Magsafe not so safe.

[blackburn]

So I've noticed that sometimes when I remove it from the power plug and touch one of the pins I get a nasty shock. I've tried different chargers (magsafe) and they do the same thing. I've got a pair of lenovo chargers at home and none of them do that. Even my eee pc hot brick doesn't do that.

The only workaround is to short the powerplug with something metallic, but that might damage the capacitors. Has somebody also experienced this?

 

[MacBoobsPro]

Don't touch the pins!

 

[blackburn]

Don't touch the pins!

No **** sherlock Sometimes when coiling the wire it touches my skin accidentally and I get shocked. And it shouldn't happen. No other charger that I've ever used does that.

 

[MacBoobsPro]

No **** sherlock Sometimes when coiling the wire it touches my skin accidentally and I get shocked. And it shouldn't happen. No other charger that I've ever used does that.

I've noticed that when you turn the power off the light remains on for a few seconds. Maybe its still throwing out a current. Just give it a few seconds then lick it to see if it still does it.

 

[blackburn]

I've noticed that when you turn the power off the light remains on for a few seconds. Maybe its still throwing out a current. Just give it a few seconds then lick it to see if it still does it.

Yeah I know its the capacitor discharging. But it *shouldn't* give a shock when touching it's pins. Even my eee charger stays with the light on and doesn't shock me! In the other hand if you lick the plug that goes in to your mac you should get a little boost to start the day, thunderbolt style!

 

[nizmoz]

Yeah I know its the capacitor discharging. But it *shouldn't* give a shock when touching it's pins. Even my eee charger stays with the light on and doesn't shock me! In the other hand if you lick the plug that goes in to your mac you should get a little boost to start the day, thunderbolt style!

Your other machine chargers have a round connection and not the magsafe type. You need to wait for it to discharge. Like with anything that has live current, it will shock you if you are not careful.

 

[blackburn]

Your other machine chargers have a round connection and not the magsafe type. You need to wait for it to discharge. Like with anything that has live current, it will shock you if you are not careful.

The only thing that makes them different is an ic in the magsafe plug. I use an normal pc laptop charger to charge my macbook at home, just with the magsafe tip that I got from a broken magsafe adpater. So it's a problem only with apple magsafe adapters. Maybe I will pay a visit to apple and see what they have to say about it.

 

[RafaelT]

What kind of answer are you hoping to get from people at the Apple store other then don't touch it? Seems like a lot of effort to go to when all you have to do is not touch it.

Given the amount of power that the charger puts out... it can't be much of a shock at all.

 

[blackburn]

What kind of answer are you hoping to get from people at the Apple store other then don't touch it? Seems like a lot of effort to go to when all you have to do is not touch it.

Given the amount of power that the charger puts out... it can't be much of a shock at all.

It's bad and it shouldn't be happening. And it's a quite a shock, either I've got 2 defective magsafe adapters or it's a design flaw.
When I can I will check if my girlfriend magsafe brick does the same, if it doesn't I will go to the apple store, else I will have to live with a flawed charger.

edit: I've called my gf and her charger doesn't shock her, so mine is flawed. Looks like I won a trip to apple. Mine even sparks if you shunt the power plug with a screw driver (the mains plug, unplugged from the wall of course).

edit 2: I've measured 130 Volts DC after unplugging the charger from the wall, that's why I've got some nasty shocks from it.