Repair : Apple MacBook MagSafe Charger Power Cord

Step 5 Repairing the MagSafe Device

I removed the rubbery plastic that is used to secure the joints enough so that I had something to solder to (soldering iron melting and exacto surgery). Split the outer sheath wire into two equal groups and tin them to connect to the two points on the MagSafe. Solder your connections and use electrical tape on the unshielded wires to protect from shorts.

I used hot glue, making sure to apply at least the first large blob all once in one blast to ensure uniformity. In reality i think that I always pull on the cord to unplug the charger so I opted for hot glue hoping it would take better straight on yanks vs shrink tubing's side-to-side protection (who knows though). If you use heat shrink tubing instead (which I have had good results with in the past) make sure you slip it on before you start!

Congrats on fixing a problem Apple should have never had! Please send me your ideas on how to make this a more friendly process, I would be very interested.

Good Luck and I hope the new breed of chargers doesn't cost 79$ or fail so easily. Its curious to because this could be a potentially dangerous flaw too.

Comments

[dkollin]

Apple just settled a class action lawsuit and is now replacing these for free: http://cnet.co/tl5p4W. I walked into the Mac store with my crappy one, they made me sign a document and then handed over a new one. Simple as that.

[probablepossible]

THANK YOU!  I've been looking for instructions for this end for months-- I KNEW it could be done! I'm going to try it this weekend.

using hotglue to make a new casing is so helpful. I was thinking also, about moldable putty, and some fancy sculpting just for fun.

[mballester]

also possible with sugru... google sugru ... it is a kind of resin!

[wetnap]

epoxy putty is probably stronger and cheaper for this application. also sandable and paintable for more aesthetic repair.

[probablepossible]

You don't want stronger, actually, you want flexible-- so that your repair doesn't stress and break.

Would silicone sealant work as an electrical insulator?

[wetnap]

For the plug itself strong is fine, furthermore it takes the stress point further away from the plug where repair is easier, but yes you can add strain relieve further down the line with store bought or just some simple layers of heat shrink tubing, perhaps splinted with some wire scraps.

Silicon sealant spread thin is too flexible to really provide any real strain relief, plus forming it is quite difficult. A layer of 1/4 inch bead thickness might work, but as I said forming it would be a pain. But if you do have some around you could possibly get some inside a large piece of heat shrink tubing, it would have to be quite large diameter to allow for 1/4" of silicon and then shrink around it....but that might work. The main issue with silicon or caulk is that unless you can buy a small packet resealing a tube only works sometimes, so it is kind of wasteful...and messy. If you are going to use heat shrink anyways, might as wel just splint that with some scrap wire or some such material and be done with it.

[probablepossible]

This is the repair done with hot glue. This pic is about from march. Over times the hot glue surface went dull. Recently it actually cracked and peeled away, and I just now replaced it. I now have heavy nylon thread wrapped up the wire, under the hot glue. To make the old and new glue meld together was pretty easy-- held it over the gas burner and watched it get clear and glossy

I like the way it looks, on the whole-- reminds me of william gibsone novels.

[cat1010]

my Macbook Pro charger stopped working. I used a friends and it will not charge either. I called Apple and they are telling me that it will cost arounf 600.00 to fix this due this is connected to the mother board. does anyone have a fix for this???

[barbecuesteve]

If they're saying $600, you could probably fix it for $300 in parts and an afternoon of delicate work.

[barbecuesteve]

This isn't really the right forum to ask... try www.ifixit.com , they're Mac hardware guys.

[ayoungblood84]

Very cool!!

[dault2]

great DIY. had a hard time finding instructions on the connection end of the cable. Fixed one a friend gave to me so now I have 2. Thanks!

[vvwwuu]

Hi,I have connected the wires as shown in the picture no 4 and I tried to connect to my macbook before I start to solder it down.However the light shows green instead of red which indicates that it's not charging.Does it mean that I have made a mistake in some steps?Please advise.Thanks for the instructions.

[Markushka]

Thank you, i just did this and now its charging again! great DIY, and saved me some money :)

[abelincoln]

This is a fantastic fix it.  Thanks for being bold and trying it out.  One thing that helps with the aesthetics (as if that matters at this point) is to use white electrical tape intead of black.  It works and looks a lot nicer than wrapping your brick with black tape.

[joe_photo]

Hi I Recently fixed my charger, Thanks for the tips..

But  may  when removing the rubber that is used to hold the extra bit of wire instead of doing soldering iron melting and exacto surgery to remove it simply use pliers or cut it slightly down the side and can remove it like the hard outer cover even easier then tthe outer cover,

worth taking the time in the end..Save 100+