Power Cords for early Macs (128K, 512K, 512Ke, Plus)

[Rasmus]

I went up into the attic and found another of the "later" cords. I'm pretty sure I got this one with a 512K, and it is noticeably different on the connector (female) end from the one that I got with the 1986 512Ke. It is possible that I have them mixed up, but I don't think so. The plug (male) ends with the Apple are almost exactly the same.

So it looks like it is possible to tell the 1984/1985 cords from the 1986 cords used in the 512Ke and Plus. Both have "Electricord" with the lasso font but it is smaller, on the other side, and not isolated in a box. Here they are side-by-side:

 

[Rasmus]

You're probably right about this. I found another angled plug cord, which until recently was plugged into a 512K that I got from its original owner (so, good chance it actually went with that machine). It had an Electricord plug that looks just like your "early" model, except where the apple is on yours, there's just a bulls eye. I can see how it would have been easy to re-brand those.

Interesting. Just when I thought we'd reached the end of this!

 

[tanaquil]

I wonder if Apple itself was always perfectly consistent about shipping each system with a particular kind of cord. Since they were all interchangeable, it would have been awfully easy to use a spare one in a pinch. Or an otherwise scrupulously maintained machine might come home from a repair shop upgrade with a swapped-out cord.

 

[Dog Cow]

Apple maybe had multiple suppliers, just like they had multiple suppliers for the ICs. Having only a single supplier for a component is risky business practice.

 

[Rasmus]

Also remember that the power cords were packed into the white plastic software "accessory" boxes along with the disks, manual, and so on. I can't remember of the box itself was shrink-wrapped, but most likely it was. So that was a different assembly line -- the cord and its Mac didn't meet until the customer opened up the box.

So the obvious moment for a cord change was when the accessory box changed, which happened three times, in May 1984, September 1984, and June 1985.

But yes, the real world isn't always so neat and tidy, and there's incontrovertible evidence that both cord designs were around at the start. I think we can say that the early Mac had the "early" cord and the "later" cord (not its similar 1986 version) was introduced by September 1984. What we can't say with any precision is when the "early" cord was discontinued, if it ever was.

 

[Rasmus]

[...] Another thing I'm fuzzy about is exactly when the second-generation 128K and 512K started shipping, the ones with the "Macintosh 128K" badge on the back (instead of just "Macintosh") -- I might have once known and/or deduced this but now I'm not sure. Anyhow, that would be another possible moment the cords changed. [...]

Note: FWIW, this appears to have happened in the 47th week of 1984 (November). Apparently, the serial numbers support this conclusion. You don't find the "Macintosh" badge on the back after that week. So the second-generation 128Ks were shipping by December 1984.

 

[Dog Cow]

Note: FWIW, this appears to have happened in the 47th week of 1984 (November). Apparently, the serial numbers support this conclusion. You don't find the "Macintosh" badge on the back after that week. So the second-generation 128Ks were shipping by December 1984.

Contemporary with release of 512K Fat Mac that fall. A single motherboard design that could take 64K or 256K DRAMs. See Macworld November 1984, pp. 56-59, esp. photo on p. 59

 

[Rasmus]

Contemporary with release of 512K Fat Mac that fall. A single motherboard design that could take 64K or 256K DRAMs. See Macworld November 1984, pp. 56-59, esp. photo on p. 59

I believe that week 47 date for the last of the "Macintosh" buckets and the first of the "Macintosh 128K" buckets is accurate. I don't know if the week when they started using the redesigned 820-0086-F motherboards inside 128K Macs is known. If it was like the buckets, they had inventory to get rid of before the new design started going into machines. However, it seems possible the 128K motherboards would have changed right away, because the old 820-0086-C inventory could be used as replacements for swap-out repairs. That would not have been the case for the old buckets.

I don't see anything in that MacWorld article that says the 128K bucket had changed, just that the "identifying mark on the rear panel" of the 512K is different from the 128K. It doesn't specify how it is different. That may have been purposely ambiguous. The writer might have known a new "identifying mark" for the 128K was coming, but not when it would appear. It looks like the last "Macintosh" 128K Macs shipped in the first week of December 1984.

 

[techknight]

of all the threads that get started over crazy topics, I never thought I would see one on power cords of all things. 

 

[Byrd]

+1

It’s no longer the hobby of hoarding old slow computers; it’s Collecting.

 

[MOS8_030]

Coming up, a deep-dive into ADB cords.

 

[EvieSigma]

I'd love to know the story behind my serial cord that just has an Apple logo instead of an arrow or a printer symbol...

 

[Rasmus]

... If it was like the buckets, they had inventory to get rid of before the new design started going into machines. ...

I'm sorry, I'm an idiot. Of course the "rear panels" (buckets) were empty and the "identifying marks" (badges) were glued in at some point. So if there was remaining inventory as I claimed, it would have just been of badges, not whole buckets! I think it makes sense that the "Macintosh 128K" badge would have been designed at the same time they came up with the "Macintosh 512K" badge (squeezing them into the same space as the "Macintosh" badge), but serial numbers don't lie, and that early December date for the last shipments of "Macintosh" machines is accurate.

That said, it's useful to remember that early December ship date means most of the holiday inventory in 1984 would have been "Macintosh" machines and there was stock in the pipeline waiting to be sold at dealers already. I bought a June 1984 Macintosh in Bozeman, Montana in November 1984.

 

[Dog Cow]

Of course the "rear panels" (buckets) were empty and the "identifying marks" (badges) were glued in at some point. So if there was remaining inventory as I claimed, it would have just been of badges, not whole buckets! I think it makes sense that the "Macintosh 128K" badge would have been designed at the same time they came up with the "Macintosh 512K" badge

Right! As soon as there was a 512K Mac, suddenly the name "Macintosh" on the back was not enough to distinguish the two models. There needed to be "Macintosh 128K" and "512K" badges slipped into that recess in the bucket. There are photos online, inside the Mac factory, 1984. I forget the photographer's name right now...

 

[Rasmus]

I was just looking at the right-angled cords in my collection. I won't include pictures unless you want, because it is so hard to know where any of my stuff is from so it won't likely help you much, but FWIW, all three are labeled Yakita (one is Yakita-S, it doesn't look any different from the others, although each of the three is a different shade of brown/beige/grey). They also have a little apple on the male plug, but in a different spot.

That sounds like the ImageWriter I cord (not sure about II), and maybe other Japanese-made peripherals. LaserWriter (Canon)? If you put them in a Mac, they point up instead of down.