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DO not make this mistake

hovscorpion12

hovscorpion12

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 12, 2011
3,268
3,515
USA
I may be the only person that has done this. My MacBook Pro was reaching 30% ready to charge, so I plugged it it. Next thing I know i see that the charge symbol keeps going from charging to not charging. getting real frustrating. I decide that I’m going to return the Macbook for this reason. I go to recovery page and disk utility. I then end up deleting the Macintosh HD - Data entirely. There is now no HDD, nothing. Now i’m panicking since when i restart, I see the folder icon with a questing mark.

I then go back into recovery mode to reinstall macOS. As i am reinstalling I decide to watch some Youtube videos on my iPad Pro. I notice that the iPad needs to charged as well. As I am following the wire, i notice that the iPad‘s USB-C connector is connected to the Mac. :|.

I went through all that (clean install, deleting the whole computers startup disk, everything) only to find out that i’m truing to charge a Macbook with the iPad‘s USB-C

The lesson: Pay antention to what connection you are using before going 0-100.
 
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Seems you've found one of the biggest problems with the 'one connector to rule them all' approach...

Let's hope no one ends up frying an iPhone charger after those switch over to USB-C, and someone inevitably gets the bright idea that an iPhone charger will be enough to charge a 16" MacBook Pro.
 
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redheeler said:
Seems you've found one of the biggest problems with the 'one connector to rule them all' approach...

Let's hope no one ends up frying an iPhone charger after those switch over to USB-C, and someone inevitably gets the bright idea that an iPhone charger will be enough to charge a 16" MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...
As I understand it, an advantage of USB-C is that devices can't be fried that way. The port will only accept the right amount.
 
Sanpete said:
As I understand it, an advantage of USB-C is that devices can't be fried that way. The port will only accept the right amount.
Click to expand...
That makes the most sense doesn't it. Safe to assume some Apple engineer thought this through?
 
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🧐🧐🧐
Yeah I intermingle dozens of USB-C devices with each other and have not experienced an issue as of yet.
I have several MacBook and iPad chargers which are my primary at home and on-the-go charge adaptor for my cameras, portable lights, iPads, watch, phones.
I've charged the MacBook with a portable 20,000 mwh battery pack over USB-C. Been on USB-C Macs since the 1st baby-macbook-retina.

It's just a strange issue to have come across when I think I do lots of strange things most other people don't do.

Hoping it gets sorted out for you.
 
Sanpete said:
As I understand it, an advantage of USB-C is that devices can't be fried that way. The port will only accept the right amount.
Click to expand...
I'm sure the Apple ones are made to refuse supplying more current than they are rated for, otherwise the OP likely would've fried his iPad charger. With cheap third-party chargers, things get a bit more worrisome.

www.trustedreviews.com

What is USB-C?

Everything you need to know about USB-C. We explain what USB-C is and how it's become commonplace on smartphones and laptops.
www.trustedreviews.com www.trustedreviews.com

More pressingly, there’s been a lot of worry about the unregulated state of the USB-C standard, which has led to a number of dodgy and just plain dangerous accessories hitting the market. Some, through the use of unsupported voltage levels, have fried the host device.
Click to expand...
 
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redheeler said:
Seems you've found one of the biggest problems with the 'one connector to rule them all' approach...
Click to expand...

You mean the user? 😁

redheeler said:
Let's hope no one ends up frying an iPhone charger after those switch over to USB-C, and someone inevitably gets the bright idea that an iPhone charger will be enough to charge a 16" MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...

I have successfully charged a 15” MBP with a phone charger on multiple occasions. Why would it fry the charger? Don’t use cheap knockoff chargers and there is nothing that can go wrong.
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Plett said:
That makes the most sense doesn't it. Safe to assume some Apple engineer thought this through?
Click to expand...

Not to mention that MacBook Pros have excellent surge protection on ports and will safely recover from situations that might fry another computer. That is one of the reasons why they are more expensive.
 
