If you feel like your laptop charger is starting to overheat, then here’s a quick and detailed guide you can use to diagnose why that may be occurring, and how to fix it.
Firstly let’s just get this out of the way, that laptop chargers are normally hot to the touch when you have them plugged in, and charging to your laptop.
So if your laptops charger is only mildly/moderately hot to the touch then chances are everything is okay. On the other hand if its getting hot to the point where it’s painful to even touch it, then you might have an overheating laptop charger.
Why Is My Laptop Charger So Hot?
If you notice the adapter is extremely hot, it could be due to the following: A faulty laptop battery, using the wrong laptop charger, using the wrong laptop battery, damaged / faulty laptop charger, the environment is just so hot.
We will now discuss how to fix a laptop charger that gets too hot.
Is It Normal For Laptop Charger To Get Hot
If you have a gaming laptop, and your running your laptop at full tilt. Then it’s probably drawing the maximum amount of power it can through the adapter.
In that case, its okay for the charger to get way hotter than usual. As long as it returns to its normal temperature when the laptop is idle.
However if it remains that hot, even when your laptop is idling. Then it’s either overheated or will likely overheat at some point in the near future.
When you notice your charger getting that hot, check to see if its still charging your laptop battery. If it isn’t or is constantly toggling between charging and not charging. You most likely have an overheating power adapter.
..If you see or hear any then immediately disconnect it from your laptop, and just replace it…
Observe the power adapter for any signs of smoke, or weird noises coming from its internals. If you see or hear any then immediately disconnect it from your laptop, and just replace it.
It’s not worth trying to fix, because you might end up having to replace your laptop as I once had to when a smoking laptop charger fried the internals of my laptop. Effectively rendering it an expensive paperweight.
Though if you don’t see any sign of smoke, or weird noises. It could be something else causing the overheating issues.
How To Fix A Laptop Charger Overheating
Faulty Laptop Battery
It could be that your laptop battery is just getting old at this point, and needs to be replaced. Your laptop charger could just be working overtime in trying to push current through the degraded cells of the battery, and is effectively overheating.
If your laptop is facing battery issues, we recommend you replace it right away. To figure out what type of battery your laptop needs and how to replace it. Read our detailed guide.
Using The Wrong Laptop Charger
The chances are that you could be using the wrong power adapter to charge to laptop, and that’s why it could be overheating.
It’s very important to get the correct power adapter for your laptop, with the right voltage and current ratings. A little bit over or under its ideal specifications and it could mean permanent damage to your laptop.
For example if your using a 60watt power adapter on a laptop that requires a 90watt charger. Then that could be reason its overheating. It simply doesn’t have the capability to supply that much power, and overheats.
You can easily find replacement power adapters if you just google your laptop make and model followed by power adapter. Try to purchase one directly from the manufacturer if you can.
Using The Wrong Laptop Battery
Another source of the overheating issues could be that you could be using the wrong laptop battery for your laptop. Just because a battery fits into the designated battery slot on your laptop doesn’t mean it’s the right one.
..If you happen to be using a laptop battery that accepts 19.5V, while your laptop battery charger is rated for 17.5…
Batteries of the same shape and size come with different power and current ratings just like power adapters do. If you happen to be using a laptop battery that accepts 19.5V, while your laptop battery charger is rated for 17.5. Then your charger could very well overheat.
To find out exactly what sort of battery that you laptop needs, be sure to check out the guide we gave the link to above. It’ll help you find the correct battery from an authentic source.
Damaged/Faulty Laptop Charger
Among all the possible culprits of an overheating laptop battery charger, this is the most common A damaged or faulty charger could easily be overheating itself, and you’d never even know that it was faulty until it did permanent damage to your laptop.
If your bought an off brand power adapter for your laptop, then we would honestly recommend throwing that away and buying a brand new manufacturer certified power adapter. One that actually has your laptop manufacturers logo on it.
My laptop had its internals fired by an off brand laptop charger. However if you still have the original charger that came with your laptop. Examine the power cord, and all connection points for wear and tear.
If there are any rips or tears, then it would be wise to get it replaced. There’s no telling when two exposed wires might into contact, and potentially cause a fire.
The Environment Is Just Too Hot
This is one possible cause that around 90% of the people might not even think to consider, but it could be that your environment is just too hot, and the charger is overheating because of this.
Another pretty common case we’ve seen is that when people tend to use their laptops in bed, they smother the charger amongst or underneath the blankets. So now the charger has no access to passive cooling through the air, and will most definitely overheat.
Try to keep your laptops charger is a cool, and well ventilated area. If your experience charging issues with it, try to have a fan blowing on it and see if that fixes the issue. If it works, and you can’t immediately replace the charger. Having a fan blow on it can serve as a temporary fix.
