Repair your macintosh power cord

Tired of Mighty Apple charging you beaucoup $$$ for those badly designed power adapters which break all the time? Repair it yourself!

Step 1: Slide back the sheath

My sheath was cracked already, so it was easy to slide back.

Assuming yours is intact, I think a good swift twist/tug with a pair of pliers should snap it loose.

Comments

[osgeld]

Yea, this is exactly why I look at the power cord of the computer I am buying ... if it cant be replaced by a 3$ radio shack park I dont want to shell out a pile of money, darn well knowing its going to take another pile of money or a afternoon to fix.

[isaacwilk]

In my headphones the wires are coated with different colours - I've tried soldering straight onto the wire, but the solder doesn't stick. You need to use a knife and very carefully scrape the colour off the wires. Thought I'd share, because it frustrated me for almost an hour trying to get it to stick.

[Nicola Tesla]

Or, better yet, put the end of the wire, (the very end) into a flame, and pull it out. The first few millimeters should have burned off. If more is needed, stick it a little further into the flame.

[Fixins13]

As long as you have your soldering iron out, weld up the seam in the circle part of the connector. I put a big blob on it and then took a file and got it a smooth as I could. Stays in way better and it can't splay out any more.

[STCVKR]

May I suggest using something like Caulk or even epoxy instead of hot glue, after a while it tends to come unstuck (for lack of a better word), It's not really designed to be permanent, especially in an area like that where there's a lot of movement.

[mcircosta]

The sheath can be easily removed by inserting a thin blade between the clear ring and white sheath. Gently press on the blade while rotating the sheath. This will separate these two components slightly. Once this is done, use your teeth to pull on the clear ring and push on the sheath ( charger tip poiting toward your throat. This will result in a full removal.

[maximilien]

Thanks, better than distorting the metal power sheath with pliers like I did. Still works but tight fit in mac.

[grantaccess]

Thanks for the tip - it helped a lot.

[power cord]

if's a good information and you can see the power cord,power supply cordmanufacturer.

[dar1bak]

Good stuff, geo. My iBook is charging again as we speak. To avoid messing with the tiny circuit board, I carved away the lumpy part of the strain relief and found a small steel band, inside which was some healthy wire already soldered to the board. I cut, stripped and tinned everything, soldered and taped, and it's fine.

What I did notice was something that may have contributed to why these are flimsy -- the braid wasn't tinned in the original hookup, not even twisted, and the nylon was still flopping about in there. Can't possibly have been a good connection.

[jsuhajda]

Great instructions. Something similar happened to my powerbook G4 adapter. When I went to remove the outer white insulation to get to the two wires inside, i found one wire in grey insulation, and the other wire in a braided mesh around a green nylon string.

Any suggestions on how to connect this braided wire with the end connected to the plug?

[msjarmer]

This was great. This page came up when I was looking for a place to buy a new power cord. Not only did it save me money but time as well. I didn't want to wait a week to get a new power cord, thats to long to be with out a computer. Good old powerbook G4, still going strong after 6 years.

[kingtiger]

ditto, my powerbook g4 is still going strong... it's just the power adapters that keep crapping out on me. Too bad I don't have a soldering iron handy otherwise I would totally do this. I have too many of these power bricks lying around. As of right now I've got my powerbook at a weird angle just to get the plug to charge my laptop.

[Deth Becomes You]

 Confirmed!
Thank you for saving me $75!!

[powercord]

it's good info

[wvjolliffe]

Enhanced strain relief; finish up by adding a small piece of nylon wire tie or similar material between the shrink tube and the outer jacket of the power cable power cable where it exits the plug housing. This will add a little "spine" to your strain relief. YMMV.

[yakcf]

Well, this was certainly a fun, albeit necessary, project. Thank you so much for the instructions - made this much easier than me just making crap up and hoping for the best, lol.

[Musiker]

To take the plug apart you need to hold the metal part. and twist and pull the plastic part - Mine came of quite easily. I fixated the metal tip in a vice using some O-rings (3mm) that just fitted inside the tip so the outer metal shield did not get squashed when is fasten it.

[russell62]

Great ideas - thankyou. - however I have 2 mac laptop power supplies with a problem where the small cord enters the power unit. Does anyone have an easy fix for this? I haven't tried to take one apart yet.

[David Levine]

So... is the function of the round metal sleeve over the power tip only a safety measure - to keep you from plugging he power supply into the headphone socket, for instance?

[Bjorno]

The sleeve has nothing to do with the actual power. It is just for extra damage protection and to prevent the plug from shorting. Since the actual power connector is similar to the 1/8" headphone jack, if there was no sleeve anytime the plug touched something it would short.

[Helloid]

I have between 4 of these bulky paperweights sitting around. I should at least sacrifice one of the to try the fix. If that doesn't work, it would be nice to have a place to send them where other people can make use of them. The one I am using on the laptop I am typing this with, needs to be tweaked every 15 minutes or so. I usually turn the plug until it lights green again. That cannot be good for the wires. I will be happy when I have a fix or get another computer.

