Question Is it alright to use lower wattage charger to charge my laptop ?

[Akshay_2006]

I previously was using a 40W (19V 2.1 A) charger provided. Then this charger stopped working so I bought an other one which was 33W (19V 1.75A), since that charger wasnot available. Is it ok to use this charger daily ?

 

[klavs]

It's not safe to user a lower wattage charger. It can damage both the charger and the laptop. I often use a lower wattage charger (for various devices), and have never had any problems doing it, but it is not safe.

 

[Karadjgne]

Depends on the draw. Laptops (most) don't work on line voltage, they work off battery voltage, the charger is just replenishing what's used by the battery. If you have a gpu, that'll be a big draw, battery goes dead quick, so the gpu is relegated to 3d apps, using the igpu as often as possible to keep the draw down.

So having a charger that's rated below what the battery recharge requires can mean the battery can run into issues, the charger working at max rated for longer, line voltage not enough to keep the battery charged etc.

'Safe' is the wrong word of the laptop can pull more than 33w. If the laptop doesn't pull 33w, then a 33w charger is exactly no different to a 40w charger.

 

[Akshay_2006]

The battery image since i coulnt understand much of whats written on the battery.

Depends on the draw. Laptops (most) don't work on line voltage, they work off battery voltage, the charger is just replenishing what's used by the battery. If you have a gpu, that'll be a big draw, battery goes dead quick, so the gpu is relegated to 3d apps, using the igpu as often as possible to keep the draw down.

So having a charger that's rated below what the battery recharge requires can mean the battery can run into issues, the charger working at max rated for longer, line voltage not enough to keep the battery charged etc.

'Safe' is the wrong word of the laptop can pull more than 33w. If the laptop doesn't pull 33w, then a 33w charger is exactly no different to a 40w charger.

 

[Akshay_2006]

It's not safe to user a lower wattage charger. It can damage both the charger and the laptop. I often use a lower wattage charger (for various devices), and have never had any problems doing it, but it is not safe.

alr thanks

 

[Karadjgne]

Battery says clearly 36.71w.
As far as power draw goes, that's load dependant, but you can figure the battery is rated to be higher than what the maximum draw of the configured laptop could be. So even with line voltage plugged in, if you play a game on a 33w charger, chances are good that the laptop won't sustain the game for an hour before being battery dead.

 

[Akshay_2006]

Battery says clearly 36.71w.
As far as power draw goes, that's load dependant, but you can figure the battery is rated to be higher than what the maximum draw of the configured laptop could be. So even with line voltage plugged in, if you play a game on a 33w charger, chances are good that the laptop won't sustain the game for an hour before being battery dead.

Nah my laptop is a potato one it has integrated graphics ryzen5 3500u and 8gb ram. I do zoom meeting stuff and no gaming.
My charger gets warmed up while charging and everything else is fine.
Thanks for the help : ) Hoping 3w difference isnt a lot.

 

[TerryLaze]

Battery says clearly 36.71w.
As far as power draw goes, that's load dependant, but you can figure the battery is rated to be higher than what the maximum draw of the configured laptop could be. So even with line voltage plugged in, if you play a game on a 33w charger, chances are good that the laptop won't sustain the game for an hour before being battery dead.

What the battery clearly says is 4830mAh and 7.6V
A times V is watts which comes out to 36W
(4.8A x 7.6V =36.48W )
The old charger was 19V at 2 Amps so what the laptop uses to run has very little to do with what the charger has to produce to charge the battery.

The new charger having less Amps means that it could have to work harder to charge the battery which will cause more heat and possible problems up to melt down.

Maybe it will just take longer to fully charge the battery and nothing else will happen.
That is the safety concern that klavs talked about.

 

[hotaru.hino]

A cursory glance at 15" or lower notebooks with a Ryzen 5 3500U tell me they pull about mid 40s under full load (i.e., Prime95 + FurMark), but around upper 30s to lower 40s under some load (I'm assuming gaming). Granted these laptops also came with 55-65W chargers.

My only concern here is if the charger and laptop talk to each other. If the charger is dumb, then there's the chance the laptop can overdraw what it's rated for. And you can get there putting a load on the laptop while charging from a nearly empty battery.