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Hewlett-Packard is recalling about 6 million computer power cords after 29 reports of the cords melting or charring, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Tuesday. The recalled item, the LS-15 AC power cord, was distributed with Hewlett-Packard and Compaq notebook and mini notebook computers and with AC adapter-powered accessories such as docking stations, the commission said in a statement.
The affected AC power cords were shipped with products and accessories sold from September 2010 through June 2012.
It is not clear where the problem with the cords lies. Were the cords not made to specifications? Or, were they made to spec, but they were not specified correctly. A quick search on the net failed to turn up the root cause.
Though cords, wires, and cables seem so mundane, problems do arise when they are not up to the task. What problems have you encountered due to wiring issues?
(Score: 5, Informative) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday August 31 2014, @12:53AM
This may not be considered a wiring problem in the "cord" sense, but it is most definitely related:
My female friend complained about having problems with her laptop charging, saying that the charger got too hot and the battery never got fully-charged. After determining that her charger was good, I suspected that something in the laptop jack was shorting and so I disassembled her laptop and removed the EMI shield from the jack. It took me a really close look, but I found the culprit -- tin whiskers. [nbcnews.com]
"Goddammit," I said, because had that assembly not been lead-free, the whiskers which were shorting the tip to ground wouldn't have been there. This is one of the great hustles of lead-free electronics -- The idea is that lead-free electronics are more environmentally friendly when junked, but the truth is that they create a lot more (environmentally-friendly) trash because of their lower reliability. Lead-free solder joints tend to be brittle, they crack, the joints are dull and cold-looking, they require higher temperatures, and of course they form tin whiskers which cause all kinds of head-scratching internal shorting problems -- ask Microsoft about their red ring of death problem -- that would not have happened has they used lead solder in the X-Box's contruction.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 31 2014, @12:58AM
Tell me more. Do you have enough material for a romance novel? I smell a book deal.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 31 2014, @01:07AM
The closest thing I have is that we were having sex on a secluded area of the beach, and while we were intimate I looked up to the rock above and saw some weirdo recording us with his camera. We had to stop since my female friend is in a high and unique position, professionally, and so avoids recording her face and most of her body.
Apparently a lot of weirdos with cameras (not phone cameras either, they bring camcorders and other professional cameras) hang out at place because it's a popular trysting spot -- even if my female friend did get sand in her crack. You can go to that spot at dusk or nighttime and actually see against the seawall a line of dudes with cameras around their necks lying in wait. For those of you who are familiar with San Diego, that spot is somewhere between Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs.
(Score: 2, Informative) by PlasticCogLiquid on Sunday August 31 2014, @11:32AM
Totally true Ethanol, I good portion of my business goes to re-flowing just about every type of modern electronics. Makes me money but it also pisses me off beyond belief because I find myself taking my own systems/consoles to work for a fucking reflow.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 31 2014, @04:08PM
My female friend complained about having problems with her laptop charging, saying that the charger got too hot and the battery never got fully-charged. After determining that her charger was good, I suspected that something in the laptop jack was shorting and so I disassembled her laptop and removed the EMI shield from the jack. It took me a really close look, but I found the culprit -- tin whiskers.
That's not credible answer. Tin whiskers short out at 10mA and charging port has much much higher current.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday September 01 2014, @01:58AM
Well, I don't know how to reply to that, you could be correct.
What happened was that I saw tin whiskers in the area, cleaned the hell out of it (and gave a quick rundown of parts of the motherboard) with brushes and flux-off, and when I reassembled the thing the problem was gone. It might have not been directly off the supply voltage, but in another part of the circuit, who knows. That's what I figured.