How bad are 3 to 2 prong adapters for laptops?

How bad is it to use a 3 pronged (grounded) laptop charger with a 2 pronged cord? Is polarity important from the wall on 3 pronged adapters (2 pronged ones have non polarized plugs)? How are 2 pronged chargers designed differently?

Last and weirdest question, is it safer to use a 3 pronged adapter of higher wattage than is necessary with a 2 pronged cable?

 

You're going about it all prong.



I'd say it's relatively safe. There are 2-prong adapters out there. It's just a safeguard. Now that's a totally useless post I know but I had to get in my stupid one liner.

 

Well, the 3 prong adapters are just grounded, whereas the 2 prong are grounded at the wall plug. But if the adapter is expecting a 3 prong cord, and gets 2, wouldn't that potentially cause problems?

 

It will work just fine. Some companies do this as a workaround if they have external peripherals hooked up to it and has a grounding issue (not us normal users). Normally the 2-prongs type is for lower wattage laptops/systems. Converting/using the 3-prong as 2-prong will most likely violate all the UL/ETL/CUL/CSA/etc certs but it doesn't matter if it's a one-off/one-time deal. However if your laptop has some metalic or conductive parts on the outside surface where we can touch while using this laptop, and it feels kind of "electric" (small zaps) when touching it, then we must give up right away and quickly go back to the 3-prong type.

 

It will work, thought I wouldn't advise it. WHen I had an GX640 I would feel a slight charge of electricity whenever I touched the laptop when it was plugged into a grounded plug.

Your experiences may vary with different laptops though.

 

It actually depends--in our country coming across a power outlet with a REAL grounding is pretty rare. It's just built as a precaution for any static/power fluctuations. But the power adapter pretty much absorbs all those things so it's possible your laptop itself wouldn't be affected, if worse comes to worst.

 

Haha, some funny replies here. I was aware that it works, I have tried it. I wont go into your opinion on the safety concerns regarding having accomplished this by splitting the end of the 2 prong cable with a pair of wire cutters so they fit in the the differently shaped 3 pronged socket of the adapter.

My logic exactly.

I'm more interested in some serious knowledge regarding this. I've actually taken apart some 2 pronged adapters....

What I discovered is that a 150 watt 2 pronged adapter is almost identical to a 180 watt 3 pronged adapter... but the 150w has more metal and sheilding inside...

This is what has me worried. Do you think it can actually mess up the adapter right off the bat when its used to its full potential without being grounded with the 3rd prong? Will I overdraw the amperage and get dangerous power fluctuations?

I should also mention that I would like to use it 2 pronged for an extended period of time.

 

what country is this?

Personally for this reason alone i wouldn't even bother. It maybe safe but your literally playing with fire. I am interesting if you ever figure this out or find technical documentation on this.

 

I have been preferring 2 pin adapters for many years, mainly because of the thinner and lighter mains cables mean less weight and bulk when travelling. A further consideration is that in some parts of the world one can't be sure that the ground connector in the mains socket is actually grounded: If it is not grounded well enough then it can be a source of voltage caused by leakage from other equipment connected to the same circuit.

John

 

I think the ground pin is only used for the power brick itself, not the laptop. Macbook power bricks (or blocks or cuboids or whatever they are) have two "adapters". The one they come with are a two pin. You can purchase a three pin. However, if the ground pin was used, what happens when you use a two pin? Where does it go? Ground cannot dangle coz, well, if really used, it would dangle and dangling used grounds are unsafe. Plus MBPs are aluminum casing so if Apple is using two pins with aluminum casing I doubt ground really matters. If someone can find a flaw in my logic, please correct me. Google came up with nothing more than speculation.

 

Philippines. Only a few high-profile buildings (probably those to whom static grounding is important) actually have the ground line in their electrical designs, IIRC.