11 ms·

Counterfeit Macbook charger teardown: convincing outside but dangerous inside

250 points by dcschelt 11y ago

imh 11y ago
I stopped buying brand name macbook chargers when the plastic on the cable frayed on my fourth charger. The difference from the other three times was that this time, it started smoking where it frayed. Had I not been paying attention, who knows what would have happened. I took it to the apple store and told them what happened and that I had bought it from them within the year, asking for a replacement. They said it was excluded from the warranty because it was "normal wear and tear" or something like that. Say what you will for the counterfeits, but they use heavy plastic and actually seem less likely to burn down your apartment. And cost a fraction of the brand ones.
- Larrikin 11y ago
  I've never had a single cord fray on me before it was time to replace whatever it plugged in to, except for every single Apple cord I've ever had. What are some good alternatives? I'm tired of replacing the electrical tape on my MBPr charger brick.
  - iheartmemcache 11y ago
    Wow, I can't believe Apple still has a fray problem. I remember my OS 9 G3 Powerbook went through 3 or 4 chargers. Don't risk buying from a 3rd party vendor (read my post below). The best you're going to be able to do is to get thick gauge, heat-shrink wrap tubing and use your wife's hair dryer if you don't have a hot air gun. I've used this brand[1] before with success. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Anytime-Tools-Shrink-Sleeve-Assorted/dp/B008WWC6FU/ref=sr_1_2?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1458523678&sr=1-2 http://www.amazon.com/Anytime-Tools-Shrink-Sleeve-Assorted/d...
    - nkurz 11y ago
      After the third official adapter cord destroyed itself, I've taken to repairing them with heat-shrink tubing as well. The tricky part is that unless you want to cut and resolder the cord, you need to get heat-shrink tubing that's large enough to fit over the end connector. I've found that 3/8" heat shrink fits over the connector, but 1/4" does not. But the 3/8" (at least for the brand I got) does not constrict down enough to fit tightly on the think cable. So I bulk up the cable with 1/4" silicone aquarium air pump tubing. Instructions: Cut one ~4" piece of silicone tubing, slit lengthwise, and put just below the connector. Cut another ~4" piece of silicone tubing, slit lengthwise, put over the first piece of tubing with the slit on the opposite side. Put this second piece slightly higher, so "top" of tubing covers the base of the connector, and the "bottom" of tubing is ~1/4" shy of the inner layer. Then cut a piece of 3/8" heat shrink to ~4.5" long. Slide the heat shrink over the connector on to the two layers of silicone tubing, so the "top" is tight to the L of the connector, and the "bottom" extends just past the farther (inner) tubing. Then shrink the tubing with some appropriate heat source (or carefully shrink with an inappropriate source like a match or lighter).
      - iheartmemcache 11y ago
        I just emailed this to off to the couple of friends of mine who still use MBP's. This is a real, real clever solution. Read this post, it's very clever not just as an instructive on heat-shrink repair, but the composition (if I'm visualizing this correctly) also functions as strain relief, which is ultimately the cause of fray[1]. My way around the 'over the connector' was just to oversize via teflon tape (naive solution, I know), but your idea is simple yet genius (silicone is soft, so it won't score the existing exterior of the wire, and silicone is rigid enough to act as auxiliary support). If you're rough on your gear (I've thrown my laptop into a TSA container in a 5:30AM grog more times that I can count), I'd do this as a precautionary measure even if you don't see any damage yet. It might not look pretty, but functionality over form any day. [1] combined with using thin wire shielding in order to maintain a 'sleek' aesthetic
        nkurz 11y ago
        Thanks. Yes, the goal of the step-down on the cable end is to improve the strain relief. I tried earlier rigid solutions, but found that they soon frayed below the fix. My attempts with tape started out well, but eventually the tape would slip and the heat shrink would slide down. The silicone tubing has more "grab". I think you are visualizing it correctly. Let's see if I can replicate it with ASCII art (not to scale): ------------------------------ ==========================****************** =========================********************* ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++*********O******** =========================********************* ==========================****************** ------------------------------ **************** **************** - layer of heat shrink ------- Rigid Connector = outer layer of silicone =****************** = inner layer of silicone =******************** + Thin frayed Apple cable ++++***color O led *** = inner layer of silicone =******************** = outer layer of silicone =****************** - layer of heat shrink ------- **************** **************** It comes out looking quite nice. The rigidity of the tubing plus shrink wrap isn't a problem if you plug in so that the rigid part is along the side of the laptop. It actually provides a fairly nice handle for unplugging, since you can get good leverage anywhere along the shrink wrapped portion.
  - ghufran_syed 11y ago
    i keep a bottle of "liquid electrical tape", and use that to reinforce the insulation when it starts to weaken.
- asteli 11y ago
  I would NOT trust a counterfeit charger over an Apple one. Did you miss the bit of the article where they describe design shortcomings that could burn your house down? Magsafe connectors are not inherently protected against short circuits, making them a particularly dangerous charger to buy a counterfeit of. Not to excuse Apple of their own design shortcomings (cable fraying issues are pretty much par for the course, which is unacceptable, barring an interchangeable cable, IMO), but counterfeit chargers are not a safe alternative.
  - imh 11y ago
    I didn't miss it, but neither did I miss when the Apple brand one almost did exactly that to me.
- givinguflac 11y ago
  I have a MBP charger from 2007 that still is in good shape and is in use with a MagSafe 2 adapter currently. Perhaps you're constantly having the cable under strain?
- PhasmaFelis 11y ago
  Apple chargers are indeed shit, but the counterfeits are actually worse.
Matt3o12_ 11y ago
Are there any MagSafe Chargers that are save and sold at a reasonable price (or have a better durability then apple's)?
- ryanSrich 11y ago
  I was going through 1-2 chargers per year between 2013 and 2015. In December I said enough was enough and decided to take a stab at designing a more durable one. If there's any interest I can write up a post on it. I have a Frankenstein version that I use daily, and I even looked into DIY kits for making the chargers more durable but it was cost prohibitive.
