A batch of cheap power adapters from a local supplier just fried three laptops I was fixing

Last week, a client brought in three identical Dell laptops from a small office, all with dead power jacks. I ordered what I thought were good replacement adapters from a supplier here in Tacoma. Plugged the first one in, heard a pop, and saw smoke from the board. The other two did the same thing before I could stop. The supplier said they were 'tested' but the output was all over the place when I finally checked with my meter. Has anyone else had a run of bad adapters recently, and how do you vet new suppliers?

3 comments

3 Comments

adam18623d agoTop Commenter

What was the actual voltage reading?

the_faith23d ago

They never posted the number, which is the whole point. Asking for a voltage reading without giving it makes the post useless. It's like asking if it's raining but not looking outside. Just give the data so people can actually help you.

keith16423d ago

Man, that's brutal. I saw a post on another forum last month where a guy had the same thing happen with some no-name laptop chargers from a local shop. He said they were putting out like 19 volts instead of the 19.5 they were supposed to, but the real killer was the voltage spikes. His meter showed it jumping all over the place. I don't trust any adapter now unless I test it under load with one of those cheap dummy load testers first. It's saved me a couple times.