Why do MacBook power cords fray so easily?

In my case the rubber cover of the cable first becomes sticky, then it becomes loose with respect to the metal cable, and finally it frays. Moreover it seems as if it becomes longer than the cable it covers. Now I have approximately 1.5cm of excess rubber. This is my third cable, and in all cases it happened exactly the same way. I do not wind the cable around the charder, i carry it is suitcase in a separate compartment. I cannot believe any extra precautions I would use for a device that is supposed to be portable.

Someone here suggested Chinese cable replacements. I have one. It dies not fray, but it seems they did something funny in terms of hacking the software of the integrated circuit inside the Magsafe connector. First my 60W charger presents itself as 45W, second a normal charger takes 1 second for the green light to turn on, the Chinese one turns immediately, and I find it to be a potential fire hazard (the 1 second is handy, as it switches on power when the cable sits firmly in the socket, without it one can get sparks.). So Chinese cables are not a solution, at least the one I have obtained.

I don't wind mine. It just hangs there. And frays.

I have three power adapters that are about 5, 3 and 1/2 yr old. No fraying on any of them. It is possible that the way you use it promotes the fraying or you just have received a faulty one. Do what Baby Boomer (USofA) suggests.

Ciao.

You are still under warranty. Either report to AppleCare or take a trip down to your local AS or AASP & get a new one.

My MacBook Pro 13 is 2 years old now and my power cord has begun to fray close to the computer connection.

I think my trouble has been caused by the sharp outside edge of the screen lid rubbing against the cable.

Most power outlets I use are on my right so the cable runs parallel to the back of the computer then turns a sharp left to connect.

Am I right in thinking that the latest power supplies connect at right angles to the left hand edge of the case - that being so I imagine that will help prevent the problem.

I'm on my third in a year and a half. First one I was told it was user caused. What a load. Really bad bad product.

Careful with your charger and its cable

Do not make any hard bends or folds in your charging cable, or wind it tightly, always make either circles or loose loops when winding your cord up for storage. Also do not, as many people have seen, unroll your charger block from the magsafe end by letting the charger drop and unroll itself like a yo-yo, this is both hard on the charger and its connection points at both ends.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1630

Yeah, I'm on the third one in a year and a half. The odds are against it being me, especially as I use it sitting in bed nearly all the time - no cars running over the cord or hot things falling on it.

depends on how you wind it up when done, and a MAIN THING that splits cords open is not letting them unravel their in-line twists before winding them up.

winding while still twisted compounds the pressure on the inner wires towards busting out of the cable sleeve.

When re-winding, make a 1 to 2 inch loop in the air, then wind around the ears. This randomizes the initial contact point and reduces initial strain.

Yup, been preaching and practicing same long time

"no hard loops" 😊

I am on my third "L" shapped power cord. All 3 have failed at the mag safe end (not the brick). I have tried making sure there is a "gentle" loop, running the power cable along the side (not towards the back). I do not wrap the cable up tight when done and i don't use the brick like a Yo-Yo.

the idea of running the cable on the side is stupid as it covers all the ports. i have to run presentations fromt the PB and need the ports when i do that. so i have to flip the power cable the other way when presenting.

i didn't have any of these problems pre-mag safe with the older power cables. i understand the benifit of the mag safe, but this is a design and quality problem. At $80 a unit i can't keep replacing the darn thing and they seem to fail just over a year or so after they are purchased.

the pattern i have noticed is the same. the last 6 inches of the cable prior to the magsafe starts to yellow and the plastic cable clip can no longer slide easily down the cable in this area. The cable then seems to loosen and swell; eventually the sheeth then splits. the cable now seems to twist slightly and deforms the power cable so as to become crooket and the outer sheeth now seems to be excessively long.

if i now counter twist and pull on the magsafe end, the cable sheething now returns to its proper lenght for the amount of sheething. it appears to me that this is being caused by metal fatique and the Negative braid cable is causing this to happen. I am wondering if shrink tape will fix this for me intead of buying yet another cable.

OGELTHORPE wrote:

I have three power adapters that are about 5, 3 and 1/2 yr old. No fraying on any of them.

Well, I've owned several PowerBooks/MacBooks, and I consciously try to baby the adapters to the point of not winding them up on the "ears" (I think that just strains them more). The power adapters in my first 10 years of Mac laptops never frayed (the non-white adapters), and yet I've seen the cords for these generations of white adapters fray and have had to rely on the mercy of Apple to replace a few of them. Thankfully Apple has done this free of charge even when slightly out of warranty.

As much as I like Apple designs in general, their recent power adapter designs are historically nearly as tragic as their mouse designs. From duck heads with sparky intermittent hinge connections to fraying cords, Apple could really do better.

Bad design and or bad materials. This only happened with my one and a half year old Macbook pro - never happened in the last 10 years with other macs.