Xbox Series X Power Cord Specs

In this article, I will pay homage to one critical ingredient that often gets overlooked amidst the talk of teraflops, graphics cards, CPUs, SSDs, etc, and the power cord.

Specifically in this article, I will talk about the Xbox Series X power cord specs, which can come in handy particularly if you wish to replace the one that already comes with the Xbox Series X as a package.

In short, though, the Xbox Series X conforms to the IEC C7 standard for the North American region. It’ll definitely vary from region to region.

The other end of the connector conforms to the 5-15P (female) connector that connects to the Xbox.

In the following text, I will talk about the specs of the power cord for Xbox Series X in detail:

Xbox Series X Power Cord Specs

Xbox Series X does come bundled with a power cord. After all, how else would you power up the console?

If you are in the North American region, the Xbox Series X will come with the 5-15P to IEC C7 Power Cord.

It looks something like the following:

The connector with the pins (2 prong C7 connector) goes into the wall socket where the 5-15P female connector connects to the Xbox Series X on the rear:

As far as the length goes, the included cable is about 5 ft or 1.5 meters in length.

But if you are buying a replacement, you can go for a longer cable.

Of course, the cable has to be durable enough to carry the 315W power required by the Xbox Series X.

For this, you can look into the likes of NEC 18 AWG wires or better with a current carrying capacity of anything higher than 10 Amps.

AWG (American Wire Gauge) is a metric used to define the diameter or the size of the power cord.

The higher than power requirement for a device, the larger the AWG you need. It works on the logarithmic scale meaning the smaller the AWG, the larger would the diameter of the cable.

So a cable with AWG of 16 would be larger in diameter as compared to a cable with AWG of 18.

Of course for non-American users, you can always use inches or mm.

You can easily convert between AWG and mm using online calculators but for reference’s sake, an 18 AWG wire needed sufficient for Xbox series X equals 1.024 mm2 or 0.0403″

Buying a Replacement Cable

Unless if you want to place your Xbox Series X right next to your TV or monitor, you are going to find the 5 ft or 1.5m cable that comes with the console quite short.

In many cases, you may get convinced to invest in a replacement cable.

Of course, you need to make sure that you do not get a cable that is too weak to support the 315W of power required by Xbox Series X or too strong because it’ll be costlier.

You need to get a cable that fits just the right specs.

Unfortunately, there is NO official longer power cable available online from Microsoft.

Instead, you will need to look into the third-party vendors!

But when looking into third-party vendors, always look for the most trusted sources. If you buy your stuff from Amazon.com, then Amazon themselves have a cable that can suit your exact needs and of course, Amazon is a third-party vendor you can trust.

But unfortunately, the longest cable Amazon offers is 10 ft only.

If you are looking for an even longer cable, you will need to look into a different, but trusted, third-party vendor.

Perhaps an Extension Cord Could Help

You don’t necessarily have to look into longer and longer cables for connecting your Xbox Series X to the wall socket, you can instead invest in a good power cable extension cord.

The beauty of this arrangement is that the extension cable will give you multiple power sockets for connecting other devices like your TV/monitor, sound system, etc.

AND the power extension cables can also help you in PROTECTING your console and connecting devices since many of them have surge and over current protection.

A surge protector is particularly helpful if you are in a region that is prone to electrical spikes, lightning, or earth faults.

Is Your Xbox Series X NOT Powering On?

This is of course the predicament that no gamer wishes to fall into.

Your Xbox Series X not turning on out of the blue is a heartbreaking thing to happen to a gamer.

But before you jump the gun and send your console in for repairs. It is worth it to take a step back and look at the simplest cause for the issue.

One of the major causes can be a bad or broken power cable. It would be worth it to check its continuity with a multimeter. But if you are not too adept with using a multimeter, then getting a cheap replacement cable can be quite worth it.

If your console is connected to an extension cord, make sure the extension cord is strong enough to carry enough amps to the console PARTICULARLY if it has other devices connected to it as well.

If your console turns on but you are NOT getting any signal to your monitor, then the HDMI cable can be the culprit.