Can anyone identify this connector?

[R-evans]

I bought a cheap laptop charger for my wife (had decent reviews, no house fires, etc) a few months ago which has now broken and I am trying to identify the name of the connector to see if I can get a replacement plug for it.

I contacted the supplier on Amazon and they said they are out of stock so issued a refund. I know people will say don't buy cheap plugs but my wife breaks everything and I didn't want to buy an expensive official charger just for that to break too.

Anyone able to identify the 2 pin connection on the back of the plug? All I need is a new UK plug to fit on the brick. It is similar to the ones you get with travel adapters but I am unable to find one that looks like it'll fit.

Thanks

 

[R-evans]

If this were me, I'd solder a short jumper cable from the two sticky out bits to a plug and make sure that the parts I'd soldered were covered with an awful lot of insulating tape.

But how did she break a plug? That's really careless and shows a total lack of respect for the equipment. They're not exactly easy things to break.

It is cheap fragile plastic, she dropped it from a very short height, it hit the hard floor and it snapped right off. Not hard to do really.

It's only plastic, can't you use a good adhesive and glue the earth pin back on?

Considered this, but it's a work laptop (she has three work laptops) that she also uses for Zwift, so is constantly back and forth between different plugs. I think even with the strongest super glue the constant in and out of sockets would weaken it and then I'll have the problem of removing it from the socket.

If the laptop isn't more than a few years old, check whether it has a USB-C input. I have a 2018 lappy that can run off from that if the charger isn't around.

Also, +1 about breaking things. If you do get another charger, make an agreement between the 2 of on which wall socket the plug the charger in, and then don't move it! Stick with that spot and that will remain the laptop's charging point for the rest of its life. If your money can stretch, get a docking station too as then you don't need to use any cables and the wife docks it when it needs charging.

It's a 2018 MacBook Pro, so only has USB-C. As said above, it needs to be moved between wall sockets. She has a docking station for her main work computer in her office, but she doesn't use this one as much, hence why I went with the cheaper charger. I also have a USB-C MacBook Pro, but I don't let her anywhere near my charger

Not ideal but did it come with any foreign plugs. You could use one of them with an adaptor.

If not probably the cheapest bodge would be to buy the world's cheapest phone charger hack saw off the plastic earth pin and super glue it on.

It came with US and EU plugs too, but I'd feel weird using an adapter as it already can get a bit warm when in use.

 

[R-evans]

Confiscate the laptop and tell your wife she can have it back when she can learn not to break things

I could do that, but she earns tons more than I do so she could just kick me out of the house she contributes far more to

 

[R-evans]

A few people have also broke theirs/asked the same question as you on Amazon...5th and 6th question in the list....no joy for them tho

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ask/questions/asin/B078GMRBZZ/1/ref=ask_ql_psf_ql_hza?sort=SUBMIT_DATE

Yea I saw the question on Amazon, probably happened to quite a few people. That's a slightly different one but probably has the same plugs.

 

[R-evans]

you're telling me this is literally just a USB charger? Just get another for like 4p man.

No, I'm telling you on two different occasions that it's a USB-C charger for a Macbook Pro. As anything decent starts at £40, I'd like to see if I can maybe replace the plug for a fiver.

 

[R-evans]

You say it’s a work laptop, just ask work for another charger? If I broke my work laptop charger I wouldn’t be paying for a new one!

It's a work laptop from a previous job so can't really ask them to fork out, she's a scientist so even though no longer working for them she still does some collaboration with them so they let her hold on to the laptop.

I don't understand why I have to get into this level of detail, do you not think we'd have thought of that?

Those are often proprietary connectors even though many adapter plugs that come with devices like routers, STBs etc all have a similar sliding wall socket connector that attaches to the "brick". You could fish around and use an already existing plug that might just fit the same sliding track but chances are these Chinese companies add a notch or the locking latch on the inside to keep it in place is a different shape to the other one you find or the pins are in a different position and don't make secure contact with the brick making it a spark risk and fire hazard.

It's a cheap charger, buy another, cheap chargers are risky enough as it is, why double the risk by trying to find and then attach a non-standard fitment attachment that was not designed for it. Tell your wife it's a safety risk and then show her photos of peoples houses that have burned and maybe a charred body or two to let the message sink in.

Safety should be taken seriously!

Thanks, but it is a safe charger that wasn't really that cheap considering, I take safety seriously and never would have bought it if I thought it was a hazard. I was hoping to find an official plug to replace it with.

Always boggles me how you ask a simple question on the Internet looking for a simple answer and people start lecturing you about trying to be a better person and that you have to explain to your wife, who has a PhD, about fire safety. Guess I shouldn't be surprised.

