What is Digg?Warning: The Content in this Article May be Inaccurate
Readers have reported that this story contains information that may not be accurate.33 Comments
- twid, on 10/12/2007, -7/+19There are no "facts" in here. The guy may as well say that the power adapter killed his dog.
- nTensify, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Not to mention it was just completely destroyed on Slashdot.
Note to self, if it's bad about [Apple|Google|Microsoft] and is posted on [Slashdot|Reddit|Random Blog] => Front Page. - trekkie, on 10/12/2007, -6/+13exactly, buried under the 'lame' column.
- feverish, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8inaccurate. no facts. pure conjecture. buried.
- amasiancrasian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5The writer of this page might as well claim that electricity is dangerous. The fact is, as any electrical engineer will tell you, differences in power supply output can cause a power supply to short, but this is very, very uncommon. Like most appliances, if the power supply is being used under the acceptable voltage range, there should be no problem. Buried for spreading FUD.
- McMultiverse, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6My feelings exactly. I went into this with an open mind, but all I see are various claims with little evidence. If you're writing something like "Apple Retailers/Service Providers are talking about seeing hundreds of adapters that have burnt up in a similar way" and you don't even bother to make mention of a source, I find it hard to take the claim at face value.
"In these days of countless stories of exploding Dell notebooks and massive Dell power adapter recalls, Apple has seemed relatively immune to these sorts of problems."
No manufacturer is immune to hardware defects. This is why recalls are routinely made for volatile parts like batteries and power adapters. Apple isn't immune. Dell isn't immune. It's obviously in both their interests to remedy these defects in a timely manner to satisfy their customers. While Apple's track record may be better than those of most other hardware companies, it's naive and absurd to assume that they've been granted some magical immunity to widespread problems.
The only "evidence" here is a handful of people experiencing some issues and a class action lawsuit dealing with discontinued, completely dissimilar adapters from 5 YEARS AGO.
No digg, marked as lame. - maninblac1, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I wouldn't go so far as to say dangerous by design.
I would also question your abilities for cretiquing electrical work since you claimed a "constant current source" supplied a constant voltage. Which is contradictory in concept and verbage.
Power supples are variable current sources, just because your power supply output says it operates at lets say 2.5A, doesn't mean it's providing that at all times. You laptop draws only as much power as it needs to run. So the power supply only provides as much power as the computer needs. The 2.5A is a specific maximum that 1, the computer will ever need, and 2 the power supply should ever supply. Electrical engineers are always on the safe side, so even if it says 2.5A, it may only need to put out 2A max.
That's just how electricity works, just because your power supply is (for a desktop) a 450W power supply, doesn't mean you're putting out 450W all the time.
Amps*Volts=Watts, if what you claimed was true, well, nevermind, i'm not going to give a EE cource on electricity.
I'm a computer and electrical engineer, and so this doesn't surprise me much. There are alot of factors that can't be accounted for, usage, conditions, abuse etc.
However, in my experience with laptops and their power adapters short circuits are not uncommon, it happens on HP's and Dell's or anything else we see for that matter.
Designing a power supply is meant for convience, you need it to be long yet you don't want it bulky, of all the things on a laptop the greatest inconvience is the power supply, if we could run laptops on battery forever, that would be ideal. No carrying it around unraveling it, storing it etc. No digg, but not entirely inaccurate either. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Unless you have a cat that pisses on it. Remember that story a couple of months back?
- pcap, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4My second PowerBook adapter went the way of this guy's yesterday. The same thing happened to my first one -- all of a sudden it started hissing and sparking and went out with a plume of smoke. Apple replaced the first one under AppleCare, I plan to call about this one today or tomorrow and assume they'll do the same. I've had several PowerBooks and this is the only adapter style that has had these problems.
- gregjb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3While lots of things could contribute to electrical faults in cabling, many of which have been mentioned above, I must say that the photo shown in the article bares an uncanny resemblance to my Powerbook's last power supply, may it R.I.P.
- dizzydigg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'd have to agree and digg this story on personal experience...
The plug itself (that plugs into white box) to my powerbook adapter sparked like mad and would intermittently short out so I had to ditch it for the long wire adapter. That was a couple months ago and everything has been fine. However it started shorting out again and after wiggling the exact part of the wire as shown in this storys pic there's a loose connection there.....kind of scary.....
I have 2 adapters.....one for home one for school. You'd think that for $79 for a second adapter it would be as safe as hell.... - thoughtout, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3From a design perspective, Apple (or any manufacture) has a tough obstacle to achieve with any electrical cord that is used in a day to day routine such as the Apple power supply. Any wire that is wrapped and unwrapped on a regular basis is subjected to failure, that is the nature of wire. The best method to prevent wire fatigue failures would be to not wrap and unwrap wire or at least keep it to a minimum, of course this might not be practical for everyone. Here are some do's and dont's to help prevent these failures prematurely. This should help to extend the length of your power supply or any wires for that matter. http://www.flickr.com/photos/thoughtoutbiz/sets/72157594235100040/
- argZero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Instead of a laptop destroying my table, I've had a table destroy my laptop.
