Notebook Power adapters interchangability.

[rambo919]

I have a very old HP Notebook, it's power adapted died. The only other one I have is rated at 1.5V higher and .25A lower, both end up at about 65W..... it works for the notebook..... is there a risk using it long term?

 

[rambo919]

Was it that stupid a question?

 

[LegionnaireJ]

Not an electrical expert by any means, but this is what I understand: Amps will be fine, only as much current as needed will be drawn by the laptop to charge. So your laptop will likely charge slightly slower with this one. The voltage being higher is likely more of a problem - but the components on the charging circuit in the laptop should be able to handle it, if the voltage is only about 10% higher. Most of those components have some tolerance built in.

my 2c

 

[ld13]

Ignore the wattage. Amperage to a certain extent too. An x AMP PSU will be able to handle any laptop with the same, or lower amperage - not the other way around.

Voltage on the other hand ... a 19.5V PSU might work, but will (should) generate more heat in the long term causing the components to fail faster, unless the laptop was built to accept said voltage.

 

[rambo919]

hmmmmm it's a old thing and I don't wanna spend more money on it atm...... so basically it's a risk I have to choose how long I wanna take.....

Why the hell is it so damn difficult for notebook OEM's just to publish actually useful standardized stats on compatible chargers? I looked my ass off but could only get "65W" (actually it might even have been 90W, don't remember now and the thing is at home).

 

[Gnome]

Post a pic of the current charger spec.

Your "new" adapter must match the current rating or exceed it (by any amount).
Voltage and polarity on the charger however must match.

If the voltage doesn't match, it could work or fry the laptop, but it gets quite technical (edited my post to remove the technical reasons, it is long winded, if you really want to hear more I can post again).
If the polarity is different, 100% will fry the laptop

 

[Rickster]

Voltage must not be different at all but amps can be same or higher, just not lower.

 

[Johnatan56]

hmmmmm it's a old thing and I don't wanna spend more money on it atm...... so basically it's a risk I have to choose how long I wanna take.....

Why the hell is it so damn difficult for notebook OEM's just to publish actually useful standardized stats on compatible chargers? I looked my ass off but could only get "65W" (actually it might even have been 90W, don't remember now and the thing is at home).

As others have said, you don't need to care about the wattage, the laptop will draw as many watts as it needs, it's more dependent on the voltage being correct.
Post what your laptop is, maybe someone can find the correct charger for you if they have the time.

 

[rambo919]

HP Compaq 6715b. Only got round to be able to do it now anyway funny enough, bin one of those run-around weeks. Got a 20V 3.25A charger on it now.