The cases I received that caused by power adapter & battery are increasing at alarming rate, I would like to alert all Mac users in this forum about this matter. Do not fall for this cheap products, even if it's given warranty and so called OEM or Apple.

Very Important:
There are no such things as OEM product from Apple. It's either Apple or not. Not Apple means it's 3rd party or compatible model only. As Apple DO NOT resell bare parts to consumers in retail.

Here's a few cases I would shared with you:

Case#1:
OEM Battery for MacBook white
Owner original battery dead. So he went and bought a cheap OEM Battery. Upon using a few days. The MacBook refuse to detect and charge any battery at all even the owner has then bought a used original battery. Meaning the MacBook is currently only working with charger only. And the repair required replacing the whole logicboard, the on board charging component has gone faulty due to over current from the battery.

Case#2:
OEM 85W Charger for MacBook Pro
Owner bought this charger first few usage it's fine. After just a day or two usage on his MBP 2.4Ghz (Alu), the trackpad stop working when using the adapter. Also notice static/current shock all over the aluminium casing. Then he tried the same adapter on a MacBook white. No shock (cause of plastic body), but USB mouse won't work properly. He did not test further and already asked for refund.

Case#3:
OEM Battery for MacBook Pro
As usual original battery died after extensive usage in few years. Owner then bought OEM battery. Things works fine for few weeks. Then one day the his MacBook Pro refuse to boot up. After diagnose it was the battery causing over current and burned the logicboard. Repair cost him over RM2k.

There are a few more cases, but not handled by me so I will not put them here.



I'm not intend to harm anyone business here. But I would like to warn all Mac user to be smart and alert on these issue. Sure you save few hundred on buying these products, but in the end you might have to pay more when the damage is done on your unit.

Some explanation on why these product is cheaper/causing issues.

Chargers:
They look alot like the original. But upon inspecting carefully, you should notice the wordings on the adapter is not as sharp as the original. Also one type of the OEM charger have plastic grounding knob.

How does the adapter ground itself with a plastic knob?

You do know grounding is meant to protect you and your device from surge. So meaning there wont be any fuse jump should there be any overcurrent/ short circuit happen on the adapter.

Another thing to check after personally test some 3rd party/ OEM charger/ Replacement charger/ Or some so call First Class Replacement. First thing you will notice is, they felt marginally lighter than the Apple original adapter.

Why Apple charger cost so much?
#1 The design. Apple paid their engineer, designer, marketing ppl to invent and market the product. They even pay to patent the design. Then lastly package it nicely in a box for you.

For "OEM" they just copy. Maybe uses cheaper component (I can't testify). No packaging (just plastic wrap).

#2 Apple also give you the long cable and short adapter.

OEM give you 2 pin plug that need a converter. Some doesn't come with any connector.

#3 See all the icon and logo on the adapter? They meant the adapter are being tested to met such standard. And in Malaysia, SIRIM review the item and allowed it to be imported. All that cost $.

But for those OEM one, no one can testify. Those logo and terms are merely "copy".

Battery:
It's either the battery are being refilled/refurb, meaning the the exhausted battery cell are removed and replaced. It's unknown what type of cell they uses. But according to Apple they design the cell and manufactured by their appointed factory.

OEM type, these are the dangerous one. They look alike, but internally lack of the controller chip and microprocessor that help to maintain the battery health. So anything goes wrong Mac OS won't able to get the info from the battery. When things goes wrong it's already too late.

Why Apple battery cost so much?
More or less like the charger. But these battery include more technology than the charger. It has built-in chips that check the health of battery. Keep info as of model, date of manufacture, manufacturer, serial number, charge cycle, charge remaining, amperage and etc. It also support Apple battery update should Apple decide to release an update.

I do not know does those OEM batt have similar functions. Also original battery from Apple come with 12months warranty (thanks xaw5126 for clarifying).

