Ive acquired a laptop to use just for vagcom purposes. The battery however is completely flat. The laptop will stay on but wont charge the battery. It will only work when connected to the mains. My question is is can i connect the laptop to the mains and plug it into my car without everything blowing up lol?

Yes

It sounds like your battery is dead on the laptop.

You may be able to get a cheap replacement but they do tend to be a pricey.

HTH

You can plug the laptop into the mains, but you must NOT charge it via a car charger which is plugged into the car you're scanning.

Thanks for your replies

Very much appreciated!.

Just to confirm what you already know in that you are fine to use laptop whilst plugged into the mains but I had the same issue as you in that the battery refused to charge! I purchased a replacement refibished battery from ebay and all is now OK

You can plug the laptop into the mains, but you must NOT charge it via a car charger which is plugged into the car you're scanning.

Excuse my ignorance, but why not?

Excuse my ignorance, but why not?

Drain on the car battery. VAG-COM is used when the engine is switched off. The power required to run a laptop is quiet high. If the voltage drops below a certain level then the ECU will lockout and no changes will be able to be written. This is to protect the ECU from becoming corrupted.

Thanks for that.

If the car is running, can it be used?