Actually it could be the battery, if the battery was inadvertently charged with heavy electricity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJCxJWwkHdQ
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Macbook Air electric shocks and tingles
- Thread starter xpisnotforme
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Actually it could be the battery, if the battery was inadvertently charged with heavy electricity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJCxJWwkHdQ
I used to get tingling from my 12" Powerbook too. It's only really noticeable for me when I'm in China on 220V. In the US, it's barely noticeable. Once, I was touching my girlfriend's stomach while she was using my computer and I was getting a little buzz from her skin!
Maybe it's just an issue with the ungrounded 2-plug brick and the aluminum case. With the 3-plug extension cord, there's nothing.
Maybe it's just an issue with the ungrounded 2-plug brick and the aluminum case. With the 3-plug extension cord, there's nothing.
I experienced this once on my MacBook Pro (summer '07 model). It also manifested itself as a mains hum heard by people I was talking to on Skype over a USB headset.
It turned out that once I used the extension cord and made sure that the brick part of the power supply was way away from any other electrical item it stopped immediately. As a result, I never ever use the brick straight into the wall any more ... if it is a socket near other adaptors it always results in the tingling: but add extension and move away and it stops instantly. It seems as though the electric field around the brick part of the adaptor is interfered with by other cabling/adaptors and it sets up some kind of hum.
HTH,
Louis
It turned out that once I used the extension cord and made sure that the brick part of the power supply was way away from any other electrical item it stopped immediately. As a result, I never ever use the brick straight into the wall any more ... if it is a socket near other adaptors it always results in the tingling: but add extension and move away and it stops instantly. It seems as though the electric field around the brick part of the adaptor is interfered with by other cabling/adaptors and it sets up some kind of hum.
HTH,
Louis
Doesn't anyone have the answer???
Hi, I'm new to these forums and very desperate.
I'm using an old powerbook G4 and have had the electric shocks from the casing since i bought it second hand about 6 months ago. (Now I know why it was so cheap!)
Sometimes it's like a sharp pin prick on the wrist where the covering on the case has worn away but i get that velvet tingling badly on the rest of the case where the covering is good.
I've tried a lot of things but it has actually gotten worse.
I actually put in a new cable and socket, put in a new grounding rod (5m of copper pipe 3 ft deep in a very moist area of the ground outside the house) as well as keeping the old zinc one.
I even tried disconnecting every other circuit in the house and only running the socket the computer was plugged into.
Still got the shocks.
I have always used the 3 pronged extension cable and it happened on the one that came with the PB and the one from my old ibook.
It doesn't happen in my friends house 5 miles away in (I live in Croatia) but it does happen in my father's house and my mother's house in the UK.
I used to be able to cure it by hooking a wire to the metal frame under the keyboard and connecting it to the earth in a spare socket, but now that improves it but doesn't cure it!
After just a few minutes use my hands feel stiff and ache in the joints, I can even feel it now when my hands are 3 inches from the computer.
It didn't used to do it when running on battery alone but now it does, albeit better than on AC.
But using 3 pronged plugs doesn't make sense to me since only two wires run out of the brick anyway.
I cannot believe that it is just one of those things, i have seen a thread on another forum site from 2003 talking about the same thing and people are still getting it from the new Air Books.
Surely someone somewhere has worked this out by now . . . anyone . . . please????
Hi, I'm new to these forums and very desperate.
I'm using an old powerbook G4 and have had the electric shocks from the casing since i bought it second hand about 6 months ago. (Now I know why it was so cheap!)
Sometimes it's like a sharp pin prick on the wrist where the covering on the case has worn away but i get that velvet tingling badly on the rest of the case where the covering is good.
I've tried a lot of things but it has actually gotten worse.
I actually put in a new cable and socket, put in a new grounding rod (5m of copper pipe 3 ft deep in a very moist area of the ground outside the house) as well as keeping the old zinc one.
I even tried disconnecting every other circuit in the house and only running the socket the computer was plugged into.
Still got the shocks.
I have always used the 3 pronged extension cable and it happened on the one that came with the PB and the one from my old ibook.
It doesn't happen in my friends house 5 miles away in (I live in Croatia) but it does happen in my father's house and my mother's house in the UK.
I used to be able to cure it by hooking a wire to the metal frame under the keyboard and connecting it to the earth in a spare socket, but now that improves it but doesn't cure it!
After just a few minutes use my hands feel stiff and ache in the joints, I can even feel it now when my hands are 3 inches from the computer.
It didn't used to do it when running on battery alone but now it does, albeit better than on AC.
