Macbook Pro 85W Power Adapter Repair
A friend stopped by yesterday mourning the loss of his MacBook Pro power adapter. Since he had already ordered a new one from Apple, I asked if we could try to resuscitate the “broken” one. It turned out to be a simple fix:
- Chisel along the seam of the power adapter; this may be he hardest part – mainly because it seems so unreasonably hard to get the blasted thing open. Keep on chiseling, it will give with time.
- Snip the old wires and solder on the new ones.
Did I really need to make this list? Bottom line: if your macbook adapter broke because you bent the cord to death, just pop it open and resolder. 
May 5th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Hi, I have fixed the big part of the adapter on many occasions. I have recently broken the other end of the adapter and find that my kids and I fight over the usage of it. I’m open to suggestions here on how to fix it. Is it a matter of soldering it too once I open it?
May 5th, 2008 at 10:14 am
What do you mean arguing “over the usage of it”? And do you mean you broke the end with the green/orange dot? Truth is, I’ve never worked with that end, but I do know that the skinny white cable is just coaxial. If it breaks, you can always cut out the broken part and splice it together, I bet.
January 28th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Hi carson i have macbook pro 85W adapter need to be repair, it seems apple authorize service center in my country doesn’t want to fix it, they offering me a new one with the higher price. I just try to fix it my self, but i get confuse how to open the adapter case. What tools did you use to open it? Thanks for your replay.
January 28th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
All you need to do is chisel around the outside – use a screwdriver if you have to. Go around the entire outside, and eventually it will pop off. Just be patient.
February 1st, 2009 at 12:36 am
Thanks carson, it work….it very helpful blog…
May 20th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
How do I check to see if it works?
May 30th, 2009 at 10:11 am
hey.
My friend is in a situation where she broke her adapter.. its a normal macbook.. not a pro one.. and the wire seems to be hooked off.. so any help ?
May 30th, 2009 at 10:37 am
It should be the same as for the pro version…
January 15th, 2010 at 7:44 am
I was able to fix the magnetic (computer) end of one of these power supplies when the same thing happened. I locked the rectangular metal part in a BIG vise, then tapped the white plastic case off with a screwdriver point. The soldering was a bit fussy, but manageable with a pencil-type iron and a solder remover. I just made a note of where the inner wire and outer braid were soldered and reproduced it. The strain relief was molded on and couldn’t be saved. Thanks for this post, Carson.
March 6th, 2010 at 12:28 am
I tried to chisel along the seam with patience but I ended up ruining the whole surface, probably because my screwdriver was too thick.
Then I removed the two corner flaps (which was relatively easy by applying moderate sideways force on them), and I placed in the now available space the tip of a pair of pliers. By pushing the pliers in the available space, I opened slowly the handles of the pliers. This put force from the inside towards the outside on the two corners and voila!, the apparatus opened with a snap!
Try it before chiseling
April 12th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
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May 7th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
hm…
i also have a problem with the green/orange dot part…
the pins that are by the sides, they dissapeared inside the cable.
hmmm…
June 16th, 2010 at 10:46 am
my 2006 macbook pro magsafe connector failed right next to the strain-relief. by the time I was able to do something about it, the connector itself had sustained damage from the arcing of the frayed wires.
I bought the airline kit & cut off the “aircraft” end of the cable, then joined this to the cable coming out of the adaptor. this works fine for powering the laptop, & is cheaper than buying a new adaptor
BUT
the battery won’t get charged this way.
so I still had to buy a new adaptor just because of the connector. the proper one has a chip in it, the airline one doesn’t.
so, my method is good to rescue an adaptor to keep as a spare (I use mine at my desk in the office).
I had to open the case of the same adaptor today when the cable frayed at the other end. I think coaxial cable is a bad idea for laptop supplies- the high current heats the plastic sheath & makes it brittle. if apple had used some sort of double-sheathed flat-twin cable (like mains cable), this would not be happening.
the repaired adaptor went back together without gluing, but I threw some strong tie-wraps round it anyway.
duncan.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:10 am
Hi
I have the same problem as lechuck where the pins have disappeared inside the cable. Any advice on this?
August 1st, 2010 at 5:52 am
Hi,
Due to the torn Coaxial cable (inner cable was ok) the MacBook Battery didn’t charge. The small lamps were dead. Nothing worked.
1) I opened the adapter housing with a screw driver and a small hammer
2) Cut the plastic cover of the out going cable
3) cut approx. 2 cm of the cable casing of the Magsafe cable
4) now it was enough coaxial cable and I solder to the one of the adapter
5) fixed it with a glue strip to the plastic housing.
Now it works
Axel