And in current affairs... Apple recalls three-prong AC adapters after some shocking behavior Apple has issued a voluntary recall of some of AC wall adapters and travel adapter kits designed for the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore out of concern customers could get a jolt. "In very rare cases, affected Apple three-prong wall plug adapters may break and create a risk of electrical shock if touched," said the company in a …
Most of these plugs are over 10 years old so to issue a recall for them is not that bad.
Ok, so I have two of these plugs and I have arranged for them to be swapped. They'll send me the new ones and include the packaging so that I can return the old ones. Total zero cost to me so I think they deserve at least a bit of praise there.
Oh, and the bits that are being replaced don't have any electronics inside them. They just convert the UK 3-pin outlet to a universal 2 pin that their PSU uses if you don't want the plug+cable connection to the PSU.
My 2015 MacBook was bought in the USA (zero sales Tax) and is currently being powered by a PSU that came with a 2008 MacBook. How many times has the likes of Dell and HP changed their power connectors in that period.. Apple are a really nice target to pour scorn over aren't they eh?
"How many times has the likes of Dell and HP changed their power connectors in that period"
I can't speak to HP, but you can still use a Dell power adapter from a 2006 Latitude "D-series" with most of Dell's current offerings with no problem. Some of the really slim newest ones need a $5 pigtail to connect, but will still exchange telemetry and power/charge the battery. Meanwhile, at least for iPads and iPhones, Apple has made a lot of changes in the same time period.
One thing I find irksome is the trend to Thunderbolt. While this is a great idea in a lot of ways, the physical connectors are not as robust as they could be. You look at it askance and you've bent that flimsy metal tip. And it's a bit concerning running that much wattage through such a dinky path of conductors. I've not yet seen one overheat, but I have encountered a few that were noticeably warmer than room temp at the connection point.
I can't speak to HP,
The HP laptop that ork foisted on me has a large barrel connector which they'd been using on previous models for at least half a decade (maybe longer than that, but we had Dell before; coincidentally the connectors are identical and the lappies get powered OK with the other brand's PSU). The newer version of the model I have has, for some unfathomable reason, a much smaller barrel connector. It's just that, the case isn't visibly thinner and still offers space for a large connector.
"..but we had Dell before; coincidentally the connectors are identical and the lappies get powered OK with the other brand's PSU"
--That's true, but HP adapters won't charge batteries on Dell, or vice-versa. They will power the machines in most cases though, but they don't exchange the correct identification/telemetry to allow battery charging.
I suspect that the same manufacturer makes Dell, HP, and probably other adapters.
The who identification/telemetry issue with Dell laptop power supplies is a huge pain in the ass. I have multiple Dell laptops that refuse to boot half the time even with genuine power supplies because the plugs or sockets are a bit worn and the data wire doesn't make good contact.
"Meanwhile, at least for iPads and iPhones, Apple has made a lot of changes in the same time period."
Alot?
Erm - they've used precisely two connectors on the phones
30 pin....
Lightning...
So you're considering the relatively new product line (the iPad Pro) which uses USBc (i.e. what is pretty much the accepted industry standard) as a second change and considering 2 to be 'lots'.
You know what, I'm going to side with apple here, however much the proprietary connectors and lack of audio output pain me.
"Most of these plugs are over 10 years old so to issue a recall for them is not that bad."
Or, to put it another way, they've had dangerous plugs out there for 10 years and have only just recalled them.
I think they're being recalled for faulty design, not because they they're old.
They can be... But they were failing ten years ago and Apple did nothing.
Pic I took in 2009, just before I took it straight to the Apple Store in Cambridge (swapped at first sight, but I made a fuss until they assured me it would be taken seriously):
https://twitter.com/_Piers_/status/1121769598829907969?s=20
"Most of these plugs are over 10 years old so to issue a recall for them is not that bad."
I have many plugs in my house. Most are over 10 years old, some many, many years older. I don't recall any of them breaking. Now that I think of it, some are over 40 years old. I've had a couple of "wall-wart" adaptors break over recent years, in both cases it was the plastic earth pin that broke, taking part of the casing with it. I suspect it's cheaper plastics which are not as durable as in the "old days" because bean counters are in charge, not engineers.
