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crwdns2934243:0crwdne2934243:0 Alisha C

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Well. That depends on the level of damage and where exactly the damage is. Catching fire is pretty drastic. That was more likely to be from the connection occurring while the board was still connected to battery power (even though you didn’t know it was still connected). As long as there is still enough plastic in the connector to keep all the pins separate, it’s probably fine, but not ideal. Depending on what caught the brunt of the damage, you might benefit from replacing the trackpad cable. You can get just the trackpad out by itself, so this shouldn’t be a huge ordeal.
If you have pictures of the damage we might be able to better assist. You can add them in to your original question.
Also. To be fair, this method of connecting the battery to the board is not my favorite. I suspect it’s used because they can make the connection more low profile. But it’s really easy to do exactly this.[br]
[br]
***UPDATE 04/29/2023:***[br]
In light of the attached pictures I think that risk of fire is higher than before (though maybe not significantly), and but risk of your computer just spontaneously deciding it can't power on, is also going to be affected.[br]
[br]
That bit of the connector is a fork of the main power rail in a Mac. It is rated for about 13.1V in that spot, and could be fed lots of current. Immediately tot he left is a chuck of ground. So probably what happened was when you reattached the connector, power arced from that bit of the connector into ground. This generated the heat that started the whole thing. [br]
[br]
-So the reason why everything still works is because those bits of the connector are large chunks where all the pins go to the same line. So as long as there is is enough connectivity, if they're all blobbed together, it's fine. But if the two different lines accidentally become connected, your Mac probably won't power on anymore. The power rail on the right side becoming shorted to ground will prevent it from coming on at all. [br]
+So the reason why everything still works is because those bits of the connector are large chunks where all the pins go to the same line. So as long as there is is enough connectivity, if they're all blobbed together, it's fine. But if the two different lines accidentally become connected, your Mac probably won't power on anymore. The power rail on the right side becoming shorted to ground will prevent it from coming on at all, or interfering with trackpad/keyboard function .
+
+[image|2944090][br]
[br]
-Fire hazard is also possible if if less pins were connected than before. More energy may have to run through those same pins, which would generate more heat. [br]
+Fire hazard is also possible if if less pins were connected than before. More energy may have to run through those same pins, which could generate more heat. [br]
[br]
-Best case scenario, replace the cable and the board side connector. That connector is a common issue for this exact sort of reason. This will happen as well if it gets hit with liquid damage.
+Best case scenario, replace the cable and the board side connector. That connector is a common issue for this exact sort of reason. This will happen as well if it gets hit with liquid damage.You can probably continue to work like this, but I would advise at least giving the area a good clean and changing the trackpad cable.

crwdns2915684:0crwdne2915684:0:

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crwdns2934245:0crwdne2934245:0 Alisha C

crwdns2934249:0crwdne2934249:0:

Well. That depends on the level of damage and where exactly the damage is. Catching fire is pretty drastic. That was more likely to be from the connection occurring while the board was still connected to battery power (even though you didn’t know it was still connected). As long as there is still enough plastic in the connector to keep all the pins separate, it’s probably fine, but not ideal. Depending on what caught the brunt of the damage, you might benefit from replacing the trackpad cable. You can get just the trackpad out by itself, so this shouldn’t be a huge ordeal.
If you have pictures of the damage we might be able to better assist. You can add them in to your original question.
-Also. To be fair, this method of connecting the battery to the board is not my favorite. I suspect it’s used because they can make the connection more low profile. But it’s really easy to do exactly this.
+Also. To be fair, this method of connecting the battery to the board is not my favorite. I suspect it’s used because they can make the connection more low profile. But it’s really easy to do exactly this.[br]
+[br]
+***UPDATE 04/29/2023:***[br]
+In light of the attached pictures I think that risk of fire is higher than before (though maybe not significantly), and but risk of your computer just spontaneously deciding it can't power on, is also going to be affected.[br]
+[br]
+That bit of the connector is a fork of the main power rail in a Mac. It is rated for about 13.1V in that spot, and could be fed lots of current. Immediately tot he left is a chuck of ground. So probably what happened was when you reattached the connector, power arced from that bit of the connector into ground. This generated the heat that started the whole thing. [br]
+[br]
+So the reason why everything still works is because those bits of the connector are large chunks where all the pins go to the same line. So as long as there is is enough connectivity, if they're all blobbed together, it's fine. But if the two different lines accidentally become connected, your Mac probably won't power on anymore. The power rail on the right side becoming shorted to ground will prevent it from coming on at all. [br]
+[br]
+Fire hazard is also possible if if less pins were connected than before. More energy may have to run through those same pins, which would generate more heat. [br]
+[br]
+Best case scenario, replace the cable and the board side connector. That connector is a common issue for this exact sort of reason. This will happen as well if it gets hit with liquid damage.

crwdns2915684:0crwdne2915684:0:

open

crwdns2934241:0crwdne2934241:0 Alisha C

crwdns2934249:0crwdne2934249:0:

Well. That depends on the level of damage and where exactly the damage is. Catching fire is pretty drastic. That was more likely to be from the connection occurring while the board was still connected to battery power (even though you didn’t know it was still connected). As long as there is still enough plastic in the connector to keep all the pins separate, it’s probably fine, but not ideal. Depending on what caught the brunt of the damage, you might benefit from replacing the trackpad cable. You can get just the trackpad out by itself, so this shouldn’t be a  huge ordeal.

If you have pictures of the damage we might be able to better assist. You can add them in to your original question.

Also. To be fair, this method of connecting the battery to the board is not my favorite. I suspect it’s used because they can make the connection more low profile. But it’s really easy to do exactly this.

crwdns2915684:0crwdne2915684:0:

open