Letterman staffer tapes sparking PowerBook adapter
Perhaps Justin Stangel's experience will inspire a future Top Ten list titled "The Top Ten Ways to Electrocute Yourself."
The head writer for the Late Show with David Letterman recently had a mildly shocking experience with the power adapter for his PowerBook G4. While at work in Manhattan last week, Stangel starting to smell something burning after firing up his PowerBook, and noticed that the cord was frayed near the adapter, giving off smoke and occasional sparks. Sensing a potential gag for the show, he had a producer tape him playing with the cord, moving it back and forth in order to reproduce the smoke and sparks.
After about a week on YouTube, the clip had been watched almost 40,000 times, which isn't a huge number but was apparently large enough to get Apple's attention. Stangel said he received two calls from Apple's customer service department, one from an executive and the other from a senior technician inquiring about his experience, but he still had to cough up the $79 for a replacement adapter since it was out of warranty. Apple confirmed that Stangel was contacted by its customer service team.
Stangel said he often wraps the adapter's cord around the hooks built into the power adapters, which over time can lead to fraying if the cord is stored in that position for extended periods of time. Apple's support documents advise against wrapping the cord "to (sic) tightly" around the power brick, but everybody's probably got a different idea of how tight is too tight. Avoid bending the power cords as much as possible and check it often for wear and tear to avoid burning down your house or office.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
with exposed wires malfunctioning? That's just wrong.
can't expect a power adapter to work correctly forever, after all the
cable looked like it was severed by bad computer usage, probably
run over by a chair's wheels a few times. My power adapter has
over 2 years of working hours and looks in almost new condition.
Apple should offer cheaper adapters for sure - $79 for a power
supply is a total ripoff but in this case it didn't look like Apple was
at fault.
there's outrage?
I don't get it. When something breaks on my car, I don't film it, and
demand public outrage...
Great video though, too bad YouTube makes it so grainy.
Home Depot) or heat shrink (you can buy this at either Home Depot
or RadioShack). If you use the heat shrink (you need to get the
widest diameter, so it could loosely fit around the cord), then using
a blow dryer or match, lightly run it over the heat shrink wrap, and
it will shrink around the cord, providing insulation.
I, too, don't want to pay $80 for an adapter (which probably costs
1/10 of the value of my computer). Hope this helps. Good luck.
and smoke. This is normal. What's more, he has a Powerbook.
That means that the adapter is probably at least two years old.
If he had soldered and taped the wires back together he could
have saved the adapter but, after that foray into stupidity it is
probably done for.
I hope he had the sense to connect the output of the adapter
with something other than his computer. Probably not but,
there is hope.
The really distressing thing is that C-Net thought this was news.
Well anything anti-Apple on here passes for news it seems like.
Just another par for the course story.
Pay attention to your environment and get some electrical tape.
personally i don't think cnet is anti anyone... i just think a lot of times they really stretch to find stories worth reporting. I get my indepth tech news elsewhere anymore. lately it's a lifestyle ezine and less about technology.
- Lawsuit
- by Mintsauce July 21, 2007 5:01 AM PDT
- There is actually currently a lawsuit against Apple for the 65W
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(18 Comments)Power adapter. I love my Mac, don't get me wrong, but the
power adapter is pathetic. The connection is weak. I treat my
Mac with respect. We used to have old HPs that travelled all the
time, never had a problem. I use my adapter at home only, it
frayed, sparked and smoked and finally stopped working.
The 65W adapter has a rating on the apple website of 1 1/2 out
of 5 with 1900 reviews. Maybe there's more to it than anti-apple
politics. Maybe Apple really needs to look at this issue.