Regarding power supply adapter and the laptop itself?

Question

Does it spoil he power supplying adapter or the laptop in any instance , say for example if I have a Dell laptop and I use someone elses' ( Acer/HP) power supply adapter which happens to fit into mine? would any of the two get spoiled? If so please explain the reason it gets spoiled.

secondly if we leave the battery in the laptop and use the power supply.
Does the battery get overcharged through time and gets its life expectancy reduced?

Thankyou

Answer 1

Using someone elses power supply will probably only cause damage if it supplies a higher voltage than your own. You can usually find the voltage rating on the pack itself.

And no, leaving the battery in while using the power supply will not damage it. When its fully charged, its stops charging automatically.

Answer 2

1. Always use the proper charger for the laptop.
Some of the differences of chargers that make them incorrect on yours include:

a. charging rate for your battery technology, this could cause an explosion, or at least, overheating and warpage.

b. AC vs DC as some chargers only give out Alternating current and the rectifier board is inside the laptop. AC will totally destroy a laptop that normally needs Direct Current!

c. Voltage and current requirements vary for different laptops, and the wrong voltages will burn out, or not charge, depending on whether it is too much or too little. Either way, it can be an expensive repair.

d. the polarity of the charger, even if the voltage and current are correct, if the polarity is wrong, it will blow the charging circuit and possibly, the battery.

But, your parents will buy you new laptops, over and over again, right?

Now, the last question. There is no problem with leaving the laptop plugged in a lot. The only thing the battery is really for is so that the laptop is portable, away from the wall outlets. I leave mine plugged in for weeks.

BUT, I plug into a UPS, or Un-interruptable Power Supply, and I plug the adapter in FIRST, and then, plug the cord into the laptop, as is recommended by all the companies making laptops.

Otherwise, it can kill the laptop, due to spikes that happen as you plug in the charger!