Laptop chargers

blahblahdoh

Hi
these seem to fail quite frequently and there seem to be lots of dodgy replacement chargers available online - it's a bit of a minefield. I bought one on ebay that didn't even have a UK plug socket! Had to raise a dispute to get a refund. They cost about £50 at PC World, which seems rather expensive. Does anyone know a good place to get a cheap one (for a Dell Inspiron 1525)?

Bowling_4_Gold

You can get the genuine thing brand new, from a seller with over 2,000 feedback on eBay for £11.50 delivered. Note that you need to supply your own mains cable (should be standard kettle/clover cable). Comes with 1 year warranty too!

blahblahdoh

Bowling_4_Gold wrote: »

You can get the genuine thing brand new, from a seller with over 2,000 feedback on eBay for £11.50 delivered. Note that you need to supply your own mains cable (should be standard kettle/clover cable). Comes with 1 year warranty too!

It looks genuine, even says it is genuine, but if you try to use a standard clover-leaf (UK standard C5) mains cable it won't work.

This is because it "REQUIRES THE Figure Fig 8 Eight Mains Power Cable Lead".

The one I bought had a three-pin in-line socket (all pins aligned horizontally): I've never seen this before on any UK product.

If you clock the name of the seller (Brit Telecom), thats also a bit of a giveaway: Chinese sellers seem to have a penchant for anything British sounding, and often emblazon their ads with Union Jacks. They also seem to be developing UK distribution points. Shame they lack even basic knowledge of UK plug standards.

Like I said, I have tried ebay, it's a minefield, and some of these "genuine" products look potentially dangerous. I certainly don't trust ebay feedback any more having been duped twice on products like this. On both occasions, despite overwhelmingly good feedback, the sellers failed to refund the money, until forced to by Ebay weeks later.

So, thanks for trying to help, but I'm hoping for first hand experience rather than help with surfing.

McKneff

Go to a little independant locally.

I bought my last one for £20.00

I wish I had waited one more day though, I used the thing for 2 hours, then my computer died. And was far too expensive to mend

So Im stuck with it, unless I can sell it on.

blahblahdoh

McKneff wrote: »

Go to a little independant locally.

I bought my last one for £20.00

I wish I had waited one more day though, I used the thing for 2 hours, then my computer died. And was far too expensive to mend

So Im stuck with it, unless I can sell it on.

Thanks, I think we have one small shop here. I'll have a look tomorrow.

Sorry about your bereavement: I take it you are certain the new charger was not the cause of death. :eek:

Notmyrealname

blahblahdoh wrote: »

The one I bought had a three-pin in-line socket (all pins aligned horizontally): I've never seen this before on any UK product.

Dell have those on some of their chargers.

This is because it "REQUIRES THE Figure Fig 8 Eight Mains Power Cable Lead".

So buy one then. I have two Toshiba Tecra M5s on stock. Both have genuine Toshiba chargers. One is cloverleaf, the other a figure of 8.

Bowling_4_Gold

blahblahdoh wrote: »

It looks genuine, even says it is genuine, but if you try to use a standard clover-leaf (UK standard C5) mains cable it won't work.

Your money at the end of the day. All I can say is I've bought plenty of 'genuine' electronic items from uk sellers on eBay and all of them have turned out to be genuine once arrived.

I make sure it's from a seller in the uk with high feedback and the Top Rated Seller status. It give me personally some security but as said, it's your £12 so up to you.

On a side note, not being rude but would it be worth the chinese manufacturers faking a product that's only raking them a few pounds extra over their normal no-name products? I mean the Dell mouldings, stickers etc must cost a fair bit to make?

McKneff

blahblahdoh wrote: »

Thanks, I think we have one small shop here. I'll have a look tomorrow.

Sorry about your bereavement: I take it you are certain the new charger was not the cause of death. :eek:

No, it wasnt, defo.

Just as an aside, the charger from the independant cost me £25.

The same one from Currys was £57. :eek:

Figment

Your other option is to take out a second mortgage and buy an original replacement part direct from DELL

Three pin version (Dell Part : 450-11861) - Mains only £50.39

Two pin version (Dell Part : 450-10685) - Mains / Car / Air adapters included £95.99

blahblahdoh

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Dell have those on some of their chargers.



So buy one then. I have two Toshiba Tecra M5s on stock. Both have genuine Toshiba chargers. One is cloverleaf, the other a figure of 8.

I don't think the three-pin in-line socket is used in the UK. In fact, it doesn't seem to conform to any international standard. Can't see any on the Dell site. Can you provide a link?

Reading reviews, many replacement chargers don't seem to work as well as the original, in some cases the laptop rejects them. If a supplier can't even copy the coupler standard used in the original, it's not a good sign.

Interesting that the Toshiba Tecra M5 uses two different coupler standards. People replacing their charger for that one need to be extra careful.

blahblahdoh

Bowling_4_Gold wrote: »

Your money at the end of the day. All I can say is I've bought plenty of 'genuine' electronic items from uk sellers on eBay and all of them have turned out to be genuine once arrived.

I make sure it's from a seller in the uk with high feedback and the Top Rated Seller status. It give me personally some security but as said, it's your £12 so up to you.

On a side note, not being rude but would it be worth the chinese manufacturers faking a product that's only raking them a few pounds extra over their normal no-name products? I mean the Dell mouldings, stickers etc must cost a fair bit to make?

Chinese counterfeiting is endemic. Convincing moulding and stickers are not particularly difficult or expensive to fake.
http://www.cracked.com/article_19742_the-5-most-insane-examples-chinese-counterfeiting.html

The word "genuine" seems to be meaningless to sellers - reading Amazon reviews shows many sold as such are not original products, regardless of what they look like. I don't really mind who makes the charger, as long as its cheap and works safely, but a product that uses a different plug coupler from the original suggests to me that they haven't copied it very carefully.