Heat from my power adapter. Is this normal?

[tomx2]

Hi.

I just arrived in Thailand for 6-8 month stay. Brought with me my Dell Xps 13 laptop using windows 10.

My power adapter feels quite warm when plugged into the wall outlet at my hotel.

Here's is my setup.

Description: A 45W Dell adapter having AC Input: 100 ~ 240V 50~60Hz & DC Output: 19.5V 2.31A.

1. I plug one end of my adapter into the laptop's power adapter port, the other end into a 3 prong adapter.

2. The 3 prong is plugged into a (2 prong) 22ft electrical cord.

3. The electrical cord is plugged into a 2 prong wall outlet.

I understand Thailand uses 220V and USA (Where I reside) uses 110V.

It seems from the adapter desc, It should handle 220V, but not really sure.

(Q) What do I need to ask for when I visit Powerbuy store, to help reduce the heat from my adapter? A converter?

Again the adapter is warm but not extremely hot. But I can still feel the difference here (Thailand) vs USA.

Thanks.

TC.

[Crossy]

Yes, it's fine, mine gets pretty warm too.

[KhunBENQ]

You can touch and hold it?

No reason to worry.

And you sit in an air-conditioned room?

Comparable environment temperature like when in the US?

[tonray]

They all get warm or even hot. You do not need the adapter....just wasting energy and generating heat. Plug your 2 prong laptop cord into the wall....it won't blow up.

[55Jay]

They all get warm or even hot. You do not need the adapter....just wasting energy and generating heat. Plug your 2 prong laptop cord into the wall....it won't blow up.

Really? Isn't there an AC to DC conversion going on in there?

Do you mean one can remove the battery?

Edited April 12, 2016 by 55Jay

[tomx2]

Ok Thanks. Just as long as it doesn't fry.

@KhunBenq - Can touch and hold it. Just warmer compared to New York.

Comparable testing maybe skewed. Last time i tested(held it during play) in NY was the winter(Jan 2016).

TC.

[Jdietz]

To get rid of the heat generated inside, it'll have to be hotter than ambient. Can bore you with calculations, but yeah will be hotter here than during winter in NYC.

As long as you can touch it without going 'ouch' don't worry. Technical term: the 'ouch' level.

[slipperylobster]

Your computer is autovolt anyways...and adjusts for 110/220.

Actually, a laptop draws pretty low amps, so most adapters work (if you need one).

I buy my adapters with higher amp capability for large appliances. (15 amp capability). I don't even use the lower amp ones...although they are perfectly ok for lights and laptops. I figure..what the ell....just buy the best one, so I can use it for anything. Same with my extension cords..Thick and high amp capability...at least 15 or higher. You never can go wrong that way. I got some lightweight extension cords that are krap...and am still replacing them with the best I can find (and the highest amp/watt capability). I seen many cheap extension cords arc...and have faulty switches. too dangerous.

When your power supply starts burning, and you smell it...then you got a problem. Those chinese replacements can fry your laptop. I let a tech rig up a generic power supply (supposedly with the same amp/polarity etc) but my motherboard burned up, after a week or two. Lots of junk over here.

One other thing (irrelevant but heat related)...my fan on my older laptop stopped working. I could have pulled it all apart..or brought it to a tech...put I was able to insert a toothpick and get it spinning again. (not recommended for an expensive laptop). I am considering going back to a desktop computer, as they are easier to open and clean. I don't take my laptop anywhere, anyways.....and it is connected to 50 inch and 36 inch lcd televisions, an acoustic amplifier (I use it for guitar effects) and ..also a stereo. I do have a remote keyboard with mousepad. My laptop is pulling double duties 24/7. Time to revert to a standard tower again.

I said all that because of heating issues. The fan isn't up to it.

Edited April 12, 2016 by slipperylobster

[tonray]

They all get warm or even hot. You do not need the adapter....just wasting energy and generating heat. Plug your 2 prong laptop cord into the wall....it won't blow up.

Really? Isn't there an AC to DC conversion going on in there?

Do you mean one can remove the battery?