  - ics 11y ago
    You should. I've been jury-rigging the same three chargers (down from 6) since 2007 and not looking to upgrade, so no USB-C for me. The chargers themselves are great but the connectors are a chore– no matter how gentle I've been, eventually the heat softens them, then a tiny torque and it's torn.
  - moreati 11y ago
    Yes please, I'd like to know more. If you don't have time for a full write up even a photo dump (e.g. to Imgur) would be interesting.
- X-Istence 11y ago
  Apple's MagSafe chargers are absolutely fantastic from an electrical engineering standpoint, where they tend to fall flat is on the cables/connectors. One of the things that has extended the life of my chargers is to be careful when wrapping the wire around the two ears, leave a good bit of slack so that you don't over tighten the charger wire. This alone has solved most of my issues with my Apple MagSafe Chargers, and I have one that I've had since 2007 that is still in full working condition.
  - drunken-serval 11y ago
    I never wrap the wire around the clips they provide. I just loosely coil the wire on top of the charger and leave plenty of slack. I always make sure my bag can safely store the charger so it doesn't end up upside down. Every charger I've got since 2008 still works.
est 11y ago
Chinese fake capacitors http://i.imgur.com/k5i5EXW.jpg http://i.imgur.com/k5i5EXW.jpg The scam was so successful it even ended up in a college EE textbook http://i.imgur.com/MUjlvAc.jpg http://i.imgur.com/MUjlvAc.jpg (the author thought it was a normal type of capacitor.) See moar outstanding Chinese counterfeit products here https://www.zhihu.com/question/37915231 https://www.zhihu.com/question/37915231 The site (zhihu.com) itself is a copycat of Quora.
- Laforet 11y ago
  The early 2000s were a horrorshow as far as capacitors were concerned. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
  - csours 11y ago
    So that's why the ELO monitor power supplies kept dying...
  - coldpie 11y ago
    Wow, my friend's TV just failed. We cracked it open this past weekend and we found a busted cap that looks just like those. Manufacture date would be mid-2000s, probably 2006-ish. I wonder if they were from one of those bad batches. Crazy coincidence to learn about this now. Edit: Hm, maybe not: """With a typically shortened life span of about 1.5 to 3 years for the failing capacitors, from mid-2003 up to mid-2006, the last of the bad capacitors should have failed by 2007. Commentators on the Internet often predicted the year 2007 would be the end point for "bad capacitors"."""
- iheartmemcache 11y ago
  Haha, the thing that blows my mind is if those are real Rubycons, that's kind of like selling a "7 series" BMW encased in a real C-series Mercedes enclosure.
  - Jack000 11y ago
    Would be funny if that one was a fake too. A nesting doll of fakes all the way down
stygiansonic 11y ago
Ken Shirriff's teardowns are the best. In particular, this comparison between different USB AC adapters was quite illuminating: http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-ap... The legit ones have quite a bit of complexity inside their inconspicuous package. The fake one carry some not-so-innocuous surprises inside.
- stygiansonic 11y ago
  One other thing I've learned about counterfeiters is that there is almost no product too cheap to counterfeit. If there is a suitable demand for the product, there will be counterfeits. You can see this in the cheap USB AC adapters above, but also in items like the Casio F-91W[1], a cheap retro watch that has made a comeback in recent years. Search on eBay and you'll find tons of them, mostly for really cheap prices, i.e. < $10 or even < $5. It's virtually impossible to identify a fake on the auction site, and even when you first have it it's difficult to tell. (Here[2] is one test, and a teardown comparison between fake vs. real) So, just assume anything super-cheap is fake, and you won't be let down. However, there are some real differences. You'll notice that the band might look/feel slightly cheaper, and most importantly, the thing doesn't keep time. I have a legit F-91W, and for the most part, the watch doesn't gain/lose more than maybe 1-3 minutes per year. The fake ones, however, are fast/slow by 10-20 minutes per month. This is likely where they are saving money, i.e. the quartz oscillator thingy is either cheap or doesn't have calibration or whatever. The battery life is also likely far worse than most Casios, (though I have not confirmed this) which are generally excellent in this respect. This is a watch that is regularly available on Amazon for a legit price of < $15. (Right now, it's ~$10) And there are tons of fakes out there. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk_-_Phiklc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk_-_Phiklc
  - pthreads 11y ago
    Cool. Thanks for the links. I used to have a genuine Casio years ago and loved it. Ran for about five years on the same battery. Wanted to buy one again and almost bought one online.
BreesusChrist 11y ago
I love his teardown's. You always learn SO much.
wodenokoto 11y ago
What is the legality of these chargers? I thought the magsafe adapter was patented and therefore 3rd parties can't built compatible plugs without a license.
- kens 11y ago
  I'm not a lawyer, but there's also trademark violation, trafficking in counterfeit goods (USC § 2320) and violation of the UL's service mark, not to mention plain old fraud.
  - profmonocle 11y ago
    Plus the CE mark is very illegal if any of those make it to Europe.
    - the-dude 11y ago
      Citation needed
    - wodenokoto 11y ago
      Actually it is not. The CE mark is the producers guarantee that the product lives up the the European safety standards and it is the producers job to download and print the logo. You cannot officially be CE certified by a third party, but once you slap on that logo you are very liable if you don't live up to the standard.
- AmVess 11y ago
  Manufacturers of garbage don't care about patents. The sheer volume of this crap is next to impossible to police by people charged with doing so.
  - wodenokoto 11y ago
    > Manufacturers of garbage don't care about patents That doesn't mean I don't think it's interesting to know.
artursapek 11y ago
