displayport  and convert the signals into the format the lcd panel needs.

 

Power supplies under some wattage don't require Active Power Factor correction (Active PFC) so older monitors didn't include such circuit to save money - the active PFC circuit helps smooth out the amount of power pulled into the power supply, making it more even and that's a good thing. Newer monitors often come with laptop adapter style power supplies and the monitor maker basically buys a ready made design from a company like FSP, Delta, others, and those often already include Active PFC circuit and you get a better power source for the monitors.

 

[RollyShed]

24 minutes ago, vikaskumar2299 said:

 when you mentioned "power supply" you mean the monitor power supply which is inside these types of monitors right? And NOT the desktop PSU which is a separate topic and consumes way more power?

That socket end of the cable is common for power supplies on all sorts of devices as well as other things, Hifi amps, TVs, oscilloscopes, battery charges, monitors, computers, printers, etc. etc. If the power cable plugs in then it is most likely to use that socket on the end of the cable.

 

As for power use, your computer doesn't use much power, certainly not as much (less than half) as an electric heater. Just because the computer uses more power than the monitor has northing to do with it.

 

As for 10 years being ancient, just how old are you? I've been using them for near 50 years so your one is a new one.

[Blue4130]

14 hours ago, vikaskumar2299 said:

 

Thank you for detailed explanation! Just to confirm one thing, when you mentioned "power supply" you mean the monitor power supply which is inside these types of monitors right? And NOT the desktop PSU which is a separate topic and consumes way more power?

That cable can be used in either power supply. The monitor or the psu. The cable is standard across many devices.

[vikaskumar2299]

11 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

That cable can be used in either power supply. The monitor or the psu. The cable is standard across many devices.

Ah. Didn't knew that it can also work with desktop PSU. I have noticed the designs are same but never thought it.

[RollyShed]

39 minutes ago, vikaskumar2299 said:

Ah. Didn't knew that it can also work with desktop PSU. I have noticed the designs are same but never thought it.

Every desktop computer and monitor I've ever had or worked with (used) or worked on (repairs) these past 40 years has used that type of cable.

[Blue4130]

43 minutes ago, vikaskumar2299 said:

Ah. Didn't knew that it can also work with desktop PSU. I have noticed the designs are same but never thought it.

Not just monitors and psu's. The cable can be used on nearly anything. It's a standardized power cable.