Charge issue on TravelMate

MarkG

Hi Guys,
I've got a Travelmate P645 from I guess about 2016. I've been having troubles with it charging. I've replaced the power supply brick and cables, and replaced the plug in the laptop itself but it made no difference. It would intermittently charge for which a jiggle of the plug would sometimes work so I was able to keep it going. I recently upgraded my laptop to a new Acer. I used the power supply from the new Acer in the old one and it worked perfectly without the previous issues (much to my frustration otherwise I wouldn't have upgraded!) The old laptop was rated for a 19V 3.42A power supply whereas the new laptop is a 19.5V 6.85A power supply. Would the higher power rating from the new laptop supply (and slightly higher voltage) be a fix for the old laptop? Could it have been previously underpowered which was causing the intermittent charge problem despite using the correct rated power supply?
Any comments or suggestions - this fix seems to work but I'd really like to know if anyone has seen this before. Is this masking a different issue which can be resolved by this fix, or is it going to get worse again?

billsey

Not really, I think it's more likely there's a mechanical issue with fitting the plug on the old supply into the jack on the computer. Is the old supply the stock one from Acer or a replacement? Often the replacements use a larger hole in the center or the plug and they don't put quite as much pressure against that center electrode in the socket.

MarkG

That was my initial thought as well, but I've replaced the jack in the laptop too. The old supply was the stock one and the same issue with the replacement one. I assumed it was something further down (not sure what the jack plugs into), but the larger power supply certainly works. 

billsey

I wonder if the old supply was putting out less than it was rated for... Usually when they fail they just fail, but I can envision a scene where it would put out half the amperage... Problem with that is your tried other supplies and saw the same issues.