Can I Use A Lower Wattage Charger For My Laptop

Most of us tend to misplace our Laptop chargers or forgot to pack them up. In such situations, we might have to use chargers with different power and voltage ratings. However, most of us have not thought about the long-term effects of using chargers with different power wattages.

There are 2 different scenarios-higher wattage charger and a lower wattage one. Using a higher wattage charger is perfectly safe. This is because the Laptop is designed in such a way as there is the maximum power that can be drawn by the system. A higher wattage charger can supply this power easily and hence you won’t run into any issues.

A lower wattage charger is a different issue. It is not ideal to use a lower wattage charger. As a result, we would recommend not to use one at all. What makes a lower wattage charger unsuitable for use? Read on to find out more.

What Does the Wattage Mean for a Laptop Charger?

Watt is a measure of electrical power that can be delivered. A charger with a rating of 65 Watts means that it can deliver 65 Joules of energy in one second. As a result, the more the number of watts, the faster the charging. Using a 50 Watt charger instead of a 65 Watt charger will take much longer to charge.

What do you Mean by the Voltage of a Charger?

Voltage basically means the stability of the charging speed for a charger. A charger with a voltage of 5 Volts might be delivering 2 Ampere per second but this power will decrease if the voltage reduces. There are also chargers with variable voltages. Such chargers will be able to adjust the voltage to alter the current flow. Chargers with quick charging facilities utilize this feature.

What do you Mean by Amps of a Charger?

The current rating of a charger is the maximum current that it can supply to the Laptop. For example, a laptop charger with a 3 Amp rating can send a maximum current of 3 Amperes. However, it can also deliver a current less than that as well.

How Does a Laptop Power Supply Operate?

The power requirement of a Laptop varies depending on the purpose. For example, viewing emails is not a demanding task but playing video games might require a lot of power.

A laptop can work with different types of chargers. However, for the best performance, you need to provide the rated charger. After the charger is inserted into the socket, AC power gets converted into DC and then supplied to the motherboard.

Then the motherboard will redistribute the power to the different sections of the Laptop. The power in the battery can be utilized later on when the charger is unplugged.

Could I Utilize a Lower Wattage Charger On the Laptop?

Well, we would say yes. However, it is definitely not a wise option as the performance of the Laptop will be severely affected. Using a 60 Watt charger for Laptops that need 90 Watt would not be effective.

If you are reading some emails or surfing the Web, then it might not be an issue. However, if you are doing something demanding like Rendering videos or Gaming, then the Laptop might shut down.

Also, it takes a much longer time to fully charge the Laptop. As a result, you need to leave it idle for a long period of time. In our opinion, using a lower wattage charger is simply not worth it.

What are Dangers Associated with Utilizing a Low Wattage Charger On your Laptop?

Using such a charger might result in a fuse in energy supply and this could in fact damage other elements of the device. The battery life would be diminished and it would start draining rapidly.

Many users have also reported about the adapter and the laptop overheating. Overheating could cause further performance issues and could damage other components.

The voltage regulator is a component in the motherboard that can adjust the voltage to match that of the Laptop. For example, a 19V charger can be used on a 20V laptop without any big issues. However, as the difference increases, this becomes an issue.

Is it Possible to Utilize a Lower Wattage Charger Without Damaging your Laptop?

There is only one possible situation where we would recommend using a lower wattage Laptop. This is when your system is fully charged and you want to prevent overheating while conserving the battery.

In most other situations, it is best to avoid using Low wattage charger. Although, for a one-off use they are fine, continuous usage will harm your battery in the long run.

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed this guide about using Lower Wattage Chargers. Many users are unaware of how chargers operate and they continue to use Lower Wattage chargers. This will seriously impact the device in the long run. You can use higher wattage chargers without any issues. For any queries regarding the content, do write to us.