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Please note these microscopic images of a failed Lightning cable - this caused the attached phone to keep "beeping" as if the charger were just attached.
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Black spot on charger cable?
- Thread starter Stamas88
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[doublepost=1526091271][/doublepost]Hi Guys,
I havent read through every single post prior, but i do have some input into the black mark scenario. I chew through iphones and reviewed this thread prior to my last visit to the apple shop. I constantly break phones with the black mark and apple are shady when it comes to dealing with it. When i went back with my previous phone that was working they classed it as water damaged and refused to replace the phone that was under warranty, so i bought a new one and six months later the same thing. They then informed me i was classed by apple on there system as a high risk user. So i had to figure out what was going on, cause you dont want to be classified on there system in that category. They will not deal with you. I have done two things that have changed the situation in relation to my use 1, I do not charge my phone over night, like i did previously. The additional hours of charging through the port are detrimental. 2, I always clean off the cable pins before putting it into the port, i also put the charger in a drawer after charge. A lot of the time it was on the floor or carpet picking up fluff. From my experience, only charge the phone when it needs to be charged 1-2 hours every 24hrs. If you already have the black mark your phones on the way out, you've damaged the pins already. Flicking front and back when inserting the cable will only work for awhile, replacing the cable will only work for awhile. You need to change your phone habits to avoid the issue in the future.
I'm glad I saw this. My iphone X is my first lightening iphone (went from a 4S) and I've noticed this problem on the third party cable I use in the bathroom, but not on my official cable i use overnight. At work and in the car I use a qi charger. I'm starting to think I might just use qi whenever possible instead of plugging a cable in. This is exactly why I'm glad Apple is removing ports.
At least lightening is no where near as bad as MicroUsb. Connectors with tabs in the ports are horrible designs and always fail faster. I've never had a microUSB port last without issues for more than a year or two, whereas every other port lasts 5-8 years no problem. and those stupid little hooks to keep the cable in barely work either and i'm super careful with my electronics.
I've had this problem for years with oem and non-em cables. It's always pin #5, which is the pin that charges the battery. I think it's a burn mark. It may be caused by aftermarket chargers outputting more than 5V at 1000mA which is the output of the official iPhone charger cube.
It may cause issues with charging your phone if the connection is bad. That coupled with just having gunk in the iPhones female port.
I would love to know how much money is lost each year by Apple due to warranty repairs for cable and port problems. The lightening connector may be the best design possible but I'm surprised Apple hasn't pushed harder and faster for inductive charging.
It may cause issues with charging your phone if the connection is bad. That coupled with just having gunk in the iPhones female port.
I would love to know how much money is lost each year by Apple due to warranty repairs for cable and port problems. The lightening connector may be the best design possible but I'm surprised Apple hasn't pushed harder and faster for inductive charging.
I've had this issue before. Usually it's my son putting the charger in his mouth and for some reason, the damn charger gets a black burnt spot on it. When I charge my iPhone X it's always getting disconnected. Doesn't matter whether the cable is MFi certified or not. Good thing Anker has a great customer support service and I've actually gotten it replaced for free.
I use only Apple cables. I never use aftermarket cables. I have had this problem happen on several (probably around ten) of them, after long enough. It's caused by a poor connection between that pin and the device; I assume because of accumulated dirt in the lightning port. It doesn't really matter, until it does. When it gets bad enough, the device will no longer charge consistently if the cable is plugged in the direction that tries to use that particular pin. Turning the cable end over and plugging it in the other way usually works, until that side burns all the way out too. It's worse than "not charging" - you'll hear the device charge sound or see the indicator come on over and over while it's sitting there untouched. This is bad, because it's arcing when this happens, worsening both the cable and the device. If the pin inside the device has been damaged enough, it will consistently screw up new cables.
So my advice, which I follow myself since I figured this out, is to throw out cables as soon as you see this happening. If new cables continue to develop the problem, you'll need to have the lightning plug on the device replaced. If that's not something you're willing to do (e.g. because of cost), you'll continue burning through cables, so either way you're stuck paying. I've taken to purchasing AppleCare+ on all my devices which helps, but this is a definite deficiency of the lightning connector. Once you get your device repaired, or buy a new one, make sure all your cables are good, and periodically clean out the lightning port on the device with compressed air or a duster can. Or just do what Apple would like most and replace all your devices once or twice a year.
