Macbook charger alternative ?

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Fletcher
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Macbook charger alternative ?

Post by Fletcher »

Hi .. my teenage son has a Macbook laptop - in the last 3 years he has gone thru 5 power cable/charger units - the last replacement, which has just died [no hint of a problem before it died], lasted a mere month - this is unacceptable at around $F300 [~$US80 plus import duty & freight] per time - we could have bought a whole new Macbook !

The Apple support shop here claims that the failures must be due to power fluctuations etc & ask what other electrical equipment have failed - the answer is always the same - none, & he uses a surge protector at all times - once the magnetic pin attachment failed but usually it is the transformer itself.

The Macbook has a magnetic head attachment to the laptop so a normal barrel plug-in connection is not possible - I've been advised that the power supply acceptance module is connected straight to the mother board.

What I had wanted to do was not use a Macbook charger unit again but look at alternative fixes to the problem [forums are full of the Macbbok charger failing] - this is where you may be able to help ?

1. add a female socket jack to the Macbook to take a universal charger unit with male barrel or socket jack - apparently this can't be done.

2. buy a universal charger with a Macbook magnetic head attachment - some forums say this is possible & I would have to import one from the States etc as the universal chargers here are for standard pc jack connections.

3. buy a universal charger unit from an electrical supply store & have a spare Macbook magnetic head attached to replace the normal barrel jack it comes with ?

Any advice, pointers or relevant comments are appreciated.

N.B. you can get inflight adapters etc that allow you to run your Macbook but I don't believe they allow charging ?

I don't know much about this or computers so please keep this in mind when responding with technical details - thanks.
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Post by eccentrically1 »

number 3 is doable, but the wires are going to be tiny.
Or, buy him a windows laptop. That will teach Apple!
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re: Macbook charger alternative ?

Post by Fletcher »

Number 3 is my preferred option at this point - simply splice in a female socket for the standard charger to plug in to just after the magnetic head attachment - it seems logical but what do I know ? - as you say, connecting the wiring may be a problem ? - also I don't know about the various voltages etc being compatible ?

Given this experience I would never buy him a Macbook again ! - nevertheless the problem needs fixing now as he has school projects due etc.
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Post by eccentrically1 »

Yeah, the voltages would need to be the same. I don't think that would be a problem, I've bought universal chargers with a switch for 5 or 6 different voltages. What voltage is it?
The splice would be the concern, to make a good connection.
It seems odd to have that many units fail for one laptop. I'm not an electric transformer guy, but they are usually very reliable. What could be doing the damage other than the electric load they are transforming? I don't know, something is funny.

My daughters mac says "rated 16.5 V at 3.65 A (Max).
The adapter says "85 W Magsafe power adapter" .
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Fletcher
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re: Macbook charger alternative ?

Post by Fletcher »

I was astounded when I searched the net for Macbook charger problems to find it was a common problem - more astounding was the general acceptance of the recurring problem with chargers & resignation to just buy another one at $US80 !

I think they are called adapters because they convert AC to DC input ?
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Post by eccentrically1 »

Here are some videos for diy repair


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1McvUCMQpww
The guy cuts his finger in the first one, Lol.

i don't know if you can repair yours, but maybe it's worth a try?
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