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General discussion

Broken power sockets

by stewart6 Oct 5, 2005 10:58PM PDT

Got a new notebook and discovered why I have been reading so many complaints about broken power sockets. The propriatory plug is very tight (presumably to avoid arcing) and is difficult to remove without wiggling.As I disconnect several times a day I can anticipate a short life for the socket. My solution is to cut the cord six inches from the plug, reconnect the cut cord with any standard compact connector and leave the pigtail in the notebook and disconnect at the line connector. The usual disclaimer is, this works for me but whether you try it is up to you. if you do decide to try this be sure to put the female part of the new connector on the adapter part of the line to avoid shorting if it is lying around with the new conector disconnected. also if you carry your notebook in a case load it with the socket by the handle so the weight is not on the plug.
of course the best solution is to convince the manufacturers not to cut corners by mounting the socket on the main board.
PS if you're not comfortable with soldering irons, don't try this at homeHappy regards Stewart

Discussion is locked

6 Posts
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Odd.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 5, 2005 11:11PM PDT

We have hundreds of such machines at the office, daily travel and rarely lose the connector. When we do lose one we find the owner did not unplug it before tossing the laptop into their travel bag.

We get about 3 years of service or longer from these laptops. I think many don't realize the short lifespans of these devices.

Bob

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Hi Bob
by stewart6 Oct 5, 2005 11:30PM PDT

How did I know you were going to respond to this post? Happy I agree with what you say but as I said this works for me. Regards Stewart

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Hack it good.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 5, 2005 11:47PM PDT

One of the nice things is that with most gear is we can modify it to what we really wanted.

Here's an example site. http://www.makezine.com/

For instance I read "You can make a usable leak sensor out of a wooden clothespin, two thumbtacks, and an aspirin. Stick the tacks into the inner jaws of the clothespin with the wires under them so they act as contacts, when the pin is closed they connect the wires; then put the aspirin between the thumbtacks. When there's enough water to dissolve the aspirin, you can trigger whatever you want."

For those that can dive in, it's amazing what we can do today.

Bob

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hello again Bob
by stewart6 Oct 6, 2005 1:57AM PDT

Now that's ingenious. On the point of the clowns who dump their notebooks into bags with the adapter connected. What do they do with the adapter? If it just rattles around with the notebook, it' not surprising they have problems. Take Care Stewart

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Same genius's laptop developed "lcd spots".
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 6, 2005 2:07AM PDT

We're just guessing the power brick was on the laptop LCD lid and not the bottom side. It's no secret we let them suffer a few weeks until a new laptop could be procured.

My thought here is that many don't realize how fragile these laptops are. In the quest for light weight and lowest costs, something happened.

Bob

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Yea
by stewart6 Oct 6, 2005 4:38AM PDT

The wonder is that they work at all, considering how much stuff they cram into these tiny boxes. First time I saw a laptop DVD/CDR I couldn't believe the minute size of itHappy

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