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15720
August 13th, 2004 17:00
sparks upon plugging in
I just got a new Latitude D600. It sparks when I plug it in - I mean sparks come off the plug as I'm inserting it. I'm currently living in the Netherlands, and my parents brought the computer over to me from the States. I don't know if it's a problem with the computer or it's due to voltage difference or this is completely normal. Should I be concerned?
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DELL-Corey
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August 16th, 2004 17:00
Thank you for using Dell's Community Forum.
Sparks are not good, i.e. it should not spark.
Are you sure that the prongs on the computer’s cord match exactly the wall socket you’re connecting it to? If not, you might need some sort of plug adaptor that you can get at most computer or electronics store.
wpns
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September 4th, 2004 22:00
sarahclare
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September 5th, 2004 10:00
Thanks! You may be right. If I plug it in and then unplug and replug immediately, it doesn't spark the second time, perhaps because the power supply capacitors are already charged. It works fine otherwise; it's just disconcerting.
sc
wpns
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September 5th, 2004 12:00
Mr Trilby
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September 13th, 2004 09:00
I too have a Dell Latitude D600 and my AC adapter frequently sparks with a loud noise when I plug it in. This seems to happen both when the adapter is cold, i.e. has not been plugged in for some time, and warm, i.e. has just been unplugged, and also both when the adapter is plugged into the laptop and not.
I do note however that the adapter must have some large capacitors in it because the green LED takes about 20 seconds to fade after the adapter is unplugged.
Recently, the spark was so large that it melted a 3mm circular rough-edged mark into the brass on the neutral pin of the moulded 3-pin British Standard 1363 plug attached to the AC adapter and blackened both the rest of the plug and the socket as well as tripping the 30A fuse on the ring main. I replaced both the plug and the socket.
I examined the damaged plug carefully and noted that there was also a shiny dot surrounded by black on the live pin of the plug which suggests that it sparked there too. Although I can't be sure that the sparks to the live and neutral pin occurred on the same occasion, the tripping of the 30A ring main and the blackening of the exterior of the plug and socket suggests that the spark was across live to neutral and not just from plug to socket.
The details written on my AC adapter are:
AC Adapter PA-12 Family Model No.: PA-1650-05D DP/N: 5U092
Input: AC 100-250V~1.5A Output: DC 19.5V 3.34A Made in China
As Corey says, sparks are not good, i.e. it should not spark.
I would like to know the cause of this kind of spark and how to avoid it in future.