Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple watch charger melted and burned my wife!

L

lordhamster

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 23, 2008
1,680
1,702
Last night I woke up to my wife letting out a quick scream at 3am. Apparently, she had woken up and wanted to pick up her apple watch to check the time. The OEM Apple charger had gotten so hot that it burned her finger pretty badly (blister already beginning to form) that she dropped the watch/charger right back onto the nightstand in pain. We unplugged everything and went back to sleep.

We woke up this morning to her Apple Watch Series 4 not powering on, and upon inspection I realized that her OEM charger puck had gotten so hot that the plastic melted and started to peel away exposing the charging coils beneath! Unfortunately she doesn't have apple care on the watch. I've never heard of this happening before. Is there any recourse through apple to at least get the device / charger repaired or replaced?

IMG_0396.jpeg
 
Last edited:
  • Wow
Reactions: Jack Neill, firewire9000, jezbd1997 and 2 others
Not seen that happen before. Keep us updated! Hopefully apple will take the watch and charger back for inspection.
 
robotica said:
Not seen that happen before. Keep us updated! Hopefully apple will take the watch and charger back for inspection.
Click to expand...
Got escalated several times now with engineering... waiting for additional questions. Tech support has been very friendly and concerned about the issue. I hope they at least take a look at the charger. We had it on the nightstand near a box of tissues. It could easily have started a fire.
 
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: jezbd1997, Bluetoot-, dk001 and 1 other person
I'm sure they will recall this and want to take look - they should at the least provide you with a new charger, although interested to see if they do anything with the watch thats now not working.......
 
  • Like
Reactions: robotica and svanstrom
firedept said:
I'd be surprised if Apple didn't do something for you. At very least a new charger. Be adamant but not rude that the watch was working before this happened. Push for the watch to be replaced as well.
Click to expand...

Is the watch broken though?
 
akash.nu said:
Do you see any external damage on the watch? If not then most likely it’s out of juice but until you have a working charge puck you won’t know for certain.
Click to expand...
Externally the watch looks pristine. Not sure if I want to try plugging it in on my other apple watch charger till I hear from apple. The fault could be on the watch-side in the charge controller for all I know. They said they'd call me back tonight so I'll see what the support folks tell me to do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dk001, robotica, svanstrom and 1 other person
lordhamster said:
Externally the watch looks pristine. Not sure if I want to try plugging it in on my other apple watch charger till I hear from apple. The fault could be on the watch-side in the charge controller for all I know. They said they'd call me back tonight so I'll see what the support folks tell me to do.
Click to expand...

Eager to know what happens. Keep us posted.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lordhamster and robotica
Is the cable free of any cuts, nicks, kinks, etc? Anywhere that something might have cut or dug into the cable’s insulation?
 
sixtydashone said:
Is the cable free of any cuts, nicks, kinks, etc? Anywhere that something might have cut or dug into the cable’s insulation?
Click to expand...
Not from what I can tell by amateur inspection. Except for the melty bit where the cable enters the charger housing, the rest of the cable looks pristine to my untrained eye.
 
lordhamster said:
m) that she dropped the watch/charger right back onto the nightstand in pain. We unplugged everything and went back to sleep.

We woke up this morning to her Apple Watch Series 4 not powering on, and upon inspection I realized that her OEM charger puck had gotten so hot that the plastic melted and started to peel away exposing the charging coils beneath! Unfortunately she doesn't have apple care on the watch. I've never hea
Click to expand...
Sciomar said:
What power brick were you using?
Click to expand...
I want to know what was powering that watch charger as well. We may never know.
 
lordhamster said:
Externally the watch looks pristine. Not sure if I want to try plugging it in on my other apple watch charger till I hear from apple. The fault could be on the watch-side in the charge controller for all I know. They said they'd call me back tonight so I'll see what the support folks tell me to do.
Click to expand...
Do not do anything with the watch until you hear from Apple. Should they request the watch and charger, make sure to take dated photos of everything. Make sure to keep a copy of all communication.
 
  • Like
Reactions: benshive, zakarhino, Bluetoot- and 3 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back