But using 3 pronged plugs doesn't make sense to me since only two wires run out of the brick anyway.
I cannot believe that it is just one of those things, i have seen a thread on another forum site from 2003 talking about the same thing and people are still getting it from the new Air Books.
Surely someone somewhere has worked this out by now . . . anyone . . . please????
There are actually 3 leads coming out of the brick; the ground is in the hooking mechanism for the plug. As anther commenter noted, many houses are incorrectly wired, with open grounds, open commons (using ground as a common) and ground wired to common. This can be checked with the socket tester he posted a picture of. This is most likely what is happening at your father and mother's house.
Grounding is needed since it is possible, with the small amount of resistance in the connections for the common leads, for voltage to build up and not be 0 on the commons. That's why grounding is needed, since it will always hook you directly to earth and discharge with a low resistance pathway (nearly guaranteed 0 volts). This is why you will most likely get shocked while only using the 2 prong connector, rather than a 3 prong.
This by the way, shouldn't happen. Electronics with 2 prongs should be Class II devices with dual insulation to protect from this (according to the international standard IEC 60601-1:2005), although it is only absolutely required for medical devices.
The only way I see it possible with getting shocks from a mains unplugged device is that the fan inside is creating a static charge on the frame somehow (through brushing). This would be very odd though.
Also, notice that the symbol for Class II appears on the brick (it is depicted as 2 squares, one inside the other, demonstrating dual insulation), but not the laptop.
I am sitting on a wooden chair with rubber soles on a tiled floor, if i put my bare foot to the floor i can feel the gentle tingle on my toes as well as my hand when i touch the laptop.
I have gone through loads of past forums and they have suggested almost everything except sitting on your granny. None of them worked for me.
What kills me is that some have actually had the problem clear up by changing from the two pronged to the three pronged plug.
I seem to have an extreme case.
And I have no idea where or how to get a socket tester in croatia, i have trouble even getting anyone to come to my house to fix anything, let alone explain in detail what this problem is. I'm not native and I can't speak the language, not for the want of trying!
I have gone through loads of past forums and they have suggested almost everything except sitting on your granny. None of them worked for me.
What kills me is that some have actually had the problem clear up by changing from the two pronged to the three pronged plug.
I seem to have an extreme case.
And I have no idea where or how to get a socket tester in croatia, i have trouble even getting anyone to come to my house to fix anything, let alone explain in detail what this problem is. I'm not native and I can't speak the language, not for the want of trying!
Well - short of doing what you said in the last paragraph it is a problem that's not going to be solved. Perhaps an English-speaking friend can locate an electrician for you. You could still try the granny. Make sure you post pics
Ιf you want to bring a technician in and you can't speak they language he will probably tear the electrical outlets out of all the house down and then charge as much as the air!
macbook air electric shocks and tingles
I've just joined this forum, because I decided to see if anyone else was having the same problem as me with my macbook air, and it seems they are! I've had mine since June 2008, and from the beginning noticed that sometimes the part of the case where you rest your wrists (does it have a name?) is tingly, but never the track pad. It feels as if the surface has grown fine ridges instead of being smooth. It's more annoying than anything else, though I do wonder if there can be any long term damage (to me or the laptop!). It is intermittent, and so far I have not found any rhyme or reason - I travel a lot, and it has happened from UK to Canada to Spain to Hong Kong, with and without battery and whatever I'm wearing as far as I can think but having read this thread I will now start to monitor it, and report my findings in due course. I would like to try a replacement machine, but can't afford to be without the laptop for any time. I bought it direct from Apple UK, so presumably would have to exchange through them? If so, I'll wait till I'm back in the UK in a few months time.
Don't Apple have anything to say?
I've just joined this forum, because I decided to see if anyone else was having the same problem as me with my macbook air, and it seems they are! I've had mine since June 2008, and from the beginning noticed that sometimes the part of the case where you rest your wrists (does it have a name?) is tingly, but never the track pad. It feels as if the surface has grown fine ridges instead of being smooth. It's more annoying than anything else, though I do wonder if there can be any long term damage (to me or the laptop!). It is intermittent, and so far I have not found any rhyme or reason - I travel a lot, and it has happened from UK to Canada to Spain to Hong Kong, with and without battery and whatever I'm wearing as far as I can think but having read this thread I will now start to monitor it, and report my findings in due course. I would like to try a replacement machine, but can't afford to be without the laptop for any time. I bought it direct from Apple UK, so presumably would have to exchange through them? If so, I'll wait till I'm back in the UK in a few months time.
