Playing with fire hazards! - USBc to MagSafe 1 & 2 charging cables

[@NF30]

I did something similar, bricking my 2014 Mac mini and a mid-2012 13" MacBook Air by using a terrible cheap FireWire 400 to USB adapter. I heard a popping noise and the Mac mini shut off, never to turn on again. I sent it to an Apple repair place and they said it would be $300+ because I would need to get the whole logic board replaced. I just bought a refurbished 2014 Mac mini instead. The broken mid-2012 MacBook Air is still sitting in my house, making me feel guilty

[@dmug]

FireWire was a mess when it came to that sort of stuff. I had several devices with FireWire die. My first iPod the FW IC was fried and would only work in USB mode, then an audio interface, and an HDD. I think one of my computers a FW port went bad too.... all FW400. Even though you'd get better performance, FireWire was just kinda shittier USB in the long run.

[@flamingkillermc2806]

For the magsafe 1 charger, it is similar to the USB - C magsafe style. Basically still usb - C plugged in which the head is always in the port, and the other side is connected to the cable, and in between is a magnetic style magsafe but difference is that is has all the pins of the USB -C.

[@JustChillingDom]

i bought the second cable for my 11 inch MBA, i always use high wattage chargers so this is no issue for me. i heard of overheating issues but ive experienced none.

[@georgeyoung2684]

How is the cable going 10 months later? Still going well? Looking at getting one myself

[@thegeforce6625]

Makes me wonder if there’s a 85w version for the 15” dGPU MagSafe 2 MBP’s.

[@industrialcream]

boy am i glad you made this video. i've been eyeing off an adapter similar to the 1st one, but magsafe 2 and on aliexpress. i definitely won't buy it now since they're probably from the same factory.

[@dmug]

Yeah, someone else in the comments said their adapter is fine which is good but also I'm not confident that after one use, it broke. My guess is the cables are probably the much safer option. I did not expect to get shocked by the adapter but that happened. Fortunately, it's only trying to pull 20v @ 5A max which is 100w. Generally it's 30-50 volts that are considered the danger zone so I wasn't worried hence why my dumb ass messing with it multiple times. The sparks are certainly enough to be a fire hazard, especially if it repeatedly happened.

[@industrialcream]

@@dmug oh dear... i'll definitely go the cable route then since i live in australia and we use 240v for mains power.

[@Madrrrrrrrrrrr]

@@industrialcream it's only 20 volts at the magsafe side. @dmug i have that adapter but only tried it once. And we want these adapters to work because you can use powerbanks to charge a macbook in the wilderness. I have the standard adapter version too.

[@industrialcream]

@@Madrrrrrrrrrrr for me, it'd be 40v on mains straight into an old-ish computer since i live in a 240v country. i don't wanna risk frying a computer. using it off a power bank is a good idea, although i'd need 1 that can output 60w (i went with a cable) and i know those are expensive.

[@LoganT547]

​@@industrialcreamBro the power adaptor converts 230V or 110V into 20V DC. Please research before making stupid comments

[@brafya]

ive honestly been running one of those tiny usb-c to magsafe2 chragers just fine but maybe i just got a nice batch or something, 2014 15 inch pro still fine after 2 years, what im really curious about is if somehow magsafe 2 to 3 could happen as i have a friend with a cinema display who might wanna keep it for a m2 air

[@dmug]

I've seen Magsafe 2 charger to USBc adapters so it's always possible to go to one of those back to magsafe 3.

[@QuinsTechCorner]

Pretty chill video. Interesting to see what worked and what didn't. :-)

[@KaushikThakkar]

Thanks for the video. can you please post a link for the second one? I can't find it on amazon

[@life.learner]

I got a 2014 MacBook Pro which uses 85W MagSafe 2 charger everything was going smooth but suddenly the charger started heating up its not a normal heat it’s like a fire. How can I fix this issue anybody please

[@ChrisTRCB]

DO you have the links for these? I am considering buying the magsafe 2 charger as everyone has a USB-c charger at school

[@QuantumBraced]

I have the Magsafe 1 to Type-C adaptor to charge my ancient MacBook Pro, and I never had the magnetic part come off or any sparks on anything, it works great. Maybe you got a defective unit. The only thing is, the LED light is incorrect as it shines green while charging, but other than that no complains.

