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Will I blow up my wife's laptop if I use a slightly different AC adaptor?

sonoferu

sonoferu

Senior member
My wife got a new Dell Laptop recently, and we got a second power cord - AC Adapter I guess you call it. She works at home and at the school where she teaches so its a convenience to leave one in each place

Now one is lost.

So we have another adapter from another laptop that the plug fits in the new one correctly, but I sure hate to think of blowing up her laptop because something is different. Can I ask if anyone can look at the numbers and tell me if it's safe? I dont know what they all mean so I copied off a bunch of them

The real one

DP/N: MTMPN
130W - AC Adapter PA-1131-28D
Model LA130PM121
Output DC 19.5v 6.7A

The older one

DP/N: DF266
90W - AC Adapter PA-1900-01D3
Model LA90PS0-00
Output DC 19.5v 4.62A

Any advice? The voltage seems the same, and that's what I hope is the important thing. As I said, the plugs fit exactly the same

thanks
 
The real one can supply more power than the old one you want to use. With the voltage being the same the laptop should be fine. It will charge slower, but that is about the only thing that would be an issue. The old power adapter cannot supply as much power so it may overheat and die though. I say try it out but feel it and if too hot stop using it. In the meantime I would buy a new one from ebay or somewhere like that to save money vs buying another from Dell direct. Just be careful and get the same exact one as the original.
 
wow, 6.7A? that's a monster PS!

If anything, the older one will charge slower or not at all. Surely won't hurt anything unless the charge circuit designer is completely incompetent
 
if the laptop really needs 130W, it could end up drawing too much on the 90W one and causing it to overheat or something.
 
Nope, I have a Dell that came with a 130Watt adapter, but when I'm in other parts of the house I'll hook it up to a 90W from an older Dell. If the battery is real low, it will popup a message that it will not operate at peak performance, but it runs and charges the battery. I really can't tell if performance is degraded or not.

Most of the time I connect it the 90W, it doesn't popup any message, and the charging light comes on.
 
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