trouble charging a french bought lap top

rugbyman

Hello,

I bought a small Thomson laptop in france a few weeks ago. am now in Ireland.
It came with a charging unit. on the end of this is an android phone c type conecion.

the lap top had a socket on each side to accept this.
one has a lgo,i foget wha it is but it suggesrts that that's the one for the mains charge and it works most times
the other suggests it just takes its charge from, e.g. my car via the cig lighter.

I am unable to charge now, don't know why, obviously I have the French mains plug plugged into an adaptor for irish mains, it does not feel a good fit

any suggestions.

wriggling around does not help

Regards

rugbyman

no replies,

I inserted the the mains charger into my c type phone .did not charge, seems the charger is dead

CelticRambler

You mentioned above that you're using a socket adaptor for the French plug. Probably unlikely, but that might be fried.

Could you post the model number, and the shop you bought it in, if it was one of the major chains. I'm a bit puzzled by the idea that it has two power input ports if they're both using the same type C connector.

tedpan

rugbyman wrote:

I inserted the the mains charger into my c type phone .did not charge, seems the charger is dead

Laptops although type C are usually a different voltage to phones. My laptop at work uses 19v usb C and my phone is 5v USB C, so that's not a confirmation although if it's a new laptop I'm guessing there's an issue with the adapter or USB port(s)

CelticRambler wrote:

I'm a bit puzzled by the idea that it has two power input ports if they're both using the same type C connector.

Many of the latest laptops have multiple USB C ports, which can be used for data transfer and charging.

I would like to know the model of the laptop though, I haven't seen a Thomson product in years..

CelticRambler

tedpan wrote: »

I would like to know the model of the laptop though, I haven't seen a Thomson product in years..

That's (partly) why I asked what shop it was bought in. One of our supermarkets here has a load of consumer appliance stuff branded "Thomson" - but I don't think it's anything to do with the historic Thomson brand that a UK/Irish buyer would be familiar with.

rugbyman

Thank you for comments. I went down to Caroline warehouse/curries today to buy aaons charger.first I wanted to know if my problem was laptop or charger.i plugged it into a working charger and my green light did not illuminate.this suggested to me that there was a problem with my laptop.a crappie there took my laptop away and plugged it into his c type phone charger.the green lolght did not illuminate so he concluded there was a problem with the laptop.my French charger, using an adaptor does not charge my phone.this suggests the charger does not charge.it seems unlikely that the charger and the laptop both have problems

Lackadaisical

Are you by any chance using a shaver adapter? They are fused at 1amp and will blow if you connect anything bigger than a shaver or toothbrush.

Use a proper European adaptor that looks like a full German style socket.

There’s absolutely no technical difference between Irish and French electricity - the only difference is the shape of the plug.

230V 50Hz all over Europe.

rugbyman

Thank you for comments. I went down to Caroline warehouse/curries today to buy aaons charger.first I wanted to know if my problem was laptop or charger.i plugged it into a working charger and my green light did not illuminate.this suggested to me that there was a problem with my laptop.a crappie there took my laptop away and plugged it into his c type phone charger.the green lolght did not illuminate so he concluded there was a problem with the laptop.my French charger, using an adaptor does not charge my phone.this suggests the charger does not charge.it seems unlikely that the charger and the laptop both have problems

tedpan

rugbyman wrote:

Thank you for comments. I went down to Caroline warehouse/curries today to buy aaons charger.first I wanted to know if my problem was laptop or charger.i plugged it into a working charger and my green light did not illuminate.this suggested to me that there was a problem with my laptop.a crappie there took my laptop away and plugged it into his c type phone charger.the green lolght did not illuminate so he concluded there was a problem with the laptop.my French charger, using an adaptor does not charge my phone.this suggests the charger does not charge.it seems unlikely that the charger and the laptop both have problems

Can you give us the model number of the laptop? What voltage charger was the one in pcworld?

Lackadaisical

USB-C can carry a lot of different voltages and amperages and data protocols. A mobile charger won’t be likely to be able to power it up.

If you know anyone with a recent MacBook / MacBook Pro they’ve a high output USB-C charger - maybe test the laptop with that. They’re the only definitely high wattage USB C chargers that are in common use at the moment that I can think of anyway.

You’d need to know what charge voltage the laptop is expecting. It should be written on the output side of the original charger, or somewhere on the machine itself or in the the spec sheet.

If you have a model number you might be able to order online.

Thomson is a big historical brand in France but the original company is gone. It was Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston which became Thomson SA and they owned lots of brands like Brandt and so on. The original company was very much dominant in French tech at one stage making everything from telephone switching systems to computers to military stuff to dishwashers.

What’s left of the original company is now called Technicolor that focuses on broadcast technology and broadband and other parts became Thales defense systems and avionics etc etc

The Thomson brand itself seems to be used by licensees. It’s nothing to do with the original company anymore. Often see it on cheap electronics like cordless phones etc