Vortex IV 17" Power Adapter Tripping Electrics in House. Adapter is the problem?

radiocaf

Active member
Hi guys,

So I've had my laptop for almost 9 months now and have had this problem since day one. I haven't seen it as a problem personally until I asked some people about it and was told it was a problem with the adapter itself.

The problem is, more-often-than-not, when I plug my laptop into the wall and/or turn it on at the wall, it will trip the electrics in my house. The resulting surge has caused surge damage to my refrigerator (nothing serious, just a 7 segment display is partially not working any more.)

I'm getting sick of the lottery every time I need to charge my laptop, and as a result, I had resorted to keeping the laptop plugged in and powered on at the mains as much as possible. Obviously, this isn't good for the battery, or my electricity bill.

I have just fired off an email to support asking them to consider a replacement adapter as my laptop is still under silver warranty, but I would like to gauge your opinions whilst I wait for a reply.

I always thought it was the shoddy electrics in my house that was built around the 1920's, but the general opinion so far seems it's a fault with the adapter. I have even tried turning the adapter on whilst it's not plugged into the laptop, and this still causes the electrics to trip.

So what do you think? Is this to be expected from my adapter in the environment I use it in (at home, via electrics originally installed in the 1920's (but obviously updated since then at intervals)), or does the environment not matter and the fault does lie within the adapter? I must add that when I use it at work, it has never tripped the electrics, but those were updated only a year ago, and I'd imagine would be used to higher surges and strains of electricity as it's a company/office setting and not built 94 years ago.
 

selbster

Bronze Level Poster
sounds like old elcectrics to me, is it not worth getting an extention lead with surge protection built in
 

SmokeDarKnight

Author Level
Can you test it in a neighbors or friends house etc to see if it does the same thing?

If the laptop is running after the trip has been reset i would imagine that the adapter and the laptop are working fine, it could be perhaps just the electrical set up in the house.

I life an an extremely old farm house and when there was more of us in there it used to trip with all the equipment, now that its just me its never happened again.
 
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Cadwah

Rising Star
I have even tried turning the adapter on whilst it's not plugged into the laptop, and this still causes the electrics to trip.

Does this happen in all of the sockets you try it in, if so it's pretty good evidence that there is some sort of fault with the PSU rather than your home electrics.
 

radiocaf

Active member
It does happen in every socket that I've tried, but I will try and see if it happens in a friends or neighbours house.
 

radiocaf

Active member
if it works fine at work why would you think its the laptop thats what bothers me.

I don't think it's the laptop, I think it's the adapter itself or the old electrics in the house. The main circuit breaker in my house is rated at a max of 63A, at work they are rated to 200A. Could this be why?

I really suspect it's the house electrics, but want to try cheaper options than gutting my house of it's fuse board to install more modern circuit breakers. I put an RCD in line and the house electrics tripped still... I did plug the laptop in while the switch (and therefore the RCD) was switched on and live at the time, so I dunno if that's anything to do with it? Doubt it.
 

selbster

Bronze Level Poster
defo sounds like dodgy electrics to me, hopefully you get this resolved, it would be driving me up the wall
 

grimsbymatt

Enthusiast
I'm no electrician, but it seems to me that a 180W power adapter should be drawing less than 1 amp (RMS), current being equal to power divided by voltage. If this device is tripping your electrics anywhere in the house, but no other devices do this, then my assumption would be a dodgy power brick.

Or have I got this all wrong?! It's entirely possible.
 

radiocaf

Active member
I'm no electrician, but it seems to me that a 180W power adapter should be drawing less than 1 amp (RMS), current being equal to power divided by voltage. If this device is tripping your electrics anywhere in the house, but no other devices do this, then my assumption would be a dodgy power brick.

Or have I got this all wrong?! It's entirely possible.

Do you think PC Specialist will replace it? Because you are making sense to me.
 

grimsbymatt

Enthusiast
Do you think PC Specialist will replace it? Because you are making sense to me.

Is it in warranty? If so, yes. If not, they'll probably sell you one for ~£20.

I really don't know anything about electrics, though, but I guess you can run a hoover to do the cleaning, and they usually have 1,000W+ motors in them.

Give them a call and see what they say.
 

radiocaf

Active member
I paid for the Silver Service so yeah I should be covered. I'm going to try it with a new kettle lead (the plug half of the adapter), just to rule that out, and if not, I'm going to look into sourcing a replacement, even more so if it's covered by warranty. Thanks man! :)
 
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