Macbook Pro In Europe... Metal Case Feels electric, holding a current?

[miles01110]

Just for posterity:

when you are touching your macbook pro with more than one hand, that is, two hands, unless you have more than that, you are NOT grounded. you are grounded when you touch something else that connect you to the, guess what, ground.

Wrong, because it doesn't matter if you've got one hand or two hands touching the computer if your feet are still touching the floor or whatever. Number of contacts make no difference.

What's happening here is that the computer is (or rather, "was" judging by the age of the thread) at a higher potential difference relative to ground, so when the owner touches it a path is created from the computer to a lower potential difference, causing current to flow. This happens all the time with ungrounded (2-pin) plugs, and the solution almost always is to use a grounded plug in a grounded outlet.

 

[Lucbert]

I am right now experiencing the same "problem".
It only happens when my MacSafe is plugged in.
When my external HDD is attached to my computer (it's also made of metal) the current also moves to the HDD and causes it to feel weird.

I am in Europe at the moment and I bought the Apple international adapter pack or whatever it's called. I am currently using the little EU plug (first picture) and as you can see it only has two pongs and no ground.

When you buy a macbook here in europe they give you that and also the cable (shown in the second picture). As you can see the plug at the end of the cable is bigger and has connectors for the ground.

Do you think using the cable will fix my problem?
Do you think that this is a problem that all macbook pros have or is it a problem only some machines have? Because if all machines have it, why would they even give you that little two pong plug that causes it?

 

[harperjones99]

Using grounded 3 prong plugs didn't fix it for me in fact that's all I used from the beginning. I put plastic palm rest and track pad protectors on it and I don't feel it anymore due to the insulation. To be honest I noticed it to a smaller degree even on battery so it's not just about mains power being grounded...somehow the DC power is running through the case. I have read others saying this as well.

Both this and the screen flicker are things I noticed before reading about them or otherwise I might think I was just looking for trouble....but I never had such a thing on my old plastic laptop. It's very real so don't let people give you grief. I have noticed with problems like this that others don't have they tend to be jerks about it and act like you are making it up or it's impossible since they don't notice it.

 

[DoNoHarm]

I've had this same problem and it really sucks. It's incredible that a company would sell you a travel adapter kit that allows for such a shock. my metal toaster doesen't do this, why should my metal laptop?! I called apple and they also say it's due to improper grounding - basically the computer is operating within spec.


APPLE: I will never buy one of your metal computers again. You can save the shock therapy for yourselves.

 

[miles01110]

I've had this same problem and it really sucks. It's incredible that a company would sell you a travel adapter kit that allows for such a shock. my metal toaster doesen't do this, why should my metal laptop?!

You also don't rest your hands on your metal toaster while you type. I have the travel adapter kit and I don't get a shock, so it's not necessarily the adapter plug.

APPLE: I will never buy one of your metal computers again. You can save the shock therapy for yourselves.

Hold on while I get out the violin for you.

 

[apolloa]

Hi All,

I'm in Switerland right now, and I have a question about the power supply for the Macbook Pro. I know that the power block can handle 100-240 Volts of input, so I'm not hurting the computer by not using a converter. However, when I have the computer plugged into the power via the magsafe, the whole case of the computer feels like its holding a current. The palm rests vibrate slightly when I move my hands across them, the back of the screen especially feels strange when i touch it. All of these things happen not only when the computer is on, but also when it is asleep or off and charging.

Obviously, when I touch it with more than one hand, the buzzing feeling stops because I am grounded, so the current (if thats what it is) has somewhere to go.

Has anyone else had experiences with this happening? Is it just because the Pros are not made to exactly work with the 220 V? Is there something wrong with my power block? everything on the computer works normally, and I have not had any issues with screen flickering, power outage, batteries exploding... or whatever.

Thanks in advance.

Oh isn't it ironic, there I am typing my reply and when I hit submit the laptop drops the WiFi... again.... that's the WiFi to the Apple Timecapsule.

Basically, sums up Apples shocking build quality yet again. My 08 Macbook Pro does the exact same thing as you experienced and alway's has, I live in the UK so have the grounded plug, makes no difference, the first 2 unibody MB Pro's I had also did the exact same thing, I sent them back because of other defects. So it's a design flaw or consistent bad build quality. It's become a bit typical of Apple lately has it not?
Don't know why Apple have to be special in allowing the current to be felt through the computer when no other manufacturer does it?

 

[Nano2k]

Guys its not because the ground pin of the adapter goes into the wall socket that you are grounded.
A lot of places have a ****** ground, it has to be done right when you build the house and it can break or become bad with years (bad conductivity).
The wall socket you are using could have have a ground connection problem or even no ground at all, in my opinion, if you feel any electricity it means there is a bad ground somewhere.
In older buildings in Switzerland (such as my flat) there can even be the neutral combined with the ground, so if the ground is bad then you are even more in trouble (as a lot of appliances leak some neutral to the ground) Nowadays all houses in Switzerland use separate wires for the ground and neutral.
I don't know how old the place you are staying at is, but there is probably a ground problem somewhere.

 

[djrod]

I'm European, my MBP is European too and when the magsafe is connected it does that electric fuzz.

