3 Apple’s Burning Ring of Fire
Posted in Apple, Miscellaneous, Technology on Tuesday, March 21st, 2006.

An amazing thing happened to me today. I was sitting at my laptop working when, all of a sudden, the connector for the power cord that plugs into the laptop caught on fire. I yanked the cord immediately. The thing gave off a few thin tendrils of smoke and then died a quiet, peaceful death.

Had I not been at my computer when it happened I’m quite sure my computer would have burned up. Had I not been home my entire house might have burned down.

Apple makes really shitty power connectors. What are the odds that on the same day this happens to me I would pop over to read the “Cult of Mac” blog and see a discussion about a power cord melting down on a MacBook?

Different laptops, different situations. I really doubt that guy’s cat pulled the cord out of his laptop. I think the magnetic link broke once the connector caught on fire and the thing fell out on it’s own.

In my case, my connector had been previously bent when it had been yanked out of the laptop on accident. Over time the thicker part of the cable at the base of the plastic plug (the one that goes into the laptop) split open. I can’t say exactly why. It could have been a stress fracture from the new angle of use or heat from the electrical wire inside acting on a point of weakness that developed when the cord was yanked or, most likely, some combination thereof.

The split got worse but the plug still worked. I was planning on using the Ultimate Tool to Fix All Problems (duct-tape) but I hadn’t gotten around to it yet. I really don’t know what the final straw for it was today but I do have some advice for people with broken power cords. This may seem like really obvious advice, but go with me here, as I made the mistake myself and I’m not a total idiot:

Don’t use broken power cords.

Bent may be okay but once the electrical wire inside of the plastic is exposed stop. It’s time to buy a new cord. It hurts. Apple charges $80 for the $%@! things. Your house or business most likely cost more than that though, so it’s worth it.

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3 Responses to “Apple’s Burning Ring of Fire”

1. Rothko, on March 21st, 2006 at 11:46 pm, said:
   

   My sister-in-law had a cord like this. But luckily for her she had a handy uncle who took some sort of soldering tool to it. . . . Anyway, I’m glad nobody was hurt!

2. Chat, on March 22nd, 2006 at 12:00 am, said:
   

   Yeah, I’m glad too.

3. Judd, on March 23rd, 2006 at 9:40 pm, said:
   

   Wow. I never got to see actual flames (thank god), but otherwise the exact same thing happened to me. My dead MagSafe just stopped working.

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