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

One1, big thanks for your explanations and the effort you put into sharing this tip. I think many people are looking at your post (google "magsafe fix" and there you are) !

While writing the post is an act of pure generosity, i don't understand why you remove the pics. It's a paradox ! Could you just display them again, or put a link towards them ?

Thanks...
pix
 
About fixing the cable....

Hi! This is for One1.
I'm having a problema pretty much like the one you had, only because my beloved rabbit decided to chew the cable.
The thing is that where I live, the damn entire adapter costs 200 USD :eek: , and is not an option at this point.
I'm very interested in checking the pictures you've posted in the past in regards this issue.
I've already peeled off the external and internal shields of the cable, but as you know... they're made of copepr in the inside, but they seem to be bathed in some silver material.
I've tryied to put them together but it didn't work out.
I don't know if is possible for you to post those pictures back, or if you can contact me if you could send them by email.

Please please please help me out!

xoxox

--------------------------


Name: Brian (AKA- one1)
Occupation: Electronics Engineer
Hobby: Repairing apple's design flaws when I buy a new product. (already fixed my logic board 6 times on my old iBook)
Subject: Magsafe from a MacBook

Like many of you, my magsafe finally started getting hot enough to make popcorn. Where I would have gone out and bought another, a simple dead short was too easy of a repair.... and I can use that $80 for other Apple goodies. I might as well get something out of my electronics degree. I decided to take pics to share. Since I seem to take pics of things people like these days, I've watermarked them to avoid any *more* theft of images. Apologies in advance for the watermarks.

I would have written this as a DIY, but I determined if you couldn't get the jist from the pics, you shouldn't be attempting it. (Self solving problem)

Basically what happens is that the outer shielding breaks FIRST from the flexxing of the cable. Once the outer shielding breaks the wire loses all it's structural integrity and it's a very short time before the inner wire starts poking through and creating small dead shorts between the + and - voltage of the two. This is why some days it is blisteringly hot and some days it is not. There are only small strands of the inner wire poking through and each time they make contact they burn off, creating a very hot wire, but one that seems to fix itself or only randomly get hot. If you continue to use the adapter in this situation you WILL end up with a fire that can threaten your book, your home, and your life.

At this point in the life of the wire it is in critical. The inner wire is breaching the jacket and the outer wire has nearly broken in half. The effects are a very poor connection on the negative shielding which creates heat by lack of ability to properly transfer energy. The heat warms up the already damaged inner jacket and the next thing you know.... you are here complaining about your Magsafe almost burning your leg off.

With a little skill, you can fix this issue and save $80. The process took me 45 minutes and cost me NOTHING. My adapter is like new and will last me another year before I have to do it again. Inevitably by design, all Magsafe's will fail. I don't know about you, but I have better things to do with my $80, so once a year I don't mind making this repair. If you buy a new Magsafe it WILL fail again. The revision of a SLIGHTLY larger rubber grommet is a horrible fix with minimal results.

(Click these pics for larger images)


IMG_1398.jpg


IMG_1399.jpg


IMG_1406.jpg


IMG_1409.jpg


IMG_1416.jpg


IMG_1423.jpg


IMG_1432.jpg


IMG_1436.jpg


IMG_1438.jpg


IMG_1439.jpg
 
How to fix a Macbook flex cord - Megsafe -

Peopleeeeeeeeeee!!! I just got it! In despite mega brands engineering and trickering, I just fixed my macbook f@#$$@# flex cord!
As I'm a girl, you can't expect much of imagination fixing a cable right? :p

:D well... here are some tips for everybody:

Even when One1 explanations are really nice, there are some little details probably missing due his nite method, which I will love to try, but.... what about the ones we don't have a solder?

Well here it is:

It's very important to know that this cable works pretty much as a coaxial cable ( like the ones that goes on the tv from you cable company). This means that there a - and a + component, in two different layers of the cable. So we have to peel off 2 layers.

1. You will want to do a clean cut to the cable first.

2. Gently cut the outer cable, which is the first barrier to the silver threads you will find. This cut should be at least 1 inch away from the first clean cut, so you will have a clean access to the inner silver threads.

3. Undo the twisted silver threads on both sides of the cable. Later on we will twist those gray threads with the ones on the other side of the cable.


Now: Notice that there's another light gray cable shield, which holds the + threads. Don't panic.

4.Cut very, very gently this second skin to reveal the inner threads.
( See pic 1)

5.Un-twist them, as seen on the picture.