Don't Apple have anything to say?
Zaps, Shocks, Zings.
I used to get a few zaps and shocks with tingling from my laptop when it was plugged in. The metallic surfaces was conducting some kind of electricity from the adapter to me. I figure there was a leak from somewhere to the ground and not the negative, so that anything connected to the ground can carry a voltage and if you touch it, you get a sensation of the current. If you weren't grounded, I'd say it was AC current and a leak in the adapter. I noticed that when I was sweatier like in the heat of the summer, the tingling would be more than bearable. In drier and colder temperatures, I don't notice the tingling anymore. The conductivity of my skin changes drastically with the salt content of my sweat, and I suppose if you could try this yourself. Lotion is a good insulator, but two problems, in sweatier times, you don't want that stuff anyway, and you don't want greasy substances on your computer...
Or, it could be ground loops, when we had a lot of computers wired up at home one time and there was some very strong ground loops setup, so much so that you'd get a very strong shock and tingling if your skin touched metallic parts of any chasis.
I reckon if you don't have a lot of electrical equipment you have a simple leakage. I never found the tingling too annoying (other than safety concerns, and a constant suspicion of defect), but it does tighten up your muscles and make you get tired and cramped faster working at the computer as a conductor...
I used to get a few zaps and shocks with tingling from my laptop when it was plugged in. The metallic surfaces was conducting some kind of electricity from the adapter to me. I figure there was a leak from somewhere to the ground and not the negative, so that anything connected to the ground can carry a voltage and if you touch it, you get a sensation of the current. If you weren't grounded, I'd say it was AC current and a leak in the adapter. I noticed that when I was sweatier like in the heat of the summer, the tingling would be more than bearable. In drier and colder temperatures, I don't notice the tingling anymore. The conductivity of my skin changes drastically with the salt content of my sweat, and I suppose if you could try this yourself. Lotion is a good insulator, but two problems, in sweatier times, you don't want that stuff anyway, and you don't want greasy substances on your computer...
Or, it could be ground loops, when we had a lot of computers wired up at home one time and there was some very strong ground loops setup, so much so that you'd get a very strong shock and tingling if your skin touched metallic parts of any chasis.
I reckon if you don't have a lot of electrical equipment you have a simple leakage. I never found the tingling too annoying (other than safety concerns, and a constant suspicion of defect), but it does tighten up your muscles and make you get tired and cramped faster working at the computer as a conductor...
MacBookAir tingles
Has anyone contacted Apple? Do they just replace your computer if it has this problem? Do they tell you try anything else first?
Has anyone contacted Apple? Do they just replace your computer if it has this problem? Do they tell you try anything else first?
Lol, would be funny if you called support and they said "sir, please wait for a thunderstorm and take your computer and put it above your head while connected under the tallest tree you can find, if you still feel tinglings after this, please send the laptop back in good condition."
As described above, since Apples laptops are not Class II devices, they have greater touch leakage currents than are allowed in medical devices, and this is why you feel the tingling especially when not using the 3 prong AC adaptor. This is not a defect, or illegal, but it is a result of Apple not insulating the inside of their devices enough. Another interesting tidbit: As a result of Apple's laptops not being Class II compliant, they do not adhere to the standard IEC 60601-1 for Medical Electrical Equipment, and as a result, it would be illegal to use an Apple laptop as or with Medical Electrical Equipment. This is because the FDA wouldn't clear or approve any medical device with a not compliant component, and adding a computer would require a new filing with the FDA.
I am curious as to why this wouldn't make sense, battery has power too right?
Yes, the battery has power, but it delivers DC current, which at the voltage of the battery wouldn't cause shocks (unless you stuck it on your tongue, then the voltage would be high enough to pass current through the low resistance pathway you just created for it). Furthermore, mains power can charge objects, since a return path for current is not necessary. Batteries can't charge objects without a return path to their return terminal. The ground, or you connected to the ground, can not be a return path for a battery inside a computer. Note also that DC current can not flow through a transformer (i.e. the power brick).
It is worth noting also why alternating current (AC) passes into your body easier than direct current (DC). With AC, the changing current takes advantage of the capacitive nature of your skin (as opposed to the resistive or impedance of the skin), and passes right through. Capacitors pass alternating current like they are a copper wire (i.e. short). DC can not pass through capacitors, and needs to pass through the skins resistance. Since skin has a relatively high resistance, DC doesn't flow as easily unless the voltage is high enough to "push" it through.
