How to Repair Laptop Charger
If you are reading this article then you must have faced the problem similar to what i had faced. You see that your charger is plugged in and your laptop goes dead. At that point the first thing you should do as I did is look at your LED indicator if it is glowing. In case if your charger does not have any then you can check the output in the cord if it gives the output.
If your Power indicator LED is glowing or somehow the power output exist in the chord, the laptop charger is completely fine else you may need to repair laptop charger by digging into deep of it.
Sometimes it takes a bit of more effort in order to repair the laptop charger but in many cases it is just common failure such as the voltage regulator IC or a power cord failure as in mine.
In many popular laptop chargers such as Lenovo, Compaq and HP use “L” connector which are suppose to be the less failure how ever mine “L” shaped adapter has to get repaired. After you figure it out if it’s about the output cable. Now you move or wiggle the output power chord and see the laptop power LED. The LED on the laptop will either blink or it will constantly glow.
In many case the output power chord may seems to be perfectly fine but it would be broken from the inside causing your laptop not charging or it may charge your charger at certain point until you move or put your laptop from one place to another place.
The AC chord is mostly detachable in all the laptop chargers and very hardly falls under the failure. If the AC chord fails to supply power, you may purchase it from the market or online very easily.
Many of the laptop charger come with a large choke. The main purpose of the choke or the copper layer is supposed to prevent the radio frequency interference generated in the laptop which may leak back to the output power chord. also it can turn the power chord into a wireless antenna. So you have no use of the copper layer which is said to be the choke.
You may cut them off in case if they exert problems while doing repair laptop charger.
It is advice to cut off the small and sufficient length of the wire rather than strip more than sufficient length of wire which bothers you later.
Now you can insert the connector casing and then solder the sufficient ports. Many people who If you are reading this article then you must have faced the problem similar to what i had faced. Many people who repair laptop charger do not bother about laptop charger connector casing.
The output cable connector casing is not that important however it can increase the ease of use or it can prevent your connector for more time period.
In most of the cases people who do repair laptop charger in general will suggest you to buy a new cable instead of using the same old cable for several reasons such as the original laptop charger comes with a molded casing on the connector which is a bit tricky and time taking whereas the replacement cables do have detachable casing which you can remove and put very easily after soldering the wires.
You can get your replacement cable with connectors very easily at any general radio shop or even on amazon.
It is really difficult when it comes to do soldering the factory made connectors without melting the insulators. However you can use a hot enough fine tip of soldering iron.
If you are going to purchase the connector, you must take care of the inside as well as outside diameter of the power output connector in order to fit in your laptop charger adapter.
If you are fixing the power cord which is still attached with the laptop charger, you make sure to slide the cable holder for the new cable or else you are going to pull it inside later.
During the whole procedure you must take care that the two power output wires should never touch each other or else they are going to short circuit. You can use some tape or an insulator if the open conductor bothers you, else you can leave as it is in order to make an space for the cable holder.
Well in my case the cable holder was completely messed up so I filled it with tape. Now you connect the charger with your laptop and switch on the supply. The Laptop battery indicator will be showing charging signal.
Farhan Sheikh Ahmad is an Electrical and electronics Engineer from India and he is also a part time electrical and electronics blogger. Doing a full time job as a Developer in an IT company.
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Parasuraman
July 7, 2017 at 12:55 pm
Well done!
Farhan
July 11, 2017 at 8:03 pm
Thanks Parasuraman 🙂
Robert Calk
July 10, 2017 at 9:40 am
Good job, Farhan.
Farhan
July 11, 2017 at 8:03 pm
Thanks
Yogesh Panchal
July 11, 2017 at 8:37 pm
Dear Farhan,
In your uploaded photos-in second photo it shows three wire and cable you have replaced is of two wire; Have you cut the Blue wire ? do you know for what it is used for?
Farhan Sheikh
July 13, 2017 at 11:25 pm
(+ve, -ve) charging terminals, choke for preventing disturbance in voltage due to RF generated, another (3rd) wire is for ground purpose. After removing that whenever i charge my laptop it does shocks me while touching metal part. So i guess that it was meant to be there. 🙂
Ahmed bin fauser
February 3, 2019 at 6:10 pm
Hi, my laptop charger has a problem. Sometimes it works and sometimes it won't. Last few days its not working. The orange color bulb is blinking five times in laptop. My charger is not damaged outside. Can you please help me?
Farhan Sheikh
June 24, 2021 at 1:42 am
You might wanna check if the output of the charger is below what the pc needs? It could be due to either low input voltage or the loose connection in the output of the charger.