Apple 10W USB charger failure analysis and repair

[@Alchemetica]

Incredible how you put the board back together and had it working. Thoroughly enjoyed your analysis of the circuit as well as the testing of components and what their readings should be and/or how they change within an operating circuit.

[@advisedpotato8983]

@Chals Silva will Jesus fix the chip shortage? If so, I’m in!

[@Alchemetica]

@Chals Silva Om Namah Shivaya 🕉

[@cheeseschrist2303]

@Chals Silva Jesus died for our sins. If you do not sin he died in vain. Amen.

[@AlexanderBukh]

@@Alchemetica om triam bakam he jamahesu gandem poushte vardanaa oouhrvaru kamiva bhangana brityor mukshjamamretat

[@Alchemetica]

@@AlexanderBukh Haribol. ಓಂ ತ್ರಯಂಬಕಂ ಯಜಾಮಹೇ ಸುಗಂಧಿಮ್ ಪುಷ್ಟಿ-ವರ್ಧನಂ ಉರ್ವಾರುಕಂ ಇವ ಬಂಧನಾಂ ಮ್ರಿತ್ಯೋರ್ಮುಕ್ಷಿಯಿಯ ಮಾಂರಿತಾತ್ ಓಂ Shiva deva jai jai Ram, Shri Ram Jai Ram.

[@michaelfisher9671]

That is some truly excellent solder bodging there to get that board back together, DGW.

[@michaelfisher9671]

@Chals Silva OK but what is Jesus Christ’s view on the standard of DGW’s solder bodging in this video? Please try to stick to the point.

[@michaelfisher9671]

@Agustinus Reynaldi Probably but does JC have a cute cat?

[@rahulbhaskar4179]

NAIceeee...

[@DB-47]

4:06 This metallic contact is actually supposed to make both connection firm and strong but also to connect the power supply to ground if you use apple extension cord, which has 3pin plug. Apple uses this system on their 10/12/29/30/61/67/87/96/140 W power supplies based on slightly modified IEC C8 connector.

[@edgarkoterle]

Extension cord is available only for MacBook chargers, which have regular IEC C5 connector, but principally is as you described. On this charger is ground pin for UK plug.

[@VOLTRONDEFENDER4440]

@@edgarkoterle I have it use from my old MacBook air, but you can grab those from apple now

[@DB-47]

@@edgarkoterle Actually not. It can be used not only for classic MacBook charger, MacBook USB-C chargers, but also for 10/12W iPad charger and new 35W dual port charger. I sometimes use this feature if I need grounded USB-A power supply and it is quite handy when socket is too far away. It is better option to extend AC side than DC side as voltage drop on AC side is miniscule compared to ones on DC side especially in 5V mode

[@tookitogo]

@@edgarkoterle The UK duck head is not grounded, despite having a metal ground pin. (I just checked.) The ground stud on the chargers is for the cords, which (after MANY years of being sold only with PowerBook, iBook, and MacBook chargers, can now be bought separately as accessories).

[@tookitogo]

It was also used for 45, 60, 65, and 85W laptop chargers. And just for completeness’s sake: the old 5W iPod and iPhone chargers (both the original 5W FireWire and later 5W USB versions) have a plastic stud for mechanical stability, but with no ground connection whatsoever.

[@Tigrou7777]

Thumb up for the effort of putting it back together just for the sake of testing it.

[@markwarburton8563]

I really enjoyed your analysis of the failure and your tests on the Schottky. Nice!

[@-yeme-]

I love how you used so much flux in the repair it acted like glue to hold the board together

[@jkobain]

And EVEN MOAR ROSIIIIN! ©

[@pankajB66]

I am able to fix many electronic items after viewing your videos, especially the power supply units. Made my own battery packs, their chargers, voltage regulator, current regulator etc. Thank you for everything you do.

[@antibrevity]

I had an old Apple charger fail in exactly the same way a few days ago. I would try to fix it, but Apple chargers are glued and not repairable, as danyk proves in this video. These chargers are built well enough that you hate to discard them, but Apple never intended any of this stuff to be serviceable.

