Wrong power Magsafe broke Macbook Pro?

[Ben J.]

I recently got a 13" late 2011 MBP for almost nothing. Previous owner said the charging had been misbehaving. I saw when I got it, that it would mostly provide power to the mac, but not charge the battery. Then suddenly it would charge for a while, then not. I tried to clean the contacts, reset SMC a few times, now it won't provide power or charge. The light on the connector will not light up anymore at all.

I looked at the magsafe box and it said 85W! I found an apple support page saying that the 13" 2011 should have a 60W charger!

Now I'm wondering, before I order a replacement for it, is it the charger that is broken, or perhaps the mac? Is there a fuse that has been blown? Anyone with experience with this kind of thing?

 

[chrfr]

I recently got a 13" late 2011 MBP for almost nothing. Previous owner said the charging had been misbehaving. I saw when I got it, that it would mostly provide power to the mac, but not charge the battery. Then suddenly it would charge for a while, then not. I tried to clean the contacts, reset SMC a few times, now it won't provide power or charge. The light on the connector will not light up anymore at all.

I looked at the magsafe box and it said 85W! I found an apple support page saying that the 13" 2011 should have a 60W charger!

Now I'm wondering, before I order a replacement for it, is it the charger that is broken, or perhaps the mac? Is there a fuse that has been blown? Anyone with experience with this kind of thing?

Using an 85W MagSafe adapter with a 13“ MBP would not be a problem at all. The computer will self-regulate the power it can use.

 

[DeltaMac]

I use an 85W all the time, on every MBook that connects to that (I have a small service shop, so still see those older MBooks often.
I suspect that you may have a problem with the magsafe card (most MBooks have that as a replaceable part)

 

[Fishrrman]

The DC-in board can be user-replaced, but it's kind of "a job".
See:

MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 MagSafe DC-In Board Replacement

Use this guide to replace a broken MagSafe DC-In board.

www.ifixit.com

 

[Audit13]

Depending on the battery health, it may need to be replaced as well.

 

[Ben J.]

Thanks for the good input, everybody.
I'll have to see…
I've opened imacs before, but that magsafe job seems like quite a challenge, and not even knowing if it's going to work…