How to charge a laptop without a charger

What to do if the laptop charging unit has deteriorated, and a new one is expensive, or the desired option is not on sale? In such a situation, you can use useful tips that will tell you how to charge a laptop without charging. It is important to understand that there are both safe recommendations that will not damage the device, as well as rather risky methods. The latter require minimal knowledge of working with electricity and some experience in this area.

Important! Before moving on to the topic, you should immediately clarify: without a power supply, you cannot charge a laptop directly from an outlet, this is guaranteed to destroy it.

USB charging

The first thought that will come to any user’s mind is to charge a laptop without charging via a USB connector. And it is worth noting that this thought would be wrong, because this cannot be done through standard USB 2.0 and 3.0 outputs.

Important! It is impossible to charge a laptop through the USB port for several reasons. The first is voltage. The USB bandwidth is 4.5W, and the most undemanding laptop requires at least 30W to power it. The second reason is that the transfer of charge to USB of the second and third versions is possible only in one direction, namely to the output.

Surely, many users have charged a smartphone, tablet, and even an external battery through this output in a laptop. In this case, one could notice that the laptop gives up its charge, and not vice versa. Modern smartphones are equipped with a new power connector — Type-C. It has a few differences from previous versions of USB and one of them is 100W bandwidth and bi-directional operation. Thus, if the laptop is equipped with a Type-C output (the second name is USB 3.1), then you can charge the battery through it. It should be understood that the power supply will be required with power and voltage similar to those of the native charger. In this case, the block from the smartphone will not work, because it is low-power.

Logically, this implies the possibility laptop charging from power bank. To do this, the latter must have Type-C and sufficient capacity. It all depends on the volume of the laptop battery, but it should be understood that about 40% of the capacity is lost during charge transfer, which means that you should not buy a Power Bank with a capacity equal to the gadget’s battery, it will only be charged by 60%.

Can charge laptop and phonebut only if several conditions are met: both gadgets are equipped with USB 3.1, and the smartphone must support the corresponding function and have a large battery.

car cigarette lighter

This method is used by those people who need to work with a laptop in the car and it is obvious that there are no sockets in it. There are two options — to charge the laptop using native charger or without it.

If the user has his own charger in order, he will need to buy a car inverter. This is a device that is powered by a cigarette lighter and converts 12 watts to 220 watts, that is, it remains only to insert your charger into it. At the same time, the inverter will allow you to use not only a laptop, but also other devices that work from a simple outlet (travel iron, kettle).

If the charger is broken, then you can buy car chargerwhich has a built-in inverter. In this case, the connection is simple — the appropriate plug is inserted into the laptop, and the other side is connected to the cigarette lighter socket. Buying such a charger can be a profitable business, as there are universal options for sale — with the ability to be powered from a wall outlet or cigarette lighter. That is, with one acquisition, the user will solve two of his problems at once.

Solar battery

The solar battery is good because it allows you to get energy no outlet and no electricity at all. It is mobile and can be used anywhere, as long as there is sun in the sky. Usage is very simple: the battery is connected to the laptop via the power cable.

Important! You cannot use the device while charging, as the solar battery for a laptop does not have enough power to simultaneously provide power to work and charge the gadget.

Yes, and the sun in the sky can hide behind the clouds, or the weather will suddenly change, so it’s easier to get a full battery than to work and be left without food at all.

Thunderbolt

Few people know what Thunderbolt is, but the usefulness of this connector is difficult to overestimate. Thunderbolt is a connector created by Intel and is based on the same technology as Type-C, meaning it is fully compatible. The convenience lies in the fact that he is able to transmit everything and in any direction — information, sound, electricity.

In order to charge a laptop without a charger, you can use Thunderbolt, provided it is available in those devices that are at hand and, of course, in a discharged laptop. So, with this connector and the appropriate cable, you can charge the gadget through another laptop or from a computer. This can also be done from the monitor. Important conditions:

• corresponding connector in both devices;
• suitable cable;
• the device that will give energy must have a higher power adapter than the device being charged.

On a note! When presenting this connector and its capabilities, Intel connected several monitors in series to each other using Thunderbolt, and only the first device on the network was connected to an outlet and a system unit that displayed an image. As a result, a picture and power were transmitted over one cable to several monitors.

Charger from another laptop

It is quite a logical solution to power the device with charging from another laptop. If their adapters are compatible, then you should only compare the power. If the third-party option has more, then you should refrain from such power supply, as the device can get very hot or even burn out. But at the same time, if the problem of the native charger is that broken plug, and the second charge was left from an old laptop that no longer works, you can simply cut off the plug and put it on your power supply. Special knowledge is not required here.

