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Black spot on charger cable?

Stamas88 said:
Not sure if this is in the correct forum but can anyone be kind enough to help out

Thanks
Click to expand...
I have faced this both with the original cable of Apple and replacements. The solution I have found is NOT TO PLUG IN OR REMOVE THE CABLE WITH THE CHARGER POWER ON. SWITCH OFF THE POWER AND THEN PLUG IN OR PLUG OUT THE CABLE. This has prevented any such blackening for last two years.
Try it, it works.
 
Might be casued by a little arching... Either way, you can probably clean it with a pencil eraser.
 
daflake said:
Might be casued by a little arching... Either way, you can probably clean it with a pencil eraser.
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Hi,
Right. It is arcing but it eats into the fine gold contact film and does not get cleaned by any means including a sand/ emery paper.
I had to just throw it away.
 
Ramesh Suri said:
Hi,
Right. It is arcing but it eats into the fine gold contact film and does not get cleaned by any means including a sand/ emery paper.
I had to just throw it away.
Click to expand...

Been using iPhones and iPads for years and not had a problem, so I don't think this is very widespread. Just chuck the cable and get a new one then. If it continues, there is probably something wrong with the device and it might be worth a trip to Apple to talk to them about it.
 
daflake said:
Been using iPhones and iPads for years and not had a problem, so I don't think this is very widespread. Just chuck the cable and get a new one then. If it continues, there is probably something wrong with the device and it might be worth a trip to Apple to talk to them about it.
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First time I had this problem 3 years back I checked on net and found many people having same problem and Apple never responded to anyone.
But yes best is to throw it away and ensure you prevent a spark by engaging/disengaging the same while power is switched off.
 
Ramesh Suri said:
I have faced this both with the original cable of Apple and replacements. The solution I have found is NOT TO PLUG IN OR REMOVE THE CABLE WITH THE CHARGER POWER ON. SWITCH OFF THE POWER AND THEN PLUG IN OR PLUG OUT THE CABLE. This has prevented any such blackening for last two years.
Try it, it works.
Click to expand...
Has anyone else tries this with success? I'm willing to try then.

This problem has occurred on every single lighting cable I'e owned. Luckily the cable it quite cheap to replace. Often when this problem occurs I can only charge on one side of the cable which is a bit annoying.
 
poobear said:
Has anyone else tries this with success? I'm willing to try then.

This problem has occurred on every single lighting cable I'e owned. Luckily the cable it quite cheap to replace. Often when this problem occurs I can only charge on one side of the cable which is a bit annoying.
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Hi, normally also we should put the cable with the USB sign side up. It's design is such and it fits perfect. Always keep the USB icon side up.
 
poobear said:
There is an USB icon on the lighting cable? Am I misunderstanding you?
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Hi, it's not on the cable but on the 8 point contact jack.
[doublepost=1500992503][/doublepost]Hi, it's not on the cable but on the 8 point contact jack
 
@macduke My iPad 2017 with official, brand new lightning cable has the same thing: Blackened pin in the middle. But it still charges without any issues.

So yeah it's an Apple design flaw. Some theorize that sparks are flying on that pin every time it makes contact.
 
Hi Steve, You are right. It will work fine as long as a part of the contact is clear of the black spot. Keep charging,and you are likely to spoil the inside contacts of your ipad. Better change it or ask for a replacement from Apple. I understand in warranty they give one as they are aware of the problem.
 
SteveJobzniak said:
@macduke My iPad 2017 with official, brand new lightning cable has the same thing: Blackened pin in the middle. But it still charges without any issues.

So yeah it's an Apple design flaw. Some theorize that sparks are flying on that pin every time it makes contact.
Click to expand...

Be careful! Might be fried or damage. When I spoke to Apple they said to stop using it and sent me a replacement in a day. I couldn’t believe how fast that thing arrived!
 
Depends on if it is oxidation or burn damage...

The official cables develop this problem in 2-3 months every time... so I think it is burn damage from sparks. Therefore the "black spot" shouldn't migrate into the device port any more than what a brand new cable does with its own sparks... since it is the sparks that discolor the cable.

On my iPhone 5S I have used a cable with a black spot for 2 years, sometimes clenain git with alcohol to reduce the black spot just to avoid hurting the phone, and it still charges the phone without issues.
 
