Thinkpads Forum

Hello all,

After years of being unkindly folded, the travel charger for my X40 has gone intermittent. To be clear, this is portion of the cable from the dc/dc block to the laptop, not the short segment that plugs into the wall and would be easily replaceable.

Does anyone have experience in splicing and/or replacing this cable?

Trying to decide whether replace the adapter, or attempt a repair.

Thanks!

Better and safer in my opinion to replace the unit. Mine just became intermittent where the AC cord plugs into the brick. I just received the replacement (my cost) from my vendor. ... JDH

Don't have any direct experience with attempting to repair an IBM AC adapter's cord, but have done many other types of cords/cables. The main problem is identifying exactly where the intermittent break is located. If it's close to either end (near the yellow coaxial plug or the "brick"), then there many not be enough wire to work with. If the break is at least two or three inches away from the ends, then there should be enough.

I haven't cut into the wire so I don't know if it's coaxial (center conductor surrounded by a wire-mesh shield) or if it's simply two regular wires in the plastic jacket. Either way, you'd need a pair of diagonal cutters, wire stripper, soldering iron, solder, electrical tape (or better yet, heat-shrinkable tubing). Coaxial cable will be harder to repair since you need to separate the shield and center conductor from each other.

It may just be easier to buy an adapter off of eBay or here from the Marketplace. They're not that expensive ($10-$15) for a regular AC adapter. If you are thinking about using the laptop in a car or on a plane (First Class mostly), then you can shell out a few more dollars for a AC/DC combo adapter.

rkawakami wrote: I haven't cut into the wire so I don't know if it's coaxial (center conductor surrounded by a wire-mesh shield) or if it's simply two regular wires in the plastic jacket. Either way, you'd need a pair of diagonal cutters, wire stripper, soldering iron, solder, electrical tape (or better yet, heat-shrinkable tubing). Coaxial cable will be harder to repair since you need to separate the shield and center conductor from each other.

It may just be easier to buy an adapter off of eBay or here from the Marketplace. They're not that expensive ($10-$15) for a regular AC adapter. If you are thinking about using the laptop in a car or on a plane (First Class mostly), then you can shell out a few more dollars for a AC/DC combo adapter.

I should have asked the coaxial cable question directly, as that was the core question as I now think about it. I have made many cables, and cable repairs, in my time-both coaxial and not.

For $15 I will probably just buy another one, and then also try to fix the existing one. I already have the brick of a universal AC/DC supply, I think it is heavier than the X40!