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Can I use a 60 w 16.5 voltMagSafe charger on my Macbook pro (mid 2010) 10.95 battery?

I have been given a Macbook Pro. The battery was dead. I happen to have a 60w MagSafe charger with a mating end that matches the Macbook. I tried charging for several hours with no success although the connector end had a green light. Proceeding further I opened up the Macbook to find the battery badly bulged! I assume it has been destroyed. Looking at the battery I see that it is rated at 10.95 volts! I assume that is a pretty good reason for the battery to have failed!! That is charging a 10.95 battery with a 16.5 volt charger! My question is "have I destroyed anything on the motherboard? with that high a voltage? and why in the world would Apple make a charger that would match up with the magnetic connector if it wasn't compatible? I need to know if i have damaged the motherboard or? Is there any device to protect the motherboard in place like a fuse or diode that can be replaced? What is the correct chargers voltage rating (Not very interested in the Wattage rating). And lastly, assuming I have the correct charger and the old battery removed, can I run the Macbook without the battery and only the correct charger attached to the magnetic plug or will I burn out something without having a battery in the circuit? Thanks for any help.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Aug 27, 2015 10:36 PM

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4 replies

Aug 27, 2015 10:58 PM in response to Macman G

why in the world would Apple make a charger that would match up with the magnetic connector if it wasn't compatible?

They don't.

It IS compatible. It takes more than 10.95 Volts through a regulator to charge a 10.95 Volt battery.


The battery only draws as much current through its control circuits as it needs. If the battery was bulged when you inspected it, that is probably because it was bulged when you got it.


In general, there is no penalty for using an overly large power adapter with any Mac it fits. It will work fine and will not damage anything. It is just heavier to carry around.


There is only a small penalty for using an overly small power adapter with any Mac it fits -- the Mac cannot charge and run at the same time, and may be slower when doing power-intensive operations.


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You can run a MacBook without a battery to TEST it. You will not actively burn it up. But in day-to-day use, the battery buffers fluctuations in power -- the same way the Big capacitors in a Desktop Mac does. You should not run a notebook Mac without a battery.

Aug 27, 2015 11:38 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks for the quick answers. The Macbook in question is a mid 2010 15" A1286. My limited experience with lithium batteries and radio control is that the batteries are very sensitive to voltage variations, with many a person burning down structures when exceeding narrow variations. Are you saying I can expect to use the charger I have ( a 60 w MagSafe power adaptor) to charge my new battery when I install it? That the 16.5 volts will not overload the 10.95 volt battery because of the "special" circuity built into the Macbook Pro? I will have to think about that a little more. Does any one know the output voltage of the original charger supplied with this model? Thank you very much for taking the time to respond.

Aug 28, 2015 8:30 AM in response to Macman G

The MacBook Pro has some of the best power management in the notebook computer business. There is an enormous amount of cumulative Engineering in the battery (which has its own microController) the MacBook (which has its own MicroController in addition to the main Processor that runs your programs) and the solid state charging circuitry. I assure you It is not "thrown together".


All of these combine to be certain the batteries do not overcharge (even if you leave the power adapter connected for a very long time) and that everything stays safe.


"If it fits together it will work together". Apple does the Engineering so that you do not have to clutter your mind with details of Power and Voltage. Use the correct power adapter (that came with it, or an exact replacement) or a larger one. Apple brand will be Safe and will work without issue. That's the Apple way.

Can I use a 60 w 16.5 voltMagSafe charger on my Macbook pro (mid 2010) 10.95 battery?

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