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Notebook power supplier with pin in short circuit. Is it broken?

E

Emilio

Flightless Bird
Good evening to you all ,

I have the power supply of my laptop, which behaves as follows:

If I try to make with a multimeter the continuity test or a 20Volts DC
voltage measure between the power pin and the "voltage reference" pin (I
don't know how you call it in english, sorry) it makes bang with a small
spark. This is a sign of a short circuit, right?

I never connected it to the laptop.

Do you think my laptop power supplier to be broken ?

Best wishes,

Emilio
 
B

BillW50

Flightless Bird
Emilio wrote on Sat, 10 Apr 2010 18:31:03 +0200:
> Good evening to you all ,
>
> I have the power supply of my laptop, which behaves as follows:
>
> If I try to make with a multimeter the continuity test or a 20Volts DC
> voltage measure between the power pin and the "voltage reference" pin (I
> don't know how you call it in english, sorry) it makes bang with a small
> spark. This is a sign of a short circuit, right?
>
> I never connected it to the laptop.
>
> Do you think my laptop power supplier to be broken ?
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Emilio


If you accidentally short two connections together, you will get a
spark. If you draw enough current, it should in most designs safely shut
itself down. And to reset it, you usually have to remove the AC power
and then reapply after a few seconds to minutes. Some will reset
automatically without removing the AC.

That is what it sounds like to me what you did. Now if you are sure you
didn't and disagree. Then the plug might be defective is the only other
thing I can think of.

These power supplies are generally switching power supplies. And some of
them wouldn't read the correct voltage if there isn't enough current.
Meaning if there isn't enough of a load.

So trying to read the voltage while there isn't any load might not mean
a whole lot. The true test is measuring it under load. Which isn't that
easy to do without disassembly or with a modified extension cable.

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Xandros Linux (build 2007-10-19 13:03)
 
M

~misfit~

Flightless Bird
Somewhere on teh intarwebs BillW50 wrote:
> Emilio wrote on Sat, 10 Apr 2010 18:31:03 +0200:
>> Good evening to you all ,
>>
>> I have the power supply of my laptop, which behaves as follows:
>>
>> If I try to make with a multimeter the continuity test or a 20Volts
>> DC voltage measure between the power pin and the "voltage reference"
>> pin (I don't know how you call it in english, sorry) it makes bang
>> with a small spark. This is a sign of a short circuit, right?
>>
>> I never connected it to the laptop.
>>
>> Do you think my laptop power supplier to be broken ?
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Emilio

>
> If you accidentally short two connections together, you will get a
> spark. If you draw enough current, it should in most designs safely
> shut itself down. And to reset it, you usually have to remove the AC
> power and then reapply after a few seconds to minutes. Some will reset
> automatically without removing the AC.
>
> That is what it sounds like to me what you did. Now if you are sure
> you didn't and disagree. Then the plug might be defective is the only
> other thing I can think of.
>
> These power supplies are generally switching power supplies. And some
> of them wouldn't read the correct voltage if there isn't enough
> current. Meaning if there isn't enough of a load.
>
> So trying to read the voltage while there isn't any load might not
> mean a whole lot. The true test is measuring it under load. Which
> isn't that easy to do without disassembly or with a modified
> extension cable.


Don't forget that quite a few newer laptops have a 'one-wire' sensor that
tells the laptop not only if the PSU is genuine but also can tell it what
wattage etcetera the PSU is. Emilio may be shorting power to this sensor
wire.
--
Shaun.

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day...
 
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