So my advice, which I follow myself since I figured this out, is to throw out cables as soon as you see this happening. If new cables continue to develop the problem, you'll need to have the lightning plug on the device replaced. If that's not something you're willing to do (e.g. because of cost), you'll continue burning through cables, so either way you're stuck paying. I've taken to purchasing AppleCare+ on all my devices which helps, but this is a definite deficiency of the lightning connector. Once you get your device repaired, or buy a new one, make sure all your cables are good, and periodically clean out the lightning port on the device with compressed air or a duster can. Or just do what Apple would like most and replace all your devices once or twice a year.
My guess is that this happens when you unplug a device, because there's likely a bit of a handshake process to ramp up the power to full when you plug it in. It can probably be lessened by only unplugging the iPhone once it starts trickle charging near the end of the battery. So you can probably reduce this a lot by not unplugging your phone until it's nearly full.
My iPhone 7 Plus stopped charging after awhile, I had multiple dark spots on both apple and non apple charging cables. I never had this issue in any other iPhone prior to that. I am not sure if this has to do with me using non apple charging bricks or it is iPhone 7 specific issue.
Now I got iPhone X so induction charging is a back up option but I still need lightning connector for my car play. I decided to stop using 3rd party higher amperage charging bricks.
Now I got iPhone X so induction charging is a back up option but I still need lightning connector for my car play. I decided to stop using 3rd party higher amperage charging bricks.
The issue is the result of having the cable in a non standard power transformer (charging brick) which is feeding more than the std 5v to the cable resulting in overheated area. It is the one area that can really ruin your day because it can be from an outlet in a vehicle with a USB port that is overvolt the port beyond 5v.
yes i have 2 on all my cable even amazon basic cable i have total 5 cable
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I see this to and have assumed it is a wear mark from where it connects to the device.
I have never had this problem, but I have on 2 cables now this year. Initially, I thought it was just 1 with my iPhone 7+. Then the Wife said hers in the car had the same problem with her 6S+ and yup, same thing.
I have done a ton of reading. The explanation on the previous page is fantastic; check it out. However I have been digging further. A commonality is that this is especially bad when lightning cables are left out in cars. I have now, finally, found someone else with my issue - the mysterious teething child. I don't understand why these things look delicious. They aren't.
Both those things have the same symptom; the introduction of moisture. Cables left out in the freezing cold car all the time (overnight) and toddler saliva allow that arcing to get worse when it's used. That's where the carbon comes in via chemical reaction.
Two bone-dry metals will not exhibit this; or at least not as bad or as fast as we in this thread are noticing. Working out with our devices (sweat; light rain, high humidity) being left in a car (condensation) toddler teething (saliva) will all leave a trace of moisture on the cables even after being wiped off, and when plugged in, that arc zaps a nice little deposit of carbon remnants on the dreaded 4th pin (which I've seen and forget offhand its particular purpose).
So that's my input. The pencil eraser trick of rubbing the crud off works like magic; carbon vs eraser should be obvious but I have to say I wasn't the one to think of it! Eventually, that carbon corrosion eats away enough of the contact that the cable will be ruined someday anyway. This problem is like rust on a car - once it starts, it isn't going to stop, and you can either spend countless hours combating it or just start fresh and prevent it in the first place.
[doublepost=1540692075][/doublepost]That’s what it looks like up closeBought 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?
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[doublepost=1543453391][/doublepost]Based on my experience the black residue is copper oxide produced during sparking/arcing as cable is connected. I would suggest that you plug in the power adapter AFTER connecting the charger to the device. Should prevent sparking at the connector. Of course my theory fails if the referred to contacts do not carry power,.... haven't checked.
Has happened to me with increasing frequency since the 5S and i’ve had the 6S and 7S, now a brand new XS. Worse on iPad Pro first generation.
Swab inside the charging port gently with the end of an unbent paper clip (dip it in alcohol first but dry it gently-no dripping into the port). Swipe around in there, first the corners (remove clip with each swipe to see if your caught anything and if so, remove the crud before going back in). Then side to side and up and down. You may find removing a speck of lint or dirt solves the problem. My now deceased beloved was a brilliant interdisciplinary PhD and understood all things computer very well...but the absent-minded professor carried his iPhone in the pocket of his blue jeans. When his iPhone developed charging issues, I removed from the port an impressive amount of packed lint which resolved his iPhone charging issues until he let the stuff pack up in there again. It doesn’t take long for gunk to build up and heat fuses to the port, impossible to remove. Once those black (burn) spots appear on the contacts of the lightning cable, and your iPhone or iPad is emitting irritating alerts indicating “trouble connecting to power,” that cable is a goner...and continued use of that cable will eventually damage the iOS device. You can try compressed air instead of a paper clip but it hasn’t worked for me. Problem occurs on original Apple cables and Amazon cables. The charging ports for Apple’s iPhone and iPad are inelegant, most uncharacteristic of the company.
