Will HP charger work with Dell Inspiron?

[gregrocker]

For a Dell Inspiron laptop whose 65w charger has died and has no battery, will a 90w HP charger which fits work?

The Universal Chargers we find at Best Buy here are all 90w too and are guaranteed to work, so not sure why a 90W HP charger wouldn't work - but want to ask first to be sure.

Thanks.

 

[pbcopter]

What is the output voltage of each adapter?

 

[strollin]

Yes, the important criteria to match up is the voltage, it needs to match exactly. The current rating should be the same or higher. For instance, if the 65W charger is rated something like 19V 3.4A and the 90W rated at 19V 4.7A then you're good to go. You wouldn't want to use a charger with a lower current rating as it may not be able to charge the laptop and the charger will run hot and may prematurely fail. Don't ever try a charger with incorrect voltage as it may damage the laptop.

Besides fit, you should also ensure polarity, although it's rare that the center tip isn't positive.

 

[gregrocker]

Dell's own charger which stopped working is 19.5 V 3.34 Amps

HP charger we're using for install is 19v 4.74A

So judging by voltage (but not amperage) the replacement seems to be a weaker charger, even though it has worked fine overnight for install and setup.

Should we stop using it? Replacement charger arrives Tues.

 

[strollin]

19 vs 19.5V should be close enough, the laptop should have good enough regulation to handle that small of a voltage difference.

 

[gregrocker]

Thanks Bruce + rep. Very specialized information.

Last night waiting for a response I phone-polled the Geek Squad and got 5 yes votes with no knowledge about voltage at all.

Any others feel free to chip in your experience because this is already being found as a search result on using other laptop chargers.

 

[madcratebuilder]

The HP charger is only 2.65% lower voltage than the Dell, the difference is within spec for these low tech devises. As long as the available current (amps/watts) is the same or higher, no worries.