Amazon sold me one of these. It's a complete piece of shit. It lost connectivity after a few months. I have been very frustrated with it. It works only 10% of the time, seemingly at random. In fact, it was just sitting by my apartment door because I was going to throw it into the dumpster the next time I go outside. Here's some photos I just took of it: http://imgur.com/a/KaQZ3 http://imgur.com/a/KaQZ3. Notice the exact same markings as in this article, and the poorly aligned components. Cheap knock-off. The killer part of this for me is that Amazon claims the product is "by Apple"; this is the page I used to purchase it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J3ZGEE4 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J3ZGEE4. Apple's apparent lack of control over their supply chain and brand, combined with their degrading software quality, is making it almost a certainty that my next computer will either be a Surface Pro or some kind of Linux ultrabook.
- cynix 11y ago
  The product you linked to is sold by a 3rd party seller, not Amazon. This is why I never buy from 3rd party sellers.
  - delecti 11y ago
    Even products sold "by Amazon" can be counterfeit. Amazon lets 3rd party sellers ship their product to the fulfillment centers to be shipped out by Amazon, and if multiple sellers are selling the same item then it can all get bundled together in the same bin.
  - artursapek 11y ago
    You're right that the page says "Sold by Mayday Dealz and Fulfilled by Amazon." I definitely missed that when purchasing, because the very top says Apple 45W MagSafe 2 Power Adapter for MacBook Air *by Apple* Amazon probably allows this to be misleading, because I bet it increases sales. Ideally they would make it a lot clearer when you're dealing with a third party seller. I realize it only takes a moment to glance at the reviews and see a red flag, but I don't remember them being so negative back when I purchased it about a year ago.
EGreg 11y ago
What makes this teardown so dangerous inside? And why would someone make a counterfeit teardown... mostly to get notoriety?
- betaby 11y ago
  Quality of output is definitely a problem for counterfeit. Also from the other page "The standards are somewhat incomprehensible, but roughly 4mm of distance is required between the two circuits." However likes like even counterfeit maintains that distance.
- ceejayoz 11y ago
  > What makes this teardown so dangerous inside? There's an entire section called "What's wrong with this charger". > And why would someone make a counterfeit teardown... mostly to get notoriety? Why not?
- asteli 11y ago
  Magsafe connectors aren't inherently safe - all the contacts are exposed, creating a short-circuit and fire risk. Apple solves this by only supplying power when the cable is plugged into a laptop. Counterfeit adapters don't bother with the additional safety circuitry. If you were to poke the MagSafe end of a counterfeit charger into a wad of steel wool, you'd have a lot of sparks, and a good demonstration of why they're dangerous. As for why counterfeits exist... basic economics. Third party Magsafe adapters don't exist, due to Apple's legal stranglehold on the concept of a magnetically attached electrical cable. In a field void of competition, unscrupulous electronics manufacturers see a huge upside, and here you see the result.
ChuckMcM 11y ago
This is a pretty awesome teardown, the fake ones really are crap and they don't do the magsafe protocol (also on Ken's blog: http://www.righto.com/2013/06/teardown-and-exploration-of-magsafe.html http://www.righto.com/2013/06/teardown-and-exploration-of-ma...)
f_allwein 11y ago
So what are other trustworthy places to buy electronics? Seems like if you don't buy at Apple or Amazon (without 3rd party sellers), there's no way of knowing if an item is counterfeit. Which harms the market as they can charge higher prices...
- iheartmemcache 11y ago
  The scary thing is that even Amazon has had their procurement team fall prey to either grey market and sometimes just straight up counterfeit chips. If you're buying accessories that are going in hot (e.g. HDMI components that can blow an entire chip out, even on well designed name brand Panasonics[1], buy it from the original vendor. Otherwise it's a coin flip, because some of them don't even respect the simplest ESD shipping policies[2].) My Dell power supply was supposed to be a "Dell" that I got from Amazon (via a 3rd party vendor) and I'm 95% percent sure it was constructed by that same Apple imitating vendor. (The board layout was identical, the lack of solder mask, the brands of the caps were the same, etc.) One day it got really hot and stopped driving power to my laptop. I borrowed my buddies charger (first party) and that wouldn't work either. I cracked the thing open and saw the output filter caps had vented, and on the board there was a space for an additional cap which was unpopulated. They wanted to save 30 cents, and I ended up spending about a dozen hours and about a hundred dollars on diagnostics, part replacement, ensuring that nothing else was compromised, etc. Now I'll happily give Dell or any laptop vendor my money - let them keep their monopoly. I won't buy their overpriced RAM upgrades or SSDs (there's lots of aftermarket competition where I can get better products for the same price in that arena) but when it comes to clean power, nope. Going first party every time. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIKTbYYS6is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIKTbYYS6is [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZlc6tiL1gk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZlc6tiL1gk
- Spooky23 11y ago
  The industry is insane for creating potentially dangerous all in one interfaces given the carnival circus of the supply chain. That said, name brand at good retailers. I don't consider Amazon in that category for many commodities.
- x0x0 11y ago
chvid 11y ago
Sadly Apple can prevent non-Apple peripherals from being sold most places in the world. So we are stuck with their properietary lightning cables and chargers. Which are expensive, have a limited number of designs and are often of questionable quality (i.e. the white rubber insulation starts turning brown and peeling off after about 6 months use). Sure Chinese knockoffs bought by tourists in shady areas of Shenzhen or Hong Kong are not good either but the point is that Apple's monopoly/non-standard policies keeps a mature market from emerging.
- chvid 11y ago
  Ok - maybe it was a little harsh - the apple chargers are clearly of better quality than the Chinese copies. But man - I am tired of broken Apple cables and I would really like to see some competition for price and quality here.
ageofwant 11y ago
Dave Jone's EEVBlog hosts a number of teardowns, here's a similar one from 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-b9k-0KfE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-b9k-0KfE Good channel generally.
jhallenworld 11y ago
Suppose a DJ using a counterfeit charger bought from a 3rd party seller through Amazon burns down a nightclub, killing 100 people. Who gets sued in this case? Everyone! At the very least: the DJ, the club owner, the city, Apple, Amazon, 3rd party seller, maybe even UL if they are not aggressively protecting their logo.