 

[apolloa]

Guys its not because the ground pin of the adapter goes into the wall socket that you are grounded.
A lot of places have a ****** ground, it has to be done right when you build the house and it can break or become bad with years (bad conductivity).
The wall socket you are using could have have a ground connection problem or even no ground at all, in my opinion, if you feel any electricity it means there is a bad ground somewhere.
In older buildings in Switzerland (such as my flat) there can even be the neutral combined with the ground, so if the ground is bad then you are even more in trouble (as a lot of appliances leak some neutral to the ground) Nowadays all houses in Switzerland use separate wires for the ground and neutral.
I don't know how old the place you are staying at is, but there is probably a ground problem somewhere.

Guy's, he's solved it. We ALL have faukty grounds in our homes

Of course I do, that's why my Macbook Pro is the ONLY electrical device in my house that suffers from this. That's why everyone in Europe has said they have this problem in this thread
I think you'll find the fault lies with Apple, mate.

 

[Davidkoh]

Guy's, he's solved it. We ALL have faukty grounds in our homes

Of course I do, that's why my Macbook Pro is the ONLY electrical device in my house that suffers from this. That's why everyone in Europe has said they have this problem in this thread
I think you'll find the fault lies with Apple, mate.

You will have the same problem with any computer where the shell is totally made from aluminium.

 

[iPhysicist]

Its named Capacitor. The alloy casing has no contact to earth or because IF the earth is faulty and there is power on it you would be in big trouble. its totally isolated from the interior. What you feel touching the casing is harmless. I first thought its the anodization - some kind of microstructure but its simply the capacitor effect...

Try this: Park your Car under a high voltage power line (400kV) and touch your car while standing beside it. same effect but this hurts more

 

[harperjones99]

It may be harmless but its annoying and something companies should have realized when they made the bodies out of metal and addressed with insulation or coatings of some sort. It's not new as Dell had a publicized problem with it too. We shouldn't have to "deal" with annoying issues and just accept them because it's "harmless".

 

[apolloa]

You will have the same problem with any computer where the shell is totally made from aluminium.

Well I never had the problem with my old desktop PC I built myself with a fully metal case, and it still has nothing to do with the grounding of my house. So why can a desktop PC be fine but a laptop has this fault?

 

[Davidkoh]

Well I never had the problem with my old desktop PC I built myself with a fully metal case, and it still has nothing to do with the grounding of my house. So why can a desktop PC be fine but a laptop has this fault?

Most likely because it's a desktop? Why are you even describing it as a fault? It is just a little current going through the metal case. Most likely it is occuring because the laptop does not have as much space in there to isolate the metal body from the PSU.

 

[Nano2k]

I'm Swiss using a Macbook Pro Unibody with a Swiss type power adapter that has a plug with 3 prongs and never felt any electricity in the case.

On the Swiss type power adapter, the plug part, the one which is replaceable (for use in different countries) actually has a cord attached to it with a 3 prongs plug. On the power adapter, the circular thing that holds the plug part is metallic and is connected to the earth prong of the plug, so it means that the power adapter is properly connected to the ground.

It seems that the US Magsafe adapters have only a 2 prong plug directly attached to the adapter, in this case the power adapter is not grounded, which means that if the electrical installation you are connecting to has a bad ground then you can have a potential difference between your notebook case and earths ground, resulting in tingling etc...

It's also possible that Europe's 220V in the absence of grounding, is more prone to causing issues because of the higher voltage.

In the link below is Dell's official response to people complaining of tingling sensations when touching their notebooks metallic parts, the answer? a 3 prong power adapter connected to a proper ground vs the original 2 prong adapter.

http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/direct2dell/archive/2007/04/24/8522.aspx

 

[harperjones99]

Only that doesn't work in all cases. Lots of people claim that "all you need to do is use the 3 prong" but since that doesn't always work there has to be another explanation.

 

[apolloa]

Most likely because it's a desktop? Why are you even describing it as a fault? It is just a little current going through the metal case. Most likely it is occuring because the laptop does not have as much space in there to isolate the metal body from the PSU.

That's still no excuse for a laptop to have this flaw. It is a flaw because it's not a feature is it? I don't notice it all the time but it is annoying when you do and it does not reflect the high quality the product should have.

 

[Davidkoh]

That's still no excuse for a laptop to have this flaw. It is a flaw because it's not a feature is it? I don't notice it all the time but it is annoying when you do and it does not reflect the high quality the product should have.

It would be a flaw if it was something that actually mattered. It is due to metal leading current. If they would have used plastic they wouldn't have had this issue, but that wouldn't have been fun though?

 

[JamieM]

Just for the record I had this problem when I was using my MacBook Pro in my office. It went away when I removed the charger. I then tried changing the plug socket and it's fine. So for me the problem is definitely to do with either my plug socket or the multi block I was using.

 

[aimbdd]

Just because you use the three prong adapter, which is grounded, doesn't mean your outlet is grounded 100% properly
I had this problem with the two prong, then it went away when i used the three prong (US)

 

[Andreas Grauel]

It has to do with the short power adapter people use in europe! As soon as you use the long power adapter (also called schuko in germany) you won't have have the problem. I cannot really explain it, but that is the problem.

 

[aimbdd]

Ah, well some people said that didn't make a difference. Which would mean their outlet is most likely not grounded properly.