OK To Interchange 16.5V, 3.65A Power Adapter With 18.5V, 4.6A Power Adapter?

Ey guys, so just what the title says, thanks.

 

for MBP's NO !!!!
for some other machines yes

 

Of course not ... You should never go higher especially since you do not know the rating of the machine.

 

And why not?

 

Not sure if you're serious but I'll answer anyway.

Plugging anything higher than rated can cause excessive heat, rupture the cells of the battery and start a fire. In the same manner plugging anything underrated will fail to charge the battery ... You also risk damaging the battery due to potential build up.

Seriously, you don't want to start a fire in your home while you're sleeping or away. Just find a replacement charger with the same rating as the OEM.

 

The current rating is not the problem as the laptop only draws as much current as needed to operate, the voltage rating is a problem though.

You cannot safely use an 18.5V adapter when a 16.5V one is needed. It might work, but it might blow your computer components, or stress them more over time.

 

This has nothing to do with the laptop, it's all about the charger causing the battery to catch fire.

 

It has everything to do with the laptop. The laptop power circuits are responsible for battery charging as well as running the computer itself.

 

I see, but I left out that on the second power adapter it actually says 18.5V _-_-_-_ 4.6A, 16.5V _-_-_-_ 3.65A so does that mean it can work at both powers?

 

Can you tell us the model of that adapter?

 

85W Magsafe Power Adapter(18.5V _-_-_-_ 4.6A, 16.5V _-_-_-_ 3.65A) vs 60W Magsafe Power Adapter(16.5V _-_-_-_ 3.65A).

 

It says right on the product specs that it is compatible with 15" and 17" MBPs. They probably have some kind of auto-sense chip in it that determines which voltage the PSU needs to operate at.

 

Sorry to jump in on this (hijack) - Am I to understand that using my old 60 watt adapter with my new MBP is not adviseable? You see I have a second power adapter at work (60 watt) and the 85 watt adapter at home.

 

Greg Ross is correct. Do NOT, under any circumstances interchange adapters that have a different rating.

I did this on an old, old HP laptop of mine because I was waiting for a new charger to come in the mail from HP, and went out and bought a heavy duty one while I waited, and it swelled my battery up severely.

I am lucky it did not explode and cause any damage to the laptop itself, but the battery was a walking (batteries don't walk, play along) time bomb.

Very dangerous. Would not recommend.

 

you should never use a lower amperage/wattage supply then what the computer specifies. Larger is OK as the computer will only draw what it needs

 

Semi-correct... I just spoke with an Apple Care support dude to ask this very question and he said that the 85W Power Adapter is OK to use with the 13" MBP since it is "smart" and will tone down the amount of current the 13" needs(hence the 18.5V _-_-_-_ 4.6A, 16.5V _-_-_-_ 3.65A symbols both on the adapter), but it is not recommended that you use the 60W Power Adapter with the 15" MBP since it won't be able to supply enough power to the computer. It won't hurt anything, but you will experience slow charging or none at all.

So in summary: you can use the (current) 85W Power Adapter with the 13" MBP, but not the 60W Power Adapter with any larger models. Keep in mind this can only be applied to Apple since I called an Apple tech rep, do not assume this works for other brands!

Hope this helps.

 

I spoke with an apple tech today, as well, and was told the same thing as Stunner.

I bought a new 85w magsafe for my MBP for at the office.