Hack a PC power cable to fit iMac

December 29, 2004 1:19 PM

I brought my flat-panel Imac home from work over the break, and forgot the power cord. It's a two hour round trip, so I was wondering if it's possible to hack a PC power cord and get it to fit into the Imac's clover-shaped receptacle. Or, if there's another way around this.

The closest stores consist of walmart, radio shack, and home depot.

[I also wanted my visiting FIL to check out the Imac. He leaves tomorrow morning]

My google-fu has failed me. Actually, I have no google-fu.

posted by mecran01 to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (7 answers total)

I'm not near my iMac, but as I remember it, the clover shape is just extra plastic. The actual plug part is the same size (and thus smaller than the clover) as any other computer cord.

You should be able to just push it in.
posted by baltimore at 1:50 PM on December 29, 2004

Response by poster: Awesome, I'll give it a shot. I also came across this on a dealmac thread:

replacement imac g4 cord solutions

In which someone suggests that the clover design is not necessarily apple specific.

I'm so bummed I blew my weekly question on this.
posted by mecran01 at 1:52 PM on December 29, 2004

From the descriptions of the cord in the linked thread, I think I ran into a similar problem after ordering a Mini-ITX case and power supply from Great Britain. I was able to find a suitable cord at Radio Shack, but oddly enough, it wasn't with the other power cords, but rather tucked off with laptop accessories and labelled as a "Compaq replacement power cord" or some such. I'm having trouble finding a photo of the plug, but if it just the three rings, one slightly offset, it should be the same.
posted by SemiSophos at 5:55 PM on December 29, 2004

Ha! For whatever reason, I didn't think to even look at Radio Shack's site. Would this fit the bill?
posted by SemiSophos at 5:57 PM on December 29, 2004

Response by poster: Yep, that would do it. Meanwhile, apple owners are paying $40 for the stock cords. But who loses a cord?

I ended up spending about 40 minutes carving the black vinyl coating off of a pc cord, revealing a white plastic case housing three receptacles that were still spaced too far apart to work in the Imac.

My mistake was that I treated this as an Imac problem first, and so unnecesarily narrowed my search. The RatShack Compaq cord looks perfect. I ran out of time, however, as we were going out to dinner with aforementioned Christmas guests. I should have just gone immediately to Radio Shack. Anyway, I got the mangled/whittled plug back in my pc, and I'll just spend the money tomorrow on gas instead of on an extra plug and pick up the original.

Hopefully, future imac googlers will stumble across this information. I love the internets.
posted by mecran01 at 9:06 PM on December 29, 2004

Meanwhile, apple owners are paying $40 for the stock cords. But who loses a cord?

My friend's guinea pig got out of its cage and chewed through a computer cable. The cord wasn't the only thing that needed replacing.
posted by Monk at 8:27 AM on December 30, 2004

Response by poster: If the world were a more interesting place, that guinea pig would now have super powers.
posted by mecran01 at 1:25 PM on December 30, 2004