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This. Over the past five years I have had to replace four Apple power adapters. Two caught on fire, one just stopped working, and one only worked when I duct ta

This. Over the past five years I have had to replace four Apple power adapters. Two caught on fire, one just stopped working, and one only worked when I duct taped it to death. They replaced all but one under warranty. But when I asked the Apple Genius in SoHo if this "whole catching on fire thing" happened often, he didn't say no. He just told me he wasn't allowed to answer that.

sanswork 15y ago
I've replaced 3 in the past 2 years. All have melted right around the part that goes into the laptop. It has gotten to the point where I won't even leave it plugged in unless I am in the room.
- jeremymims 15y ago
  Yep. You're describing pretty much what happened. It's always a nice when you get sparks and smoke though. :-)
SkyFoxMedia 15y ago
I've had one catch on fire on my couch, and another melt at the mag-connection (whatever it's called). Cannot be a fluke.
jbk 15y ago
Unfortunately, I am compelled to share the same experience here. And being the "computer guy" for friends and family, I have seen the same kind of bad power adapters over and over. I thought that I was crazy or very unlucky because everyone tells me how great Apple products are. And the replacements are quite expensive compared to the competition (I see mostly Dell and Lenovo, to be honest, no idea for the other ones).
chopsueyar 15y ago
Confirmed. Two fires here, also. One with the RCA/headphone power and one with the magnetic connector.
aeontech 15y ago
Hm, well, just to provide one counter example, haven't had a bad adapter in 8 years and half a dozen apple laptops. Not saying it doesn't happen of course :)
- stevenbedrick 15y ago
  Yeah, over ten years and five laptops between myself and my partner, and maybe seven or eight power adapters (we've had spare adapters for some of our laptops), we haven't had any problems with fires, sparks, etc. As the parent said, though, "Not saying it doesn't happen"- just not to us, apparently. I will say, however, that the MagSafe design, even lacking strain reducers as discussed by the OP, has proven its value on more than one occasion. Besides the obvious advantages (i.e., tripping over the cord no longer sends one's laptop flying, nor does it cause catastrophic damage to the power port), I'm personally fond of the fact that you can step on the adapter all day long without damaging it. We had to replace an adapter once back in the day after accidentally stepping on the little round connector part, and bending it irreparably out of shape.

sanswork 15y ago

I've replaced 3 in the past 2 years. All have melted right around the part that goes into the laptop. It has gotten to the point where I won't even leave it plugged in unless I am in the room.

jeremymims 15y ago
Yep. You're describing pretty much what happened. It's always a nice when you get sparks and smoke though. :-)

SkyFoxMedia 15y ago

I've had one catch on fire on my couch, and another melt at the mag-connection (whatever it's called). Cannot be a fluke.

jbk 15y ago

Unfortunately, I am compelled to share the same experience here. And being the "computer guy" for friends and family, I have seen the same kind of bad power adapters over and over. I thought that I was crazy or very unlucky because everyone tells me how great Apple products are. And the replacements are quite expensive compared to the competition (I see mostly Dell and Lenovo, to be honest, no idea for the other ones).

chopsueyar 15y ago

Confirmed. Two fires here, also. One with the RCA/headphone power and one with the magnetic connector.

aeontech 15y ago

Hm, well, just to provide one counter example, haven't had a bad adapter in 8 years and half a dozen apple laptops. Not saying it doesn't happen of course :)

stevenbedrick 15y ago
Yeah, over ten years and five laptops between myself and my partner, and maybe seven or eight power adapters (we've had spare adapters for some of our laptops), we haven't had any problems with fires, sparks, etc. As the parent said, though, "Not saying it doesn't happen"- just not to us, apparently. I will say, however, that the MagSafe design, even lacking strain reducers as discussed by the OP, has proven its value on more than one occasion. Besides the obvious advantages (i.e., tripping over the cord no longer sends one's laptop flying, nor does it cause catastrophic damage to the power port), I'm personally fond of the fact that you can step on the adapter all day long without damaging it. We had to replace an adapter once back in the day after accidentally stepping on the little round connector part, and bending it irreparably out of shape.