[@tactileslut]

The way they're priced I'm more likely to use it, fixed and in a ball of electrical tape, than to buy another one.

[@chucknorris2952]

@Chals Silva people been hearing that for 2000 years now. Hes stone dead, mate..

[@app0the]

Mind you they have stopped releasing those styles of chargers and switched to the "wall plug with a usb port" style I think around 10 years ago at this point, which is probably more than any cheaper non-branded charger would last. Personally I've gone through countless knockoff ones and HTC/Samsung ones, but one of those that I got with my first iPad in 2010 still works just fine

[@ruben_balea]

Try with gasoline, it usually work on most Chinese black power "bricks" and it seems also on the white Apple ones: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bWWQmWBom9Shobc

[@cheeseschrist2303]

@@chucknorris2952 If he comes back, will it bring on the Zombie Apocalypse?

[@lukasb95]

LOL when you started to saw the charger case 🤣 I do still run this slightly newer Apple-Flextronics 12W charger (5V 2.4A) nonstop 7x24 since 2014 to power 2 raspberry pi until today! It is never unplugged since 8 years ago, supplying around 1.3Amps nonstop

[@timwhite8500]

Yeah people can say whatever they want about supposedly overpriced Apple power supplies, however you will get decent service life and probably won’t get killed by contacting the mains, or have the house burnt down. That’s a win at any price in my book.

[@janami-dharmam]

The filter capacitors are usually the first ones to fail. But you are running it at 50% the rated capacity and I would say that the life will be considerably extended at lower load.

[@jb5631]

@@timwhite8500 all well known brand chargers are like that. So it's easy to win in your book then.. Compared to the good ones this apple one is not even that special. It does it's job but that's what it's supposed to do..

[@lukasb95]

@@timwhite8500 correct for saying the apple charger is a very good quality (and very easy to obtain the genuine one here) but that comes with a hefty cost (35$ or even more for a simple charger like that) being known that the charger is usually made by Liteon, Delta, Samsung, Flextronics, Foxconn, etc, if you somehow managed to obtain equivalent model from a surplus store, then apple charger doesnt seem economical at all. Right now I usually use Liteon 5V 2A which only costs me 3$, with comparable quality as Apple 5V 2A chargers.

[@tookitogo]

@@lukasb95 At $3, you’ve got a fake Lite-On. The genuine Apple 12W charger is $19 to this day.

[@harrymartin1661]

Wie immer super analysiert und erklärt. Vielen Dank.

[@ShowXTech]

Bin also nicht der einzige Deutsche hier

[@ch2o2]

@@ShowXTech ..wo denkst du hin (wobei, alleine Deutsch zu sprechen bedeutete ja nicht notgedrungen, D'er zu sein)

[@AlexanderBukh]

Stimmt es

[@Electronic.CNCLab]

Congratulations on the video. Very interesting and educational.

[@Tsiikki]

This man knows the electronics!

[@TzOk]

You can update the firmware in this old LCR T4 tester to almost the same version as you got in the newer one.

[@jkobain]

I heard people either found the source code for them or reverse-engineered their behavior, and try to improve them, while also making the changes publicly available, which is great. I didn't test them on my M328 (the first one with the rotary encoder), but if I get myself some spare atmega chips to play around (often the firmware is protected in-chip), I might try.

[@TzOk]

@@jkobain The Chinese firmware is based on an open source project. I have never found the source code for it, but a binary version is available, so you can always reflash it, if you have decided you like it more.

[@TzOk]

@@SeanBZA I know that, but there is no source code for the firmware used in the Chinese T4 LCR tester. There is the original firmware (by Markus Frejek) and its more up-to-date fork (by Karl-Heinz Kübbeler).

[@TzOk]

@@tamask001It is a newer version of the open source firmware. Chinese LCR T4 was using a proprietary firmware.

[@TheSpotify95]

Great vide, I was very surprised just at the amount of force it took to open the charger! It seems that certain chargers are designed to be disposed of, and not repaired even by qualified electronics engineers. Also, I think in the next one you should do more USB chargers, and also compare their transformers to the transformer from the Apple charger that was disassembled in this video.

