Left power cord at work-can i use one from another computer

[LizLIZLIZ]

I have a dell Latitude d520 laptop and i left my power cord at work. The dell website says i need a power cord that is 90w. My husbands for his toshiba is 19v and my friends for her Sony Vaio is 16v. Can i use either of these?

[hopperdave2000]

Chances are, the plug sizes are different. But if plug sizes are OK, check the voltage and amperage requirements on the bottom of your laptop. It's there somewhere, usually really small print. Compare that with the voltage and amperage outputs on the other power adapters. If the voltages are within 1 or 2 volts, and the amps (more important) are close then you should be OK. BUT If your laptop requires, say, 5 amps, and the power adapter outputs only 2.2 amps, you run the chance of burning up the adapter 'cuz the laptop will overwork the circuit. There's almost no chance you can hurt your laptop however.... good luck.

hopperdave2000

[Rob M.]

Originally Posted by hopperdave2000

... There's almost no chance you can hurt your laptop however....

.... as long as you don't feed it a voltage higher or lower than it was designed to take. Hopperdave's comment about matching voltages is crucial to the continued good health of your laptop. Get that part wrong, and all bets are off.

If amperage capacities are not stated, pay attention to the wattage capacities of the power supplies. Amps and watts are closely related. As Hopperdave said -- ask for too much power from the external power supply, you'll burn it out. Volts and watts are not the same thing, so the numbers you provided won't answer your question. You need to be sure that the Toshiba and Sony power supplies can provide at least 90 watts at a voltage that is close to what your machine requires.

A power supply that provides a higher wattage than you need is OK. Your laptop will draw only the wattage it needs -- as long as the voltage is correct.