Simplo batteries breaking logic boards?

The voltage (battery here) is not really the issue its the current! In the winter you often deal with high voltages in static discharge 20,000 to 25,000 volts! But the current is so small all you’ll get is a small shock of pain.

For MOSFET’s this little shock can kill them though! Which is why you need to be careful that your work surface, tools and you are ESD safe!

So the battery its self is not the issue! Lets look deeper…

Often people forget is what we assume is safe isn’t! While we talked about voltage and how ESD can damage MOSFET devices there is another source of problem within your MagSafe chargers! Current control and ground.

Apple made a very good charger! But it was expensive, People assumed the cheap knockoffs where just as good. Sadly they aren’t! Most issues I’ve seen all come from using a bad charger.

Many years ago I was supporting mac systems at a very large engineering firm where the engineers would travel all over the world. On one trip the engineer forgot their MagSafe charger, so in a panic went down to the local computer shop and was sold a new one in a plain brown box.

Went back to the hotel he was staying in, plugged in his laptop and went out for dinner. When he got back to the hotel there where fire trucks blocking his path when he got to the entry he was told the floor he was on had a large fire. All they had was what they where wearing, they luckily managed to get a set of rooms for the night in a different hotel.

The next day they let him into his room Escorted! As the fire was from his room. He was only allowed to take his clothes and his papers not on the desk (all smoke damaged). The hotel sued him and the engineering firm for millions! Let’s just say it was a very costly MagSafe charger! As it was a knockoff!

To prevent future events we went through every charger checking them. We where surprised how many were knockoffs! Each REAL charger was tattooed with our logo and the cord tangs glued down, replaced with a velcro strap. We also had a very large education program to teach how to properly wrap the cable and only use the chargers we supply. Anyone found using a knockoff would be fired on the spot.

A one Million Plus charger I think was enough!

● Don't Replace Your MacBook Charger With a Cheap Knockoff

● OEM MagSafe Chargers vs Cheap Imposters: Teardown for Truth

● Lacking safety features, cheap MacBook chargers create big sparks

● FAKE Magsafe MacBook Chargers on eBay - Watch before buying a Mac Charger

REAL Apple MagSafe Power Adapters

Don’t buy from OWC, their “genuine” MagSafe 2 charger was a counterfeit. They have a history of selling knockoffs as genuine.