Start a Conversation

Unsolved

This post is more than 5 years old

632

April 24th, 2016 08:00

Dell power adapters

I have two Dell laptops - D430 and i3737.
One has power adapter 19.5V 4.62A, another 19.5V 3.34A.
What will be happen, if I connect D430 to the i3737 power adapter?
And also, what will be happen, if I connect i3737 into the D430 power adapter?

5 Practitioner

 • 

274.2K Posts

April 25th, 2016 02:00

Power adapters has three main characteristics:

1) Voltage

2) Maximum current

3) Connector type

When you connect laptop to power adapter from other model, you need to connector types and voltage match exactly. 

For maximum current the rule (in simplest case) is next: you can connect new power adapter if its maximum current is higher, then previous.

So you can safely connect 4,62A adapter to i3737, but not 3.34A to D430.

But also I have to add, that some models of Dell laptops can work with very wide range of power adapters: they fetch from adapter information of their maximum power (it depends on maximum current) and adjust the hardware behavior to match available power. This adjustments are, for example, limitation of CPU frequency, adjusting speed of battery charging etc. 

But I am not familiar with your models of laptops, so can't say, are such power adjustment features implemented in you laptops. 

So, in that moment, the only thing, I can repeat: you can safely connect 4,62A adapter to i3737.

No Events found!

Top