4 ms·

I also distinctly remember the unnerving feeling of getting a tingling sensation on my wrists when having a macboook pro charging connecting to mains. I have o

I also distinctly remember the unnerving feeling of getting a tingling sensation on my wrists when having a macboook pro charging connecting to mains. I have only used them when clients specifically request it, but otherwise connect them to a workstation of my choice.

XorNot 4y ago
Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only person who noticed this - several job laptops (macbooks) have definitely done this to me as well. It's subtle, like your wrist is sticky or being tapped rapidly, but the moment you yank the mains power out from the machine it goes away. Very unsettling (and escalates to painful at times).
- lloeki 4y ago
  I used to experience this as well, on multiple MacBooks across years. It seems to have disappeared when I moved to a non-MagSafe USB-C charging generation of MacBooks (can't say for the latest ones though).
jbverschoor 4y ago
Yeah I had that with MacBooks which are brand new. Feels like a static electrical layer. But after some time it’s gone
JetSetWilly 4y ago
It is because it is not grounded. The leakage current then goes into the case. Unfortunately it seems to be quite difficult to buy grounded usb-c chargers. Most of them seem to come with C7 cables with no ground.
- 323 4y ago
  Grounding doesn't make much sense for devices which are completely plastic encased. I get your point about "pass-through grounding" to the laptop, but then again, a lot of time the laptop is not connecting to a charging wire anyway.
  - JetSetWilly 4y ago
    The problem is - laptops used to have their own dedicated chargers. And generally speaking, they were grounded. Now we're moving to usb-c though, it means we've lost it being grounded. And many laptops are made of conductive materials so therefore it is an extremely minor annoyance and downside of usb-c. Also, I'm in the UK with its crap ring circuits packed with 240v/13amps. I'd rather have a ground when I'm one fault away from 3000 watts momentarily being delivered to my lap. Especially with these exciting new GaN chargers and their open circuit failure modes..
    - 323 4y ago
      My understanding is that all chargers, GaN or not, are required to use a transformer to electrically separate the primary (wall input) from the secondary (charger output). So a fault directly connecting you to the wall circuit should not be possible with an authentic charger.

XorNot 4y ago

Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only person who noticed this - several job laptops (macbooks) have definitely done this to me as well. It's subtle, like your wrist is sticky or being tapped rapidly, but the moment you yank the mains power out from the machine it goes away. Very unsettling (and escalates to painful at times).

lloeki 4y ago
I used to experience this as well, on multiple MacBooks across years. It seems to have disappeared when I moved to a non-MagSafe USB-C charging generation of MacBooks (can't say for the latest ones though).

jbverschoor 4y ago

Yeah I had that with MacBooks which are brand new. Feels like a static electrical layer. But after some time it’s gone

JetSetWilly 4y ago

It is because it is not grounded. The leakage current then goes into the case. Unfortunately it seems to be quite difficult to buy grounded usb-c chargers. Most of them seem to come with C7 cables with no ground.

323 4y ago
Grounding doesn't make much sense for devices which are completely plastic encased. I get your point about "pass-through grounding" to the laptop, but then again, a lot of time the laptop is not connecting to a charging wire anyway.
- JetSetWilly 4y ago
  The problem is - laptops used to have their own dedicated chargers. And generally speaking, they were grounded. Now we're moving to usb-c though, it means we've lost it being grounded. And many laptops are made of conductive materials so therefore it is an extremely minor annoyance and downside of usb-c. Also, I'm in the UK with its crap ring circuits packed with 240v/13amps. I'd rather have a ground when I'm one fault away from 3000 watts momentarily being delivered to my lap. Especially with these exciting new GaN chargers and their open circuit failure modes..
  - 323 4y ago
    My understanding is that all chargers, GaN or not, are required to use a transformer to electrically separate the primary (wall input) from the secondary (charger output). So a fault directly connecting you to the wall circuit should not be possible with an authentic charger.