Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

joshmacbosh

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 23, 2009
68
0
Before christmas my Fiancée was in bed with her iPhone 5 on charge in the bed with her as she has done for many years (no bed side table on her side). In the night she was awoken by a sharp pain to her arm that made her jump and she was in a lot of pain. She noticed that her iPhone was unplugged, thought she had a nightmare about being abducted by aliens and went back to sleep. In the morning she had this on her arm (rubbish picture, i know)
2s0bzgn.jpg

I took a look at the lightning connection on the USB and one of the pins was black and it didn't work anymore. I don't have the USB anymore because i got it replaced by my local Apple store who was as stunned by the situation as us.
Obviously, we're not after any sort of compensation. We just want to let Apple know that somehow this happened.
So 1)Whats the best point of contact? 2)Is this normal and apple wont care? 3)Are we just being stupid about the whole thing?
 

Gav2k

macrumors G3
Jul 24, 2009
9,216
1,608
Call AppleCare and explain what happened. There usually very helpful.
 

rei101

macrumors 6502a
Dec 24, 2011
976
1
If you sleep with anything electrical you will get electrocuted, it could have been a iron or anything else except for an electric blanket who is designed for that.

I sleep with my mac book pro on my bed and it gets incredibly hot, is not plugged and I am on a queen size bed, I place it on the floor most of the time too, if I roll over anything can happen. Electronics.
 

joshmacbosh

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 23, 2009
68
0
I appreciate the normal replies.
I guess i just thought this is a little out of the ordinary but maybe not.
It was the fact that the USB ended up not working that got me, i mean surely there isn't enough power going through there to cause a current with someone's skin, short then melt the inners of the USB. The wall plug still worked afterwards, i'd of expected the fuse in the plug to blow if anything bad was happening.
Of course, i realise she probably ended up lying on it, it got pretty hot under there, her skin potentially began to sweat and that's how this happened, even if the lightning adapter is waterproof.
 

GoCubsGo

macrumors Nehalem
Feb 19, 2005
35,741
153
Waterproof doesn't mean that water + electricity doesn't have consequences. If this really happened then tell Apple. Be prepared to explain why you waited over a month to actually report it.
 

joshmacbosh

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 23, 2009
68
0
Waterproof doesn't mean that water + electricity doesn't have consequences. If this really happened then tell Apple. Be prepared to explain why you waited over a month to actually report it.

Of course it really did happen. I've waited this long because let's be honest - it sounds stupid.
 

chown33

Moderator
Staff member
Aug 9, 2009
10,740
8,416
A sea of green
Of course, i realise she probably ended up lying on it, it got pretty hot under there, her skin potentially began to sweat and that's how this happened, even if the lightning adapter is waterproof.

It's also possible that a certain amount of flexion occurred, which can distort either the contacts or the enclosure. If there's enough distortion, poor conduction can result, increasing any resistive heating effect.

It's always a bad idea to sleep with a charging battery, because batteries can fail for many reasons (including heat). Li-ion and Li-poly batteries can ignite if the battery fails. Google search terms: iphone battery ignite

I recommend buying a nightstand or other small table for her side of the bed. Seriously. I'd consider you both lucky that nothing worse has happened, given the amount of time involved.
 

mobilehaathi

macrumors G3
Aug 19, 2008
9,368
6,352
The Anthropocene
I'd be more worried about repelling the aliens. I hear if you cut up Irish Spring and leave little cubes of it around your sleeping area they are repulsed and move on to your neighbor.
 

Gav2k

macrumors G3
Jul 24, 2009
9,216
1,608
I appreciate the normal replies.
I guess i just thought this is a little out of the ordinary but maybe not.
It was the fact that the USB ended up not working that got me, i mean surely there isn't enough power going through there to cause a current with someone's skin, short then melt the inners of the USB. The wall plug still worked afterwards, i'd of expected the fuse in the plug to blow if anything bad was happening.
Of course, i realise she probably ended up lying on it, it got pretty hot under there, her skin potentially began to sweat and that's how this happened, even if the lightning adapter is waterproof.

Nothing to do with voltage a whole lot to do with amperage mate. It takes less than what the charger for an iphone delivers to stop a human heart.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.