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A friend of mine has a laptop that she brought from Egypt to America, and she is afraid to charge it.

She told me the laptop was purchased in Australia and it has a plug like this:

Australian Plug

And the other end of the part that plus into the power brick looks like this:

c5?

And the power adapter reads

Power Brick

The relevant text on the power brick reads:

Wide Range Input

100-240V-1.7A(1.7A) 50-60Hz
18.5(18.5V) = 3.5A(3.5A) 65W

The other end of the power adapter looks like this:

Other end of the power adapter

Laptop make and model:

HP Pavilion dv5-1045TX

Also my brother in law recently suggested I try this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002TZBW74/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?redirect=true&ref_=s9_simh_gw_p229_d0_i3

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  • Let me know what you think
    – leeand00
    Nov 11, 2012 at 13:59

4 Answers 4

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Most laptop power supplies are switch mode power supplies - rather than using transformers to switch voltages (which is bulky, and the physical setup of the transformers matter - which is why desktops have a switch for voltages), they switch electrically between different RLC configurations to ensure the voltage and current outputs are what is needed.

As for the physical plug layout, she can either get an adaptor, or find a cable with the 'local' plug on one side, and a 2 or 3 pin c5/c7 connector as needed. In either case it should be entirely safe.

One gotcha here is that the europlug here has its earth connector on the socket end but most adaptors just support the non earthed europlug. You can plug it in but you won't have earthing on power brick in question. Laptop power bricks are plastic (and double insulated) so that would likely not to be a problem (If its a 2 C7 terminal connector, its totally a non issue. If its a cloverleaf shaped C5, well it has an earth connector, but I'm not sure what it protects you from) .

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  • I have two c5's (see edit above) one with AU 2 prong and one with North American 3 prong.
    – leeand00
    Nov 11, 2012 at 13:45
  • ya, they're swappable and should work
    – Journeyman Geek
    Nov 11, 2012 at 14:07
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This will work with the necessary adapter to use the Australian connection with North American outlets. We sent a North American version to Australia and no problem. Brought an Aussie router back here and it worked like a charm with the plug adapter. AC adapters designed to use in a variety of countries. They often just change the cord from wall to adapter "brick"

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The things to watch for here:

  • Voltage: this AC adapter takes 100V-240V, you should have 110V there, so you're good.
  • Frequency: this AC adapter takes 50Hz-60Hz in the US you should have 60Hz, so you're good.

In some rare cases you might have to watch the wattage too, but that is only when the socket is rated far below the wattage of normal household sockets. I am careful with my 150W Laptop brick on a train for example, since the sockets there are often not high wattage (risk of popping a fuse on the train).

Some power adapters do not allow for such a wide range of voltages, then you could damage your parts by plugging them in regardless.

As Dave mentioned you need means to connect the Laptop power supply to the socket, either with an adapter or with a lead that has the correct plugs on each end.

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  • +1 Any adapter should list what voltages and frequencies it can handle. Always look up the Voltage and frequency of the country that you're going to, and that will tell you if you can just use an adapter, or if you have to use a transformer to change the voltage/frequency. Nov 10, 2012 at 23:48
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Your first picture shows an European standard plug (precisely a CEE 7/7 plug), not an Australian one.

The voltage and frequency ranges of the power supply is designed to work with regular mains supplies of every country in the world so there should be no reason to worry about. Just find an adapter and you are done.

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