IMPORTANT:

When you cut the cable on that first clean cut, you will notice that the internal part, underneath the inner hard shield looks like copper. But once you reveal those threads, they are silver! so the copper part is inside... Don't get nuts!!!

6. Just scratch those threads.. very gently, with a scalp or with whatever you used to cut the cable in first place.
( See pic 2)

After a while you are scratching the damns, you will notice that the silver is fading away and the real copper is showing off. That's is what we want. Otherwise, if you put together just the silvers of the inner layer, it wont transmit any power, so the entire work will be a waste of time.
Just keep scratching until those threads looks like copper threads. (this might take a while basically because these are very fragile threads, and you don't want to use to much force scratching, or they will cut off. So set some music and be patient!!! keep scratching..)

7. Ok.You must do this on both sides of the cable.

8. Once the copper is on sight on both sides, twist them together very gently, so the power can go through.

(See pic 3)


9. Now twist the first layer of silver threads you've found (this is the -).

So the entire work will look like on Pic 4.

10. Plug the adapter to the outlet, and.. VOILA!

To finish the task, put some outer cable, or tape (for electrical matters) over the unions.

I've notice that my battery takes a little bit longer to charge. But that's it.
I can leave my mac longer to charge, It doesn't matter. As long I don't have to Buy a new adapter, which here costs usd 200 !!!

I hope this helps and please be more careful about the cable from now on!
- I'll keep my rabbit 300 miles away!

At the end... my pic.. tired but successful!


Let me know how this works for you !

Love to everyone!!!
:apple:
 

Attachments

  • Magsafe 1.jpg
    Magsafe 1.jpg
    57.7 KB · Views: 359
  • Magsafe 2.jpg
    Magsafe 2.jpg
    61.6 KB · Views: 310
  • Megasafe 3.jpg
    Megasafe 3.jpg
    66.4 KB · Views: 256
  • Megasafe 4.jpg
    Megasafe 4.jpg
    65.6 KB · Views: 308
  • Photo 3.jpg
    Photo 3.jpg
    78.7 KB · Views: 275
No, No.. are YOU Serious?! LOL!

no, no no... Are YOU Serious!??!?!?
LOL

Obviously you have no sense of humor.
The main plan is to share kindly with others a solution for a problem.
I don't think this is a place for being so serious and offended about a comment to make the paragraphs more outgoing.

Apparently you seem to be more focus in other kind of discussions which I'm not interested to, and I don't think anyone is, specially if what we were looking was "how to fix a cable".

Still, I hope these home made tips help others until a more permanent solution, as buying a new adapter.

Ps. If I didn't have any imagination, I would already spent unnecessary money, don't you think? I'm a very open minded person who is more than sure about people's abilities, whether being boys or girls. Obviously you are very sensitive to this matter.

And I quote: "...but women being sexist against themselves always takes the cake".
I'll say, people who is always on a Defense mode, without being pointed, eats the entire bakery.


Cheers!!!


Are you serious?

It's bad enough when it comes from the guys, but women being sexist against themselves always takes the cake.

Some of us girls have quite a bit of imagination, actually..
 
no, no no... Are YOU Serious!??!?!?
LOL

Obviously you have no sense of humor.
The main plan is to share kindly with others a solution for a problem.
I don't think this is a place for being so serious and offended about a comment to make the paragraphs more outgoing.

Apparently you seem to be more focus in other kind of discussions which I'm not interested to, and I don't think anyone is, specially if what we were looking was "how to fix a cable".

Still, I hope these home made tips help others until a more permanent solution, as buying a new adapter.

Ps. If I didn't have any imagination, I would already spent unnecessary money, don't you think? I'm a very open minded person who is more than sure about people's abilities, whether being boys or girls. Obviously you are very sensitive to this matter.

And I quote: "...but women being sexist against themselves always takes the cake".
I'll say, people who is always on a Defense mode, without being pointed, eats the entire bakery.


Cheers!!!

I assure you, I have an excellent sense of humor. I fail to see what was funny about that "joke"?

If your main plan is to share a solution with others, then get to it without insulting the imagination of women. It's not a "defense" mode...it's expecting people not to be sexist asshats. Pretty simple.
 
God! "save The Queen......."

You are too sensitive for something I don't mine at all, and that matter is not why I posted in first place.

