All the laptop chargers I had until now sparked whever I plugged them in. This is true for my old charger (the bulkier / rounder Dell model) and the new charger (the flat Dell model) with two different Dell laptops, however until recently I didn't give it much thought.
Then, in the last couple of months:
- I shorted out a conference room and melted the floor a little (the wire caught fire)
- The second charger (also a Dell original) died, taking the power strip with it
I'm wondering:
- Is it normal for laptop chargers to spark when plugged in? Specifically new, original Dell chargers
- Is there a "correct" way to plug / unplug chargers? Do I need to first unplug it from the wall and then from the laptop / do I need to first plug it into the wall and then into the laptop?
- May the problem be caused by the fact that I leave sometimes the charger plugged into the wall without connecting the laptop for longer periods of time (up to a day)?
PS. I'm talking about Europe, so 220V and this happens in many places (at home, at my parents, at work, in hotels I trave to, etc)
Answer
A small spark is normal. The type of power supply on laptops is a switched-mode power supply. With this type of device there is often an "inrush current" that appears as a spark when the prongs of the plug first hit the receptacle contacts (spark usually appears in mid/higher end adapters where a capacitor is used to keep interference down, it is the capacitor that initiates the inrush current and causes the spark).
No comments:
Post a Comment