Lap top connection (again)

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pcatterall

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Bought a 12 to 20 volt DC adapter from Maplin. I had hoped that one of the range of supplied connectors would suit my D400 note book.

Plan B is to cut off the connector from the mains charger so that I can use it with both the mains and battery chargers.

In my (usual gung ho) ignorance I assumed that there would be just two wires and that polarity would be the only issue.... not so of course!!

There appears to be an outer woven shroud (-ive) and inner woven shroud (+ive) and then a central wire ( no power detected)

What is the best way to connect this lot up bearing in mind that I need to be able to swap the connecter from the mains to the battery charger with some kind of plug and out device.

Or any other solutions!

Regards Peter
 
I have a Toshiba Qosmi with the same problem, and I have considered doing what you have done - but havent experienced that gung ho moment yet.

Would be very interested to see how you get on.

Sensibly, it can only be a case of +ve and -ve for a DC supply, but my connector has 4 female holes at the laptop end.
 
Dell and some others have strange connectors .. they also usually have their own 12V DC leads ... but at silly prices of course !

Better way instead of trying to cheat the 3 wire is to have a look on ebay or such for a suitable lead. You'll probably find that the 3rd lead is a "check-lead" to confirm correct item connected .. any other connection / DIY effort will not work as the lead will not "unlock". If you see what I mean ?

I would suggest you repair the lead you cut and run with an inverter until you get sorted ..
 
[ QUOTE ]
Better way instead of trying to cheat the 3 wire is to have a look on ebay or such for a suitable lead.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've searched high and low for a car charger for my Qosmio G20 which has what seems to be called Toshibas' D connector, and cant find one. I can find them for some of the other Qosmios, which dont have the special D connector, but no luck with mine.

Resisted chopping it off for the very reason you suggest - there must be a reason for the 4 holes, rather than just 2.
 
I believe you will find that the third wire senses the voltage at the laptop and sends same back to power supply to enable it to regulate the voltage.Watch out as some units do not have two or three seperate cores but use the aircraft type insulation painted on each strand (proper term?) which makes the wire almost impossable to connect to anything therafter
 
Re Dell. They have always been crafty and have had a 3 wire connection (3 minimum) for some time now. Two supply power in the normal manner and a 3rd enables communications between PC and charger so the PC can see if the charger has paid the royalty on the charger interface.
Some just have a chip in the PC end connector but others have the chip in the charger. I've done the gungho thng and chopped the cable and so run my dell from AN OTHER CHARGER, It has worked this last 3 years.

Maybe none Dell PC's have a similar arangement, allbeit with proprietry coms with the connector.

BTW guys I'm back in Lagos. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Thanks for the info. I have done a temporrary mod by connecting through a strip type connector block ( a bit messy as the leads are shroud type rather than wires).
It works fine using the battery or the mains chargers but I need to get a better connector so I can easilly change from mains to battery.
Regards
 
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