At least Lenovo does this too.

If the connector has more than two pins/conductors, e.g. outer sleeve, inner sleeve and center spike, there is probably an ID chip.


To the original question: It will most likely work as long as

• Output voltage is close to the original. +/- 1V doesn't usually matter.
• Connector has the same dimensions and polarity as the original (very important)
• Current rating is the same or higher. Slightly lower rating is probably fine under low load.
• If the laptop requires an ID signal as mentioned above, the charger must provide it.

Additionally, the charger should be of good quality. I would not trust the cheapest ones sold in eBay and elsewhere.

The ID signal is specific to the manufacturer and possibly model. There are probably third-party chargers that provide correct ID signals but pay attention to the quality if you use these.


Basically all modern laptop "chargers" are simply voltage sources with some kind of current limiter which kicks in when the current rating is exceeded. In practice, all of them are also regulated. The charging and power distribution circuitry is built into the laptop. If someone claims otherwise, I'd like to see an example.

so, ulysses, have you actually tried anything, after 3 days?
i'm tempted to make some clever comparison to your namesake...

"It was an Acer Ferrari 4000" Are you now saying this is NOT your laptop?????? Why did you say it was?

I am waiting for a neighbouring electronics shop to open after holidays and get a female and a male plug to make a little lead in order to safely intercept the powering of the running laptop with an amp meter. This will show when the 6 A is exceeded. And then we'll see if and how this situation can be avoided.

Hopefully it only happens when the laptop runs on low battery. If so, keeping the laptop off while charging the low battery is the solution, if 6 A is not exceeded.

It's a Gigabyte P35W v3 as I said. The Acer Ferrari 4000 was my old laptop, now disposed of.

OHHH, Ok. Thought Gigabyte P35W was a power supply.

Output Voltage: 19.5V DC
Output Current: 7.7A

Is what you should be looking at exactly. No more, no less.

What would or should a mains adaptor like the one of this laptop do when mains electricity suffers instability or temporarily lower and lower voltage?

What about a car adaptor when the car battery is reaching the end of its life?

In practice, all laptop mains adaptors have a switch-mode converter inside so they are fairly tolerant of minor disturbances in the mains voltage. Again, cheapest junk-class adaptors may be more unpredictable.


A well-designed car adaptor would shut down when battery voltage drops below a certain level to prevent the battery from draining completely. Some adaptors may not behave that nicely.