1. I plug one end of my adapter into the laptop's power adapter port, the other end into a 3 prong adapter.

2. The 3 prong is plugged into a (2 prong) 22ft electrical cord.

3. The electrical cord is plugged into a 2 prong wall outlet.

Why are you plugging into a 3 prong adapter ? Your laptop power brick came only with 3 prong and you are converting to 2 prong ?

[55Jay]

They all get warm or even hot. You do not need the adapter....just wasting energy and generating heat. Plug your 2 prong laptop cord into the wall....it won't blow up.

Really? Isn't there an AC to DC conversion going on in there?

Do you mean one can remove the battery?

1. I plug one end of my adapter into the laptop's power adapter port, the other end into a 3 prong adapter.

2. The 3 prong is plugged into a (2 prong) 22ft electrical cord.

3. The electrical cord is plugged into a 2 prong wall outlet.

Why are you plugging into a 3 prong adapter ? Your laptop power brick came only with 3 prong and you are converting to 2 prong ?

Sorry, misunderstood what you meant.

[BuaBS]

For many years now I have a little fan near my laptop power adapter to keep it cool. ( 12 cm computer fan) A too hot adapter is not good . If it overheats it might damage the computer and/or you need to buy another one. My adapter is 3 wires and communicates with the computer , another adapter won't work.

[Pib]

Yes, a computer power adapter being quite warm is normal on 120V or 220V. All of my laptop power adapters over the years have run quite warm regardless of running off 120V or 220V to include my new, whiz-bang laptops that use less power than mine previous laptops.

What laptop manufacturers usually do is when their new computers use less power they also reduce the max wattage size of the power adapters in order to save cost and reduce the physical size of the power adapter....end result new laptop power adapters still run pretty warm.

[tomx2]

They all get warm or even hot. You do not need the adapter....just wasting energy and generating heat. Plug your 2 prong laptop cord into the wall....it won't blow up.

Really? Isn't there an AC to DC conversion going on in there?

Do you mean one can remove the battery?

1. I plug one end of my adapter into the laptop's power adapter port, the other end into a 3 prong adapter.

2. The 3 prong is plugged into a (2 prong) 22ft electrical cord.

3. The electrical cord is plugged into a 2 prong wall outlet.

Why are you plugging into a 3 prong adapter ? Your laptop power brick came only with 3 prong and you are converting to 2 prong ?

@tonray.

The Dell Power adapter I have (see my attached file) has 3 prongs.

The wall outlet at my hotel can only accept 2 prongs so I need a 3 > 2 prong adapter to plug in.

TC.

[tonray]

They all get warm or even hot. You do not need the adapter....just wasting energy and generating heat. Plug your 2 prong laptop cord into the wall....it won't blow up.

Really? Isn't there an AC to DC conversion going on in there?

Do you mean one can remove the battery?

1. I plug one end of my adapter into the laptop's power adapter port, the other end into a 3 prong adapter.

2. The 3 prong is plugged into a (2 prong) 22ft electrical cord.

3. The electrical cord is plugged into a 2 prong wall outlet.

Why are you plugging into a 3 prong adapter ? Your laptop power brick came only with 3 prong and you are converting to 2 prong ?

@tonray.

The Dell Power adapter I have (see my attached file) has 3 prongs.

The wall outlet at my hotel can only accept 2 prongs so I need a 3 > 2 prong adapter to plug in.

TC.

Yes...I see that now, thanks. I never had a laptop with a 3 prong which is why it surprised me...you likely can get a replacement power supply (or cord is it is detachable from the brick) with 2 prongs with same specs at any one of the computer fix it places in many malls (usually upper floors)..just to simplify things as sometimes these cheap adapters are not efficient and may be the cause of some resistance and therefore heat.

[Jing Joe]

They all get warm or even hot. You do not need the adapter....just wasting energy and generating heat. Plug your 2 prong laptop cord into the wall....it won't blow up.

Comment removed by me after reading more posts

Edited April 13, 2016 by Jing Joe

[Kabula]

No problem....they also seem and get hotter when the a/c is not available or is not running. We have entered the hottest time of the year now.

