Skip to main content

Wire repair for power adapter / charger

I have what seems to be a broken/breaking/unreliable wire on the power adapter/charger for my iBook G4. It's at the weak point of the thin transformer-to-computer cord, where it exits from the transformer. The power goes on & off when I bend the cord at this point, and it's becoming increasingly tricky to get it to stay on during a charge.

Is this wire easy to repair?

Thanks ... gord

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

Is this a good question?

Score 2
Add a comment

5 Answers

Chosen Solution

Although it's perfectly possible to repair one of these, I tend to chicken out when it comes to electrical issues, especially considering the risk of fire, and the fact that you can get new 3rd party AC adapters with extension for $15 or so on eBay. Just type "iBook AC adapter 65 watt".

Was this answer helpful?

Score 5

2 Comments:

I agree. If you don't trust eBay, ifixit has'em for $19: http://www.ifixit.com/Mac-Parts/iBook-G4...

by

Same thing happened to me, exactly. Eventually it deteriorated to the point where it was unusable. Nineteen bucks later I have a reliable 3rd party adapter that has worked ever since.

by

Add a comment

Hardest part is to take the adapter apart. Then just shorten the cable.

Nothin doing - you dont have to touch / work in the mains area.

Piece of cake

Was this answer helpful?

Score 1
Add a comment

How do you know for sure that it's a problem with the wire and not the DC-in board?

Was this answer helpful?

Score 0

1 Comment:

Because: "The power goes on and off when I bend the cord at a certain point."

by

Add a comment

I just finished repairing two of these myself... (I have an 8-month-old kitten who likes to chew them)... There was a third that was, apparently, unsuccessful ...

As a previous poster said, there's not much to it, really. Just chop out the damaged section of cable and shortened it up. If I'd been thinking I would have done a video and posted that too...

The biggest "problem" I ran into was the double-helix braided shielding of the outer conductor. I ended up just breaking it into three strands and very gently soldering them back together that way, then eat-shrinking the whole assembly. I'm typing this out on a MacBook running on a repaired PSU right now, so it apparently worked...

Some things to think about if doing this yourself:

1) Try and stagger the inner core and outer shielding solder-points. I was dumb (and in a rush) and didn't, and it's a little bit lumpy now as a result.

2) Make a bloody point of checking the pinout voltages against a GOOD power supply before you jack it in. I screwed up one of the three I was working on (I'm still not sure how. Have to rip it apart again...) and am awfully glad I didn't plug it in...

Good luck!

Was this answer helpful?

Score 0
Add a comment

You can fix but their high risk of fire so you can buy it for 19$ 'but my other way is to find the pioint of chargeing and hot glue it so it will stay the same place or do it with string

Was this answer helpful?

Score 0
Add a comment

Add your answer

aark will be eternally grateful.
View Statistics:

Past 24 Hours: 0

Past 7 Days: 3

Past 30 Days: 5

All Time: 12,723