Anyone with a laptop can attest to the feeling of dread when you realize you’ve left your charger at home while traveling. What’s worse is noticing that your battery is malfunctioning and you can’t charge it properly anymore. What are you supposed to do?!
If you’re having this problem, don’t worry! We’ll be covering 9 ways how to charge a laptop battery without a laptop charger and some frequently asked questions along the way. No matter if you have a touchscreen laptop or a gaming laptop, we’ve got you covered. Read to discover the best ways to charge your laptop manually!
Why Isn’t Your Battery Working Anyway?
If you haven’t lost your charger but are finding that your battery isn’t working or charging correctly, this may because of a faulty battery. There are a couple of reasons why your battery might not be functioning correctly.
Battery-operated devices like laptops have what’s known as a charging cycle, which describes the process of charging and discharging your battery. During this process, the battery may degrade and cause malfunctions over time.
You can decrease the likelihood of your battery degrading by keeping your laptop battery cool as possible and avoiding programs or environments that will heat your battery. Also, avoid discharging your laptop’s battery when you’re not using it. If you’re planning to develop apps or run Java, then keep an eye on the quality of your battery.
Finally, using your laptop for long durations will also likely cause the battery to degrade so avoid using your laptop or tablet as a monitor.
How to Charge Laptop Battery without Laptop Charger
We’ve spoken about how to avoid your battery degrading but if you’re facing the problem of your laptop not charging, you’ll want to know how to manually charge your laptop so you can still use it.
It’s well worth bringing your laptop to a professional to see the condition of your battery and have a general check-up. Often we don’t know that something’s wrong with our laptop, including important parts like the laptop GPU and battery. It also may be worth considering purchasing a tablet device as a backup if you’re counting on the laptop for business.
Regardless, we’ll be tackling the top 9 ways to charge your laptop battery manually when your charger isn’t on hand.
Use USB-C
A handy trick you can employ if you don’t have your AC/DC adapter on you or your laptop’s battery is acting up is to use a USB C cable instead. Keep in mind you need a USB C port to do this. From there, connect your USB C cables to your USB port and power output.
If your laptop is of an older model, it may not have a USB C port, although most newer models will have a USB port for you to use.
This should charge your laptop if it’s having trouble charging normally. If not, read on and you may find the answer below in one of our other eight solutions!
Portable Power Bank
A power bank can be a life-saving purchase, especially if you’re on the go. The best part of power banks is that you can simply plug into your laptop’s battery port and leave it alone while it charges, or even use it while it does.
It’s highly recommended that you go for the power bank that offers you the most output for your buck but ensures that the power bank has the proper port to connect to your laptop. Purchasing USB C power banks or power banks with an AC/DC port are your best bet!
Try a Universal Power Adapter
Perhaps the reason you’re unable to charge your laptop is that you’ve traveled to a different country and your power cable is unable to connect to the ports.
Universal power adapters are an excellent solution to a foreign problem and are cheaply available in most tech stores where you may be in the world. You can even pick up one when you arrive at the airport!
The only thing you need to keep an eye out for is if the universal power adapter matches the model you’re looking for!
Use an AC Adapter
Sometimes it’s not the battery that’s the problem, but the power supply that it’s connected to. Your AC/DC adapter should have a light that turns on when it is charging, so if this light doesn’t switch on when you’re connected you may want to switch or replace your AC/DC charger with a new one.
It’s always a good idea to replace your laptop and PC parts every few years to ensure maximum performance and avoid headaches.
Purchase a Super Battery
Super batteries are as their name implies, laptop batteries that let you work off a charge for hours and hours. On a single full charge, super batteries can last you up to 7 hours!
If your battery is degrading and it’s not charging or not holding a charge for a long time, then it may be worked investing in a super battery to give your laptop some new life in it.
Just be aware that super batteries come with their factory charger – avoid using your laptop charger to charge your laptop super battery.
Charge with a Solar Charger
If you’re planning to go camping or the great outdoors and are finding it difficult to charge your laptop, you can manually charge your laptop without a charger and with the use of a solar charging kit.
Equipped with foldable solar panels, you can very easily charge a laptop multiple times off a single solar charge wherever you are. The only downside is the solar charger may take a while to charge up to full and then use. If your laptop or tablet is feeling slow, it may be worth purchasing a solar charger if you’re leaving civilization.
Make Use of an External Battery Charger
If you’re planning to charge your battery manually, it’s worth it to purchase an external battery charger to charge your laptop. The best part about an external battery charger is that you don’t need a laptop to charge it.
If you do it, you need to take absolute care when you do and read the instructions on the protective plate on the battery. The external charger will allow you to charge a laptop, just take care of what voltage and current you need for your battery.
Portable Laptop Chargers
Portable laptop chargers are a great device to add to your laptop arsenal. A portable laptop charger is especially useful when you’re going abroad and the voltage of the power outlets don’t match the current or voltage that your laptop needs.
If you don’t use a portable laptop charger, the voltage or current may degrade your battery. If you think that your battery has been degraded by harmful currents, make sure to use performance testing equipment to determine it.
Buy a New Laptop Battery
Finally, if the above methods don’t work then it may be worth purchasing a new battery for your laptop. A laptop’s chargers and batteries can’t last forever unfortunately, so if you’ve gone through a fair amount of discharge cycles for your battery, you may need to replace it.
You can confirm whether it’s your laptop battery is broken by replacing the battery with another laptop, if it doesn’t charge – it needs to be replaced. While you’re there, why shop around to find the classic visual performance for your next upgrade?
Frequently Asked Questions
Whether you have an Alienware laptop or one for productivity, you may have some questions pop up while reading through this article. We’ve compiled some of the most common frequently asked questions we see pop up time and time again. Read to discover the answers to them!
How can I charge my laptop battery directly without a charger?
If you’re finding that your laptop is draining battery quite quickly, perhaps if you’ve used it as a monitor for your PS4, and are missing your charger then there are easy ways to charge it.
The easiest way to charge your device is with a power bank, and you can buy them quite easily in the tech shops you usually browse through.
How do I force my laptop battery to charge?
You can always try turning it off and on again, simply by removing the battery from your laptop and then reinstalling it. If you have any stickers on your laptop, now would be a good time to remove them so you can effectively remove the battery.
Can you charge a laptop with HDMI?
Many modern laptops come with USB-C ports, which can be used with an HDMI to USB-C adapter to help you charge with HDMI. If your 2-in-1 laptop does not have a USB-C port, you can use a universal adapter instead to charge with HDMI.
Parting Shot/Conclusion
Hopefully, these 9 tips will make it easy to help your battery be maintained for a longer period or easily replace and manually charge a laptop battery. Once charged up, make sure to check out our guide to optimizing your Macbook or connect your Nintendo Switch to your laptop.
Writer Graham Grieve brings two decades of technical communications experience to The Holy Tech coverage. Isaac contributes articles on laptops, tablets and PCs, alongside various software and hardware guides. Isaac is a former newspaper journalist who also worked in tech communications for some of the country’s biggest corporations. He also counsels and creates material for other technology publications and hosts a podcast.
Isaac’s in-depth reporting and knowledge of hardware and software issues helps The Holy Tech’s readers learn how to choose the right products, or solve tricky problems.