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New Magsafe far too expensive!

Nipz

Nipz

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 1, 2006
1,434
0
UK
hey

i have a BMB and the charger is melted and stopped working.

i have taped it up on the magsafe end but its got a bad connection on the transformer aswell!?

to get a new one from apple is over £50 which i think is well to over priced, so i wondered if anyone has a cheaper place to get one?

thanks
 
Apple has a patent on the MagSafe connection and have not yet licensed it to any third parties. You won't find any official third party solutions to my knowledge, which means you're limited to the Apple branded one.

Have you tried searching Google Products, eBay, and Amazon? I doubt that you'll find it too much cheaper than it retails for.
 
tobefirst said:
Apple has a patent on the MagSafe connection and have not yet licensed it to any third parties. You won't find any official third party solutions to my knowledge, which means you're limited to the Apple branded one.

Have you tried searching Google Products, eBay, and Amazon? I doubt that you'll find it too much cheaper than it retails for.
Click to expand...

those apple guys are crafty!! Well played apple!
 
If you have wrapped the cord correctly and only pull on the connector properly (instead of pulling the cord), then chances are your power supply will not be damaged. Here is a picture of the properly wrapped cord (look for two small wings on the power supply that can be pop out).
 

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DJAKO said:
Have you looked on eBay to see if you can find any cheaper ones?
Click to expand...

This is your best bet. You can also find generic versions of the Magsafe being sold new on eBay. They'll last just as long as the official Apple ones because they also suffer the same defective adapter head, but they'll be twice as cheap to replace. When my Magsafe breaks down (and it's a matter of when, and not if), I'll be heading to eBay.
 
Nipz said:
hey

i have a BMB and the charger is melted and stopped working.

i have taped it up on the magsafe end but its got a bad connection on the transformer aswell!?

to get a new one from apple is over £50 which i think is well to over priced, so i wondered if anyone has a cheaper place to get one?

thanks
Click to expand...

Contact Apple to see if they'll replace it for free. I've heard of people getting replacements even outside of their 1 year warranty.
 
Consultant said:
If you have wrapped the cord correctly and only pull on the connector properly (instead of pulling the cord), then chances are your power supply will not be damaged. Here is a picture of the properly wrapped cord (look for two small wings on the power supply that can be pop out).
Click to expand...

That's not proper. Over time the thing will break. I never wrap my cord as it puts pressure on the ends.
 
Consultant said:
If you have wrapped the cord correctly and only pull on the connector properly (instead of pulling the cord), then chances are your power supply will not be damaged. Here is a picture of the properly wrapped cord (look for two small wings on the power supply that can be pop out).
Click to expand...

You know, I was a good girl and did this religiously with my first power supply for my MacBook Pro. Only to have the end at the power supply come undone. It looked to me like it didn't like even being bent around a little.

Took a total of four months for that to happen.

Apple replaced it under my Applecare, but I gave up wrapping the cord like this. I haven't had any problems since then.
 
DaLurker said:
Contact Apple to see if they'll replace it for free. I've heard of people getting replacements even outside of their 1 year warranty.
Click to expand...

I would politely but firmly complain about this. Melting power cables are a fire hazard. Granted that one should take good care of your cables and things, but this failure mode is ridiculous. I don't know about you, but I've owned a fair number of electronic devices from a variety of manufacturers over time, and nothing has ever had a power supply cable melt due to inappropriate torsion or flexion on the cable housing.

Apple needs to take care of this, and I think you should ask that you be taken care of in the process....
 
ill try ringing apple in the morning, i cant believe there isn't a 0800 number (aka free number) to ring tho!

um i always rap the cord and never pull it :S

thanks for the help though guys!
 
Consultant said:
If you have wrapped the cord correctly and only pull on the connector properly (instead of pulling the cord), then chances are your power supply will not be damaged. Here is a picture of the properly wrapped cord (look for two small wings on the power supply that can be pop out).
Click to expand...

One of my wings on the adaptor I use for travel broke off last year. Make-do wrapping around the body led to the wire separating at that end. But careful, loving disconnection habits kept the magsafe tip in pristine condition.

Ironically, the adaptor I keep in the studio is going fritzy on the magsafe end. Only charges in one orientation.
 
mkrishnan said:
I would politely but firmly complain about this. Melting power cables are a fire hazard. Granted that one should take good care of your cables and things, but this failure mode is ridiculous. I don't know about you, but I've owned a fair number of electronic devices from a variety of manufacturers over time, and nothing has ever had a power supply cable melt due to inappropriate torsion or flexion on the cable housing.

Apple needs to take care of this, and I think you should ask that you be taken care of in the process....
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking. Apple is usually pretty nice with replacing products, at least in my experience. They have replaced 2 pairs of their in-ear headphones and 1 ipod usb cable out of warranty for free.
 
bjett92 said:
Exactly what I was thinking. Apple is usually pretty nice with replacing products, at least in my experience. They have replaced 2 pairs of their in-ear headphones and 1 ipod usb cable out of warranty for free.
Click to expand...

The head phones and the cable? Are you... *cough*... you know... doing... something for that?
 
TheStu said:
The head phones and the cable? Are you... *cough*... you know... doing... something for that?
Click to expand...

Haha no, they weren't at the same time. The headphones broke just outside the one year warranty twice, and the cable just broke sometime last year.
 
Consultant said:
If you have wrapped the cord correctly and only pull on the connector properly (instead of pulling the cord), then chances are your power supply will not be damaged. Here is a picture of the properly wrapped cord (look for two small wings on the power supply that can be pop out).
Click to expand...

By wrapping my cord that way, it pulled out of the power brick after a few months. Took it into the Genius Bar and got a lecture about me wrapping my cord incorrectly, but that I would get a "one time exception" replacement.
 
Consultant said:
Never had any problems with various iBook G3, iBook G4, Powerbook G4, and MBP that I have owned and sold.
Click to expand...
I haven't either on my 3 year old PowerBook but I think the problem is that some people start wrapping it too tightly. I ALWAYS make sure to give a little slack before starting to wrap it. Relieves the tension on the cord end and stops it from fraying and shorting. Always do this with any cords that you wrap to store.
 
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