Well, a while Ok Apple purchased one hundred original Apple iPhone chargers from Amazon.
Number of chargers that were made by Apple: 0 out of 100.
Number of chargers that were safe: 20 out of 100.
6 plugs out of multiple year production isn't bad in comparison. Plus they are all over nine years old.
I wouldn’t fixate on the 6. That’s the incredibly low number from the press release. May have minimal bearing on the number of issues seen in reality but not confirmed by apple staff and reported as this problem
Not hating apple, just saying don’t trust phrases like “very small number of customers affected” from corps with large pr machines.
Remind me again why Apple recommends their own adapters over clones ?
Something about the clones not being constructed to adequate standards ?
For power supplies, that is correct (not for plugs, it appears there's a fatigue issue which causes breakage to the point where metal bits are exposed). I have seen some analysis of non-Apple gear versus what Apple does and yes, there is some shockingly (pardon the pun) bad gear out there which are a fire hazard or can kill you due to insufficient isolation/air gapping between live mains and the bits you can touch - I can't fault them for warning against that.
Most of Apple's proprietary efforts are not 100% for lock in - sometimes the market just wasn't ready yet with a usable standard. The iPhone lightning connector and cable were developed because so an iPhone could draw more current and charge quicker than what the micro-USB standard allowed at the time - their own cable did already what is now a standard in USB-C: it communicates to the PSU how much power it can handle via a built-in chip.
You can also see that now play out with USB-C: now you can jack in practically any USC-C power supply and a Macbook will charge from it, and the Apple USB-C PSU will quite happily charge a USB-C connected PC too. Personally I think USB-C was worth the change.
Unfortunately there is as yet no iPhone with a USB-C jack. Apparently that's a bridge too far..
"Personally I think USB-C was worth the change."
I can't disagree with the benefits of USB-C, but I still wish the connectors were more robust. Working in a place that has the current generation of laptop docks with USB-C, we've had dozens of users break the flimsy tips off these in the last year, to the point that they now receive some education on using them with their new laptop. All you have to do is slide the laptop against the wall or lift it such that torque is applied at an angle to the connector to destroy these. In the same time period, we'd see maybe one or two people manage to break a barrel connector or older style dock.
In this case, Dell is partially to blame for putting such a large plastic collar on these that allows a lot of unwanted leverage on the flimsy metal bit. The less said about the quality of their current generation of docks, the better as well.
For American style iPhone chargers, Apple added the (in)famous green dot to the housing to indicate the modified version with the improved metal prongs that promise not to remain dangerously stuck in the AC socket after the charger is pulled out.
This was long before 2016...
Once upon a time, a QA Manager took the position that "Quality" means nothing more than consistency. So the Apple's team.of charger designers are very high "Quality", as they consistently make the same mistake.
That slur on ISO 9000 has been repeated so often it isn't even funny any more.
Quality management has two prongs: Adherence to specification, and consistency. If Apple wants to claim it has quality, then its adaptors have to conform to the relevant standards for electrical accessories plugged into the household mains - basically BS1363 but with a derogation that allows plastic "earth" pins for double insulated wall warts that output a SELV.
Sony and others make adaptors where the earth pin is on a slider so that when retracted the adaptor can be laid flat, reducing the chance of pin damage.
As for the US 110V plug, the less said the better.
adaptors have to conform to the relevant standards for electrical accessories plugged into the household mains - basically BS1363
There's a big difference between conforming to BS1363, with a kitemark to prove it, and just "built to BS1363" which I've seen on many cheap plugs and is, of course, meaningless. I wonder if there's a kitemark on the Apple adapters?
"That slur on ISO 9000 has been repeated so often it isn't even funny any more."
It was never intended to be funny, just a comment on the quality scam industry.
The business I worked for long ago went from TQM (mantra: Get It Right First Time Every Time) to ISO 9000 (Continuous Improvement). When asked nobody in manglement was prepared to explain how, it we'd been getting it right first time every time there was scope for continuous improvement.
Dr Sin Tax noted, "nobody prepared to explain"
Too many otherwise-intelligent people appear to lack any sort of mental 'hypervisory' function.
They don't run (philosophical) induction as a continuous background process.
