Using another charger

[Taffy Apple]

I understand that this is probably a stupid question, and the answer to it is BANG!!! Thats even if it works at all. But I have to ask.

I have a laptop and the LED on the charger is flickering under load and the laptop is knocking off, which I guess means the charger is dying. The specs for this charger are:

out - 19V 3.16A 90W

I also have another charger for another laptop with the following rating:

out 20V 4.5A 90W

What would happen to the laptop if I use the higher rated, working charger? Is it BANG or what?

 

[Michael Daly]

out - 19V 3.16A 90W

I also have another charger for another laptop with the following rating:

out 20V 4.5A 90W

It would probably work. What you really need to know is the ratings for the input to the laptop. It might allow a variation of a couple of volts. If you can get the rating for the battery, that would help too, but I'm guessing that a charging circuit in the laptop is sitting between the charger and the battery.

In general, overvoltages on charging can speed things up a tad but can also cause overheating and shortening the life of the battery. 5% might be acceptable. If there's a controller circuit in the laptop, it might allow even larger variations and will step down the voltage to what it wants. My GPS, for example, allows 6-40V input and works that to the 4.8V it actually requires.

The more you can find out about the laptop, the better. If you're brave and try it, just watch the temperature and see if the battery gets hotter than with the current charger.