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Update:
Info on static shock (electrostatic), minor electric shock, static/current noise over headphone/speaker/mic/recording on MacBook Pros/ Unibody MacBooks

If you having mild electric shock when using a power adapter on your Unibody MacBook, most likely you have grounding issue. Check if you are using the short 3-pin head. If yes, change it to the long cable that came with your mac.

Here's reason why using the short pin head cause shocks:



Many have reported using the long cable solve the issue. If you still have shocks after changing the plug, consult your technician.

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If you have bought any 3rd party/ OEM charger or battery, do share your experience.

This post has been edited by wei: Jul 18 2011, 11:51 AM

good post Wei

i have to agree with you. while i'm not against buying counterfeit product, anything regarding power (battery, charger) is something you don't want to skimp for. same goes to phone battery and chargers.

yes, the Apple retail battery has a 1 year battery. Customer should keep the receipts for best results.

limpe buy from online stores for all this hardware better....

erm tell that to the folks over at the iPhone forum.

semua mau guna wall charger, car charger and even usb cable, cap ayam

when you tell them, such an occurrence may happen, they ask you to go...


picture extracted from kopitiam

This post has been edited by nokia2003: Nov 4 2009, 04:48 PM

Thats why I stay away from that section. Lucky the admin split that section out.

well, that's fine.

both wei n I have met people like this. we're just putting the word out, so that more people will be informed.

I guess he and I are both not happy, cos people are selling replica / imitation products, and saying its OEM. then people getting ripped off and damaging their iPhone / iPod.

no such thing as OEM Apple ...

I welcome 3rd party product if they are build with quality. But if it's not, then we are risking thousands ringgit of investment.

It's very sad to see Mac users ended up with faulty or semi-faulty Mac that could have lasted them many more years. Just because of these self-claimed items.

Perhaps buyers should have asked/survey before they are about to purchase items from that section...

Good thread Wei, thanks and very informative.

actually, i do fly a fair bit and everytime i contemplate using my then MB and MBP on the plane via this

however, i'm also paranoid that the current from the plane's socket might be too overwhelming or under for the mac.

so in the end, i just leave it inside my bag.

This post has been edited by nokia2003: Nov 4 2009, 05:14 PM

i have experience with "exploding USB charger" as well... i have a third party USB charger for my iPod last time... but i didnt use it most of the time so i borrowed to my fren who use iphone and forgot to bring his charger... and after using sometimes... things happened... the charger exploded, luckily his iPhone was unharmed..

and btw.. the third party USB charger also does not has a ground pin, probably that why "things happened"

now i using charger that came with my iPhone to charge, n i never suggest anyone to bought any "ayam brand" USB charger... i would even suggest them to buy Apple nice 3-pin USB charger, which is way cooler and safe to use...

This post has been edited by elico: Nov 4 2009, 05:56 PM

Guys, try to focus in mac charger n battery only. iPod and iPhone have thier own section.

yup yup... 5 years now, I've never dared to use any other chargers... been offered replacement / refurbished battery & cheaper 3rd party battery...

mainly I'm worried about burning out the charging pins... looks like many blur people prefer to be penny wise, pound foolish.

Just for info, I just got my battery changed, after 2 years! My MB White CD's battery was a little deformed (bulging), and I immediately called AppleCare, after talking for less than 10 minutes (with someone with a heavy slang, later found out the call was directed to Apple Europe), they agreed to replace mine and gave me a case number. Got my new battery few days later.

For info, my AppleCare expired last month! Apple ROCKS!

power adapter is just RM299
i see no reason go for OEM

battery well, cost quite a bit
still this thing has to be original

but, how about product from Sonnet?

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Added on November 4, 2009, 10:48 pmjust found out sonnet dont have replacement battery for mac

This post has been edited by cRazYee: Nov 4 2009, 10:48 PM

I didn't notice Apple issue the pattern for Magsafe, MacBook, MacBook Pro Polymer battery design to any 3rd party.

that's because they dont ;p

the so called OEM charger cost how much

Nokia2003 : let them learn their lesson since advice is given

Added info on static shock with unibody macbooks.

