Wednesday, August 26, 2020

A little flexibility is crucial























Being too rigid can get you into trouble. A few days ago our laptop computer was misbehaving. Even though the AC adapter was plugged into an extension cord (as shown above) the battery was not charging. The little white LED on the left side of the laptop next to the power connector was staying dark. What had gone wrong?

















As is shown above, the two nickel-plated blades on the plug for the AC adapter are quite rigid.






















The mating female socket from another disassembled extension cord is shown above. A pair of flexible brass fingers surround each blade so contact can be made. The molded single socket on one side of the extension cord I had used apparently did not have enough flexibility. But when I put the plug into one of the dual sockets on the other side it made contact. Problem solved. I stuck the child-proofing insert in the single plug to remind me not to ever use it again.    

No comments:

Post a Comment