[@zomgstuffnet]

"it seems that certain chargers are designed to be disposed of, and not repaired even by qualified electronics engineers." Retail price of brand new 10W Apple USB charger is < $20. It's not worth anyone's time to manually dismantle it, troubleshoot/diagnose actual failed sub-component, and manually replace said failed components (particularly if through-hole instead of SMD). It probably costs more to refurbish a USB charger than to replace it via automated production line means. With such a low retail price point it's easier for consumers to simply buy another one than to go through the hassle of taking it to a repair store and waiting for it to be ready (while charger is unavailable).

[@rfmerrill]

If you are not familiar with apple chargers, this one is designed like their old laptop chargers but with a USB output. The plug can be switched with a long power cable that has a ground I think. The magsafe charger for my old mac laptop from work took either an ungrounded plug or a grounded cable on the AC side, and this is in the US. It's interesting that it can be used either way.

[@satsumagt5284]

It’s for iPads

[@tookitogo]

The 10W USB charger was indeed introduced with the original iPad. The snap-on plug and cord system was introduced in 2001 with the iPod FireWire charger and used for every Apple notebook charger since, as well as most of their USB chargers (other than the “compact” versions with built in AC plugs) and even the original AirPort Express.

[@Danandrea737]

I swear, your voice intonation is one of the wildest, strangest and most fascinating I've ever heard :D Greetings from Italy :D

[@TerryLawrence001]

Awesome primary/secondary separation! :-)

[@ats89117]

That's a smart cat! He should have his own channel!

[@socatekun]

The color on those aluminum capacitors indicates the electrolyte it uses, that's a 820 uF 6.3V(the j you see there is the voltage rating), blue been polymer.

[@englishrupe01]

Yes, and they are used as ultra low ESR capacitors.

[@tookitogo]

Is there a guide to the electrolyte color code?

[@bitterlemonboy]

Great, another awesome video. I hope you're recovering well from your meth addiction. Remember you're strong. We support you!

[@jawjuk]

NEVER pointless! We learned something :-)

[@tookitogo]

3:15 The snap-on plugs (officially called “duck heads”, by the way) are ungrounded. The reason for the ground stud is that in addition to plugs, there are also power cords that snap on, and those are all grounded. They have two spring contacts inside the slot. Apple introduced this plug system in 2001 with the original iPod charger (FireWire output) and has used it ever since for all their notebook chargers, many USB chargers, and the old AirPort Express. Even today, they have the 35W dual-USB-C charger in both “compact” (built in plug) and standard version with the modular system. You can still buy the 12W replacement for the charger shown in this video.

[@Jeremy_Moro]

Damn, this can be very educating when you can fully analyze many chargers and draw schematics, by comparing electronics in these things you might figure out how they are built and how you can design something by yourself. Tinkering with electronics seems to be cool

[@KeritechElectronics]

That's for the Apple's build quality and serviceability - and again, I hope you learned something! :D

[@renetegel5673]

You didn't unwind the transformer?

[@KonstantinGrigoriadis]

Hi Danny, the Diode is a SBR10U45SP5 10A SBR SUPER BARRIER RECTIFIER

[@anonymoususer6448]

not dodgy :-) Great video as always. Great learnings. Thank you for sharing your knowledge /chrisV

[@tookitogo]

I had some of these (well, the older 5W version for iPods) fail, after many, many years of service. It was simple electrolytic capacitor failure.

[@fredriktennila5424]

interesting video of this charger. good explanations

[@nowster]

The big metal stud is meant to connect to earth, but even in the UK the clip with the mains plug doesn't connect it to the plug's earth terminal. This is why I get a tingle off a MacBook at work when it's next to a ThinkPad (which _is_ earthed).

[@dglcomputers1498]

You can earth it, however, via the extension cable apple sell. My older Asus laptop had a metal/metallised top cover but did not have an earthed supply, due to that connecting to to anything that was earthed (for example a projector or my mixer) with it plugged in made the top cover uncomfortable to touch, using an earthed charger fixed it.

