Q: An american Macbook Pro in the UK?

noondaywitch wrote:

 

Nothing visible with an 8x magnifier - Magsafe to earth pin = ∞

Thank you for taking the trouble of doing this. But your pics show the British "duckhead", while I was talking about the AC cord. My pic shows the hybrid German/French version; I'm using the NEMA version, and I can see quite clearly the metal rails in the indicated section. As I said, I cannot test it at present, but I'm sure they connect the AC cord plug's earthing pin to the pin on the adaptor.

What AC cord? According to the info on the brick, the output cord to the magsafe is at 16.5v DC.

noondaywitch wrote:

 

What AC cord?

See

<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2346>

(to which I referred earlier). A MagSafe adaptor consists of 3 parts: the adaptor (with a captive DC cord featuring the MagSafe connector), the "duckhead", and the AC cord.

According to

<http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MC556B/B?fnode=MTY1NDEwMQ>

this is true of UK MagSafe adaptors as well: "An AC cord is provided with the adapter for maximum cord length […]".

Oh, you mean the extension lead?

Hang on a mo…

Ha! Yes, indeed - that does have the rails in the slot and they do connect to the Earth pin.

Which begs the question why not the directly attached plug? (duckhead to you).

Actually, as the brick is double insulated it doesn't strictly need to be earthed (at least on this side of the pond).

Incidentally, the older of our MacBooks didn't come with an extension lead, and that and the Airport Expresses all have the same, earthless, plug.

Message was edited by: noondaywitch

noondaywitch wrote:

 

you mean the extension lead?

Well, Apple calls it the "AC cord", so…

Which begs the question why not the directly attached plug? (duckhead to you)

It raises the question. As to the answer—I've no clue.

the brick is double insulated it doesn't strictly need to be earthed

Exactly. As I said in my earlier post, it doesn't have to be earthed at all. Basic user protection in switched mode power supplies of this type is provided by double insulation, not earthing or grounding.

AC Cord

AC=Alternating Current, the stuff that comes out of the wall socket, everywhere.

I am an electrician, CSound; albeit an aircraft one.

However we use different terms for different items here. Your 'AC cord' extends the reach of the charging unit - hence it is in normal parlance an 'extension lead'.

noondaywitch wrote:

 

I am an electrician, CSound; albeit an aircraft one.

However we use different terms for different items here. Your 'AC cord' extends the reach of the charging unit - hence it is in normal parlance an 'extension lead'.

Electricians everywhere, I'm IBEW134 electrician (not aircraft), trained in London but long since relocated. Westinghouse came up with AC a very long time ago, DC for Edison, I'll continue to use it thanks.

Do the aircraft you work on have high frequency AC supplies (400hz) or not?

Worked.

I retired in 2010, but not before pulmonary fibrosis dealt me a bad card.

I'm well aware of of the term, thank you; but that doesn't mean I think of every item of AC equipment as an "AC dooda".

An extension lead is what allows me to connect to a socket further away than the normal reach of the charger (or whatever).

And I'm finding these tedious semantics increasingly boring. The OP obviously got that way long ago.

noondaywitch wrote:

 

I'm finding these tedious semantics increasingly boring.

With all due respect, as long as we're talking about Apple products, I think it's best if we all sing from the same hymn book and use Apple's terminology. If Apple calls this part an "AC cord", even in user guides accompanying products sold in the UK, then we'll avoid any transatlantic misunderstandings if we stick to that.