- hackaflocka 11y ago
  What if it was a real Apple charger bought from Apple. And it ended up killing 100 people? The Apple blogger army would be out in force defending Apple in that case. What do you think? Would Apple be liable?
  - jhallenworld 11y ago
    Sure they are still liable. To minimize their liability, their design had better be pretty damn good (close to safest possible). I would argue that the Apple design also has to be close to the most reliable possible design, since a high failure rate will will encourage people to buy questionable aftermarket devices. I would also argue that Apple should not try to make a high profit on safety critical devices for the same reason.
  - rasz_pl 11y ago
    I like how you got down modded by apple fanboys while Apple was forced to recall faulty chargers already :) http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/apple-slammed-over-power-adapter-recall-incidents-may-be-underreported-20160201-gmioeu.html http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/apple-slammed-o...
- nommm-nommm 11y ago
  Why would the DJ get sued? It's not like they knew it was unsafe, these fakes are designed to look real and are advertised as real and readily available [from third party sellers] on Amazon. Most people expect things they buy from major retailers to be safe.
  - 11y ago
hackaflocka 11y ago
I just bought a pair of Nike Air Max 90 for $8 from China. Are you telling me that's likely to be fake too? Why the down votes?
nkurz 11y ago
I'm puzzled as to why counterfeit chargers never manage to have sufficient clearance distances. They use simple, low-complexity circuits so the circuit board layout should be straightforward. Except in the smallest cube phone chargers, they aren't fighting for every millimeter of space. It shouldn't take much additional effort to make the boards safer. I think this is an interesting question to ask. If there truly is no cost difference, why not make a better and safer product? I'd guess that "ignorance" (or at least a different assessment of risk) is the most likely answer. The person laying out the circuit has learned by trial and error, doesn't really understand the safety issues, isn't incentivized to spend time learning about them, and lacks oversight from anyone more knowledgeable. Is there a better theory?
- ChrisDutrow 11y ago
  Probably the same reason they often have typos and stuff in the fake labeling - they just don't have the know-how to do it better.
- nickff 11y ago
  It's difficult to know why anyone laid out a circuit one specific way, especially without a complete schematic, layout, and a few hours to think about it. It may be that this design was the only way to fit the circuit into an already designed enclosure, or it could be that this was done for some sort of manufacturability reason, they may have also had some issue with noise and done this to shield some part of the circuit. In addition, though the design may not meet the UL standards, it might be good enough. UL standards are neither necessary nor sufficient to guarantee safety and reliability. I find many of the OP's criticisms to be rather facile, and would prefer to see this 'counterfeit' tested to failure, with the results compared to a genuine Apple product. Armed with this comparison, we could judge whether the cost savings were achieved wisely or through foolish design. Any reader of hardware teardowns should remember that the majority of people writing these pieces have never designed a challenging, original circuit; almost all of them are just implementing designs given to them by IC manufacturers in 'application notes'.
  - jhallenworld 11y ago
desdiv 11y ago
Stopping counterfeit LV bags is hard because there's no authentication mechanism short of putting RFID tags in each bag. But a computer accessory is different. The magsafe charger communicates with the laptop using the 1-wire protocol[0][1]. Why not incorporate an authentication mechanism here? [0] http://hackaday.com/2013/06/07/apple-magsafe-protocol-hacking/ http://hackaday.com/2013/06/07/apple-magsafe-protocol-hackin... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Wire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Wire
- btrask 11y ago
  My counterfeit Dell charger (with 1Wire) just died after working great for 2 years (although yes, it was probably dangerous). Because of DRM I couldn't attach the plug to a different power supply (as shown to me by an EE I trust). Now I'm in the crappy situation of either rewarding Dell by buying a safe adapter, or taking my business elsewhere with another counterfeit, which might burn my house down. Related: http://hclxing.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/hacking-the-dell-laptop-power-adapter/ http://hclxing.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/hacking-the-dell-lap...
ChrisDutrow 11y ago
This is a bit of a PR issue as well. I think most people don't know that when they pay more for a genuine charger, they are getting value for their money. I think most people feel like Apple is ripping them off on replacement chargers. That's why many people will still buy chargers with an obvious flaw like a plastic ground pin. They just think it's not quite as nice as the metal version but still works fine (they probably don't know the pin is for grounding at all... or what grounding something even means). An irony is that people do trust they are getting value Apple's expensive primary product (iPhone, Laptop, iPad...)
- heeen2 11y ago
  The ground pin is not even used with the common two-prong adapter piece, though.
  - robin_reala 11y ago
    You can attach any plug to any MacBook power supply though, which includes a bunch of earthed ones.
    - copperx 11y ago
      What do you mean? Isn't that plug proprietary? (It has a weird shape)
      - robin_reala 11y ago
        http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MD837AM/A/apple-world-travel-adapter-kit http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MD837AM/A/apple-world-trav... UK plug is earthed for one.
      - sokoloff 11y ago
        Adapters on the line side are readily available on Aliexpress around/under $1USD. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/EU-US-Plug-Converter-Power-Adapter-Charger-White-For-Apple-notebook-For-iPhone-Free-Shipping/32608556697.html http://www.aliexpress.com/item/EU-US-Plug-Converter-Power-Ad...
dessartc 11y ago
I used one of these counterfeit chargers during 2 years then one day a flame came out of it. That was the end of it too.
calebm 11y ago
I bought a counterfeit Macbook charger a few years ago, and indeed, it did damage my computer (I think it damaged some internal power system in the Macbook. The effect was I could no longer run on battery power).
reiichiroh 11y ago
I wonder if my knockoff MagSafe AC adapter from PrimeCables is safe. All their Lightning stuff is MFI certified.