Conclusion
So after all that we’ve discussed here you should easily be able to diagnose a fix an overheating laptop charger. Tell us why you think you think your charger is overheating, and how you fixed it by leaving a comment down below.
Also if you feel we missed anything important, be sure to leave that down below as well.
The 60 watt charger that came with my HP x-360 envy gets so hot that you can’t even touch it without burning your skin. It’s been this way since I bought the laptop. And I did buy the laptop new from HP. At first I thought it might be normal but then noticed it gets just as bad running at lowest settings with power saver on. But after reading this I’m going to contact HP customer service to see if they’ll replace it under my warranty since the warranty is still good.
I got my 360 in 2018. The charger gets hot, but not very hot. Today, however, I accidentally had it under a blanket for like 10 minutes and I swear it got so hot that I couldn’t touch it for 5 minutes. I hope it still works, because there’s no way I can buy a 100$ charger soon enough to finish an animation by the due date I’ve given it.
Good information as I am facing this issue and it might likely to be due to old battery and hot environment.
Helpful information but leaves me a bit puzzled as I was happily using one charger for all sorts ie phone, and iPad with no issues but just recently it has started to overheat regardless of which device I am charging. Not sure I know how to check what size charger to use for which device.
My laptop is old (2013) and I use a totally different charger. The laptop itself gets very hot
I took my laptop off of the bed and put it, as well as the charger on a flat surface; problem solved; cooled down right away. Thank you very much!
I am traveling around Mexico and I have an overheating charger problem on and off. When it happens, the same goes for my phone charger. I always make sure my equipment are well ventilated and placed securely on flat surfaces. Sometimes it happens even if the laptop is turned off and sometimes turning it off, is the only way to safely charge it. Actually, on my first trip here, my phone’s charging dock burned to black!
However, reading this article, it came to my mind, if the problem could be insufficient or unstable current flow from the houses’s outlets? And if so, is there any way to test this theory without an actual meter? And even more so anything to fix the problem or minimize it? I have tried switching to another outlet, but it does not help.
Great article. My Thinkpad Edge E545 AC adapter heats up also. I don’t recall it happening new. I did max out the RAM to 16GB. Also, I have multiple tabs open and the adapter is sitting on the bed. Still, this is a fine machine if you add a USB WIFI network adapter. The OEM adaptor is slow and weak. Also, set your USB power setting to “always powered” in Device Manager, or the USB network adapter will sleep and disconnect randomly.
MY LABTOP IS NEW AN MY CHARGER GETS WARM IF I PLUG IT IN WHILE USEING IT. THE LAB TOP GETS WARM IF I DONT CHARGE IT ALSO. I PUT IT ON A
FLAT SURFACE. THIS DON’T DO THIS ALL THE TIME.
Just recently my Samsung tablet adapter has been getting super hot. It’s the original charger that came with my tablet which is 8 years old. I use it on my Samsung phone as well since they both use the same volt and ampage. For years on end I never had a problem with it till say about a week ago. It is not showing any wear and tear of the cable but the adapter itself it’s hard to tell. Could a diode or some other wiring issue happen from it being sooo old? I bought a backup adapter and cable 6 months back and it gets a tad warm but not overheating bigtime. I never considered the old adapter becoming defective…just that it would just croak and die instead…just cease to work. That’s not the case here tho. I checked the ports on the adapter, the cable and the ports on both tablet and phone for dust or rust..you name it. Even used an old dry toothbrush to clean out the ports….no difference. Guess something in the adapter itself just went screwy basically. Like I said this old adapter never had an issue for years on end and worked just fine fir my phone and tablet for over almost 8 years….can’t find a diagnostic app on Android either to test for a damaged adapter either. I have c3 in 1 diagnostic app and accuBattery to test battery life..yet AccuBattery is suppose to read stats for the charging mechanism but it’s not reading that for some very odd reason. My phone just got a new battery in it a few days ago too. The old battery had a budge in it so was replaced. The new battery is reading only half the battery capacity now tho. Could the old charge have damaged the new battery somehow? Definitely need a basic diagnostic app to check for dying or corrupted adapter before it damages bigtime. The replacement adapter is not having the major heating issue now that I’m testing it..even wiyh the old cable cos I bought the cable only about 6 months ago and is a heavy duty cable. I had cables toasting it the past from wires breaking inside of it from time to time. The remedy was just to go out a buy good solid replacement cables. But never had an issue with an adapter…this is a first for me. Kk…any ideas btw…definitely need an app to check the adapter overall heslth…not just the battery like most apps only do.
When you say, … “When you notice your charger getting that hot, check to see if its still charging your laptop battery. If it isn’t or is constantly toggling between charging and not charging. You most likely have an overheating power adapter.”
Is the power adapter you mention, actually the charger?