If you smell plastic or see smoke, Houston, there is a problem.

[Rockhopper]

Yes.

[Jedsada3]

In 6-8 months, you will have another problem : your laptop will get hot!

A lot of dust and micro-particle flying in the air will close the ventilation circuit

Don't do the mistake to spray air in the ventilation holes! It will push the dust inside and you will have the same problems I used to have a fe wyears ago.

Better use a vacuum cleaner and suck 2 or 3 minutes long the ventilation slots when your laptop running. Do it once/month and you won't have heat problem.

[Estrada]

The room should be at 24/25C as recommended for PCs. I had a large Vaio Laptop a few year ago and the power transformer could not take the heat in the tropics and the Sahara, It burnt out. I bought a replacement and found that Sony had already increased the power output to solve the problem with hot climates. There is also an internal chip which slows the computer down if it gets too hot. If you are using a 3-pin to two pin power adaptor and it is getting hot, check the connections to make sure that the electrical parts are making good contact otherwise they will generate heat.

[sandgroper2]

A simple question with a simple answer, "yes". Why the dozens of varying answers?

[Pib]

A simple question with a simple answer, "yes". Why the dozens of varying answers?

Because many people like to justify and/or add detail their yes or no answer.

[55Jay]

In 6-8 months, you will have another problem : your laptop will get hot!

A lot of dust and micro-particle flying in the air will close the ventilation circuit

Don't do the mistake to spray air in the ventilation holes! It will push the dust inside and you will have the same problems I used to have a fe wyears ago.

Better use a vacuum cleaner and suck 2 or 3 minutes long the ventilation slots when your laptop running. Do it once/month and you won't have heat problem.

+3. Laptop running very hot after years of operation. I've worked on my desktops before, never fiddled with a lap top, so took it to a guy at the IT Mall. On man, was it crusty in there! I expected it would be, but I was surprised how bad it actually was.

He also cleaned and dabbed on some new thermal paste stuff.

About 45 minutes and 200 Baht. Laptop runs better, and much cooler.

[sandgroper2]

A simple question with a simple answer, "yes". Why the dozens of varying answers?

Because many people like to justify and/or add detail their yes or no answer.

I understand, bored with nothing better to do.

[SoiBiker]

A simple question with a simple answer, "yes". Why the dozens of varying answers?

If the internet has shown us one thing, it's that there is no shortage of people queuing up to show off the limits of their knowledge.

[IAMHERE]

Your adapter uses heat to get rid of the extra energy it is drawing from the wall socket , converting to 110, and then sending to your laptop. The laptop is not using nearly the amount the adapter is pulling from the wall socket, that extra amount is the heat you are feeling.

[KhunBENQ]

converting to 110, and then sending to your laptop

See post #24

What a nonsense.

Hell I would run if the adapter would send 110V to my laptop

Typical output of such AC/DC adapters are 19V.

Absolutely no such high voltages inside a laptop!

My AC/DC adapter is warm by the way, What a surprise.

Please get informed what a (switched) universal (100V to 240V) AC (AC/DC) adapter does.

Otherwise this thread should be moved to the Jokes subforum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_adapter

[KhunBENQ]

A simple question with a simple answer, "yes". Why the dozens of varying answers?

Replying to Heat from my power adapter. Is this normal?

Yes.

[wump]

Your adapter uses heat to get rid of the extra energy it is drawing from the wall socket , converting to 110, and then sending to your laptop. The laptop is not using nearly the amount the adapter is pulling from the wall socket, that extra amount is the heat you are feeling.

Ouch

[Jedsada3]

Your adapter uses heat to get rid of the extra energy it is drawing from the wall socket , converting to 110, and then sending to your laptop. The laptop is not using nearly the amount the adapter is pulling from the wall socket, that extra amount is the heat you are feeling.

"the adapter is pulling from the wall socket"

In this case I would have said "the wall socket is pushing to the adapter"...

Adapters are like humans: they take more than they can eat

Edited April 15, 2016 by JJA

[sandgroper2]

Energy, once created , cannot be destroyed, except on TV.