If you feel touched by a "just-adding-some-good-vibe-with-a-non-political-meaningless-sentence", solve your issues. I'm sure there's much more people interested in how to fix their cables than what you can think of a line on mine. And I'm sure they will want to use more of their attention on how to get their macs up and running than reading about you feeling "attacked" or something. You don't have to be always reading between lines. There are things that are not complicated, and they don't hide any "secret message". Stop the paranoia. Simple as that.

I hope you find something valuable to do with your time... or not.
I don't have more time to pay attention to your fuss.

So long!
:apple:
 
Do I have to separate you two?

Seriously, to the OP - thanks for posting this, I'm sure there will be quite a few folks who appreciate a simple, easy-to-do method of fixing their broken power supply.

I HIGHLY recommend taping the wires BEFORE YOU PLUG IT IN so that 1) they don't come in contact with each other and 2) so they don't pull apart as easy.

Ideally, the wires should be soldered and covered with heat-shrink tubing, but your solution is a great short-term fix.

Personally, I think you have a great sense of humor.

Be glad your rabbit didn't choose the cord to your stereo, unlike my friend's kitten. A "zap" sound and the music stopped - the kitten was laying under there twitching. My friend thumped her little chest and gave her mouth-to-mouth until she came around. The kitten was fine, but it could have all ended in tears.
 
I assure you, I have an excellent sense of humor. I fail to see what was funny about that "joke"?

If your main plan is to share a solution with others, then get to it without insulting the imagination of women. It's not a "defense" mode...it's expecting people not to be sexist asshats. Pretty simple.

Get a grip sweetheart.
 
Hello,

Just for info: I called the apple center, and they accepted to exchange my magsafe. I bought my mac in 2006, and the magsafe was known to be "weak". So they sent me a new magsafe by courrier.
 
Had a go at fixing my magsafe connector. In theory it would have worked. In practice I needed to use more magnification and probably a better quality temperature controlled soldering iron. I think a small solder bridge shorted the power supply.

Next job is to figure out if its possible to non-destructively pull apart the power supply case to repair the damaged component.

What learned:
1. It is easy to non-destructively open the magsafe plug - the white cover is a push fit over the metal part of the connector and can be pried off. I used a sheet metal vice grip plier + multilayered aluminum foil to prevent scratching to hold the metal close to the plastic cover. I gently pried off the cover using the macmini case cracking tool on alternate sides - I use a taper ground (very thin) full tang forged paint scraper in preference to the apple recommended chisel ground pressed metal paint scraper.

2. My connector failed due to the solder pad coming off the circuit board in the plug. The wires were intact (I have been babying the cable forever because of known weakness).

3. The magsafe connector design is still weak. I think it needs the plug to be much longer so the strain relief happens positively in the plug case and not the attachment to the plug circuit board.
 
Photo Hosting: Can we have them again? Please?

Hi, I was wondering if you could host the photos again or email them to me? I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Kyler
-With a broken 85W MagSafe.
 
My magsafe cable repair

I used self-amalgamating tape to insulate and wrapped it up with 16mm heat shrink for neatness.
 

Attachments

  • DSC01556.JPG
    DSC01556.JPG
    36.2 KB · Views: 288
  • DSC01557.JPG
    DSC01557.JPG
    38.5 KB · Views: 277
  • DSC01559.JPG
    DSC01559.JPG
    44 KB · Views: 282
  • DSC01563.JPG
    DSC01563.JPG
    68.5 KB · Views: 348
I assumed that I had the typical fraying problem with my magsafe plug. However my problem was a different beast. The power would cut in and out if I wiggled the plug. I knew it wasn't the power module in the Mac, because my spare adapter worked fine. Naturally I assumed that the shielding at the plug must barely be hanging together.

I attempted the fix described here by resoldering the shield and hot wires back together. It didn't work. The "wiggle" problem persisted. I figured that there must be something deeper inside going on. I could not figure out how to remove the white shell of the plug, so unfortunately I cut it off.

Once I had the plug pulled apart, I discovered that the wires were intact, but the circuit board itself was loose. It pulled right out of the plug. I have not seen this problem described before. Oh how the engineers in Cupertino must be proud of this little <cough> masterpiece of engineering!

There are four solder points that connect the plug terminals to the circuit board (Two on one side, two on the other). It was a rather delicate operation, but I managed to resolder all four points. I soldered the wires back together. Problem solved.

Since the white cover was now trashed, I fashioned a new one out of copious amounts of electrical tape and heat shrink tube. It's ugly, but it works.
 
Brian the pics are gone

could you post them again por maybe mail them to me please??


thank you
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.