I have a Dell 5150 with a 19.5V/6.7A power supply. I also have a Dell D420 with a 19.5V/3.35A power supply. Can I use the larger power supply with the D420? Is the extra amperage just available power, or will it burn out something? I tried asking Dell this question, but questions like this are light years beyond what their support can answer.
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Quite simply, NO.
Don't even try it, you are bound to burn and fry something. There isn't a point to saving 30$ on an A/C adapter by trying to use an old one.
If you need help finding an A/C adapter on the cheap, let us know. -
Do NOT do it. You run the risk of damaging your laptop and the power supply.
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The risk is that the D420 cannot handle the extra current provided by the larger power supply. Most of the time your laptop will not be drawing the maximum current your power supply can output, expect for when you are charing the battery. For the D420, Dell sells a 45 W and 90 W power supply, and the 90 W will charge the battery faster. I am unsure of what will happen during the battery charing process when the computer may draw more current than what was in the 90 W supply. I am guessing for normal computer operation the larger power supply rated at 130 W is ok to use, since the amount of current drawn from your 65 W and 130 W supply should be equal. This is assuming theres no other operation on your laptop that draws more than 65 W besides charing the battery.
The power supply should supply a constant voltage but vary the current depending upon operation, and the current on you posted is the maximum current that adapter is able to supply.
Note: Power = Voltage * Current
And of course I haven't tried doing this before and you can break things. If your using the 6.7 A to the D420 and it isn't designed to support the current you will break the D420. Another thing is Dell doesn't list the 130 W adapter as an option for the D420 in its online store.
If you ask Dell the most likely answer you'll get is from the specification page, which is the 65 W and 90 W
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latd420/en/PG124en1/specs.htm#wp1057468
So I wouldn't try it unless you understand the risks. -
I don't know if this situation matches yours, but here's my experience with the subject.
I currently own an XPS M1710 which uses a 130W power supply. I had an old 150W power supply from my old Inspiron 9100. I tried using Dell's chat service twice and both times they told me not to use the 150W supply. I was still uncertain though and asked some friends of mine who are knowledgeable on the matter and was told, as I expected, that it would be okay since the rating is the maximum draw. In other words, the power supply is capable of providing 150W, but if my system only needs 130W, that's all it will take. This is why you wouldn't be able to use a 100W supply on something that requires 150W.
I proceded to call the xps line of customer service and they actually told me it would be better to use the bigger supply due to the M1710's power demand. I've been using the 150W supply at home for over 6 months now, and haven't had a problem. One word of advice the CSR gave me was to plug in the adapter before turning on my laptop because if the adapter isn't compatible, something in the startup will indicate that and you won't risk hurting your system if there is a problem.
One disclaimer: I'm not sure what the amps for each of my power supplies are off hand, so that may make my situation different than yours. Can anyone else corroborate my findings? Hope that helps. -
I would not suggest doing that. -
You can normally use a higher rated power supply, as long as the voltage is the same.
Can you mix laptop power supplies?
Discussion in 'Dell' started by seldredg, Jun 27, 2007.