[@eDoc2020]

I've seen a mod where somebody added a bit of foil into the UK plug to bridge between the earth pin and the adapter's stud.

[@tookitogo]

I’m very familiar with the MacBook tingle! Indeed, it will go away if you use the grounded power cord, just as dglcomputers said above.

[@josephking6515]

Due to the difficulty opening the charger it seems like it may have been a genuine Apple device but with Dodgeee components? I can tell you the "earthed" connecter that slides into the power plug does *not* connect to the earth prong/tyne in an Australian plug. In fact the Australian Apple plug does not have even have an earth prong/tyne as I just checked one that was sitting on my coffee table. *Thank You* for the videos. They are educational, entertaining and greatly appreciated. 👍

[@alonsorodriguez543]

You should make an autopsy of an brushless drill, the motor controller are quite interesting

[@filenotfound__3871]

My laptop charger decided to blow up few days ago, the main input filter leaked everywhere. Nothing that could have caused the capacitor to fail seemed damaged. The supply was made by Delta electronics. Do main filters just randomly leak like that?

[@liam3284]

what causes failure is heat and ripple rather than something accute.

[@filenotfound__3871]

@@liam3284 The charger was just staying idle on the desk

[@piconano]

LEDs or Chargers? Tuff one. I love them both.

[@nikiamz6501]

You should make a teardown of the MeanWell power supply from the Pirl charger video.

I was looking into the same charger with similar issue and same as you, I have broken the secondary as well. It was also impossible to open by other means than sawing it. But otherwise quite nice charger.

[@BlazeFox89]

Back when I was doing cap repairs on fleets of computers it wasn't too uncommon to find a bunch of identical nichicons having failed in one PC but the rest were fine. This is opposed to a capacitor plague case where every cap of that type or brand would have failed making for a steep repair bill. It does seem like they often have a few bad caps in every batch, but the ones that last seem bulletproof.

[@HugforYou]

I love it when you say... 7:54 🥰

[@higamitakaro]

4:14 - you can use power cord P/N: Z622-0157 wich is grounded.

[@rinkima]

Power Adaptor be like : I’m tired, I can’t handle any more load so please let me rest. 🤣

[@gamingscreen12]

i found and changed the bulged caps on a pc power supply still works perfectly after 18 years

[@1marcelfilms]

oh no I did not think those apple chargers could fail. I have been using one of those since it was new

[@electronic7979]

Nice

[@anilpatel1398]

Very good information

[@contemporiser]

use some gasoline to open those shells. put a few drops of 95 on the seam and wait 5 minutes

[@qutube100]

Open and measure more stun guns (inductive not cw) sparks are always fun!

[@marinvidovic763]

I used metal cutting disc and grinder, ... , and good vice. Opened 20 diferent chargers in 30 min. Only , need to be careful not to cut of your fingers, or go too deep into plastic box. Only 1 mm deep. Easy... way to undo those types of PVC boxes. Please ,,. Is it possible to get somwhere exact schematics for this charger or other chargers ... ??? Good repair !!! Like it !!! 👍👏👏👏

[@hernancoronel]

In my country Argentina we always use a three pronged plug and these small phone/iPad chargers are NEVER grounded. In fact a lot of times I feel some tingling when charging some Apple products and since our plug is the same as the one in Australia (but with Live and Neutral inverted), so my hypothesis is that Apple is using the same plug here without having noticed this problem and we in Argentina are at greater risk due to this problem. Thanks for the great video Daniel!

[@rfmerrill]

The charger is designed for live and neutral in either orientation. I don't believe it is polarized even in the US, and the US version of this charger is also not grounded (unless you use the long mains side cable for it, which is). The tingling you feel is something that happens sometimes with any isolated switched mode power supply, because there needs to be some AC coupling between primary and secondary to prevent conducted interference. You can probably measure some AC volts at the USB port with nothing plugged in, but It should not be dangerous because it's a very high impedance path at 50 or 60 Hertz.

[@worroSfOretsevraH]

No transformer autopsy???