They seem to be running high level scripts, as opposed to neural net machine code on the mental hardware. The script doesn't include saving intermediate steps.
They never even notice such inconsistencies occurring over time spans exceeding the duration of the present thought (~30s).
Yesterday was something that was effectively experienced by a different sentient being that might as well as have been living on a different planet.
ViM suggested, "That slur on ISO 9000 has been repeated so often it isn't even funny any more."
I doubt that anyone had even heard of ISO9000 when the QA Manager made that claim circa late-1980s. The ink was barely dry on ISO9000 then, and certainly didn't become a fad until years later.
Furthermore, "adherence to specifications" is too often an example of mindless hubris on steroids.
News Flash: Specifications are products of humans, and can be (and are) just as flawed as any product. Those that worship at the feet of "adherence to specifications", without engaging any continuous skeptical thought, are dangerous.
Many specifications are repeatedly revised, with revision letters gleefully scaling the lofty heights of the alphabet. "QA Bible, Rev W"
Some specifications even include a requirement that the product "shall be fit for its intended purpose"; which rather proves my point.
Specifications are useful if employed intelligently. But they are insufficient, even combined with consistency, to assure quality. Too few in QA understand this basic truth.
Meanwhile the QA folks can still add value by occasionally identifying consistent defects (including defects that are not actually excluded by the defective specifications). Leading to another revision of the spec, and much paperwork to ship the repaired product while the defective spec is also being repaired.
If you disagree with any of this, then perhaps you lack experience. Or maybe you're not paying attention.
"Duckhead" is unusual in giving you two options to make a very nasty typo by pressing a key exactly one space to the right of the one you intended to press.
I'm thinking that the word might have been deliberately chosen by someone with one eye on this possibility.
Marketing person: I say! You there! What do you call the adaptor bit on the end of your charger that fits in the mains socket, that you have to change when going abroad?
Hacker: That? Uh, that's called a ..... *thinks for awhile* ..... A duck-head.
MP:Thanks!
That is all of our business, of course, but if you’re going to hold big tech to account for this then I’m afraid you’ll also have to boycott Amazon, Google (including Android), Microsoft, Facebook…
Very laudable if you do stick to your principles to this extent - but I imagine it must be rather difficult.
Shipped between 2003 and 2010? And they’re only just becoming a problem? If this story can be taken at face value then I’d say that Apple is going beyond the call of duty - these devices are well out of warranty. Surely Apple deserves some credit for this commitment to customer care. Or have I missed something?
"these devices are well out of warranty. "
Warranty has nothing do with safety. Warranty is just a manufactures guarantee that something will work for that long or be fixed/replaced free of charge. It's not even a promise that it is safe to use. There are other laws and regulations that cover safety, especially for devices that plug into the mains electrical supply.
I had a (recent-ish) BlackBerry one that kept popping open. The way it was designed means that when the cover comes off the thing is exposed in a bad way. I filled it with epoxy and sealed it shut, but really bad design. I have a few more "budget" usb plugs here that have a great mains design, molded in such a way that if the housing comes apart that there is no real shock hazard. Why someone would design the upper part of housing so it can come off leaving all the gubbings exposed is a odd one to me.
Why does Apple always seem to keep things very much close to their collective chests? Incidents like this, which smack of danger (if not downright lethality!) should NOT be swept under the carpet. We, the poor downtrodden public, should be told about the precise nature of the problem so an informed decision can be made as to whether Apple products should be purchased in the future. Personally, I wouldn't touch their grossly super-hyped products with the proverbial barge-pole. They are no better than rivals' items and (looking at recent performance comments), probably a lot worse and are certainly priced out of this world to fool gullible folk into thinking that they are the best. Come back down to earth, folks. They be nothing but con. merchants.
"Why does Apple always seem to keep things very much close to their collective chests? Incidents like this, which smack of danger (if not downright lethality!) should NOT be swept under the carpet. "
Since 2010: 6 Apple plugs causing problems.
In a much shorter time frame: A million burning Samsung phones.
Apple PSUs are a rubbish design.
OK, so it is good that you can easily replace the plug head, or the extension cable and plug, that goes from the transformer to the wall socket, but the other end...
