Exploding Power Supply...

I bought my Asus W3V last year and have loved it! The only real issue I have had is that the power supply started acting up and would stop charging if the cable was move. Finally today the cable exploded in to a puff of smoke and burnt its way through partly revealing some frayed cables. It was really dangerous and I could have been electrocuted or burned if I did not drop it in time.

I just wanted to know how helpful Asus UK support is and how long it would take to get things replaced and any other advice you guys have.

Thanks.

 

Ur a lucky fella dude. Asus UK support shoud b alrite although it won't match up 2 IBM or anything like that. But they'll sure b able 2 help u and replce ur cable.

Good luck, Daniel

 

Yeah, if your laptops still in warranty, then i see no reason why they won't help you. Uk, generally speaking, is helpful.

 

I hate dealing with 110/120, let along a 220/240 drop... you got lucky indeed.

 

very lucky indead, although it wouldnt make a difference if it was a million volts. its the current and hense jules at the end of the day that leave fingers tingling or worse.


sure Asus will sort you out. I have to say I'm not a fan of the ASUS power cables with right/angle connection which go into the notebook. It puts strain on the thin cable. Would far prefer a straight 'in-line' 2.1mm power connector. then it can pull straight out and not bend.


Insane

 

Thanks guys. I went to the local PC market and picked up a new power supply for £25 which is a great deal. It works fine, but I am going to send the old one off to Asus for a replacement.

 

Then you will have 2. But I guess you didn't have time to wait for Asus...

 

I'd report that to Dateline NBC before I did anything else....... batteries and power supplies are all basically made by a couple companies for all notebook makers.... Knowing what's inside the power supply (basically a transformer), it certainly could explode (I'm sure people have seen power transformers on power lines do this), but it usually takes more than just normal power..... ie: a surge from lighting or something else. In that case, the power supply is really don't what it should (sort of)..... because if that weren't there, it'd be your computer that blew up in a puff of smoke... and that's worse.

... but wait.. you said it was the cable? I cable can't explode.... it can burn..... if it were the cable between the wall and the power brick, it looks like you had a short circuit..... as scary as that is, that's what an electrical fire looks like...... when your power supply stopped charging, you should have stopped using it becasue something was wrong with it...... leaving it plugged it when it obviously wasn't working, was a very bad idea.... you never leave something like that plugged in if it stopped working and you can't figure out why......

I feel bad for you, but it's not like it spontaneously combusted and the notebooks are death traps..... the power supply short circuited and you left it plugged in.......... you're lucky your house didn't burn down... or worse, someone got hurt...... I wouldn't have wanted to read about that.

 

That always gets things solved... thanks Stone Phillips!

Seriously though, a bad transformer does happen every once an a while.
It's rare [given the high QC requirements], but manufacturing isn't always perfect.
You did the right thing by getting a new one.

Yes, current is the dangerous part, but it's easier to draw higher current from your home outlet when you have a higher voltage drop, or lower resistance [wet skin, etc.].

V[voltage]=I[currrent]*R[resistance], or I=V/R

You're on the right track with Joules, since a watt = joule/second.
A watt is just P[power]=V*I.

Anyways, sorry about the lecture, just thought I would share some basic knowledge of the EE world...
Hope you don't have to learn the physics of electricity first hand!