
Mass recall of Apple AC Wall Plug Adapters 2003-2015 due to shock hazard - lagudragu
http://www.apple.com/support/ac-wallplug-adapter/
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orbitur
This is interesting. I bought the World Adapter Kit for our trip through
Germany/France, and nearly every hotel/B&B we stopped at, I could literally
feel a gentle vibration/shock coming from MBP's case whenever it was plugged
in to the two-prong outlets. I don't know if that's poor grounding or
something else, but it was definitely unnerving and I didn't feel comfortable
using my laptop when it was plugged in.

But it seems the adapters are being recalled for a different issue.

~~~
martiuk
In the UK both of the BS 1363 plugs have metal earth pins yet only the
extended cable version connects to earth on the adapter. I have definitely
felt a small vibration/shock from my MBP's case when using the uncabled plug
with disconnected earth.

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samcheng
Note that the US-style plugs (with two vertical blades that plug into the
socket) are NOT recalled.

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johnthedebs
This failed on me recently (a couple weeks ago) and I was very surprised when
it happened. It was a US 10-watt(?) adapter that came with a 3rd-gen iPad I
bought a while back.

The adapter is two pieces that fit together (like Apple's macbook adapters),
and the piece that inserts into the outlet broke into two pieces when I tried
pulling it out one day. The way it split, half was stuck in the wall and half
was still connected to the little power brick in my hand. The piece that was
still in the outlet had two bits of exposed metal that were clearly just
extensions of the prongs in the socket. I removed it very carefully realizing
what would happen if I touched the bits of metal and threw it out.

That said, it looks like they don't list the US as affected on that page :-/.

~~~
caf
I've never understood why it seems to be popular for US wall sockets not to
have switches.

~~~
tedmiston
I just returned from Australia and New Zealand where every outlet has a built-
in power switch. I would really like to have them in the states too.

I can't seem to find a real reason why we don't. Perhaps the usage cost of
electricity is less expensive in the U.S., or it's something Americans are
just less conscientious about.

There is a lot of speculative discussion in this thread
[http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/why-dont-us-outlets-have-
bui...](http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/why-dont-us-outlets-have-
built-110814).

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jacknews
How about a recall of the entire adapter.

I have 4 or 5 of them, all which have disintegrated cables.

Either the famous problem where the cable/sleeve detaches at the adapter or
the plug end, or on a couple of them, the entire plastic cable housing has
disintegrated and sloughed off, leaving bare shield wire. This after just a
year or so in every case.

Absolute disgrace, Apple.

~~~
tedmiston
Maybe I'm the exception here, but in a decade of using MacBooks, I've never
experienced the power adapter falling apart.

I remember this a lot back in the PowerBook days, especially those clearish
gray translucent adapters.

~~~
sehugg
I've had frayed insulation with multiple MacBook adapters and Lightning
cables. I wonder if it is climate related; I live in a hotter and more humid
place than Cupertino. In any case there is no excuse for the insulation being
so fragile when $5 USB cables never have this problem.

~~~
jacknews
Yes, me too, I'm sure the heat and humidity is a factor, but for the
insulation to actually decompose in this way just from the climate is
absolutely unacceptable.

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RyJones
The title is "Apple AC Wall Plug Adapter Exchange Program"

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blackguardx
It looks like it is only the international adapter part. Everyone complains
about Apple's strain relief, but a lot of engineering went into making that as
good as it is (which is less than average). It is hard to make robust stuff
look sleek and well designed. Some companies err on the side of robust. Apple
goes the other way.

~~~
userbinator
I don't know about you, but I think the strain reliefs that _just about every
other cable has_ are "sleek and well designed" enough to stop them from
failing there. Apple's strain relief, which doesn't relieve strain
particularly well, reminds me of those on _very_ old equipment (pre-1940s):
nothing more than a featureless tube surrounding the cable. The reinforced
design with a flexible, radius-limiting boot that's popular today evolved over
many decades and works very well. Apple's design provides only a minimal
amount of reinforcement and doesn't offer much radius-limiting. You can see
this when you bend it - the "boot" creases and wrinkles, separating from the
cable, instead of smoothly controlling and limiting its bend radius as a good
strain relief should.

~~~
blackguardx
I prefer other companies' strain reliefs, but I get why Apple uses the one
they do.

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derefr
I long ago stopped using the two-prong adapters; they're just a bad idea when
you plug in at places that don't have particularly clean power. Where I used
to live, my unibody Macbook would literally give me a little static shock
whenever I touched it as long as it was plugged in with the adapter (or
possibly it was a continuous current; running your palm along the metal felt a
bit like rubbing a balloon.)

Switching to the long 3-prong "cable" connector solved that, and I've never
dared go back.

~~~
digi_owl
And this perhaps a good reason why the whole metal case on mobile phones is a
bad idea.

What you are describing is grounding problems of one for or another.

~~~
derefr
(I'm not an EE, so if anyone knows better?)

Oddly, never had the same problem with a phone USB charger. Which is the
opposite of what you'd expect: the USB chargers seem to be entirely solid-
state, using flyback transformers[1], while the larger power adapters have
room for a real wire-wrapped ring transformer[2], which _should_ be providing
better electrical isolation. (I would never expect to be shocked by dirty
power _coming through_ an induction ring.)

[1] [http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-
teardown-...](http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-
quality.html?m=1)

[2] [http://www.righto.com/2015/11/macbook-charger-teardown-
surpr...](http://www.righto.com/2015/11/macbook-charger-teardown-
surprising.html)

But if it is the device itself that was faulty, rather than the input power,
it's a different story; in that case you _want_ at least _some_ valid ground
path, and complete isolation is bad (because then the device will ground
through you, obviously.)

Maybe it's just that the power adapter block has a separate ground path and
expects to ground it into a dedicated ground pin (and, I guess, leaves the
ground pin disconnected when a two-prong adapter is connected? That seems
wrong-headed), while the USB chargers, made to assume two-prong usage, mix
ground with positive.

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07d046
I was very excited by this because I have a MacBook Air charger that is very
badly frayed at the laptop end and I don't want to spend AU$129 on replacing
something that is breaking because Apple sucks at making cables.
Unfortunately, I have a three prong charger that isn't being recalled, so I
guess I'll just have to apply some more gaffer tape.

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steve19
I would love to know how they could possibly be a shock hazard. I have a piles
of these (for travel) and they are solidly build and almost only plastic.

The only way they could break, I think, is if they fell apart somehow.

~~~
digi_owl
There was an incident in Norway recently where a school kid was unplugging an
iPad, and the prongs came loose from the charger. This left exposed metal bits
protruding from the live socket, and the kid has apparently reached in to
remove them. Kid survived, thankfully.

From the images i found it looked like the assembly was basically pushed into
the charger. There seemed to be some notched on the metal bits that would be
inside, likely supposed to latch together during assembly, but i guess they
could come loose if there was enough insertions and removal.

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cluelet
> designed for use in Continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Korea,
> Argentina and Brazil

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rtpg
Does anyone know what exactly is happening in the breakage scenario?
Especially for 12 years?

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reality_czech
Shocking!