Even the stock cable with my ipad air 2 got black. A few months later it finally stopped charging CYMERA_20170728_215700.jpg
 
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Makes me sad that Apple still hasn't solved this issue in the years since Lightning's release. And the fraying cables......................
 
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borgsauce said:
Bought an iPhone 7 about a month ago and I noticed that on each side of lightning connector there's a black/burnt mark on the 4th pin. This was the stock charging cable that came in the box. When charging the one side seems to work fine but when I flip it to the other side it tends to disconnect intermittently. Is there any particular reason why this should happen?and what are my options, should I worry that this damage could extend to the lightning port of the iPhone as well?
01f28c08978963f90bb56925346b2207.jpg
c9dccd9757f1cb405b1dde04dfa4ba96.jpg
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My iphone' stock cable charger also has that black mark. It only seems to charge on a single side. Its quite annoying.
 
The answer has been found in Apple's Discussion Forums:

When you connect the cable, electricity arcs between the contacts before they touch each other. It's literally a mini-lightningbolt. I guess that's why they called them the "Lightning Cables" (just kidding).

This is what arcing looks like:

Contact_arc.jpg


When the contacts touch, there's no lightning bolt anymore. But there is one in the brief moment when the contacts make contact...

The lightning bolts leave carbon (coal) deposits on the contacts... aka burnmarks.

Those marks can build up thicker and thicker carbon deposits until they no longer conduct electricity.

The biggest danger is if the buildup happens inside the port on the device, and ruins the port instead of just the cable.

No amount of replacing the cables will ever fix this Apple design flaw.

But here is a workaround:

1. Disconnect the charger from the wall socket (or USB). If you have a power-brick with an on/off switch, this step becomes easy.
2. Connect the lightning cable to the iPhone/iPad. No lightning bolts will fly since there's no electricity.
3. Connect the charger to the wall socket. Since the cable is already in full contact, there won't be any arcing.

This will protect your device port and charging cable against the Apple design flaw.

Another easy way of solving it would be to disconnect the USB side of the cable (the part that goes into the wall adapter) so that you literally have a loose cable, and then insert the lightning end, then plug the USB part into the wall adapter again. The USB end has no problem handling arcing.
 
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Hi everyone. Here is my story :

A few months or something after buying the newest iPod Touch I noticed the black spots on the cable. Didn't thought too much about it. I also noticed it was on the device, too, in the plug in area. The cable would stop working, they would replace it for free.

But last month, when I went, they told me "it's not the cable, the problem". That it was rust or something that was in the plug in area. That it took water. I was like "ok....? how?". Anyway, the only way was to replace the iPod. "Rust or something" is not covered by the warranty, so I had to spend almost the entire price that I paid in the first place (217€, the iPod cost was 339€).

Flash forward to today. I got my new iPod 10 days ago. 10. That I spend protecting my iPod and understand how it took water ONLY in the plug in area. The black spots are on the cable and on the iPod. The cable (or OH BOY the iPod itself) doesn't work anymore.

So I'm going to show them this thread. Unbelievable.
 
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I have a theory that this happens when charging at faster than 500mA.

I didn't have the problem for years on a standard USB port, then a year or so I installed ASUS AICharger which increases the amperage of USB 2.0 ports to 1000mA. I've also started using USB 3.0 ports to charge which have a higher amperage too (not sure exactly what though).

Since then I've had a few cables with this problem.

Anyway it's no big deal, just turn the cable over. If you have a cable without a label or identifying mark to differentiate the sides, just stick something to one of them. I know that with the cable I use I have to turn the label side down for it to work. It's just habit now.
 
borgsauce said:
Bought an iPhone 7 about a month ago and I noticed that on each side of lightning connector there's a black/burnt mark on the 4th pin. This was the stock charging cable that came in the box. When charging the one side seems to work fine but when I flip it to the other side it tends to disconnect intermittently. Is there any particular reason why this should happen?and what are my options, should I worry that this damage could extend to the lightning port of the iPhone as well?
01f28c08978963f90bb56925346b2207.jpg
c9dccd9757f1cb405b1dde04dfa4ba96.jpg
Click to expand...

My cables at the office have the same black sport that yours does, even the same pin. Pins on the other side are all clean. Does not seem to effect use.
 
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