250 points by dcschelt 11y ago

imh 11y ago

I stopped buying brand name macbook chargers when the plastic on the cable frayed on my fourth charger. The difference from the other three times was that this time, it started smoking where it frayed. Had I not been paying attention, who knows what would have happened. I took it to the apple store and told them what happened and that I had bought it from them within the year, asking for a replacement. They said it was excluded from the warranty because it was "normal wear and tear" or something like that. Say what you will for the counterfeits, but they use heavy plastic and actually seem less likely to burn down your apartment. And cost a fraction of the brand ones.

Larrikin 11y ago
I've never had a single cord fray on me before it was time to replace whatever it plugged in to, except for every single Apple cord I've ever had. What are some good alternatives? I'm tired of replacing the electrical tape on my MBPr charger brick.
- iheartmemcache 11y ago
  Wow, I can't believe Apple still has a fray problem. I remember my OS 9 G3 Powerbook went through 3 or 4 chargers. Don't risk buying from a 3rd party vendor (read my post below). The best you're going to be able to do is to get thick gauge, heat-shrink wrap tubing and use your wife's hair dryer if you don't have a hot air gun. I've used this brand[1] before with success. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Anytime-Tools-Shrink-Sleeve-Assorted/dp/B008WWC6FU/ref=sr_1_2?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1458523678&sr=1-2 http://www.amazon.com/Anytime-Tools-Shrink-Sleeve-Assorted/d...
  - nkurz 11y ago
    After the third official adapter cord destroyed itself, I've taken to repairing them with heat-shrink tubing as well. The tricky part is that unless you want to cut and resolder the cord, you need to get heat-shrink tubing that's large enough to fit over the end connector. I've found that 3/8" heat shrink fits over the connector, but 1/4" does not. But the 3/8" (at least for the brand I got) does not constrict down enough to fit tightly on the think cable. So I bulk up the cable with 1/4" silicone aquarium air pump tubing. Instructions: Cut one ~4" piece of silicone tubing, slit lengthwise, and put just below the connector. Cut another ~4" piece of silicone tubing, slit lengthwise, put over the first piece of tubing with the slit on the opposite side. Put this second piece slightly higher, so "top" of tubing covers the base of the connector, and the "bottom" of tubing is ~1/4" shy of the inner layer. Then cut a piece of 3/8" heat shrink to ~4.5" long. Slide the heat shrink over the connector on to the two layers of silicone tubing, so the "top" is tight to the L of the connector, and the "bottom" extends just past the farther (inner) tubing. Then shrink the tubing with some appropriate heat source (or carefully shrink with an inappropriate source like a match or lighter).
    - iheartmemcache 11y ago
      I just emailed this to off to the couple of friends of mine who still use MBP's. This is a real, real clever solution. Read this post, it's very clever not just as an instructive on heat-shrink repair, but the composition (if I'm visualizing this correctly) also functions as strain relief, which is ultimately the cause of fray[1]. My way around the 'over the connector' was just to oversize via teflon tape (naive solution, I know), but your idea is simple yet genius (silicone is soft, so it won't score the existing exterior of the wire, and silicone is rigid enough to act as auxiliary support). If you're rough on your gear (I've thrown my laptop into a TSA container in a 5:30AM grog more times that I can count), I'd do this as a precautionary measure even if you don't see any damage yet. It might not look pretty, but functionality over form any day. [1] combined with using thin wire shielding in order to maintain a 'sleek' aesthetic
      - nkurz 11y ago
        Thanks. Yes, the goal of the step-down on the cable end is to improve the strain relief. I tried earlier rigid solutions, but found that they soon frayed below the fix. My attempts with tape started out well, but eventually the tape would slip and the heat shrink would slide down. The silicone tubing has more "grab". I think you are visualizing it correctly. Let's see if I can replicate it with ASCII art (not to scale): ------------------------------ ==========================****************** =========================********************* ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++*********O******** =========================********************* ==========================****************** ------------------------------ **************** **************** - layer of heat shrink ------- Rigid Connector = outer layer of silicone =****************** = inner layer of silicone =******************** + Thin frayed Apple cable ++++***color O led *** = inner layer of silicone =******************** = outer layer of silicone =****************** - layer of heat shrink ------- **************** **************** It comes out looking quite nice. The rigidity of the tubing plus shrink wrap isn't a problem if you plug in so that the rigid part is along the side of the laptop. It actually provides a fairly nice handle for unplugging, since you can get good leverage anywhere along the shrink wrapped portion.
- ghufran_syed 11y ago
  i keep a bottle of "liquid electrical tape", and use that to reinforce the insulation when it starts to weaken.
asteli 11y ago
I would NOT trust a counterfeit charger over an Apple one. Did you miss the bit of the article where they describe design shortcomings that could burn your house down? Magsafe connectors are not inherently protected against short circuits, making them a particularly dangerous charger to buy a counterfeit of. Not to excuse Apple of their own design shortcomings (cable fraying issues are pretty much par for the course, which is unacceptable, barring an interchangeable cable, IMO), but counterfeit chargers are not a safe alternative.
- imh 11y ago
  I didn't miss it, but neither did I miss when the Apple brand one almost did exactly that to me.
givinguflac 11y ago
I have a MBP charger from 2007 that still is in good shape and is in use with a MagSafe 2 adapter currently. Perhaps you're constantly having the cable under strain?
PhasmaFelis 11y ago
Apple chargers are indeed shit, but the counterfeits are actually worse.