Will they change the battery for you? if your battery is dead and u are still on ACPP.

If your battery is below 300 cycle and can't detect/ won't charge/ swollen.

Better to use Hypermac batteries...

http://www.hypershop.com/

No local supplier, gonna be hassle to claim warranty or support.
And you have to lug another bulky battery pack along with not light-weight MacBook/MacBook Pro.

Great advice! I never noticed that the stumpy adaptor didn't have a grounding contact.

Me too. Nver notice until i read this forum.

I'm having a problem now. It was showing this...



Then it shows this...



And now, it shows this...



What should I do now?

I'm using unibody Macbook (late 2008).

This post has been edited by goliath: Mar 29 2010, 03:50 PM

Send it in to Service Center.
Have you try unplug the power cord? Does it shutdown immediately?

It lags for 10 seconds before shuts down.

I've called Apple Support. Followed their steps / instructions (remove battery and etc). Now it's charging again.

Glad to hear that.

hello there..

i am using my macbook pro 13' about a month. i just realize that when i'm charging sometimes it almost feels as though there is electricity running through the case, and I get a very (very) mild electric shock, it almost feels like a vibration. Anyone else getting this?

go the place u buy from and request for warranty

yup... it's a problem with Malaysia's earthing system.

use your macbook in any other country and you'd have no problems.

basically just keep off the aluminium body.

more methods have been discussed in the "Macbook/MBP/MBA users" thread...

are you using the direct plug for the magsave? Try using the plug with extended cable, the direct plug doesn't have earth connection

yeah,i'm getting mild vibration sometimes too,how do u mean by extended cable ?do u mean the extension plugs ?

any link where to buy the direct plug for the magsave on amazon?

He mean that the plug that u use, did you use the long white cable attached? Or just use the 'white little box' direct plug to the adapter?

Coz the extended cable has earth grounding inside. So it's safer.

Check my other topic:
http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=1215928

This post has been edited by wei: Jan 17 2011, 09:27 AM

Yeap... The 3-pin with long cable one

Really GOOD infor @WEI.

yes, the Apple retail battery has a 1 year battery.

How come the direct 3 pin plug from apple doesnt have grouding? why they only have it on the extended cord?



How come macbook pro 2011 short 3 pin plug dont come with grouding?

This post has been edited by phua1985: May 14 2011, 06:59 PM

It's not just MacBook Pro. It's been at such way since many years. Even they redesign the plug head recently to a slimmer one, yet they did not include the grounding for whatever reason. If you felt unsatisfied, you should call AppleCare and make a report. The more ppl report the better. And hopefully Apple engineer will rework the design.

If i continue to use the macbook pro without using the extended cord for grounding purpose....will the static affect the macbook pro components? because if it doesnt i dont mind the little static that are irritating me all the time.

that's a weird thing to say haha

The grounding issue are reported to interfere with tackpad movement and cause random click.

In the long run will i cause any damage to the macbook pro itself?

---

Added on May 15, 2011, 9:54 pmhaha ....is because i dont want to carry the long extended cord with me as my backpack is very slim type ....LOL

This post has been edited by phua1985: May 15 2011, 09:54 PM

So far no one i know willing to live with the static/electric shock in long term.

My daughter's Macbook white (bought it March last year) suddenly couldn't turn on. Putting in a charger doesn't light up the charger LED. She is not a home right now, the last time she was using it, it was alright and I believe she left it w/o charging before she went back to her school. I'm trying to charge it up again, but it seems to be dead. Is this dead battery problem or a dead logic board. Somehow, I didn't bought any ACPP for her Macbook.

BTW, when I say couldn't turn on, it means .. nothing moving, no fan sound .. nothing at all.. just do nothing when I pressed the power button.