 

[R-evans]

Considering this is in GD, you've got off lightly to just get some relatively sensible warnings about safety and not 47 ****posts about divorcing your wife

We are not far off that really ha

 

[R-evans]

Even people with masters degrees can lack awareness of risks in any manner of things, it's not meant as anything offensive, we all need a reminder from time to time on various things!

You said it was a cheap charger hence the comments about safety, I can see a brand logo on that image looking at it closer, Inateck? They seem to be a decent third party who make various USB and power related stuff like Anker/Choetech. It's just when you hear people mention cheap charger, the worst is assumed because that is typically exactly what it is.

Unless a tweet/message to Inateck gets a response, you probably won't be finding the exact same sliding track on another plug that isn't by the same maker.

Yea sorry, I should have been clearer. When I said cheap I meant not £69 from Apple for the plug and an additional £19 for the cable.

Inateck said they were out of stock of the product that I purchased, when I asked about just a replacement plug they were struggling to understand what I meant. They issued a refund and didn't really want to help any further.

 

[R-evans]

As you have the refund, you could perhaps get something like a Dell USB-C laptop charger? Only a bit over £30 and whilst it's 45W vs the 61/65 of the Inateck, it will still charge the laptop
effectively and these chargers are rugged enough to take some beating having had them before: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dell-Latit...s=USB+c+laptop+charger&qid=1614675096&sr=8-15

Cheers, I probably will end up buying something similar, really hoped I wouldn't have to.

I hate waste and as the one we have has no problem with its function at all other than the bit of broken plastic, I was really hoping to find a replacement plug but it seems harder to find than I'd hoped.

 

[R-evans]

In all seriousness I am amazed that no one has just suggested the obvious, just use a little 2way plug block on it. Jack open the power pins with it unplugged, connect that broken adapter then use it through that from then on.

Do this. It's a plastic pin so it's not earthed anyway.

Ah I see what you mean.

Could do that but in our current rental we are so short for wall sockets that the two she uses to charge this laptop already have extension leads in them. Is it safe to put a block in a 4 way lead? I've always felt weird about it.

 

[R-evans]

No less safe than bodging a broken plug directly into the wall, no.

Thanks, I might give this try then. Just to be clear, I was never going to bodge a broken plug into the wall, I only ever wanted to find a replacement plug for the broken piece.

 

[R-evans]

Here is a really shady video on how to do what is being proposed in the 'easiest' possible way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFtRZINL9tM&ab_channel=JohnGage

Skip to 53 seconds...

To be honest if I do go this route I'll just superglue the broken piece back on to get it in, I don't care if it snaps off in a cheap 2 way block.

 

[R-evans]

It's a work laptop yes?

1. Call work
2. Tell them plug is borked
3. ???
4. Profit

1. Read the thread

 

[R-evans]

If she earns so much more than you then:

A) Why can't she just get another official charger?
B) Why is she forcing you to buy her laptop chargers, whipped much

A) She has an official charger, but it was accidentally packed into a box of our stuff when we moved home from the US, which is kindly being stored for us by a friend over there. We have no idea which box, so we don't want them to have to search through several boxes to find it and then have to go to the post office to post it during a global pandemic.

B) I purchased the laptop charger as I know a bit more about chargers than she does. I then asked on a computer forum I am signed up to about chargers because she isn't signed up to any computer forums.

This really isn't that difficult to fathom.

 

[R-evans]

If you provided all the facts, then I would not have suggested it. There's no need to get stroppy

Sorry, I was mainly stroppy with the replies saying I had to sit my wife down and lecture her about several things.

 

[R-evans]

My comment was meant in jest, hence the

In all seriousness, I’d just invest in an official charger, you’ll be chasing your tail trying to find replacements for cheap chargers that keep breaking.

We have an official charger, just not in this country. This has been fine for over a year so as long as I can make do for a few more months (hopefully) we can go get the other one.

 

[R-evans]

I feel like the time and effort you've spent trying to sort this just isn't worth saving £25 quid for another cheap Amazon charger surely?

What time and effort? Typing a few messages on a forum while I'm in quarantine?

The problem is sorted and it cost me £1.19. It wasn't just about saving money, it was about the fact that I have a charger here that works absolutely fine but the UK plug connector was unusable.

So I should have just wasted £45 and sent this one to landfill?

 

[R-evans]

Mods it's sorted now so feel free to close thread.

Thanks to those that were helpful, I really appreciate it.

 

[R-evans]

Sorry, I thought I'd said.

See below

In all seriousness I am amazed that no one has just suggested the obvious, just use a little 2way plug block on it. Jack open the power pins with it unplugged, connect that broken adapter then use it through that from then on.

Buy a cable extension, preferably one with only one socket outlet. Push the broken pin into the earth of the extension socket, then push the broken plug into there.

As the earth pin is plastic it means the unit doesn't need an earth, so no harm done.

 

[R-evans]

Yea perfect. More importantly I don't have to throw away a perfectly functioning charger.