The DC to DC voltage converter has arrived from China. It cost us £2.51 including postage. The original converter was sourced in the UK and cost us slightly more than £5. The problem is the original converter has developed a fault. The voltage surges and the converter now doesn’t charge the laptop. If I had an oscilloscope I could probably work out which component was defective but all I have is a very cheap Maplin multimeter.
As you can see….. they are exactly the same, right down to the name and labels on the printed circuit board. I marked the new converter with a felt pen just to ensure I didn’t confuse them when doing the replacement. Not that it made much difference because when I had exchanged to two unit I discovered the new converter was also defective. Bugger….. that’s £2.51 of hard earned dosh down the drain. I’ll have to order a third converter. It’s probably the lack of a 12V converter that’s the most annoying thing. Another £2.51 won’t cause the little pink pig to sweat.
Being in the computery'type business I have to say my first thought was "how likely is it for both to be faulty??"... sure there is no (common) extraneous issue/cause?
ReplyDeleteSteve
ReplyDeleteThe original is producing an oscillating voltage which the laptop doesn't like. The replacement doesn't have an output on the secondary side. Cheap and nasty chinese so I guess you have to expect a high fault rate!