Is it safe to use a power supply with a different laptop?

Possible Duplicate:
charging laptop with a diffrent manufacture charger

I have a Dell Vostro 1500 laptop, but unfortunately I lost the power supply in Indianapolis last month. I have a power supply for an old Sony laptop lying around, that looks like it fits in the same port.

Is it safe to use the old power supply in the new laptop? If they're not compatible will it simply not work, or will it reverse the polarity and open a gate to Zuul or something similar?

(A new PSU is on order, but UPS failed to deliver it yesterday and I need it today, hence this stopgap solution.)

Thanks!

Colen

Posted 2009-09-05T17:35:27.497

Reputation: 872

Probable dupe - http://superuser.com/questions/32372/charging-laptop-with-a-diffrent-manufacture-charger/

– ChrisF – 2009-09-05T17:46:55.537

Answers

Turn it over and look for the voltage and amp rating. If these are the same, then it is 100% safe and guaranteed to work. You can use alternates when it is different, but it is not always safe just because it fits.

You want to look for something like this on both devices:

alt text

Input to the power adapter is not to important, you want to match up the output of the adapter to the input of your laptop.

William Hilsum

Posted 2009-09-05T17:35:27.497

Reputation: 111 572

Thanks. The Sony power supply says 16 volts, 4 amps; the dell one only says 65 watts. 16 * 4 = 64, so that sounds right, but I assume the volts and amps should match up properly... – Colen – 2009-09-05T18:07:21.127

4@Colen - there are many ways to make 65 from volt * ampere. If you get it wrong at best you'll end up with a dead power supply, at worst you'll end up with a dead laptop. – ChrisF – 2009-09-05T19:11:41.403

2You also want to match the + and - making sure the correct one is in the center on the power supply. – Joshua Nurczyk – 2009-09-19T19:23:19.980

Current Dell adapters are 19.5 volts (including all of the Vostro lines that I've run into.) So do not plug in that Sony adapter.

Josh

Posted 2009-09-05T17:35:27.497

Reputation: 348

-2

The Voltage, Amperage, Notebook Plug and Polarity have to be the same.

Posipiet

Posted 2009-09-05T17:35:27.497

Reputation: 582

5Voltage and polarity have to be the same. Amperage of the power supply has to be >= the needs of the laptop. – Richard Hoskins – 2009-09-05T17:50:55.107