85W Macbook magsafe PSU troubleshooting

[izzzzzz6]

Can anyone help here? I have an 85W magsafe adapter that has semi failed! It is not the flex. I cut the end off and was getting a very low voltage, by shorting the wires together i could trick it to kickstart and it would goto 6V once plugged into the mac and trick started with a short of the power cable at the same time it go's to 16 or 17V and works fine!
I am thinking it is a bad Capacitor. I know it is really difficult to open these things up without destroying some of the components in the process. Any views on this?
James

[izzzzzz6]

Re: General PSU Discussion and FAQ contributions

Hi Guys, does anyone know why an 85W Macbook magsafe PSU may be acting up? It is not a broken flex.
I cut the end off and was getting a very low voltage. When tricking it by shorting the leads together i could get it to jump to 6V
Once plugged into the mac and again tricking it by shorting the cable together at the same time it jumps to it's normal operating voltage around 17V!
I'm thinking it's a bad capacitor. Has anyone had similar problems with other/similar PSU's?
Ps. How do i start a new thread on this if i want to?

[Per Hansson]

Re: 85W Macbook magsafe PSU troubleshooting

I merged your 3 separate posts here, please do not litter the FAQ's with content that does not belong there.

[selldoor]

Re: 85W Macbook magsafe PSU troubleshooting

As Per says we do not like multiple posts for the same question and definitely not in FAQ stickies. If you want to make a new thread (on another subject!!) then scroll down to
Forum Jump and pick a suitable forum. When that forum opens there will be a blue box at the top left where you can create a new thread.

[stj]

Re: 85W Macbook magsafe PSU troubleshooting

foto's and all that.stuff

[izzzzzz6]

Re: 85W Macbook magsafe PSU troubleshooting

As Per says we do not like multiple posts for the same question and definitely not in FAQ stickies. If you want to make a new thread (on another subject!!) then scroll down to
Forum Jump and pick a suitable forum. When that forum opens there will be a blue box at the top left where you can create a new thread.

Right you are. Sorry guys every time i come to this forum i can't work out how to make a post. I have been looking over and over to try to make a new post and it has got me baffled. I can't even work out how i posted this question about the charger a few years ago.
Why isn't there an obvious button that says create new post?
Thanks.
James

[diif]

Re: 85W Macbook magsafe PSU troubleshooting

Why isn't there an obvious button that says create new post?
Thanks.
James

There is.

[ReeceyBurger123]

Re: 85W Macbook magsafe PSU troubleshooting

2 years later......

[izzzzzz6]

Re: 85W Macbook magsafe PSU troubleshooting

Yes 2 years later
Things move slow around here.
I see what the problem was. First i need to navigate to the appropriate forum subject. Once there the button appears.
I did not realise what the forum jump button was for or how to find the list of topics.
Once i got there the rest was easy.
Sorry for being an idiot.
Thanks guys.

[momaka]

Re: 85W Macbook magsafe PSU troubleshooting

I have an old Magsafe charger that does the same exact thing: it barely outputs any voltage until you short the wires, and then it turns of?

I originally intended to fix it and use it for a project, but never got around to it. I still have it though. Last time I was playing with it, I *almost* managed to get it open. Looks like it's glued together.