Apple 10W USB charger failure analysis and repair 

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

@Chals Silva Om Namah Shivaya 🕉

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

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

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

@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 Maybe Jesus can detect some dodgy USB chargeeerssss

@@agustinusreynaldi7101 Probably but does JC have a cute cat?

@@michaelfisher9671 And some ROSIN

NAIceeee...

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.

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

@@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

@@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).

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.

And EVEN MOAR ROSIIIIN! ©

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.

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

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

Try with gasoline, it usually work on most Chinese black power "bricks" and it seems also on the white Apple ones: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-74-h-2fonkU.html

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

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.

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.

@@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..

@@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.

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

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.

@@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.

@@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).

@@tamask001It is a newer version of the open source firmware.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

Bin also nicht der einzige Deutsche hier

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

Stimmt es

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

Is there a guide to the electrolyte color code?

"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).

It’s for iPads

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

Inrush current I suppose.

You get what you pay for.

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

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

@@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.

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

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.

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

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".

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.

@Mr Guru my view of this includes that the customer must also be able to open a device. And there should also be a law that prevents manufacturers from rendering a device useless because they no longer provide updates.

RTR has some merit, but safety regulations are much more important. I don’t think anyone thinks that consumers should be able to easily open AC adapters to repair them, since the risk of injury is significant (think kids opening them out of curiosity) and the cost to replace is negligible.

Stop repeating things you know nothing about. Consumer-grade mains voltage power supplies should absolutely not be easy to disassemble.

Become a patron and you will see the video before the others.