The Freedom Furniture Laptop Table has the interesting quality of being able to destroy any laptop placed upon it.
Check out the demo with a stunt laptop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly0-Vbqyby8 - jeffity, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is true.
The only problems I've had with mine seem to stem from the wear and tear from general usage, namely the mentioned wraping and unwraping of the cords. - t3hX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There is also nothing here that I haven't seen in any other brand of power supply. If you let the cord get pulled all the time, something will go wrong. I've seen it happen to two friends with PC laptops.
- shockbeton, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3pcap, I had the same thing happen with the old 'saucer' style PowerBook adapter. I'm currently on my 3rd adapter for the 17" G4 PowerBook. Mine has always shorted out near the computer plug-in end. My wife's iBook adapter did the same thing. These adapters are defective. Period. If you have doubts, just Google "powerbook adapter spark".
- GekkePrutser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@DelMonte: Yes, I found the link 'digg this' at the top of the article. Normally I just read slashdot.. I just wanted to add my 2 cents here. But I've been registered for years with Slashdot under the same nick.
- GekkePrutser, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4I've seen these adapters crack half open without any rough handling and spark excessively on the input (AC) side when plugged in or out. Mine does it so much that it scorched its own input plug. I believe this claim.
- matt0ne, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Your recommendations make perfect sense. Although not storing the adapter in a bag would defeat the purpose of buying a portable computer. I am unwrapping and wrapping my cord at least 2 or 3 times a day, and storing it in a bag as i move from location to location.
As a side note: I had a Dual usb g3 iBook for almost 4 years and I had no problems until about the last month or so of that 4 years, and then i had to replace it (although not until I tripped on the wire) - matt0ne, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1shame.
- DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually, if you did really have these problems and did register because you noticed this article, it just goes to show how there may be a disproportionate amount of people posting here that had the same problem.
- GekkePrutser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes, I really do have that problem. Especially the sparking when unplugging the adapter has annoyed me enough to want to post about it :) The AC prongs are covered in black powdery stuff and I'm kind of wondering if the same happened to the outlet itself (which is harder to replace). I've seen other manufacturers' adapters do this but not all of them and not as violently. It's not exactly the same every time, I suppose it depends on at what point on the AC sinewave the power adapter is plugged out.
I actually thought this was normal behaviour, as other people don't seem to have this problem I might call Apple to have it replaced.
My own adapter hasn't cracked open yet but my colleague's did. - zmigliozzi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1why would apple be doomed, if dell had the same problem and fixed it... lol. companies usually like to keep their customers as well as attract new ones.
- Orbatos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You are absolutely correct on the electrical end of things. As for manufacturing defects, I note that the power supplys are designed to be made cheaply (despite their high cost) and offer no possibility of replacement high wear parts (the cord mainly).
These devices are not designed to hurt anyone but they are designed to be both cheap to manufacture and require regular replacement due to part failure.
The only possibilty of avoiding a high failure rate is taking absurd precautions with the device's user. - Joey67, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Actually... I think the Magsafe connector may be part of the problem. It's designed to pop off if someone trips over the cable or if it accidentally gets caught on something. I think a lot of people feel it's okay to just yank on the cord to disconnect it. The magnets that hold the Magsafe connector in place are pretty strong. While an occasional accidental disconnect is probably okay, people should not be disconnecting the Magsafe by pulling on the cord. You should be grabbing the connector and just either tipping it up/down or side to side to release it.
- JDaleS, on 11/02/2008, -0/+0If you want to buy new Battery or Ac Adapter for you laptop.
You can do it here:
http://www.acadapterz.com/
or here
http://www.elbatteries.com/
It is the best way to improve you laptop! - GreenApple123, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I bought a replacement AC adapter for my laptop about a month ago from http://www.laptopsforless.com/laptopacadapter and it works great. Is there any reason to think that a replacement laptop AC adapter would be any worse than the manufacturers? Should I feel more or less comfortable with a replacement given all the manufacturer defects going around?
- ddiman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Does anyone else detect some rough handling of the cord in the pictures? I don't think all the damage came from the alleged fire.
I agree that the Apple PowerBook power supplies may not be the best design, and the engineers may not have succeeded in balancing weight with durability. On the other hand, I don't think it's some sort of egregious design conspiracy to burn our pants. - batteryfast, on 03/17/2008, -0/+0If you need a new laptop ac adapter, I suggest you could purchase one from http://www.batteryfast.com/laptop-ac-adapter/ , which would shipping to you fast and the quality is satisfy satisfied.
:) - DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1GekkePrutser, did you just registered an account just to post this comment and digg this story?
Sounds a little fishy... - xorprime, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/13/1710258&from=rss
@02:40PM slashdot time - giangsing7, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Magsafe adapter here... I'm safe. No digg.
- honeymonster, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1erm, last time I checked PSU's shouldn't spark, ever. Clearly there's something amiss here. I've got an awful three year old Dell that has taken much abuse and I don't recall any sparks. These things will be setting on fire next...
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