The cable from the transformer to the computer is permanently affixed to the transformer and cannot be detached and replaced. It's a dreadful design: this is the part of the PSU that has to bear all the wear and tear as you move your laptop around on your desk, or your lap, or even your bed, with likely some bending and twisting of the cable near the MagSafe connector just through everyday use (and this part of the cable is only around 1 m long, which isn't very much to work with).
Yet this cable is very (unnecessarily) thin, much thinner than the connecting cable used in other brands of laptops, and seems to be coated with a special Apple form of self-decomposing rubber that (as well as gradually turning a foul colour from accumulated grot) sooner or later starts to weaken and crack, and then eventually you'll end up with a nasty split on the cable outer. And as I said, this part is not detachable and replacable, so unfortunately it is a whole new PSU that you need, and have you seen the eyewatering prices that Apple charge for these?!!
Once upon a time, one of the great things about Apple was their attention to the small details (MagSafe itself being a case in point), but it really is embarrassing and insulting just how poor their PSUs are, taken as a whole component. (Unfortunately, you read the reviews of third-party PSUs on well known shopping sites, and it seems that just as many (of the same product) get alarmingly hot, or short out, or, even worse, damage the power socket on the Mac, as actually work properly.)
Perhaps now that Apple are moving to USB-C power sockets, one potential plus side might be that, in using completely standard parts, a proper market in good quality alternative PSUs might start to come into existence, or have Apple done something sneaky like broadcast a certain data signal over their USB-C PSUs, so that alternative PSUs won't work?
I don't know about the very latest ones, but the old MagSafe cylindrical plugs can be repaired. Put the rectangular part in a vice then carefully pry up the cylinder. Slide the cylinder guts out and there's a hand-soldered jack inside. Cut the wire shorter, resolder, then smash the rectangular part back in with a the vice.
Repeat every 12 months until there's no more cable left :(
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The newer Apple PSUs have a USB-C socket and a standard USB-C to USB-C cable instead of a permanently fixed cable. And newer MacBook Pros charge fine from third party USB-C PSUs with Power Delivery. Agreed the old fixed cable was annoying, and the prices remain steep though.
The plain old mains plug is a fairly tough lump for the very good reason that safety matters.
I've no experience of Apple products but my latest laptop has a ghastly wall wart with a vulnerable looking plastic earth pin and an even more vulnerable looking rectangular plastic box on the back of it. I dread to think what an accidental kick would do to it. The combination of a localised mains lead with a rectangular or clover leave connector and a trailing power brick seems inherently much safer - an accidental kick of the power brick will simply move it across the floor.
We're rapidly approaching the day when the entire computer will be embedded into the AC plug body.
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, still need an HDMI cable to the monitor.
So the entire PC would look like a little adapter to seemingly connect an HDMI cable to the mains.
Coming soon...
Happened to me years ago, with my old MacBook Pro, contacted Apple support and they basically blamed me for mistreating it, saying that nobody else had complained about a similar issue...…. Glad it was not only me, but feel bad at how I was treated by Apple.
I do not like the new plastic earth pin craze.
Lost a decent power output USB PSU due to this.
Only had one plug fail, pretty old, it just shattered.
Most though seem to stay plugged in.
My least favourite is a plug with PSU in it with a switch to the lights on the output side. This light I HAVE to switch off at mains after turning it off. A bad design.
Perhaps Apple should get MK to make their adaptor.
a stripped pair of wires, reinforced with solder, terminated in a extended socket block and a small screwdriver that can indicate 110VAC or 240VAC as well as defeating the 'safety' features.
Beats all these self-serving outlet standards dotted around the world and of these, in my opinion, the UK version is a waste of materials and far too large. BTW, this monster plug is often found in Singapore-invested hotels and other buildings.
In Japan there are two standards in practice; in Cambodia/Kampuchea there three plug styles in use, as is the case in Laos and VietNam.
Plug style cannot be relied on to indicate the line voltage, either. The same plug is used in Japan for 110 and 240VAC; in Cambodia/Kampuchea and Laos the voltage is 240VAC. In VietNam the grid supplied system powers the three plug styles in use, and in remote, standalone power sources the voltage is 110VAC with US-style plugs.
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