[@ahmedb.hameed3330]

I would like to thank you for the valuable content here. I enjoy so much watching your videos despite the complex topics that you are explaining. However, Maybe if you have a charger which produce a noise? Would you mind to explain the reasons and how to repair for example?

[@marka1986]

Sometimes I have used an old butter knife heated over a gas flame to melt open cases on power adapters. That case is too small and with no vent holes to last a long time. Anything like heatsinks or heat shields won't do much good because the heat is trapped. Suppose 10yrs plus is a good run but could have been better.

[@liam3284]

I find with Apple chargers and the "Airport" APs the primary side capacitors fail. Apple puts them in the most hot location possible.

[@tookitogo]

Is there really any location in those densely-packed chargers where they _wouldn’t_ get hot?

[@t1d100]

Excellent. Thank you.

[@dunderdee]

had the exact same charger, its capacitor exploded and started giving very inconsistent output but it was so hard to open it got destoryed when opening

[@skyem5250]

it is grounded if you connect it to a NEMA 5-15P (North American) cable

[@duhmanthapz]

So you only change the elco right?

[@fortheregm1249]

When the voltage drop of a diode is very low like a 40V schottky, tools like multimeters and testers just wont recognize it as a diode.

[@lucasrocha4329]

I have a charger which output are 0.745 and 1,124 and varying between these outcomes. I perceived that my primary winding wasn't conducting. I fix it and still the trouble persists.

[@TobiasThede]

My sony charger has failed,so i have replaced it with a New one,and i opened the old one to inspect the circuit Board with a watchmaker loupe, maybe i can find the reason, why the old charger stops working under load.i will check the diodes and capacitors First.

[@maraz666]

That failed "Nichicon" cap was almost certainly counterfeit.

[@borisdg]

Flextronics are probably THE BEST on the market when it comes to PSU.

[@simontay4851]

No, Meanwell and Delta are the better. At least they can be opened without breaking it.

[@borisdg]

@@simontay4851 Nope. Make your research. Even one of the most powerful and best built PSU is the Corsair AX1500i. Many PSU are given to Flextronics. That he broke it has no connection with them. It's the design of Apple. There are various vendors sharing same design which "breaks" - Delta, Flextronics, Liteon, Salcomp, Chicony and ects. Delta are great, but they come after Flextronics.

[@KrotowX]

In such case with trashed board I would not bother about. Probably would use components from it for other repairs. Fine compatible chargers are a plenty around.

[@nicolajkl]

Hello Mr Wild. I've got an Xiaomi 55W wireless charger that has managed to kill two of my adapters untill it finally died it self. I have considered opening it up myself, but I believe it would be much more fun to see a professionel do it. You can keep it if you fix it. A 65W xiaomi adapter that it killed is included. Let me know if you could be interrested.

[@mojoblues66]

You get what you pay for.

[@arthurmead5341]

I'd like to know how to contact him to send things too

[@MarcoPolo-zv1ft]

Try heat it before opening it is might work BTW I like your cream box 😂😂

[@jb5631]

Please do an autopsy of the transformer 🙏

[@j7ndominica051]

Next time give the power supply to the cat and let him repair it in peace behind the door.

[@mernok2001]

Why do chargers say a high input current like 0.45A at the main side?

[@tookitogo]

Inrush current I suppose.

[@kolinevans9127]

Great video personally I'd keep that & use The repair was good & it has that majikal bit lol

[@gordonwelcher9598]

All KZbin videos should include a cat. 🐱

[@plageran]

is the "ground" pin magnetic?

[@tookitogo]

No. Even a strong magnet shows no attraction to it. The optional AC cords that snap on (in place of the snap-on AC plug) have ground contacts inside the slot, making contact with the stud when mated.

[@dieseltinus6680]

I wish I had a technical cat.

[@atdzsny]

1:59 How to extend the insulation gap :)

[@eddybash1342]

2:00 you scare your cute Kitty !