[David Levine]

Does polarity matter -- if you went with a standard 2.5 mm stereo jack?

[grantaccess]

Thanks for the instructable. Took the guesswork out of repairing my sister's power connector.

[Bonnie Char]

Thank you for your advice. Yay for not having to shell out $79.00 for a new power brick!
I decided to take on this project after fixing two dead (logic board issue) G3 ibooks with the amazing 26cent method http://www.fak3r.com/2007/05/29/howto-fix-a-g3-ibook-with-a-bad-logic-board-for-26-cents/ (just open the lower case and tape a quarter and penny to the metal housing outside where the VRAM chip is located !)
Next here is the fix for an adapter that had frayed wire to the power brick: http://theappleblog.com/2005/08/13/powerbook-65w-ac-adaper-repair/
But getting back to your fix --
I would have never dreamed the adaptor plug end could have been repaired, but your post gave me the guts to go for it. (That and my not wanting to shell out $80)
The adapter plug is a tough nut to crack -- literally. It's not like you can even
dream of popping it apart.
For those not fortunate (?) enough to have a pre-cracked plug case like you did-- if you put the connector in a vice, it can be cut off fairly easily with a box cutter. I cut it into two halves by splitting it up each side, which made it really easy to put back on after the repair.
My connector guts were in fine shape and the solder to the plug was fine. The problem had been a worn cord where the wire comes out of the plug -- frayed to the point of sparking, so I really just needed to take the outer plug off; cut the bad length of wife off and re-solder. Be sure to put the shrink tubing on BEFORE soldering the wire. LOL. We used a piece of black electric tape around the plug casing to further enhance the binding effects of the glue gun. I like to think it gives the thing a decorative sushi look. Thank you for the excellent pictures and instructions!

[David Levine]

Where can you obtain the new plug- the power tip? I live in ireland. Thanks.

[HippoDan]

I have to recommend against using glue as a strain relief. I used silicone when I fixed mine about a year ago, but now that it had broken again just past the end of my silicone strain relief, it's proving to be very difficult to get the plug apart again. When you do this repair, just prepare to be doing it again in a year or so, those wires are terribly thin and flimsy. Great Instructable, great pictures, wish I'd seen it before I fixed it the first time.

[Travholt]

This was the first time I've ever soldered electronics, and it was a bit scary. The solder points for the wires are extremely close to nearby circuit board components and metal paths! Also, make sure you don't leave tin sticking out to the sides, as that will prevent you from slipping the sheath back on.

[Travholt]

My strain relief was broken, and the outer wire was exposed and beginning to break. Now I'm left with a better strain relief than before, and have saved almost a hundred bucks to boot. (Although I bought a cheap soldering iron, but that's an investment!)

[Travholt]

I did as mcircosta did, but after using the thin edge, I repeated with the back side of the blade, then with the back edge of a kitchen knife (which gets wider closer to the handle). Then I could get hold with my fingers and wriggle it off gently.

[Travholt]

I didn't have heat shrink tubing, so I left that wire end exposed (but tinned) until I had soldered the wires back on and was ready to replace the cap, at which time I put hot glue around both wires. I think this has the added benefit of added strain relief too.

[Mr_Ruckus]

I always wondered... what is that nylon bristle stuff for in head phones anyway. Antistatic Insulation?

[Derin]

It gives strength to the cord.

[fallingstarvideo]

with mine, white top, I had to use and Xacto knife to place between the clear circle and the white outer sleeve. this with safety glasses, I was able to twist slightly the xacto blade not breaking it but I have broken it before. back to the white sleeve, I then used 2 very slim jewlers flat screwdrivers to pry each side up slightly.

[mage]

overpriced Apple cables, dosent cease to surprise me that this would happen XC

[gabriahl]

I WISH I'D SEEN THIS 2 WEEKS AGO MY CHORD GOT SO MANGLED IT STARTED FIRE. IN CHEAPSKATE DESPERATION I TOOK IT APART AND JUST SEPARATED THE WIRES SAME AS YOU BUT LEFT BUT LEFT THE ONES CONNECTED TO THE CIRCUIT BOARD SPLICED THE WIRES TOGETHER WRAPPED BOTH WIRES IN ELECTRICAL TAPE SEPARATELY THEN WRAPPED THOSE TOGETHER WITH MORE ELECTRICAL TAPE THEN WRAPPED THE WHOLE THING IN FOIL TAPE TO GIVE IT A HARD SHELL. NO SOLDERING. BUT WORKED. WISH I'D SEEN YOURS THOUGH WOULD HAVE SAVED ME SOME GUESTIMATING

[mage]

lol, guestimating. i think that is a word is Bush's vocabulary

[Derin]

[jonboytang]

caps enuf? :P

[Von Klaus]

not going to help be but my mom has this old powerbook from 95 the cable is not broken but you have to hold the cable into the computer to recharge. any help?