[@mortadella1234]

I have a very very similar adapter to the first one that broke for you. It is fixed on my 2012 MacBook Pro and works like a charm with a 2019 usbc apple power supply. The only thing I noticed is that on mine, the usbc port faces backwards, I cannot place it the other way because of the shape of the MagSafe magnet.

[@eiprop59]

am looking for this and wondering from where you got yours. please and thanks

[@heinz4964]

Thank you for this interesting video. My MBP 2010 charger is not working anymore. I asked myself if I can buy this USB-C Cable to MagSafe 1 since this one in the video is MagSafe 2 right? Any recommendations? Thanks in advance.

[@XXXXLance]

interesting, I am wondering if it is going to work with 45w charger. Anyone tested? (I have Balkin 45w)

[@dmug]

I’d assume it wouldn’t work, if I recall right I used an under powered charger in this video and it just weirdly pulsed.

[@nothing-oj1sz]

It would be great int here was a link to the cable. Also would be great if the cable was black in color.

[@natey780]

i had the first adapter and it didn’t work at all

[@lazer8776]

So the USB C to MagSafe 1 and 2 cables are fine and safe?

[@dmug]

@@lazer8776 most likely yes.

[@lazer8776]

@ I’m really afraid of frying my macs motherboard. I hope you’re right.

[@hiuchingtam4278]

Very informative!

[@simontide6780]

Classic never fails. Cables are safer than whatever new crap they came up with.

[@rokas69]

bro it sparks because the new ones don't just output they wait until you plug it in and these adapter spark because it always outputs 20v and something amps and it sparks because you shorted + - like what did you expect to happen.

[@dmug]

No other MagSafe cabling has this problem, it’s a shorted circuit.

[@changNoi1337]

also the original apple macsafe 2 can spark.. (had a macbook air 2012 for over 10 years)

[@dmug]

I used MagSafe 2 from 2013-2017 on MacBook Pro 2013 and 15. I I recall hearing it crackle maybe once due to debris. This seems a lot worse.

[@maikpfaffenrath250]

Luckily I always bought the USB-C MagSafe cables and never those adapters. I imagine that adapter plus USB-C plug would be so bulky that it would get detached by every movement of MacBook or cable. I agree that the negotiation only happens between the cables USB-C plug and the charger regardless of the MacBook connected. The cable in those adapter cables only uses two conductors. I suspect one could build a cable that sends a different supported power level to the MacBook via the 1-Wire control line in the MagSafe plug depending on the USB PD negotiation. Although different MagSafe chargers use different voltages (from 14,5 to 20V) depending on the power they support, as far as I know the MacBook only seems to care about 1-Wire communication. If the USB PD IC in the USB-C plug and the 1-Wire IC in the MagSafe plug could communicate different power levels should be possible. But I am afraid nobody makes such „elaborate“ cables since the simple cables like the one shown work okay enough to make money form. A second problem with the simple cables is that the full 20V is alway present at the MagSafe pins while original MagSafe start with a current limited 6V and wait for the MacBook to apply a certain load for one second before applying the full voltage in order to check that the plug is neither open nor shorted. This could maybe get sorted out with a more elaborate cable as well.

[@alemacgirl]

Nice "review"

[@dmug]

Yeah, I wasn't really sure where to go with this other than to see if they actually worked and weren't junk. One out of two isn't terrible.

[@alemacgirl]

We Never had a Magsafe 2 MacBook, my wife had a MacBook Pro 2009, then she bought a 2020 13" MacBook Pro M1 (USB-C), and later I bought a 14 MacBook Pro (MagSafe 3), but the "MagSafe" type adapters for our iPhones they were always appealing