I recently got a MBA 15" that comes with a 35W dual USB C charger but found out it does have AC current leakage causing tingling feeling when touching the case of the MBA, things got worse when i plug in my metal earphones and it stings my ears. I do have a Ugreen CD226 as well and it does have AC current leakage as well.

After further investigation, the quality of this Apple 35w adapter is under average too


Wonder if there are other decent 3rd party USB PD chargers that doesn't leaks AC current or doesn't give the tingling effect?

Maybe it is the MBA board that is leaking current instead of the charger. Ever thought about that? Since you have swapped 2 different chargers. Trying using those same chargers on another MBA if you could get your hand on it. Perhaps borrow from your friend or something.

The charger is two blade type plug, right? Try rotate the the charger so that the pin exchange place to one another and see if the tingling is still there.

If I unplug the USB C to mag safe from the MBA and touch the aluminium shell of the magsafe while the USB C end still plugged into the apple 35w charger, it gives the tingling feel too but the MBA case doesn't give the feeling after unplug

It comes with UK 3 prog for MY unit, I tried a few outlets at my house also still gives the same tingling, possible if my condo grounding is bad? but my other laptop with barel plug won't have such issue though.

This post has been edited by more2teayap: Aug 29 2024, 09:32 AM

The Earth prong is metal or plastic?

metal

If like that I think better get back to Apple as this is not acceptable at all.

But I thinking to get a better adapter as well, so wonder if are there any charger with higher output, probably around 100w without such issue?

The charger has 3 pin, right? if that is so, then the grounding should be wired to MBA chassis through USB wire. I'm not Apple user but I believe the unit power supply is through USB-C connector, right? Higher power adapter will not change anything. Many PDA adapter is just using L and N wires without E connection.

The tingling sensation most likely due to how the board is designed. The one that use 2 wire, the device is isolated just to the PCBA only unlike the 3 wire design.

MBA can be charged either with usb c - usb c or usb c to mag safe port, both wires i tried also have the same issue. Did some digging on the internet some mentioned is due to how the charger being design, some have good AC isolation design so that it won't leak to the DC output to the device. But I'm not an electrical engineer so can't verify on such claim

I saw this guy did some brief testing on USB charger on current leakage too, he claimed that the ikea 45w is tingle free, but I plan to get a 100w charger to get faster charging as well



around 3:15

The metal surround the type C connector can be connected to ground or no connection at all. For 2-pin charger, I believe the metal shroud on type C is not grounded. So, the output is only +ve and -ve. Yes, good design should not have AC leak to DC but if there is leak, the product should not be in market already. They will fail the test unless they are unbranded certified products.

In 2-wire design, an appliance or a device will normally has chassis or casing not grounded. So, there will be no tingling involved unless the chassi is connected through isolation high impedance resistor to -ve supply. If the MBA has chassis grounded, then the shroud on the USB-C connector is also grounded through the USB wire and should be grounded to house wiring as well through 3-pin socket. If all is good, then should be no tingling sensation. All the tingling case on MBA reported in Internet are those with 2-prong adapter which is basically the US market.

I think this is strange since you have the UK unit.

The max charging speed is not determined by charger but the device itself. The device will limit the max current flow to its design. So, it does not matter if you have 200W or 500W, the speed will not get faster.

Yup understood on this, MBA able to go up to 70w input, so thinking of getting a good 100w charger with 2 input so that i can charge my phone at the same time

For me, it is still good to have adapter with more higher power because it will operate cooler and give longer life to electronics inside it.

earth prong is metal but the inner part of 3pin head is fully plastic. got no connection with round metal part of charging brick. so its not grounded.
I think only the long apple extension cable has inner metal connection for grounding.

Dang! Just checked, it really doesn't have metal contact in the earth slot, despite the earth prong is metal..


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I have the same problem with a MBP 14 and 67W Apple Charger.

I found a simple DIY solution online, which involves connecting the earth pins of both the adapter bring and the 3-prong UK plug using a wire.
This will instantly eliminate the weird tingling/vibrating feeling when the MB is connected to the mains.

Here are some photos to show what I mean.





I am using one strand of the copper wire from an Ethernet UTP cable for this purpose.
You can also use cable ties with metal cores (those black/white coloured strips used to tie up cables), but I find that it breaks easily compared to the thicker wire from an Ethernet UTP cable.

Just make sure that the wire has proper shielding, except on the contact points between the 2 earth pins, and make sure that it never touches any other pins of the adapter and plug, except the earth pins.

Cheers!

Cool, didn't thought of doing that but I found out my 2008 macbook charger extension cable with proper earth connection fit perfectly with the 45w charger, no shocks after using that


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Well even better, this is the (proper) way!