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When I plug my laptop in to the original manufacturer's AC adapter, my laptop battery charges.

When I plug it into a knockoff adapter, it stops using the battery, but will not charge.

Here's the details:

  • The laptop is a Dell XPS M1530.
  • I've verified that both the original and knockoff are specified for the same wattage (90 W AC), input (AC 100 - 240V, ~ 1.5 A, 50 - 60 HZ), and output (19.5 V, ~ 4.62 A).
  • I am using Windows Vista.

I did get a message about some sort of power issue when booting on the knockoff adapter, but unfortunately I dismissed it ("don't show this again") before I realized the battery wasn't charging and don't know how to get it back.

Any ideas? Do I just write it off as a lesson in not buying non-manufacturer AC adapters?

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4 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

3rd-party adapters might not have the same efficiency as the original charger, and their QC is usually much worse.

However, if you can use the notebook - I suspect the case is the former - the adapter is not supplying enough power (because of its non-efficiency) to power the notebook and charge the battery at the same time. It's one or the other.

Shutdown your notebook - see if the battery charges.

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I see this is accepted - so did the battery charge or not? – MGOwen May 27 '10 at 1:51
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up vote 3 down vote

Sounds like the knockoff AC adapter isn't meeting their own specs. If this is the case, can you return it as defective?

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Unfortunately, I only noticed the battery wasn't charging long after my return period. (This is because I very rarely run my laptop off the battery.) – Josh Kodroff Sep 4 '09 at 19:59
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up vote 1 down vote

Try unplugging the Dell adapter from the the AC outlet and see if it acts like the knockoff. Actually measuring the output would be better than reading the label, but I know not everyone has a voltmeter.

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Many power supplies have no output without a load. – Dennis Williamson Sep 5 '09 at 10:50
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up vote 1 down vote

The Dell AC adapter contains a chip that identifies it as an approved AC adapter. If you try to use a third party AC adapter on a recent Dell adapter then since it doesn't have the special chip that identifies the AC adapter as being Dell approved then the laptop declines to charge from the AC adapter.

There are a couple third party AC adapters that contain the special chip that identifies the adapter as being Dell approved. The iGo.com adapters are one such third party AC adapter. They sell specialized “tips” that contain the necessary chip to provide the proper identification to the laptop.

http://www.igo.com/Dell/DellXPS-M1530/invt/52142

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This sounds very likely, considering the crazy high price of Dell's own AC adapters, but a quick check of your link and the rest of the igo website says nothing to confirm (1) The id chip exists (2) the igo contains such a chip (3) the igo tips can be used with non-igo adapters (the igo adapters seem even more expensive than the dell ones(!) which defeats the purpose) Can you please add some links to back this up? – MGOwen May 26 '10 at 1:23
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