I've been mostly enjoying the last two weeks of powerbook ownership*, and have picked up loads of neat tips from here and abroad.

One thing that's been bugging me for a little while it the power supply, and the use of those little ears. I use them while transporting the supply between uni and home, but have generally unwound it when I arrive at either destination. I'm curious as to what others do with theirs -- do you unwind your wire too, or just enough to reach from the supply to your machine? How far away do you keep your block from your laptop? I understand why these may all be considered bad (being an electrical engineer), but never found any warning labels on the product itself, so I'll assume there's no problem in not unwinding the cable. Again, I'm really more interested in what others do, and if they have any reasons for doing so.

My next trick will be to find a way to turn off the charging light so it doesn't keep me awake (at uni, not at home )...

* I only don't like the performance I'm getting from a third-party library I'm using (OpenCV), which underpins the rest of my research. Though I'm greatly suprised at how fast I've been able to get things up and running, despite having less documentation and being a totally different architecure (particularly DirectShow vs QuickTime). The rest of my gripes are likely to be "just getting used to it"-type arguments.

I unwind the DC cable completely at work and plug the adaptor into a powerboard (sitting on the desk behind the monitor) using the two pin plug attached directly to it.

At home I have the long AC power lead going to a poweboard under the desk. I just plug the adaptor into it and unwind about 10cm of the DC lead and plug it in to the Powerbook. The AC power lead stays home.

Steve C.

I unwind it completely.

completely too

I unwrap it all the way.

I don't think there is enough voltage and current flow to cause any major EMF if the wire is wrapped up. I certainly wouldn't do the same for an Electric heater.

And I've seen the odd vacuum cleaner catch fire because alot of people have not pulled the cord out all the way.... a 2000 Watt motor, sucking some juice through the mains power cord... wound up inside the vacuum.

I guess it really depends where I am.

I also sit the power supply brick up instead of laying it flat. Less surface area on the bottom. More in the open air... Have you touched the Apple charger 30 mins to an hour after putting your Book on charge? I tell ya what. It keeps my toes warm in Winter.


pipsqeek

unwind it completely also
the only time I have it wound up is if I am going somewhere with it

Completely unwound for me too.

BTW, Lupine, congratulations on the new PB.

Unwind, as I hate the cord remembering its in a coil.. so I tend to keep it unwound all the time

Not Meeeee! LOL I leave mine wound up, and it sits on my desk pretty tidy. I will never get rid of my YOYO Power Supply!!! :lol: :lol:
BTW Congrats on the new PB and I never did like the new PSU for Apple Laptops, the yoyo was always more tidy looking...

Another vote for unwound completely...

Not unwound completely, but sitting upright to get plenty of air around it - I'm more worried about the heat the block generates.

it was very cool to look at but had major dessgn flaws and was prone to failure.the joint at the cord and plastic was very weak

anyway...
unwound for me

Don't worry about it. It's a DC signal so the fields will cancel out. Do what you like!

I thought it was more about heat - the power adaptor can get warm after extended use, and insulating it with a thick power cable doesn't help. IIRC Apple recommend you unravel the cable due to this.

JB

completely unwind. I use the long AC power lead and have the adapter sitting on top of my bookshelf about a metre away from the PB.