This post has been edited by wiraone: May 16 2011, 02:48 PM

If you have another MacBook / MacBook Pro around, you can plug the charger in and see any light on the charger tip. There's no way to tell the battery or board or anything else fault by just reading your mentioned symptoms. But to our experience if the charger is working, but battery faulty, there should be still green light and the MacBook should still turn on.

Tested the charger seems to be okay with my MBP and using my MBP charger on the white Macbook, the LED doesn't light up. I've tried doing the SMC reset (combination of left shift-ctl-option + power button) multiple times, nothing. I believe this probably a dead logic board then? Arghh, just last week my friend called me saying her MBP 13" has this symptom (she is lucky, she bought hers in May last year, till have few days warranty left). I will put it into charger for the whole day today and will see.. Couldn't see any traces of liquid spilled on the keyboard..

---

Added on May 16, 2011, 3:16 pmI guess only two things left according to this ifixit website:

http://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/MacBook_Unibody...Troubleshooting

1. Dead logic board or
2. Dead Magsafe board

Will need to bring it to VRTech then .. arghh.. money money money..

Did a search on magsafe board fault and found that 90% said that it wouldn't be the cause, but most probably a water damage/spill. Argh!

This post has been edited by wiraone: May 16 2011, 03:26 PM

Is this only for the latest MBP?

it's the MBW. also, since TS implied it is out of warranty so definitely not the current MBW which was launched on 18/5/2010.

is the magsafe connector on the MBW clean?

All unibody models have LSI as guide for Liquid damage. So it's very easy to tell if it's contact with liquid.

I've got a quotation from VRTech, it seems that the problem is with the logic board, RM1800 to change it. Is it worth it?

---

Added on May 31, 2011, 10:33 amI guess no choice really, need to pay for it .. I was expecting it to be more than that. So, I've made the payment, hopefully will get the MBW back RSN.

This post has been edited by wiraone: May 31 2011, 10:33 AM

kinda expensive.... top up get new one.
whats make the logic board dead anyway? i do always read about this logic board went kaput without the reason from user's feedback. i wonder if the logic board is way too vulnerable than motherboard found in any notebook?

This post has been edited by Miyabi: Jun 1 2011, 12:31 AM

I need to top up at least RM800 to get a new one, well, this MBW was rarely used, my daughter is in a boarding school, so she couldn't bring the MBW with her. She only use it when she is on her school break. Somehow, this is my second experience with logic board going kaput, once was with my old bondi blue back in 2004. No reason given by the service centre, they just told me that the logic board gone kaput, need to replace it. No symptom was given by my daughter. She said a night before she went back to school it was okay.. but few weeks after when I tried to switch it on, it just doesn't give any response at al. At first I suspected the battery was drained off, try to charge it .. no amber light on the charger tip. Tried resetting the power setting, no go too. Lesson learned, the next time I get myself any Apple products, I need to tell myself to go and buy ACPP too.

Should include ACPP into the budget when buying a new Mac. Instead of wasting it on upgrades and accessories. Those you can get later anytime.

after 1 year just sell ur macbook n get a new one..its better than u buy ACPP n use till it died..

Hi guys,
Can I ask how is the battery life like for a 2010 mbp 15 inches???

lets say the user has used it around 11 months.
Thx for replies.

Hi.. want to ask, should i discharge the batt daily?
Appreciate any tips to prolong the batt shelf life.

Not nessacary. Read this topic: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1903203

Read the replies. I think mod should merge it.

Ok.. thanks...

This post has been edited by 20thCentury: Jun 12 2011, 10:52 AM

My adapter lights sometime the status indicate charged but not showing any lights. But when I pull off n in again it shows green light again.

That's normal, we always seen that. Sometime the green light will be half bright. Just pull the MagSafe off and plug it back. It could be the pin did not align nicely.

