You might found your charger adapter prongs bent a little after it fell quite harshly, or perhaps you receive a faulty product from shipping.
With that shape, the plug is impossible to fit into the power outlet. One prong would prevent the other to go inside the hole.
Luckily, you can straighten the prong with a simple tool; pliers. Also, prongs are mostly made of nickel or brass — materials that can easily shape whatever you like.
How to fix bent plug prongs
Time Needed : 5 minutes
In this tutorial, we will straighten plug prongs using pliers correctly without damaging it. This method applies to various electronic devices and plug types.
- Examine the prongs to see where the bent is pointed. That way, you know the direction to straighten it.
- Take the pliers and slowly apply pressure to the opposite direction of bent until it looks normal again. Despite brass/nickel is considered as a “soft” material, you need to be gentle to avoid unwanted damage.
- Now the prong has straightened. It does not have to be perfect, at least straight enough to fit into the socket holes.
Tools
- Pliers
Materials
- Bent plug prongs
In the tutorial above, I’m fixing a wattmeter prong which bent to the front side of the plug. I managed to fix that and the device is working perfectly fine.
- Is it safe to perform this action?
There is no clear answer to this question, but one discussion suggests they are doing that all the time and never encountered any issue. Just be gentle and careful when applying pressure to the prongs.
- What if the plug breaks off?
This rarely happens but if you broke the plug, you have to replace the plug by asking a technician. However, there are dozens of tutorials on the internet that can help. Still, help from a technician is better than figuring it out by yourself.
- I don't have pliers, what should I do?
Pliers are not a rare thing. There are tons of them within a few steps of your neighborhood. Ask them to borrow the pliers. You may use your fingers, but I wouldn't recommend.
So, that’s the guide to straighten any prongs. The key important factor is gentleness and a sprinkle of patience.
I hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback.
This helped me a lot. I accidentally broke a prong and this guide has saved me.