y'all are going to hate me for this but I had the same issue with my Apple branded cable. After trying all these mentioned tricks, I decided to go for it taking a paper clip and scraping off the rust. I have used this cable in my motorcycle windshield bag to charge my iPhone while riding. I'm sure moisture caused it. Lo and behold it worked and I can now use the cable again.
Noticed this issue a few years back, but didn't see this thread until now.
Noticed it on a few cables of my own back then.
Then (Sept 30, 2015), snapped a couple of photos in an AppleStore I happened to check their floor models' connectors.
Mind you, those floor units probably got man-handled heavily, unplugged constantly, and abused a quite bit.
Speaks to how universal this issue is, if it was happening in their own stores.
I can't think of a more "Apple Authorized" situation than "hardware deployed in Apple's own store by Apple".
GRANTED: For their display tables, I doubt they were using all individual transformers (what the consumer is given), but also doubt they would deploy display equipment in their own stores that was beyond their own specs.
(I didn't get on the floor to look under the table for a MFi logo...)
Also, highly doubt it is "overheated" (unless you redefine that term to include the results of arcing, but then you are stretching things considerably and are talking about resultant by-products, not causes).
Noticed it on a few cables of my own back then.
Then (Sept 30, 2015), snapped a couple of photos in an AppleStore I happened to check their floor models' connectors.
Mind you, those floor units probably got man-handled heavily, unplugged constantly, and abused a quite bit.
Speaks to how universal this issue is, if it was happening in their own stores.
I can't think of a more "Apple Authorized" situation than "hardware deployed in Apple's own store by Apple".
GRANTED: For their display tables, I doubt they were using all individual transformers (what the consumer is given), but also doubt they would deploy display equipment in their own stores that was beyond their own specs.
(I didn't get on the floor to look under the table for a MFi logo...)
Also, highly doubt it is "overheated" (unless you redefine that term to include the results of arcing, but then you are stretching things considerably and are talking about resultant by-products, not causes).
I have had this problem with OEM and Apple lightning cables from day one. I have had several Apple cables swapped out at the Apple Store w/o issue - I had AppleCare on my phone or MAC.
I think this is caused by Arcing. I think this happens over time. My car cables seem to fail much quicker due to surge generated when plugged into lighter when car is started. This problem can be reduced by plugging the cable in after the car is started.
Monoprice now has lifetime cables. I haven't tested their warranty yet. Good luck.
I think this is caused by Arcing. I think this happens over time. My car cables seem to fail much quicker due to surge generated when plugged into lighter when car is started. This problem can be reduced by plugging the cable in after the car is started.
Monoprice now has lifetime cables. I haven't tested their warranty yet. Good luck.
I hate to say it but this is just a perfect example of why the “death of lightning” needs to happen. It’s a flawed design and USB-C isn’t perfect either but I shouldn’t need to be concerned about how I insert a cable without frying it when I go to charge my phone.
THIS. Anyone have any thoughts? Would like to know. I'm happy that I can use wireless charging with my 8 and bypass this risk, as I've experienced this issue with at least 3 of my various cables over the past year or two. THX
Has anyone taken a cable to an Apple store for a free replacement?
I was told by a store genius that this is their policy, and that the black spots appear from short circuits due to moisture. Makes one wonder, though, whether or not the phone also falls victim to this, along with any decreased function over time...
I was told by a store genius that this is their policy, and that the black spots appear from short circuits due to moisture. Makes one wonder, though, whether or not the phone also falls victim to this, along with any decreased function over time...
My phone does this. It seems to be getting worse too and it seems like it fry’s my iPhone chargers of all brands. At first it can be wiped off but it becomes permanent. It feels like the spot is always on the same metal strip too
This always happens on Apple cords. I had a brand new Apple cord and in 2 weeks it quit working and has a black spot.
This just happened on a cord a got from Radio shack. But I've had it for years.
Very frustrating and expensive.
This just happened on a cord a got from Radio shack. But I've had it for years.
Very frustrating and expensive.