MacBook Pro :: MAGSAFE Started Getting Hot

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.