Mac iBook G4 Power Adapter DC Plug Repair Howto Guide

How to revive a broken charger connector belonging to a pretty girl's apple?

  Yes, many pretty girls are fond of apples. And they like dancing. When her nice feet stepped on the cable her Mac practiced flying, fortunately almost without further consequences. But the charge plug did not fit any more. The golden tip of the sophisticated connector even preferred to remain inside of the Mac and was not easily be convinced to leave. What's to be done now?

  Let's start with some surgery ...

  ... till ...

  the white shell could be removed. As suspected from the charging light toy effects before, there are some electronics inside.

  The cable had two wires, the black one ending next to some semiconductor, the grey one between two resistors. Removed the cable.

  bk = black

  gr = grey

Probably we shouldn't mix this up later on.

  Formerly, the inner contacts of the connector must have looked very similar to a simple 2.5mm TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) jack. Here I have pulled the damaged parts out.

  The shield should be readjusted to some cylindrical shape.

  To have a look at the inner parts, the light guide will have to be removed. Slice it.

  Slide it away.

  To remove the shield it should be dilated.

  And don't forget desoldering.

  The replacement TRS jack is not gold plated like the delicate original but it seems quite robust.

  To prepare it the terminals should be tinned using some acid flux. And the usual weak internal connections in this type of TRS jack can be secured by soldering. Be quick enough not to melt the plastic rings in the tip.

  Contacts will have to be prepared to fit the printed circuit board (PCB). Cut a bit away from the S (sleeve) and the R (ring) contacts and connect wires for T (tip) and R (ring).

  After estimated the correct length, connect to the appropriate holes of the PCB.

  So it looks from the other side. Please note the solder securing the S contact. Without that lots of new TRS jacks are unusable.

  The outer shield in its original shape would short circuit TRS contacts, remove some of it.

  For a first test of what we have done use a piece of tubing to isolate the outer shield and connect the wires.

  For the shield soldering is not necessary to do this test.

  These are the connections in the plug I have seen. YMMV!

  If you all survived the test it's time for putting the connector together. First spend some epoxy glue for isolation.

  Smoothing the light guide's gash provides some room for the glue afterwards.

  The shield should be glued to the TRS jack, again epoxy is used. Don't forget to solder the pin in the PCB.

  Probably this is more robust and in the next incident a corner of the Mac will be ruptured. You have been warned.

  Cleaning the edges allows for an unconspicious scar.

  The light guide does not fit yet.

  It has to be somewhat shorter and additionally needs notches at the inner side for the sleeve and ring connections of the jack.

  Use fine sandpaper before polishing.

  Blue jeans make a good polishing agent for plastic parts. Using her's could help to keep the procedure less boring.

  There is not plenty of room. Be careful not to perforate the insulation of the wires. The light guide's fissure will be filled with a drop of transparent epoxy glue.

  Secure the wires with flexible hot glue.

  The final suture, filled with epoxy glue. For cosmetics, mix some titanium dioxide with the glue.

  Yes, it charges and it lights. Be careful... As I said: Next time the plug will be stronger.

  Finally, check the leftovers carefully. You should exactly find these. Else you'll have to repeat the surgery.

Other Resources

• More Apple notebook repair guides.
• More notebook power supply repair guides.

Disclaimer and Copyright

Warning: These instructions are given without any warranty. They don't have to be complete or correct. Don't do any of the following steps if you're not sure of what you're doing. You could damage your notebook and you WILL lose your warranty. Everything you do will be at your own risk.

All the pictures and explanations are a courtesy of an Anonymous "Surgeon". The document and the pictures are entirely put under CopyLeft.