Matt3o12_ 11y ago

Are there any MagSafe Chargers that are save and sold at a reasonable price (or have a better durability then apple's)?

ryanSrich 11y ago
I was going through 1-2 chargers per year between 2013 and 2015. In December I said enough was enough and decided to take a stab at designing a more durable one. If there's any interest I can write up a post on it. I have a Frankenstein version that I use daily, and I even looked into DIY kits for making the chargers more durable but it was cost prohibitive.
- ics 11y ago
  You should. I've been jury-rigging the same three chargers (down from 6) since 2007 and not looking to upgrade, so no USB-C for me. The chargers themselves are great but the connectors are a chore– no matter how gentle I've been, eventually the heat softens them, then a tiny torque and it's torn.
- moreati 11y ago
  Yes please, I'd like to know more. If you don't have time for a full write up even a photo dump (e.g. to Imgur) would be interesting.
X-Istence 11y ago
Apple's MagSafe chargers are absolutely fantastic from an electrical engineering standpoint, where they tend to fall flat is on the cables/connectors. One of the things that has extended the life of my chargers is to be careful when wrapping the wire around the two ears, leave a good bit of slack so that you don't over tighten the charger wire. This alone has solved most of my issues with my Apple MagSafe Chargers, and I have one that I've had since 2007 that is still in full working condition.
- drunken-serval 11y ago
  I never wrap the wire around the clips they provide. I just loosely coil the wire on top of the charger and leave plenty of slack. I always make sure my bag can safely store the charger so it doesn't end up upside down. Every charger I've got since 2008 still works.

est 11y ago

Chinese fake capacitors http://i.imgur.com/k5i5EXW.jpg http://i.imgur.com/k5i5EXW.jpg The scam was so successful it even ended up in a college EE textbook http://i.imgur.com/MUjlvAc.jpg http://i.imgur.com/MUjlvAc.jpg (the author thought it was a normal type of capacitor.) See moar outstanding Chinese counterfeit products here https://www.zhihu.com/question/37915231 https://www.zhihu.com/question/37915231 The site (zhihu.com) itself is a copycat of Quora.

Laforet 11y ago
The early 2000s were a horrorshow as far as capacitors were concerned. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
- csours 11y ago
  So that's why the ELO monitor power supplies kept dying...
- coldpie 11y ago
  Wow, my friend's TV just failed. We cracked it open this past weekend and we found a busted cap that looks just like those. Manufacture date would be mid-2000s, probably 2006-ish. I wonder if they were from one of those bad batches. Crazy coincidence to learn about this now. Edit: Hm, maybe not: """With a typically shortened life span of about 1.5 to 3 years for the failing capacitors, from mid-2003 up to mid-2006, the last of the bad capacitors should have failed by 2007. Commentators on the Internet often predicted the year 2007 would be the end point for "bad capacitors"."""
iheartmemcache 11y ago
Haha, the thing that blows my mind is if those are real Rubycons, that's kind of like selling a "7 series" BMW encased in a real C-series Mercedes enclosure.
- Jack000 11y ago
  Would be funny if that one was a fake too. A nesting doll of fakes all the way down

stygiansonic 11y ago

Ken Shirriff's teardowns are the best. In particular, this comparison between different USB AC adapters was quite illuminating: http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-ap... The legit ones have quite a bit of complexity inside their inconspicuous package. The fake one carry some not-so-innocuous surprises inside.

stygiansonic 11y ago
One other thing I've learned about counterfeiters is that there is almost no product too cheap to counterfeit. If there is a suitable demand for the product, there will be counterfeits. You can see this in the cheap USB AC adapters above, but also in items like the Casio F-91W[1], a cheap retro watch that has made a comeback in recent years. Search on eBay and you'll find tons of them, mostly for really cheap prices, i.e. < $10 or even < $5. It's virtually impossible to identify a fake on the auction site, and even when you first have it it's difficult to tell. (Here[2] is one test, and a teardown comparison between fake vs. real) So, just assume anything super-cheap is fake, and you won't be let down. However, there are some real differences. You'll notice that the band might look/feel slightly cheaper, and most importantly, the thing doesn't keep time. I have a legit F-91W, and for the most part, the watch doesn't gain/lose more than maybe 1-3 minutes per year. The fake ones, however, are fast/slow by 10-20 minutes per month. This is likely where they are saving money, i.e. the quartz oscillator thingy is either cheap or doesn't have calibration or whatever. The battery life is also likely far worse than most Casios, (though I have not confirmed this) which are generally excellent in this respect. This is a watch that is regularly available on Amazon for a legit price of < $15. (Right now, it's ~$10) And there are tons of fakes out there. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk_-_Phiklc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk_-_Phiklc
- pthreads 11y ago
  Cool. Thanks for the links. I used to have a genuine Casio years ago and loved it. Ran for about five years on the same battery. Wanted to buy one again and almost bought one online.

BreesusChrist 11y ago

I love his teardown's. You always learn SO much.

wodenokoto 11y ago

What is the legality of these chargers? I thought the magsafe adapter was patented and therefore 3rd parties can't built compatible plugs without a license.

kens 11y ago
I'm not a lawyer, but there's also trademark violation, trafficking in counterfeit goods (USC § 2320) and violation of the UL's service mark, not to mention plain old fraud.
- profmonocle 11y ago
  Plus the CE mark is very illegal if any of those make it to Europe.
  - the-dude 11y ago
    Citation needed
  - wodenokoto 11y ago
    Actually it is not. The CE mark is the producers guarantee that the product lives up the the European safety standards and it is the producers job to download and print the logo. You cannot officially be CE certified by a third party, but once you slap on that logo you are very liable if you don't live up to the standard.
AmVess 11y ago
Manufacturers of garbage don't care about patents. The sheer volume of this crap is next to impossible to police by people charged with doing so.
- wodenokoto 11y ago
  > Manufacturers of garbage don't care about patents That doesn't mean I don't think it's interesting to know.

