Acer Spin 5 SP513-52N slows when charging

Hey everyone, was hoping for some help.

I have an Acer Spin 5 SP513-52N. It is supplied with a 45W 19V 2.37A pin charger, but it also supports USB-C charging through the USB-C port. The pin charger works OK, but I want to use the USB-C charging.

I purchased 3 different USB-C wall plugs from Amazon, like this, all rated 65W and USB-PD supported.
Every single one I have used causes my laptop to slow down instantly. It does charge, but the laptop performance crawls to a halt as soon as I plug it in, and it starts working fine again as soon as I unplug it.
With all 3 chargers, it worked fine for about a minute at the very beginning, and then it just starts doing this where it crawls to a halt.

Can anyone please help or have any ideas? I just don't know what could cause something like this. I never even used the USB-C charging feature before. Thanks

Accepted answers

All comments

Easwar

Hi ManDown,

Try to do power drain,

1. Shutdown the unit.
2. Unplug the cables connected to the unit.
3. At bottom of the unit there will be a small tiny pin hole with a battery symbol close to it. Take a pin or a paper clip insert into it you feels like pressing a button hold it for 20-30 seconds.

CHECK

Does the charger fit your computer exactly? You should buy a charger that matches exactly. This will not bother you anymore.

billsey

So many of those chargers don't tell you what voltage they are using... You need to have the charger provide 65W with 20V to correctly charge your Spin 5. If they are feeding you a lower voltage than things may sort of work, or may not work at all. Likely what is happening is they aren't giving enough voltage, so the system is going into low power mode to try and let the charge happen anyway. Low power mode, among other things, slows the CPU down to a minimal frequency.

ManDown

Easwar said:

Hi ManDown,

Try to do power drain,

1. Shutdown the unit.
2. Unplug the cables connected to the unit.
3. At bottom of the unit there will be a small tiny pin hole with a battery symbol close to it. Take a pin or a paper clip insert into it you feels like pressing a button hold it for 20-30 seconds.

I tried this and it unfortunately did not work. Same problem.

CHECK said:

Does the charger fit your computer exactly? You should buy a charger that matches exactly. This will not bother you anymore.

It is a USB-C charger, yes it fits inside my laptop

billsey said:

So many of those chargers don't tell you what voltage they are using... You need to have the charger provide 65W with 20V to correctly charge your Spin 5. If they are feeding you a lower voltage than things may sort of work, or may not work at all. Likely what is happening is they aren't giving enough voltage, so the system is going into low power mode to try and let the charge happen anyway. Low power mode, among other things, slows the CPU down to a minimal frequency.

I see. The laptop does sometimes make a high pitched noise when I plug the charger in. The chargers I purchased do say they are capable of 20V. My Laptop only needs a 45W charger, I don't think it supports fast charge, but none of these 65W chargers I have purchased have worked.

ManDown

I purchased a 45W charger and that works fine. I am not sure why a 65W charger doesn't

billsey

Very odd, I'm guessing the 65W just wasn't providing 20V. Normally the power rating doesn't have any effect unless it's too low...

ManDown

billsey said:

Very odd, I'm guessing the 65W just wasn't providing 20V. Normally the power rating doesn't have any effect unless it's too low...

I don't know, I tried 3 different 65W chargers.
USB PD supported, they were definitely capable of 20V. In fact one of them had multiple ports so if I had my phone charging at the same time, it would split the power 45W/25W between ports. When I did that, that charger actually worked fine too on my laptop.

constiko

Hi @ManDown, I have the exact same problem on the exact same model. Do I understand it right, that your problem was longterm-solved by switching from a 65W charger to a 45W charger ??

ManDown

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1145810#Comment_1145810

Hey there, yeah that is correct. No issues with the 45W charger other than a weird buzzing sound when it's fully charged.

That could just be due to the charger or my laptop specifically, I'm not sure. I think using a 45W charger will fix this for you. Strange issue though, interesting to learn it wasn't just me and glad to help