Repair your broken Laptop power
Fix your laptop power cord that hasn't been supplying consistent power for the past month, and completely died today. No matter how much you fondle the cord into this position or that, it won't charge your battery or power-up your computer.
Here's the fix that costs zero dollars and only requires patience, some basic tools, electrical tape, and the perseverance that only a true cheapskate can muster. I performed this instructable on my very own HP Pavillion's power cord and adapter.
CONSIDERATIONS:
Where's the Break?: Consider where the break in the power cord occurs.
- This Instructable is for a break in the coaxial (round, thin) cable, near the adapter instead of near the laptop pin/plug. In my case, the cable break was close to the adapter, so much so that I had to break it apart to get enough wire for the fix. If you're even closer than I was, you may have to solder.
This instructable may not help you if:
- You have 2" of cord on either side of the break. If so, you don't need to read on. Just cut the cord at the break, expose about an inch of cord on each side, twist the separate insides together, insulate from each other w/ e-tape, then wrap the whole mess with e-tape.
- Your cord is breaking on the base-end of the strain-releif (as was the case for Surroundsound). Your fix will slightly differentiate from this Instructable. See Surroundsound5000's comment in the comments at the bottom of the page. He includes some helpful pics.
Notes: I somewhat followed Morris Rosenthal's example, as well as Prometheus'example for this instructable.
8/31/09 UPDATE: It's coming up on the year anniversary of my power cord repair. I haven't had to repair it again and haven't had any complications. Here's hoping for another year!
12/28/10 UPDATE: Consider epoxy over e-tape when binding the power adapter back together. Epoxy adds a couple bucks to the repair and can be intimidating, but it is less insulating and therefore less prone to causing the unit to overheat... Last month my power adapter started overheating (to the touch) so I decided to unwrap the whole thing, saw some air vents in the plastic, epoxy it back together, and add stick-on rubber foot pads. It helped with the overheating issues.
Here's the fix that costs zero dollars and only requires patience, some basic tools, electrical tape, and the perseverance that only a true cheapskate can muster. I performed this instructable on my very own HP Pavillion's power cord and adapter.
CONSIDERATIONS:
Where's the Break?: Consider where the break in the power cord occurs.
- This Instructable is for a break in the coaxial (round, thin) cable, near the adapter instead of near the laptop pin/plug. In my case, the cable break was close to the adapter, so much so that I had to break it apart to get enough wire for the fix. If you're even closer than I was, you may have to solder.
This instructable may not help you if:
- You have 2" of cord on either side of the break. If so, you don't need to read on. Just cut the cord at the break, expose about an inch of cord on each side, twist the separate insides together, insulate from each other w/ e-tape, then wrap the whole mess with e-tape.
- Your cord is breaking on the base-end of the strain-releif (as was the case for Surroundsound). Your fix will slightly differentiate from this Instructable. See Surroundsound5000's comment in the comments at the bottom of the page. He includes some helpful pics.
Notes: I somewhat followed Morris Rosenthal's example, as well as Prometheus'example for this instructable.
8/31/09 UPDATE: It's coming up on the year anniversary of my power cord repair. I haven't had to repair it again and haven't had any complications. Here's hoping for another year!
12/28/10 UPDATE: Consider epoxy over e-tape when binding the power adapter back together. Epoxy adds a couple bucks to the repair and can be intimidating, but it is less insulating and therefore less prone to causing the unit to overheat... Last month my power adapter started overheating (to the touch) so I decided to unwrap the whole thing, saw some air vents in the plastic, epoxy it back together, and add stick-on rubber foot pads. It helped with the overheating issues.
Step 1: Set up and Evaluation
Tools I used: Chisel, Hacksaw, Electrical tape (or shrink tubing), wire cutters and/or strippers, flat head screwdriver (preferably sharp-ish and wide-ish), optional: two monkey wrenches for prying.
Time: It took me about 1 hour, most of which was spent figuring out how to pry open the adapter box.
Time: It took me about 1 hour, most of which was spent figuring out how to pry open the adapter box.
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