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iPad Pro's connector is invalid for the Mac?
Oh they r all type-c, it's really unreasonable.
 
hovscorpion12 said:
I may be the only person that has done this. My MacBook Pro was reaching 30% ready to charge, so I plugged it it. Next thing I know i see that the charge symbol keeps going from charging to not charging. getting real frustrating. I decide that I’m going to return the Macbook for this reason. I go to recovery page and disk utility. I then end up deleting the Macintosh HD - Data entirely. There is now no HDD, nothing. Now i’m panicking since when i restart, I see the folder icon with a questing mark.

I then go back into recovery mode to reinstall macOS. As i am reinstalling I decide to watch some Youtube videos on my iPad Pro. I notice that the iPad needs to charged as well. As I am following the wire, i notice that the iPad‘s USB-C connector is connected to the Mac. :|.

I went through all that (clean install, deleting the whole computers startup disk, everything) only to find out that i’m truing to charge a Macbook with the iPad‘s USB-C

The lesson: Pay antention to what connection you are using before going 0-100.
Click to expand...

Haha.. but seriously I feel you pain.
It didn't happen to me with any of my apple machines but it did happen in real life when one too-quickly taken decision creates unnecessary work later (like format your SD card and then spend hours on restoring the data).
It is better to double/triple check certain 0/1 permanent actions (MBP disk wipe being good example)
 
hovscorpion12 said:
I may be the only person that has done this. My MacBook Pro was reaching 30% ready to charge, so I plugged it it. Next thing I know i see that the charge symbol keeps going from charging to not charging. getting real frustrating. I decide that I’m going to return the Macbook for this reason. I go to recovery page and disk utility. I then end up deleting the Macintosh HD - Data entirely. There is now no HDD, nothing. Now i’m panicking since when i restart, I see the folder icon with a questing mark.

I then go back into recovery mode to reinstall macOS. As i am reinstalling I decide to watch some Youtube videos on my iPad Pro. I notice that the iPad needs to charged as well. As I am following the wire, i notice that the iPad‘s USB-C connector is connected to the Mac. :|.

I went through all that (clean install, deleting the whole computers startup disk, everything) only to find out that i’m truing to charge a Macbook with the iPad‘s USB-C

The lesson: Pay antention to what connection you are using before going 0-100.
Click to expand...
I don’t get it. It doesn’t harm anything when u use a different usb c charger. So wheres the mistake?
 
hovscorpion12 said:
I may be the only person that has done this. My MacBook Pro was reaching 30% ready to charge, so I plugged it it. Next thing I know i see that the charge symbol keeps going from charging to not charging. getting real frustrating. I decide that I’m going to return the Macbook for this reason. I go to recovery page and disk utility. I then end up deleting the Macintosh HD - Data entirely. There is now no HDD, nothing. Now i’m panicking since when i restart, I see the folder icon with a questing mark.

I then go back into recovery mode to reinstall macOS. As i am reinstalling I decide to watch some Youtube videos on my iPad Pro. I notice that the iPad needs to charged as well. As I am following the wire, i notice that the iPad‘s USB-C connector is connected to the Mac. :|.

I went through all that (clean install, deleting the whole computers startup disk, everything) only to find out that i’m truing to charge a Macbook with the iPad‘s USB-C

The lesson: Pay antention to what connection you are using before going 0-100.
Click to expand...

Or you can use your USB-C charger from your Mac to charge everything: phone, iPad, and Mac. The USB-C spec has Power Delivery. This lets the charger and the device being charged determine how much power and at what voltage and amp can be sent and is acceptable to both.

FWIW, I only carry a 60 W small charger I got on Amazon in my back pack and one cable. It charges my Samsung S10, iPad Pro 11", and 16" MacBook pro. One charger and one cable is all I need.
 
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I’ve charged my 2018 15” MBP using my small 29W Macbook charger. It charges very slowly, but works okay if I am not doing anything that intensive.

I’d say the 60w charger or higher is Best for the 15/16” MBPs.

I’ve been using my Belkin TB3 dock so I have my 87W charger stored away.
I’ve been using the MB charger to fast charge my 12.9” iPPs for awhile now.
Haven’t tried with the 18W charger that came with my latest iPP.
 
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