Inspiron (lousy) power supply connector

I am somewhat ****ed that Dell does not put a better connector on their
power supplys....or at least make it easily replaceable.
I am now on my second power supply for my Inspiron 4100 (the first was
replaced under warranty); and this one is beginning to fail again.
The cables seem to disintegrate where there is a fair amount of stress
at the back of the proprietary 3 prong connector that plugs into the
back of the laptop.

Anyhow, is there anybody that sells a replacement cable or connector?
Or does anyone have a dead power supply with this connector?

Thanks, CV

search ebay for "dell pa6" or "dell pa-6" and you will find tons of these
complete adapters selling between $10 and $20 (plus shipping).

"caesar" wrote in message
...
I am somewhat ****ed that Dell does not put a better connector on their
power supplys....or at least make it easily replaceable.
I am now on my second power supply for my Inspiron 4100 (the first was
replaced under warranty); and this one is beginning to fail again.
The cables seem to disintegrate where there is a fair amount of stress
at the back of the proprietary 3 prong connector that plugs into the
back of the laptop.

Anyhow, is there anybody that sells a replacement cable or connector?
Or does anyone have a dead power supply with this connector?

Thanks, CV

Well that may be true, but the typically, this costs over $30 by the
time shipping is included. And this is not really the point. The
connector should be made available by Dell or some other company. Why
**** off customers over some minor issue. Better yet....spend the extra
dollar and make the connection stronger with better strain relief. How
many thousnads of dollars are they wasting in warranty repairs and lost
customers?


Christopher Muto wrote:

search ebay for "dell pa6" or "dell pa-6" and you will find tons of these
complete adapters selling between $10 and $20 (plus shipping).

sheesh, i thought that your point was to get you ac adapter fixed for little
or no money. sorry to have bothered you and won't make that mistake again.
i have bought many of these on ebay for under $15 delivered (some under
$10). and i haven't ever had one 'disintegrate as you describe it. since
they have used the same connector on many different model laptop models over
the last 4+ years i can safely say that means in the 100's of laptops i have
been in contact with only yours seems to be plagued with this problem.
doesn't mean that you don't have a problem, but it does suggest that you are
doing something different than the many users that i know. you may be
relieved to know that none one of the current dell laptop models have this
connector on them.

"caesar" wrote in message
...
Well that may be true, but the typically, this costs over $30 by the
time shipping is included. And this is not really the point. The
connector should be made available by Dell or some other company. Why
**** off customers over some minor issue. Better yet....spend the extra
dollar and make the connection stronger with better strain relief. How
many thousnads of dollars are they wasting in warranty repairs and lost
customers?


Christopher Muto wrote:

search ebay for "dell pa6" or "dell pa-6" and you will find tons of these
complete adapters selling between $10 and $20 (plus shipping).

sorry to have bothered you and won't make that mistake again.

Ok, sorry if I was a bit short with you...I was taking out my frustration with Dell on you. Sorry.


I am an engineer and I can certainly afford to buy a $20 adapter, but the engineer in me is mad about the virtually non-existant strain relief on this type of connector. This is an obvious no-no for anything that will flex. I always use my laptop with the cable connected and while on the sofa...sometime up to 8 hours per day. If it just sat on a desk, this would not be a problem, but the constant movement does tend to break the wire just where it goes into the connector. I am not the only one with this problem; there are many other complaints on the Dell forum site; some suggesting legal action (I know,...absurd!)

I am surprised by your comment that Dell no longer uses this connector...I did not know that. I will have to look into that...thanks.
cv





Christopher Muto wrote:

sheesh, i thought that your point was to get you ac adapter fixed for little
or no money. sorry to have bothered you and won't make that mistake again.
i have bought many of these on ebay for under $15 delivered (some under
$10). and i haven't ever had one 'disintegrate as you describe it. since
they have used the same connector on many different model laptop models over
the last 4+ years i can safely say that means in the 100's of laptops i have
been in contact with only yours seems to be plagued with this problem.
doesn't mean that you don't have a problem, but it does suggest that you are
doing something different than the many users that i know. you may be
relieved to know that none one of the current dell laptop models have this
connector on them.

"caesar" wrote in message
...


Well that may be true, but the typically, this costs over $30 by the
time shipping is included. And this is not really the point. The
connector should be made available by Dell or some other company. Why
**** off customers over some minor issue. Better yet....spend the extra
dollar and make the connection stronger with better strain relief. How
many thousnads of dollars are they wasting in warranty repairs and lost
customers?


Christopher Muto wrote:



search ebay for "dell pa6" or "dell pa-6" and you will find tons of these
complete adapters selling between $10 and $20 (plus shipping).