1. On the native plug, you should see which cable goes to the plus, and which to the minus. They will differ in colors, while the plus goes directly to the central part of the plug, and the minus is attached to its outer part. This is the same for any laptop manufacturer.
2. On the second plug, we look at similar parameters — which cable is to the plus, and which to the minus. Now it remains to connect your power supply to the new plug, make sure that the wires do not cross anywhere and insulate the connections.

It’s quite working homemade laptop charger.

Similarly, you can assemble a charger from improvised means or spare parts specially purchased for this. You will need a plug for an outlet, a power supply directly with a power, voltage and current similar to the native unit. Obviously, a plug is required, but you can do without it, although this is quite inconvenient and dangerous.

Charging assembly is simple: the power supply is connected to a plug and a plug, if the latter is not present, then the power supply must have an output with two soft strands of copper wire. The first should be connected to the minus, that is, in the socket to its outer surface, and the plus is connected to the pin that sticks out in the center of this socket.

The danger is that in this case it is difficult to ensure that the wires do not touch anywhere, so it is better to buy or select the appropriate plug.

Important! It should be noted that the purchase of suitable spare parts will cost the same as a new power supply, so it is unreasonable to assemble it by hand from purchased components.

How to charge a battery without a laptop

A rather dangerous occupation, but sometimes there may be no other options left — this is to charge a laptop battery without a laptop. To do this, you need directly battery, charger, multimeter, electrical tape and copper wire.

1. Any battery has several outputs with contacts ranging from 4 to 9. To charge, the user needs to find two necessary ones with + and — polarity.
2. Sometimes the manufacturer puts special polarity marks or puts them on a label glued to the battery, but most often this does not happen, so you have to look for the right options with a multimeter.
3. When the contacts are found, two copper wires are required to be connected to them, which are attached with adhesive tape for reliability.
4. After fixing the wires with a multimeter, the circuit is again checked, but already for the presence of bandwidth.
5. Attached wires are connected to the charging unit, do not forget about observing the polarity. Now it remains only to wait for the end of the charging process.

How to save battery

A few years ago, when buying any equipment with a battery, sellers in stores advised to fully charge and discharge the device several times in order to “tune” the battery to work properly. This method has gone to the Internet and to this day is an unshakable recommendation from «specialists». The truth is that the logic in these actions was only for nickel-cadmium batteries that have a memory effect.

That is, having fully charged and discharged the battery, he indicated to the user — these are the lower and upper thresholds. If the buyer did not take these actions, then the battery “got used” that 30% is the lower threshold (it was at this time that the buyer put the smartphone / laptop on charge), and 93% is the upper one (the user was tired of waiting, and the remaining 7% is not critical). Thus, the consumer independently reduced the capacity of his battery by 37%.

Modern laptops, phones and other gadgets use lithium-ion batteries, which have no memory effect, which means there are no recommendations on how to properly charge a new laptop battery. The only thing you need to know about how to extend the service life is the operating rules.

1. Device with battery must not be exposed to strong external heat. That is, keeping a laptop near the battery or in the sun is not the wisest decision. When working in the hot season, you should take care to purchase a cooling pad.
2. The situation is similar with low temperatures. It is not recommended to work on a laptop at negative temperatures, and even when entering a room from a cold street, you should give the device at least an hour to heat up.
3. Do not subject the battery to constant charging. If the user works all the time near the outlet, and the laptop is connected to it, then it is better to remove the battery. However, it must be used periodically, otherwise it will deteriorate.
4. Do not leave the battery uncharged for a long time.
5. The optimal charge level is from 30 to 90% percent. These parameters are not critical, you can put the device on charge or take it off earlier, that is, in the range of 30-90%, but you should not cross these boundaries. During operation, there is no difficulty in looking at the battery level and, at the right time, disconnecting the device from the network and reconnecting it.
6. A couple of times a year is recommended do battery calibration.
7. With autonomous power, you should refrain from using resource-intensive programs. Obviously, you should not load the device to the maximum when it is powered by a battery — you can set the brightness to medium, and choose an economical or balanced power scheme.
8. If a user works on a gadget while traveling and does not use wireless networks, then turn on airplane mode. In this case, the battery will last longer, as it will not constantly try to find an available Wi-Fi.

The simple recommendations above will help you keep your battery in good working order and ensure that it lasts longer than the 2 years claimed life of any modern battery.

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