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As per specifications, my MSI notebook requires a 20 V / 2.0 A charger. Unfortunately, they are hard to find.

Can I use a 20 V / 3.5 A charger without damaging my notebook?

Daniel B
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Njuguna Mburu
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  • -1 for not googling- can i use higher amp charger/power supply – barlop Apr 25 '14 at 09:13
  • @barlop If you’re unhappy with my revision, feel free to improve it. I think it’s better than a situation where answering “yes” would mean the exact opposite in title and text. – Daniel B Apr 25 '14 at 11:07
  • @DanielB I have no opinion on how the question looked before, or how it looks now. I'm not big on grammar so can't comment on that. But I found the question easy to understand before and after. – barlop Apr 25 '14 at 11:38
  • Actually, I'd argue that the linked-as-duplicate question is about a different situation, as it asks whether a *different voltage* power supply can be used. Admittedly in the case of the duplicate target the voltage difference is small, but it is still a different situation than where the two power supplies involved have the same specified output voltage. Voting to reopen this question. – user Apr 28 '14 at 09:11

1 Answers1

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Yes, the charger rated for a higher amperage will work fine with your laptop.

Using a higher amperage, same voltage, same polarity charger does not pose a problem. The computer (or anything else) will simply draw as much as it needs and not more.

You should be careful though to check polarity; some are center pin negative, and others are center pin positive. Bad things almost certainly will happen if you get this wrong, and it won't be related to the amperage at all. And of course a different voltage charger could easily cause problems, depending on the exact voltage difference and exactly how the computer is built.

Compare this to the electrical wiring in your house; it's likely that the fuses are rated for a load of 2-3 kW or more (in my part of the world, fuses for 10 A 240 V = 2.4 kW are common, and the main service fuses are often 16 A or higher), yet that light bulb of at most a few tens of watts works just fine. Your computer is not really different, except it probably runs on DC which means you have to pay attention to polarity.

user
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