Repaired Magsafe powers MacBook but won't charge battery.

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Hello all,

I have searched all over the net and i can't seem to find anyone with this specific problem.

My MagSafe power adapter was chewed by a dog, it was frayed about 5 inches out from the power brick on the smaller of the 2 cables.

I did a Google search and found an article that showed how to repair this kind of damage.
This involved stripping the outer layer of insulation, braiding back the outer wire, then repeating the process for the inner insulation and wires. The twisting the 2 sets of wire to their matching wires and insulating them from each other with electrical tape.

That repair seemed to have gone well, I plugged in my MacBook to the newly repaired MagSafe and the Green Led immediately lit up, and I was able to boot into OSX without incident.

However he I found my new problem, the battery icon tell me that the battery is not charging, and the condition reported is : Replace Now. When i boot into Windows XP under boot camp, XP reports that there is no battery connected. I also checked the built in battery meter on the battery it self, and that is entirely unresponsive upon pressing the button.

Also note that this battery was in perfect working order prior to the charger becoming damaged and subsequently repaired. The battery would charge to 100% and still had a very good battery life.

Also I have tried to reset the SMS controller using the method listed on apples support page.
1.remove magsafe
2.remove battery
3. press and hold power button for 5 seconds.
4.replace battery
5.replace magsafe

This did not seem to help.
My main concern is that i did not damage my battery.
My second concern would be to attempt to re-repair the Magsafe so that it will now power the MacBook and charge the battery?

Anyone have any advice of know where I may have gone wrong?
Thanks in advance.
 

chscag

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MagSafe power adapters are inexpensive enough that rather than attempting to repair them, they should be replaced. It's just too risky repairing them as worse damage can occur.

First thing to do is buy a new MagSafe adapter and see if that corrects the problem.
 
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Yes I have seen that they can be had for about $40 from amazon, minus the grounded extension cord section, but I am more concerned with what i did wrong in the repair and why it does not work properly. If for no other reason than my own curiosity.

Thanks for your quick reply.
Also Hello from a fellow Texan, Houston sends it's regards.
 
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Back to my old 2.2GHz C2D MB after selling my MBP and wondering what my next Mac will be :)
As someone who used to be an electrician, and had my own business doing electrical repairs, it concerns me when people attempt electrical repairs when they don't know what they are doing.
Taking it a step further, why would you want to risk damage to your Macbook.

I digress.... without physically seeing what you have done, no one can answer your question!
Also, your battery could have been damaged, as too the logic board during the whole ordeal... kind of like a power surge.

Your first step is to try a working charger. Even if it means going into an Apple store or Apple reseller, and plugging a magsafe adapter to your Macbook and seeing what the battery indicator shows!
 

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