Anyone know how much for replacement battery for built-in battery for mbp mid-2010? Any reputable 3rd party battery? I had open mbp bottom a few time for hd and ram upgrade. Can see the battery and I don't think it's hard to do the replacement.. Only need to source for the battery itself.

few hundreds i guess. check on apple malaysia

Hey, starting yesterday my battery keep show not charging.

I did a SMC reset and the LED indicator on the charger turns red but its stuck at 67%. When i remove it and plug it back in it turns green and it states not charging again. This is quite a new battery cause i had it replaced about a year ago.

I'm using Macbook alu late 2008 running 10.7 Lion.

Age doesn't judge the health of the battery. Send it to service center and they will have proper diagnose software to tell is your battery healthy or not.

Thx man, i will do that. Will they take the whole mac or just my battery?

Had a bad experience on my 1st Macbook white. The batt's dead just after warranty.

Now I'm using a 2nd hand MBP (SR). The batt that comes with it still working considerably ok after 546 cycles. But indicates the condition to "Replace Soon". So after long consideration, due to my tight budget and bad experience from MacBook white,I finally bought an OEM batt from www.laptop-battery.my.

Soon to found that this lousy over-priced batt can't be full charge (stop charging at 80%), deplete faster than original batt and the worst is, it suddenly cut OFF at exactly 30% of the batt storage. The original batt still can lasts for 90 mins usage with full charge despite after few hundreds cycles already. The lousy OEM batt lasts only 50~60mins.

The seller claims that their product comes with money back guarantee / 12 months warranty. But when contacted, the seller tends to ignore and argue with his crap.

So lesson learned, buy ORIGINAL.

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Added on August 25, 2011, 5:59 pmI use iStat Menu to monitor my battery.

This post has been edited by @bout @perture: Aug 25 2011, 05:59 PM

Great share!

always stay original

My macbook unibody late 2008 has gone through 207 cycle and its health is at 62% . Is it normal?

not normal. never calibrate?

Apple product must use Apple original accessories la ...dun save that kind of money, ur mac is much more exp than that

i think you need to perform calibration and see how it goes...

anyone knows if i could acquire a plug head for the charger which has a metal contact?

while the longer cable has a metal contact, it's well, long. too long for me.

check out machines.
i saw they are selling just the plug head.
i think it's original apple cos the packaging is really nice!

is is normal, my old 2010 MBP got nearly 300 charge cycles after 1 year usage.
discharge it every time

but the original plug head doesn't have any metal contact :s

sure that's not the iphone charger? never seen the plug head sold like that before

owh really? i din know that...
hahahaha...

DIY for the time being, been looking for such 3-pin plug with grounding. Maybe 1 day I will have enough fund to manufacture it myself.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/weistudio/443.../in/photostream

iphone or not i dunno...
but it looks like a plug head to me...

make sure theres the fastener on the surface, if it doesn't then its an USB plug for iPod/iPhone

ingenius! gonna do that to both of mine. thanks wei

Retailer wont sell the plug head on shelve display. It's too cheap and it doesn't come with packaging unless it's the Universal Travel Kit.

oopsss...
my bad then i guess...

Nice DIY there wei, I'm going to do the same thing .. the extension wire is too long for me.. thanks for sharing!!

For those that's going to DIY, please test the plug with something cheaper first, like USB charger. Do not test it on your RM299 magsafe.

But it's a simple cable lead only. Shouldn't be a problem for most of you. You will find it hard to insert the charger if you use thick cable. I've actually cut a small line on the plug to place the cable.

wonder if i could keep the plug head from my old 2008 mbp that i've to send in once the new one arrives and try to crack it open so i could do the wiring internally..

It's not easy to crack open. Whole thing is almost solid. Lol.

yeah after looking at it again i chickened out. scared i'd make it messy.

then ocd would kick in and i would smash it to the floor >.<

How to solve this 'tenggelam' MagSafe pin? Need to buy new adapter meh?