Replacing the Magsafe cable

The cables on Macbook chargers just don’t seem to last long. I’m on my third one, and they’re not cheap at £65 a go.

In this post I’ll go over how I fixed my Macbook Magsafe charger for £4.99 by replacing just the cable and connector.

It’s a straight forward job but the charger housing can be tricky to open (it’s sealed) so I’ll show you a neat trick I discovered for getting it open.

What struck me is that the actual material used for the cable insulation appears to degrade over time, to a point where it becomes crumbly and stars to disintegrate.

As the insulation comes away the copper strands break which eventually results in a higher resistance and therefore more heat – and a burning smell. Eventually the cable overheats, melts and fails.

My problem with the new (cylindrical) magsafe connector

I upgraded to the Macbook pro 2 years ago. Along with it came the new cylindrical magsafe connector. I noticed two problems:

• Does not function as well as my old rectangle magsafe connector (doesn’t always detach from Macbook when pulled causing more strain on the cable)
• Not enough strain relief since this new (cylindrical) design allows the cable to be bent around 180 degrees
• Appears to use a different, inferior, material for the rubber insulation

I have cables that I’ve had for +10 years and still work fine so why is the Apple cable (on a premium Apple product) failing after 2 years?

Apple told me that the only option is to buy another at a cost of £65 at which point I asked if the design had been improved and if the same problem will happen in another 2 years. The answer was no and probably – general wear and tear he said.

The unit is sealed and is not serviceable. It means that such a minor thing like a faulty cable renders the whole charger useless. What a waste. Let me show you how you can reduce waste and save money by fixing it yourself…

Open the charger housing

I tired for 30 minutes trying to neatly get this case open. The two halves are fused together really well. Then I remembered how PolyCement glue softens plastic and dissolves styrene. I ran it all around the seams.

A bit of force

Open

OK that was messy. The plastic is very soft.

Finally open

Desolder and remove old wires and cable

Prepare new wire

Solder new cable – two wires

I bought a new cable and connector from Ebay: Replacement macbook charger cable

Put it all back

I used a blob of silicone to glue the case back together and poly cement round the seams

Clamp in vice to wait for glue to set.

Fixed

It’s a little chewed up but it works as new. And I also downgraded to the old rectangle connector design – in my opinion it’s a much better design

Conclusion

I saved £60 on buying a whole new Macbook charger and in the process I upgrade to the old, better, rectangle connector. And I suppose it’s one less thing on an e-waste pile.

Apple, why did you change to the cylindrical connector design? i genuinely would like to know.

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only mac user who thinks the new Magsafe connector is a step backwards? Please leave comments below…

EDIT: I bought a new 2015 macbook and it looks like Apple have gone back to the original rectangle connector design.