artursapek 11y ago

Amazon sold me one of these. It's a complete piece of shit. It lost connectivity after a few months. I have been very frustrated with it. It works only 10% of the time, seemingly at random. In fact, it was just sitting by my apartment door because I was going to throw it into the dumpster the next time I go outside. Here's some photos I just took of it: http://imgur.com/a/KaQZ3 http://imgur.com/a/KaQZ3. Notice the exact same markings as in this article, and the poorly aligned components. Cheap knock-off. The killer part of this for me is that Amazon claims the product is "by Apple"; this is the page I used to purchase it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J3ZGEE4 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J3ZGEE4. Apple's apparent lack of control over their supply chain and brand, combined with their degrading software quality, is making it almost a certainty that my next computer will either be a Surface Pro or some kind of Linux ultrabook.

cynix 11y ago
The product you linked to is sold by a 3rd party seller, not Amazon. This is why I never buy from 3rd party sellers.
- delecti 11y ago
  Even products sold "by Amazon" can be counterfeit. Amazon lets 3rd party sellers ship their product to the fulfillment centers to be shipped out by Amazon, and if multiple sellers are selling the same item then it can all get bundled together in the same bin.
- artursapek 11y ago
  You're right that the page says "Sold by Mayday Dealz and Fulfilled by Amazon." I definitely missed that when purchasing, because the very top says Apple 45W MagSafe 2 Power Adapter for MacBook Air *by Apple* Amazon probably allows this to be misleading, because I bet it increases sales. Ideally they would make it a lot clearer when you're dealing with a third party seller. I realize it only takes a moment to glance at the reviews and see a red flag, but I don't remember them being so negative back when I purchased it about a year ago.

EGreg 11y ago

What makes this teardown so dangerous inside? And why would someone make a counterfeit teardown... mostly to get notoriety?

betaby 11y ago
Quality of output is definitely a problem for counterfeit. Also from the other page "The standards are somewhat incomprehensible, but roughly 4mm of distance is required between the two circuits." However likes like even counterfeit maintains that distance.
ceejayoz 11y ago
> What makes this teardown so dangerous inside? There's an entire section called "What's wrong with this charger". > And why would someone make a counterfeit teardown... mostly to get notoriety? Why not?
asteli 11y ago
Magsafe connectors aren't inherently safe - all the contacts are exposed, creating a short-circuit and fire risk. Apple solves this by only supplying power when the cable is plugged into a laptop. Counterfeit adapters don't bother with the additional safety circuitry. If you were to poke the MagSafe end of a counterfeit charger into a wad of steel wool, you'd have a lot of sparks, and a good demonstration of why they're dangerous. As for why counterfeits exist... basic economics. Third party Magsafe adapters don't exist, due to Apple's legal stranglehold on the concept of a magnetically attached electrical cable. In a field void of competition, unscrupulous electronics manufacturers see a huge upside, and here you see the result.

ChuckMcM 11y ago

This is a pretty awesome teardown, the fake ones really are crap and they don't do the magsafe protocol (also on Ken's blog: http://www.righto.com/2013/06/teardown-and-exploration-of-magsafe.html http://www.righto.com/2013/06/teardown-and-exploration-of-ma...)

f_allwein 11y ago

So what are other trustworthy places to buy electronics? Seems like if you don't buy at Apple or Amazon (without 3rd party sellers), there's no way of knowing if an item is counterfeit. Which harms the market as they can charge higher prices...

iheartmemcache 11y ago
The scary thing is that even Amazon has had their procurement team fall prey to either grey market and sometimes just straight up counterfeit chips. If you're buying accessories that are going in hot (e.g. HDMI components that can blow an entire chip out, even on well designed name brand Panasonics[1], buy it from the original vendor. Otherwise it's a coin flip, because some of them don't even respect the simplest ESD shipping policies[2].) My Dell power supply was supposed to be a "Dell" that I got from Amazon (via a 3rd party vendor) and I'm 95% percent sure it was constructed by that same Apple imitating vendor. (The board layout was identical, the lack of solder mask, the brands of the caps were the same, etc.) One day it got really hot and stopped driving power to my laptop. I borrowed my buddies charger (first party) and that wouldn't work either. I cracked the thing open and saw the output filter caps had vented, and on the board there was a space for an additional cap which was unpopulated. They wanted to save 30 cents, and I ended up spending about a dozen hours and about a hundred dollars on diagnostics, part replacement, ensuring that nothing else was compromised, etc. Now I'll happily give Dell or any laptop vendor my money - let them keep their monopoly. I won't buy their overpriced RAM upgrades or SSDs (there's lots of aftermarket competition where I can get better products for the same price in that arena) but when it comes to clean power, nope. Going first party every time. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIKTbYYS6is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIKTbYYS6is [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZlc6tiL1gk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZlc6tiL1gk
Spooky23 11y ago
The industry is insane for creating potentially dangerous all in one interfaces given the carnival circus of the supply chain. That said, name brand at good retailers. I don't consider Amazon in that category for many commodities.
x0x0 11y ago

chvid 11y ago

Sadly Apple can prevent non-Apple peripherals from being sold most places in the world. So we are stuck with their properietary lightning cables and chargers. Which are expensive, have a limited number of designs and are often of questionable quality (i.e. the white rubber insulation starts turning brown and peeling off after about 6 months use). Sure Chinese knockoffs bought by tourists in shady areas of Shenzhen or Hong Kong are not good either but the point is that Apple's monopoly/non-standard policies keeps a mature market from emerging.

chvid 11y ago
Ok - maybe it was a little harsh - the apple chargers are clearly of better quality than the Chinese copies. But man - I am tired of broken Apple cables and I would really like to see some competition for price and quality here.

ageofwant 11y ago

Dave Jone's EEVBlog hosts a number of teardowns, here's a similar one from 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-b9k-0KfE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-b9k-0KfE Good channel generally.

