Thinkpads Forum

My travel charger's cigarette lighter attachment is melted. I don't think it's in warranty. Would Lenovo stock such a part and sell it separately or would they tell me I have to buy an entire 90 watt charger? I'll call tomorrow, but I don't want to buy a whole new charger -- the thing's under a year old. What's the likelihood of finding the part in this site's marketplace? TIA for your thoughts.

Tõnis

If all else fails, buy a cheap car adapter for a cell phone. Do a bit of DIY by connecting the cig-lighter connectors of the cell phone to the outside connectors of your melted cig-adapter. Not elegant, but that would bring it back to life on the cheap.
Or go to an auto parts store and buy a lighter plug, probably even easier.

Thanks, RBS. I did consider doing that, but I noticed there were four pins inside this particular adapter. That part threw me ... I think there might be some additional circuitry there.

In any case, I'm happy to report that the matter is now moot. Lenovo just called, and it's shipping me a new one tomorrow. It's under warranty. I'll mark this one "solved."

Tõnis

Tõnis wrote:I noticed there were four pins inside this particular adapter. That part threw me ... I think there might be some additional circuitry there.

That's why I suggested to get a new cig-lighter-plug, and connect its two wires to the outside connectors of the old (melted) plug. The inside circuitry of the melted plug presumably still works.

The four pins might be to support the "Airporte" dual purpose aircraft/car plugs. In theory you pull off the "ciggy lighter" shell and plug the inner 4-pin connector directly into an "Airporte" socket on a commercial aircraft, which is often just equipped for ciggy lighter plugs instead.

So...if you want the ability to plug into airplanes with the more reliable plug in them, you'll need that shell adapter. Which might be available from Targus, Kensington, Igo, and other vendors--I suspect it is a standard part.

Or you might call Lenono and report this as a defect and fire hazard, and ask them nicely to replace it when you send yours back for them to examine. Unless the Consumer Products Safety Commission would rather look it over, as a possible recall for fire hazards.

(It should be impossible for that part to melt that way, that's what FUSES are for and I'm sure there's a fuse in there someplace.)