from Hacker News

Fix "pulsing" sensation when charging MacBook

by miles on 6/20/25, 11:30 PM with 36 comments

  • by InTheBarn on 6/21/25, 4:28 AM

    This is a widespread and well documented phenomenon.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics/wiki/why#wiki_tingli...

  • by octo888 on 6/21/25, 4:06 AM

    > Apple support are utterly fucking useless and don't know about this.

    That particular support person/bot may not have but the company absolutely does

  • by alexjplant on 6/21/25, 8:58 AM

    I've never had this happen with a laptop but as a musician I've been zapped by a microphone a bunch... not an infrequent occurrence if you play electric guitar and sing at the same time. Twice in the past year I've been hit during soundcheck at a gig because of bad grounding at a venue. Last time my solution was to plug everything into the same outlet via a power strip but I invariably end up off-kilter for a few minutes after being electrocuted through my mouth as I'm about to play :-(
  • by extraduder_ire on 6/21/25, 9:19 AM

    I'm startled they put a metal earth pin on the type-G adapter for that plug that does nothing.

    That's additional cost just to make it look like it's grounded when it's not.

  • by Zanfa on 6/21/25, 4:45 AM

    This also happens with iPhones. And under the right circumstances you can feel the same tingling sensation on skin contact as well if the other person is holding a plugged in iPhone.
  • by beefnugs on 6/21/25, 6:35 PM

    I have no expertise in this: but it could be one of the cells in the battery is performing worse than the rest. The way charging works in a pack is that it measures all 4 cells for instance, and if one is higher than the others it discharges that one only, then continues on charging them all at once, then periodically checks again
  • by colechristensen on 6/21/25, 3:08 AM

    Shouldn't this be a UL/CE certification issue?
  • by zabzonk on 6/21/25, 2:49 AM

    I get this sometimes, but not all of the time on my newish (6 month) Asus 14 laptop with a UK 3-pin to mains power supply. And I've had it with other laptops in the UK. It's mysterious, but don't think it is going to kill you.
  • by drdunce on 6/21/25, 1:09 PM

    My frustratingly rubbish M1 Air does this, amongst many other odd and annoying things. But hey... what are the alternatives?
  • by mid-kid on 6/21/25, 11:02 AM

    This is why I avoid aluminum laptops. Too many plugs aren't properly grounded and the tingling annoys me to no end.
  • by lwansbrough on 6/21/25, 3:01 AM

    I don't notice this in North America but I did notice it in Europe. Using the 2 prong in both places.
  • by rootsudo on 6/21/25, 3:25 AM

    Noticed it in Asia but Not Japan. Always knew it was a grounding issue.
  • by out-of-ideas on 6/21/25, 8:27 PM

    i have had this issue and realized i was basically getting a low key elec shock every time i had the power plugged into my mac; turned out it was the apple wall wart power brick; using a different one ended the constant elec pulse shocking effect. (at first i thought it was the shitty fraying usb-c cables apple provides which turn yellow and the plastic breaks apart after 6months to a year - nope! that thing is fine).
  • by lerp-io on 6/21/25, 6:03 AM

    it’s a design decision because some people like myself actually like the light throbbing