Senior needs help finding replacement power cord

[oldpops]

Hello! I'm an old guy, and so is pretty much everything I own. Anyway I have an old Inspiron 6420 laptop and I need an Inspiron 6420 laptop I need to get a replacement charging cord. I order one on Amazon that was supposed to work but it has a flat little USB connector at the end of the charging cord. The one on the back of my laptop is round, and it's got some kind of pin connectors (I think two or three) that the charging cord plug end must have.

 

I know it's an old laptop, but I'm disabled and my wife and I are seniors on a very fixed/tight income, so getting a new laptop is out of the question. I need my laptop going because there's important information on it and the battery is dead. 

 

Anyone here got any suggestions on where to get a new ac charging cord - that is the correct one? When you look online, none of the charging cords advertised give you a look INSIDE of the round charging cord connector (which I believe is 2 or 3 pins). Does anyone here have an old Inspiron laptop like mine, that could post a picture of the inside of the round plug (that goes into the back of the laptop).

 

Thanks in advance to all who offer help and advice!!!

[John Ratsey]

Do you mean an Inspiron 6420 or a Latitude 6420? The latter uses the same PSU as many other Dell models and the plug has a thin pin in the middle which is used for communication between the computer and the PSU.

[oldpops]

Oh, I'm not sure if it's a Inspiron or a latitude? I gather they use different connectors?? Do you know where I can see both connectors and choose the correct one? (If I can find it?)

[John Ratsey]

Does it look like this? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dell-Genuine-Latitude-Adapter-450-ABFO/dp/B07GJQ3W7X 

[oldpops]

Thanks. We're in the USA so they won't ship that here. I've tried to attach a photo of the actual plug. The laptop says Dell Latitude but I don't know how big or small the connector hole size is. Does this help?

[Aaron44126]

That's a standard Dell barrel power connector that they used on many, many laptops from around 2003 until pretty recently when they switched to USB-C (the "flat" connector). So you can use any Dell power adapter with that barrel plug on the end, as long as it supplies enough wattage. 130W should be adequate for any Latitude or Inspiron.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-PA-4E-Adapter-Battery-Charger/dp/B00CKYGN3W?mfadid=adm

(If you search for "PA-4E" on Amazon, you will find many options, but most of them are "off-brand".)

 

These are very pervasive, and since don't need one specific to your model laptop, you should actually be able to find one locally without too much difficulty. I would think that a used computer / electronics recycling place would have these laying around and be able to sell one to you. If you have any friends or family who work in an office where they use Dell equipment, their IT department might be able to just hand one out.

 

(I'll note that Dell actually had two different barrel connector sizes that they used with laptops before switching to USB-C. This fat one was used with almost all systems, but some of the slim XPS systems used a much smaller barrel plug.)

[John Ratsey]

1 hour ago, Aaron44126 said:

(I'll note that Dell actually had two different barrel connector sizes that they used with laptops before switching to USB-C. This fat one was used with almost all systems, but some of the slim XPS systems used a much smaller barrel plug.)

Yes, the bigger connector is about 7.5mm diameter while the smaller one (about 4.5mm dia) was introduced when the computers got slimmer. Dell sold a short adaptor cable so that the old connector could be used with the smaller socket so that companies' stocks of spare PSUs didn't become obsolete.

[oldpops]

Thanks. The last laptop charger I got was 90 watts - I didn't even know there was a 130 watt charger. Is that better? Does it charge faster?

[Aaron44126]

You can use a 90 watt then. 130 watts will also work but it won’t get you any benefit.