2018 Mac Air Power Cord Problem

I've been using this computer for two months and I have had to replace the power cord (the part that plugs into the Mac) twice. It's been quite catastrophic, actually. I went to the genius bar today and confirmed the latest problem was with the cord. He ran some diagnostics and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the machine but two bad power cords in two months on a brand new machine is troubling. The cords broke in wildly different circumstances (two different countries). One was the original cord. The second was Apple brand bought (at tremendous expense) from a reputable dealer. Is this a known thing with the new MacAir? Do I have a lemon?

Thanks!

Christy

Why did you buy the cord? Didn't Apple give you a replacement? Unless you are using the cord in an unusual way, Apple should replace it for free.

Because I was working on a project in Eastern Ukraine and Apple hasn't opened a shop there yet. It was a crisis. They gave me a new one today but I'd prefer not to have to replace a power cord every other month, or buy/carry an extra one. Thanks for the help.

I have a 2018 MBpro so I'm a bit concerned about this as well.

What exactly "broke" on the power adapters?
Was it something physical on the cord or connector?
Or did the power adapter just die.

Only problem with the 2018 MBp so far was the keyboard - that was replaced but I'm not sure if the replacement was the second generation one or not.
Is there any way to tell just looking at it?

It just dies -- plug it in, nothing happens.

I don't like the 2018 keyboard, but at least it works, for now

How did they fail? Physical break? Internal electronics? You keep saying "cord" but do you mean the actual cord itself, as in the wire, or the power converter that is actually plugged into mains power? And what "catastrophic" event happened when it failed? Was it the cord from the wall to the converter or the cord from the converter to the MBA?

Please be VERY precise with your problems, otherwise we spend a lot of time just trying to figure out what is going on to be able to provide some help.

If the cord is physically damaged, then it won't work and you need to figure out why that damage is happening either intentionally or unintentionally.

If the cord is intact but plugging it into the MBA doesn't charge it, then perhaps the charger electronics might be shot. This can happen if you have spikes in your mains power.

1. They stopped charging the computer. Nothing happened. I wasn't doing any unusual unless "using a computer to write some documents" is unusual
2. I mean the pictured piece. The rest of the cord is fine.
3. It was catastrophic in the sense I was working on a project in the middle of winter in Eastern Ukraine and my computer stopped charging in a city in which finding a replacement was going to be difficult if not impossible. I paid a premium because, well, I have a business to run. Today I was working at home --same thing, but I could go to the apple store. Either way, it's problematic.
4. from the converter to the MBA

There is no visible damage to either cord. Nothing unusual happened before it stopped charging. Plug it in, nothing happened

The first time I kept an open mind about a power surge -- even though it was in a surge protector-- because i was in Ukraine. The second time, also in a surge protector, was at home in urban France. Both locations I have been in dozens of times without any surge problems with my old 2014 Air.

One suggestion, would be to wrap the cord, instead of folding it.

I agree, it shouldn't be happening. Even one is ridiculous, but there are always outliers, in everything.

You've tried multiple USB-C cables and they all have failed to charge? It is very odd that multiple chargers would fail. A surge is my best guess. I believe the charger bricks are able to handle voltages from 110 to 240 which should cover the world, so it's just fluctuations beyond that range that might be problematic.

I got a new cord from the apple store and it works fine. The genius tested the old one and it's dead. He also ran diagnostics on the computer and everything checked out. I work in the most difficult environments in the world and my 2014 MBA was tough as a bag of nails. Now I regret selling it. I worry now I have an expensive princess computer.

The genius tested the old one and it's dead.

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Well, there is your answer. It may well have been an invisible break in the wire somewhere in the cord, or a dodgy solder joint in either end. But if you now have a new cord, and if it's working, you should be good to go. Stop worrying about it and use the Mac as you did the old one.

cequirk said:

I got a new cord from the apple store and it works fine. The genius tested the old one and it's dead. He also ran diagnostics on the computer and everything checked out. I work in the most difficult environments in the world and my 2014 MBA was tough as a bag of nails. Now I regret selling it. I worry now I have an expensive princess computer.

Click to expand...

Well, if Apple said everything checks out on the MBA, then you have nothing to worry about. As you said, it was just a bad power cord/AC adapter.

If the issue was with the cord, be VERY sure about how you yank the cord out. I always hold the white stubby part at the end use that to pull it out. I never yank by the cord itself. Doing so will most likely cause internal tearing that's not externally visible.

Raz0rEdge said:

If the issue was with the cord, be VERY sure about how you yank the cord out. I always hold the white stubby part at the end use that to pull it out. I never yank by the cord itself. Doing so will most likely cause internal tearing that's not externally visible.

Click to expand...

Good reminder. I'm going to miss MagSafe once I replace my 2013 MBA! It's always so satisfying snapping it on and tilting it off

Yah, I miss that a lot. Between that being gone and the USB-C, I miss my old one. I sold it yesterday, too

usagora said:

Good reminder. I'm going to miss MagSafe once I replace my 2013 MBA! It's always so satisfying snapping it on and tilting it off

Click to expand...

cequirk said:

Yah, I miss that a lot. Between that being gone and the USB-C, I miss my old one. I sold it yesterday, too

Click to expand...

If you want to re-create the magsafe connector, you can go with something like this USB-C magnetic adapter. There should be less resistance to then yanking from the cord since the magnetic connector should give way faster than the USB-C connector itself.

Raz0rEdge said:

If you want to re-create the magsafe connector, you can go with something like this USB-C magnetic adapter. There should be less resistance to then yanking from the cord since the magnetic connector should give way faster than the USB-C connector itself.

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Wow, great find! Thanks, Ashwin!

I did use one of those but I worried that maybe it had something to do with the problem and stopped. It's the problem of the cord ripping out when I trip over it or a possible problem with the adapter. Either way, it's suboptimal.