AT power supply to power Laptop.

My friend's laptop power supply recently fried, but I took the weird Sony plug of the adaptor and swore to jerry-rig a replacement. Now, I have a 200 Watt AT power supply that I pulled from a 486 from way back when, and I'm wondering the following:

The laptop says it takes 16V at 4 Amps.

Checking the voltage between the +12V and -5V lines shows 16.06V on my multimeter.

The -5V output is rated for 0.5A, the +12V at 8A.

Soo...What amperage do I expect from this -5 to +12 setup? Only 500mA?

ArtemisGoldfish said:

The -5V output is rated for 0.5A, the +12V at 8A.

Soo...What amperage do I expect from this -5 to +12 setup? Only 500mA?

Click to expand...

Yes, only 500mA.
To adapt an old saying: "Chain is only as strong as its weakest link".

JimB

Would there be some way that I could combine +5V and +12V lines to get a workable voltage? And does the amperage matter so long as it's above the laptop's 4 amp requirement?

Not with one power supply.

Have you tried it with 12V?

Hero might have something. I mean what inside a laptop could really need 16 volts? It might just be overhead for the linear regulators. Since you're feeding it regulated 12 volt power, it may work. But I don't know much about the power section of a laptop and it could burn out or cause unintended malfunctions, just had to tack that disclaimer on there in case it blows up when you plug it in =>

Sceadwian said:

Hero might have something. I mean what inside a laptop could really need 16 volts? It might just be overhead for the linear regulators. Since you're feeding it regulated 12 volt power, it may work. But I don't know much about the power section of a laptop and it could burn out or cause unintended malfunctions, just had to tack that disclaimer on there in case it blows up when you plug it in =>

Click to expand...

Most likely it will run fine on 12Volts; however the battery may not be fully charged.