This topic has been discussed many times before. Have a look:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/561790/
In this thread I posted why this happens.(Post #16)
With a multimeter, you can measure approx. half of the line voltage on your macbook metalbody to ground. (Electricians don't use those high-impedance multimeters, but that is another topic....)
I hope this will help you understand why a power apapter change didn't solve this "problem"....
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/561790/
In this thread I posted why this happens.(Post #16)
With a multimeter, you can measure approx. half of the line voltage on your macbook metalbody to ground. (Electricians don't use those high-impedance multimeters, but that is another topic....)
I hope this will help you understand why a power apapter change didn't solve this "problem"....
Re: electric shocks
You'll find that most consumers these days don't want to carry around a transformer the size and weight of a small suitcase - plus they want to be able to plug their tiny power supply into any outlet anywhere in the world (whatever the voltage / frequency) and it 'just work'.
As a result - you have a clever switch mode power supply doing all the work. The downside is that it's electrically noisy - so to also meet all of the EMC regulations worldwide, various techniques are used to keep the noise and manufacturing cost down.
As a result of all that, you end up with a small leakage from around half line voltage into the equipment - and if the equipment isn't earth (e.g. sat on a glass table) - YOU become the earth.
Grab your MacBook Air with both hands and you probably won't feel a thing - you'll earth the machine quite well and the voltage will be reduced towards zero. Lightly stroke an edge whilst standing barefoot on a stone floor and you'll probably get a half decent tingle.
You shouldn't feel it if you're on-battery - unless of course you've also plugged your MBA into a monitor or speakers - then you'll be getting the leakage from THAT. For example, my unibody MBP gives out a small tingle - but plug my 21" TFT into it and it'll blow me the other side of the room in bare feet!
You could always get a medical grade power supply - but one the size of the MBA's would probably set you back more than the MBA itself!!
You'll find that most consumers these days don't want to carry around a transformer the size and weight of a small suitcase - plus they want to be able to plug their tiny power supply into any outlet anywhere in the world (whatever the voltage / frequency) and it 'just work'.
As a result - you have a clever switch mode power supply doing all the work. The downside is that it's electrically noisy - so to also meet all of the EMC regulations worldwide, various techniques are used to keep the noise and manufacturing cost down.
As a result of all that, you end up with a small leakage from around half line voltage into the equipment - and if the equipment isn't earth (e.g. sat on a glass table) - YOU become the earth.
Grab your MacBook Air with both hands and you probably won't feel a thing - you'll earth the machine quite well and the voltage will be reduced towards zero. Lightly stroke an edge whilst standing barefoot on a stone floor and you'll probably get a half decent tingle.
You shouldn't feel it if you're on-battery - unless of course you've also plugged your MBA into a monitor or speakers - then you'll be getting the leakage from THAT. For example, my unibody MBP gives out a small tingle - but plug my 21" TFT into it and it'll blow me the other side of the room in bare feet!
You could always get a medical grade power supply - but one the size of the MBA's would probably set you back more than the MBA itself!!
I also get this electric feeling on my macbook air (MBA) I got for christmas, only if I have the charger plugged in, especially if I brush one finger across the left of the MBA. I also get this feeling if I brush on the metal part of the mag-'safe' power connector (the new design) even if it's unplugged.
So I tested the voltage and current between the power connector's magnet (while plugged in) and the earth wiring (via a tower PC's case, which I know is earthed) and it wasn't very much. On the current setting, the electric feeling goes away.
But, If I probe the same place using an oscilloscope, there is certainly some mains voltage leaking into the MBA's pseudo-ground (case), which is too much for the 30Vp oscilloscope. If I connect the magnet to earth via a 270k-ohm resistor, the waveform is only 29V, and is the one illustrated in the attachment with 10 volts/div vs 2 millisec/div.
Therefore, if I connect a wire from earth to the connector's magnet, the electric feeling stops.
I hope this information is useful.
TC
So I tested the voltage and current between the power connector's magnet (while plugged in) and the earth wiring (via a tower PC's case, which I know is earthed) and it wasn't very much. On the current setting, the electric feeling goes away.
But, If I probe the same place using an oscilloscope, there is certainly some mains voltage leaking into the MBA's pseudo-ground (case), which is too much for the 30Vp oscilloscope. If I connect the magnet to earth via a 270k-ohm resistor, the waveform is only 29V, and is the one illustrated in the attachment with 10 volts/div vs 2 millisec/div.
Therefore, if I connect a wire from earth to the connector's magnet, the electric feeling stops.
I hope this information is useful.
TC