[@SaltyPuglord]

If you compare the quality of the printed text on the failed capacitor vs the non-failed one, you might find that the failed one has lower quality printing. This is a possible sign of a counterfeit capacitor. I think Apple got scammed by a vendor who sold them counterfeit capacitors. (As you probably already know, this happens a lot. Most electronics parts vendors - especially in China - have tons of counterfeit parts in their inventory and don't even know the parts are counterfeit.)

[@mojoblues66]

As you can clearly see it says "2010" on the case. I don't think a counterfeit cap would have survived that long.

[@SaltyPuglord]

What if the date printed on the case is also counterfeit? I mean, if the counterfeiters intentionally forged the name of the company that made the cap... why not fake the date, too? After all, someone out there might be dumb enough to say: "Well, the date says 2010... so it MUST be a genuine Nichicon, right?" And the counterfeiters know this. And the counterfeiters are making fake caps so they can fuck over as many people as possible. That's their mission in life, after all.

[@mojoblues66]

@@SaltyPuglord Of course in the end everything is possible. Only the original owner would know.

[@SaltyPuglord]

Also, at what time index in the video do you see "2010" on the case of the failed electrolytic cap? I only see voltage, capacitance, and "H1139".

[@DiodeGoneWild]

I also suspect that nichicon to be fake. But anyway, even a real nichicon might fail after many years of daily use in a hot place in a small sealed plastic box.

[@lmwlmw4468]

Nice.

[@1marcelfilms]

I should mod my charger to include a ground.

[@mostrush4849]

Use hammer over joint several hits over ultrasonic weld break them

[@beatrute2677]

More rosin!

[@1marcelfilms]

Actually mine is 12w charger. its even better 5.2v. I wish it was 5.4v because of long cables

[@houssemeddineabdelmoula3546]

You should use petrol to open the case

[@hullinstruments]

Have you tested out the surface mount testing pads on either one of your transistor testers? I found them exceptionally useful. But was skeptical at first Most models include them, but in regards to the transistor testers that come in an enclosure with a rechargeable battery… since you don’t have direct access to the circuit board because of the enclosure….It has a SMD test pad “panel” that can be installed into the socket. Allowing you to test smd parts just like on the other models… By quickly setting them down on the pads

[@The_Hanter]

Škoda, že nebyla i rozborka trafa ☹

[@srabon1631]

Nice 👍

[@barryjackson2351]

uk plugs are 3 pin with an earth

[@dinojene1183]

where you from ?

[@zaylob2317]

Good

[@arthurmead5341]

Danyk sounds sad in this video :(

[@FadiFadi00]

My cousin asked me to fix his new 20Watt apple charger It was a real nightmare to open and eventually i had to melt it with an old soldering iron cause no other ways succeeded 😑

[@anggorotriatmojo1200]

Never meant to be openned product? That's Apple to you my friend

[@thunderkunt5416]

NAAAAAISSSSSE !

[@patch6476]

Niiiiice

[@piconano]

Apple make great chargers. This one beats the best Chinese chargers even in this condition. See how the output didn't move from 5V even when loaded with 2A. On other chargers, the voltage rises or falls with load. If I draw 2A out of my Samsung charger, the voltage goes up to 5.35V

[@TheBlackAndWhiteCow]

I think its to account for voltage drop when using a cable, either way the USB spec is 4.75-5.50v

[@lukasb95]

Some good charger does have cable compensation circuit that can boost its output voltage slightly depending on supplied current. Therefore, always use that charger with the cable supplied. Sometimes, it can supply almost 5.4V at 3Amps

[@azariayehezkel9064]

almost 200k

[@azariayehezkel9064]

nice❤

[@mihaillevarda9395]

why you keep destroying good phone charger

[@PrajjalakChattopadhyay]

That’s a pi filter

[@v.6ak]

Protip: I've never paired a charger, so I've never needed to re-pair it… 😝

[@WagTsX]

dont say "paired a charger" next to an apple product, because they may listen to it and ... well...

[@satsumagt5284]

Nice

[@AUATUWVSH]

well of Corse its designed to go into the trash! its an apple product

[@mensaswede4028]

Leave it to Apple to make the most non-repairable charger possible.

[@pawelskiba5169]

nothing by force lightly with a hammer 1:46