Magsafe L-shape connector

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Level 1

17 points

Magsafe L-shape connector

I have a MacBook Pro (late 2011) 15" laptop. I've been noticing that the L-shape metal connector that I plug onto my laptop gets very hot (like you cannot hold it in my fingers for more than 1 second). I have tested this problem with the laptop running and no apps running at all and the connector gets hot. I've tried shutting down the laptop and let it charge and it still gets hot. Once I plug it into the laptop it only takes about 10 to 15 seconds for it to go from normal ambient room temperature (70 degrees F) to burning hot. I'm using the 85 watt MagSafe version with the L-shape connector as recommended by Apple. The connector port on my laptop for the MagSafe is not hot just the metal L-shape connector itself. The battery symbol always indicates that the battery is being charged when the connector is plugged in, it's just that I feel it is extremely dangerous to leave it plugged in with the current situation. Anyone else run into this problem and what is the reason for this hot connector situation?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Oct 31, 2016 9:26 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 31, 2016 5:31 PM in response to waynefromnl

The L-shaped connectors have a higher incidence of short circuiting inside the connector end. If you can freely rotate the L-shaped end around the cord more than a few degrees, it is likely suffering an internal short circuit, and that is why it is getting hot.

The L-shaped and T-shaped ends are electrically identical, you may use either. At this writing the DC power cords are not considered serviceable and the entire power adapter would likely need to be replaced.

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Answer 2

waynefromnl Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 31, 2016 5:38 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thank you for your speedy answer. Now if only Apple could offer a permanent solution for this flawed design as fast as you responded would be nice. Thanks again for your help, I will trash the MagSafe adapter at once. Making a product that cannot be serviced reminds me of the Keurig coffee maker. Their unit has to be trashed when a problem arises as well. Some really ingenious marketing at work, at least for the manufacturer and certainly not for the consumer.

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