Laptop power adaptor using battery bay and connector?

Amend your sig please the RFC says FOUR lines only.

The RFC was written in 1802.

With an attitude like that you have probably now killed your chance of getting a sensible answer from usenet.

I've never seen what you are looking for.

Try asking around the forumns. They may even like your sig :-)

In my experience there are very few that care about things like sig size and line length any more.

line length any more.

Obviously some here do, or you'd have got a polite answer by now.

The last time I saw anything likw what you describe was the optional mains adaptor for a Panasonic camcorder in about 1990.

Of course, you *could* always design & build one yourself using off the shelf components from Maplins. It's not rocket science.

line length any more.

I've got loads of polite answers, not necessarily all in here, I posted the query to loads of groups.

That rings a bell. It's possible that's what I'm thinking of.

It's the battery connector that would suck. Maybe I should dismantle a dead battery?

BTW, I'd have to emulate a battery - the laptop will expect to be able to communicate with it to know how full it is, and no I'm too un-knowledgable and lazy to build something that complex.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@fx62.mshome.net, Peter Hucker typed on Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:52:05 +0100:

I believe most laptops figure out how much of a charge the battery is in by its output voltage. So I don't think that would be a problem. The tricky part would be if you ever used both DC inputs at the same time. Then the stock one just might want to charge the battery emulator. But I believe this wouldn't be a problem for most people.

I was assuming the other connectors on the battery were there for a reason. Are you sure about the laptop not needing them?

It is hard to say depending on the design. But I have done it before and it worked fine. The other connectors are usually there for safety and the charging circuit which you don't need anyway.

Although keep in mind, the AC adapters are a few volts higher than what the battery voltage is. And I wouldn't feed too much higher than the battery. So I wouldn't feed the original supply into it. But whatever supply you use, it should be well regulated.

Are you sure about the laptop not needing them?

They're there to let the laptop charging circuitry monitor the battery temperature while charging, usually. Sometimes, there's a way for the laptop to monitor individual cells, but that's rare.

Why over complicate the situation, just buy another board off Ebay £40 for the D600

If it were me doing it, I'd have just set a regulated supply to whatever voltage it said on the battery & used a couple of clips to connect it up. The OP wants a more elegant solution. Alternatively, I'd have bought another laptop of the same type & kept mine for spares.

Agree. Even further I'd have sourced and replaced the socket - or found someone experienced to do it...

You can find them for £4 on eBay including post.

e.g item 160201497944

Service manual for the D600 here

Useful website

I'll give it a shot. The laptop is otherwise useless anyway (apart from spares

- but then I've got lots with the same spares now!)

If I could remove the board easily, I could simply replace the power connector.

The guy who said he couldn't go that far down the layers of the laptop used to be in power supply design and is pretty experienced.

He probably has valid experience but little patience for things that initially look pasted together. Fortunately they are not.

Both you and him and the service manual could get this sucker apart and do the necessary. Just work on your oldest one first, don't lose the screws and other small bits (I use clip'n'seal plastic bags), zap circuitry with finger static, work on the carpet, have other distractions, leave food inside or apply force in the wrong direction. Take your time ;-)

Once you've done a few, then the process isn't as duanting as it first seems. May even make you some money one day ...

I give him all the jobs I can't be bothered doing (usually dismantling printers)

- he has a lot of patience (more than me anyway). For some reason he reckons they are impossible to put back together afterwards. But I'm going to have a go at proving him wrong. He'll hate that.