Laptop power leads

[BBx]

Hello everyone

Bit of a noob question, my laptop died the other day (the battery has had it so unless it is plugged into power it will not turn on).

Thought I had lost it for good as it wouldn't turn on or charge when it was plugged in, so I asked Rob to get his power lead to try.

And it works. :shocked:

His is an Acer Inspire and mine an Acer Extensa - I can only see Aspire power leads for sale online.

My question is, if I get one that is supposed to be for the Aspire do you think it will be ok? :/ They are both 3 pronged leads with transformery things in the middle.

Thanks :)

BB x

[Belmit]

In my experience, if the plug fits the hole and powers the device it's all good. Check that the voltage and current aren't ridiculously higher than the one it's supposed to have though. This information will be on the transformery thing.

[BBx]

Yeah checked and they are both 100 - 24V and

mine is 1.6A 50-60HZ
Output:19V 3.42A 65W

Robs is: 1.5A 50-60Hz
Output: 19V 3.42A

Rob's is ok, so one like his should be ok?

Hmmm...thanks for your help!

BB x

[Belmit]

Yes. Helps that his draws less current than yours. More is always the wrong way to test it!

[Will]

Even if a supply, supplies more current your device will only use what it needs. It's the voltage that's more critical, i.e. if it was under, there's a chance it won't work, if it's over, it'll get hot and ultimately could/would end up frying things. Clearly if you don't supply enough current it might not work!

Seems a perfect fit. As the cheese monster alluded to, if the plug fits into the back, and the the details are as you have specified you'll be fine.

[Burble]

Yes. Helps that his draws less current than yours. More is always the wrong way to test it!

Actually you'd want it to supply more current rather than less.

As Will said a device will only draw as much current as it needs but if the PSU is supplying less current than you may find that the battery either won't charge or will charge slower. There is also the potential for it to cause damage but you'd need more than a 0.1A difference for that to happen with a laptop PSU.

[BBx]

Cool thanks guys :) hopefully the new Aspire power cable will be the same.

Thanks for your help!

BB x

[Goose]

In my experience, if the plug fits the hole and powers the device it's all good.
That's the phrase my Dad used when explaining the birds and the bees....

I think my Dell work laptop must be the exception. It's very picky when it comes to power, and warns me in an angry manner that the adapter is wrong. Bl**dy thing.

[Mark]

If it's a D-series Latitude, that's because there are two types - 65W used by the smaller/lighter Dells and 90W used by the bigger ones. My D830 complains if I feed it the PSU from my old D600, but quite happily runs from the PSU for the docking station I got with the D600.