jhallenworld 11y ago

Suppose a DJ using a counterfeit charger bought from a 3rd party seller through Amazon burns down a nightclub, killing 100 people. Who gets sued in this case? Everyone! At the very least: the DJ, the club owner, the city, Apple, Amazon, 3rd party seller, maybe even UL if they are not aggressively protecting their logo.

hackaflocka 11y ago
What if it was a real Apple charger bought from Apple. And it ended up killing 100 people? The Apple blogger army would be out in force defending Apple in that case. What do you think? Would Apple be liable?
- jhallenworld 11y ago
  Sure they are still liable. To minimize their liability, their design had better be pretty damn good (close to safest possible). I would argue that the Apple design also has to be close to the most reliable possible design, since a high failure rate will will encourage people to buy questionable aftermarket devices. I would also argue that Apple should not try to make a high profit on safety critical devices for the same reason.
- rasz_pl 11y ago
  I like how you got down modded by apple fanboys while Apple was forced to recall faulty chargers already :) http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/apple-slammed-over-power-adapter-recall-incidents-may-be-underreported-20160201-gmioeu.html http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/apple-slammed-o...
nommm-nommm 11y ago
Why would the DJ get sued? It's not like they knew it was unsafe, these fakes are designed to look real and are advertised as real and readily available [from third party sellers] on Amazon. Most people expect things they buy from major retailers to be safe.
- 11y ago

hackaflocka 11y ago

I just bought a pair of Nike Air Max 90 for $8 from China. Are you telling me that's likely to be fake too? Why the down votes?

nkurz 11y ago

I'm puzzled as to why counterfeit chargers never manage to have sufficient clearance distances. They use simple, low-complexity circuits so the circuit board layout should be straightforward. Except in the smallest cube phone chargers, they aren't fighting for every millimeter of space. It shouldn't take much additional effort to make the boards safer. I think this is an interesting question to ask. If there truly is no cost difference, why not make a better and safer product? I'd guess that "ignorance" (or at least a different assessment of risk) is the most likely answer. The person laying out the circuit has learned by trial and error, doesn't really understand the safety issues, isn't incentivized to spend time learning about them, and lacks oversight from anyone more knowledgeable. Is there a better theory?

ChrisDutrow 11y ago
Probably the same reason they often have typos and stuff in the fake labeling - they just don't have the know-how to do it better.
nickff 11y ago
It's difficult to know why anyone laid out a circuit one specific way, especially without a complete schematic, layout, and a few hours to think about it. It may be that this design was the only way to fit the circuit into an already designed enclosure, or it could be that this was done for some sort of manufacturability reason, they may have also had some issue with noise and done this to shield some part of the circuit. In addition, though the design may not meet the UL standards, it might be good enough. UL standards are neither necessary nor sufficient to guarantee safety and reliability. I find many of the OP's criticisms to be rather facile, and would prefer to see this 'counterfeit' tested to failure, with the results compared to a genuine Apple product. Armed with this comparison, we could judge whether the cost savings were achieved wisely or through foolish design. Any reader of hardware teardowns should remember that the majority of people writing these pieces have never designed a challenging, original circuit; almost all of them are just implementing designs given to them by IC manufacturers in 'application notes'.
- jhallenworld 11y ago

desdiv 11y ago

Stopping counterfeit LV bags is hard because there's no authentication mechanism short of putting RFID tags in each bag. But a computer accessory is different. The magsafe charger communicates with the laptop using the 1-wire protocol[0][1]. Why not incorporate an authentication mechanism here? [0] http://hackaday.com/2013/06/07/apple-magsafe-protocol-hacking/ http://hackaday.com/2013/06/07/apple-magsafe-protocol-hackin... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Wire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Wire

btrask 11y ago
My counterfeit Dell charger (with 1Wire) just died after working great for 2 years (although yes, it was probably dangerous). Because of DRM I couldn't attach the plug to a different power supply (as shown to me by an EE I trust). Now I'm in the crappy situation of either rewarding Dell by buying a safe adapter, or taking my business elsewhere with another counterfeit, which might burn my house down. Related: http://hclxing.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/hacking-the-dell-laptop-power-adapter/ http://hclxing.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/hacking-the-dell-lap...

ChrisDutrow 11y ago

This is a bit of a PR issue as well. I think most people don't know that when they pay more for a genuine charger, they are getting value for their money. I think most people feel like Apple is ripping them off on replacement chargers. That's why many people will still buy chargers with an obvious flaw like a plastic ground pin. They just think it's not quite as nice as the metal version but still works fine (they probably don't know the pin is for grounding at all... or what grounding something even means). An irony is that people do trust they are getting value Apple's expensive primary product (iPhone, Laptop, iPad...)

heeen2 11y ago
The ground pin is not even used with the common two-prong adapter piece, though.
- robin_reala 11y ago
  You can attach any plug to any MacBook power supply though, which includes a bunch of earthed ones.
  - copperx 11y ago
    What do you mean? Isn't that plug proprietary? (It has a weird shape)
    - robin_reala 11y ago
      http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MD837AM/A/apple-world-travel-adapter-kit http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MD837AM/A/apple-world-trav... UK plug is earthed for one.
    - sokoloff 11y ago
      Adapters on the line side are readily available on Aliexpress around/under $1USD. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/EU-US-Plug-Converter-Power-Adapter-Charger-White-For-Apple-notebook-For-iPhone-Free-Shipping/32608556697.html http://www.aliexpress.com/item/EU-US-Plug-Converter-Power-Ad...

dessartc 11y ago

I used one of these counterfeit chargers during 2 years then one day a flame came out of it. That was the end of it too.

calebm 11y ago

I bought a counterfeit Macbook charger a few years ago, and indeed, it did damage my computer (I think it damaged some internal power system in the Macbook. The effect was I could no longer run on battery power).

reiichiroh 11y ago

I wonder if my knockoff MagSafe AC adapter from PrimeCables is safe. All their Lightning stuff is MFI certified.