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Travel lighter with Apple's power adapter
Authored by: dave_williams on Jul 06, '06 03:10:08PM

>That's a common misconception... there IS polarity in AC since one wire runs >tothe power companies generator and the other wire runs to the ground. Sure >a power adaptor will convert the AC to DC and there shouldn't be a problem, >but some are badly designed and really can fry it plugged in the wrong way. >Here's an example... Zapped Laptop

The guy zapped his laptop because the polarity of the DC voltage he put into it was the wrong way, not becaise of AC polarity. It's poorly explained- he talks about the polarity on the AC adapter, but it's obvious he's talking about the DC output voltage.

I'm not one to belittle the importance of being careful with mains AC power (especially the 240v variety we have here in the UK), but reversing the neutral and live connections doesn't make any difference on wholly insulated items such as power bricks. Check how many power bricks you have with figure of eight plug ( 8 ) input leads, which can be inserted either way round.



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