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Can You Electrocute Yourself on the Lightning Plug?

S

SomeDudeAsking

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 23, 2010
1,250
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One thing I forgot to ask while I was at the Apple Store yesterday looking at the iPhone 5 is that since the Lightning connector contacts are all exposed, doesn't that mean you will electrocute yourself if you touch the contacts? All other charge plugs shield part of the contacts so that you can't accidentally make a full circuit with just your fingers touching the connector. However, with the Lightning connector, there is no such shielding. For example, a microusb plug has the contacts inside the trapezoidal metal box where you would have to poke it with some pins to make accidental contact.

Perhaps this is what the microchips inside a Lightning cable is suppose to prevent? Just hope that those chips don't make a mistake or you could get 2 amps going through your chest.
 
If you try you can also touch all the contacts at once on the MagSafe MacBook chargers - I've done it many times and I haven't been electrocuted, despite the fact that the MacBook chargers have more volts running through them :)
 
SomeDudeAsking said:
One thing I forgot to ask while I was at the Apple Store yesterday looking at the iPhone 5 is that since the Lightning connector contacts are all exposed, doesn't that mean you will electrocute yourself if you touch the contacts? All other charge plugs shield part of the contacts so that you can't accidentally make a full circuit with just your fingers touching the connector. However, with the Lightning connector, there is no such shielding. For example, a microusb plug has the contacts inside the trapezoidal metal box where you would have to poke it with some pins to make accidental contact.

Perhaps this is what the microchips inside a Lightning cable is suppose to prevent? Just hope that those chips don't make a mistake or you could get 2 amps going through your chest.
Click to expand...

That amount of volts/amps can't hurt you. You could lick the connector and get nothing more than a tingle.
 
I wouldn't worry about the lightning plug...lightning bolt, maybe. Although it would go better with the thunder bolt :)
 
mrsir2009 said:
If you try you can also touch all the contacts at once on the MagSafe MacBook chargers - I've done it many times and I haven't been electrocuted, despite the fact that the MacBook chargers have more volts running through them :)
Click to expand...

MacBook chargers are 16.5V I think, so that's not very dangerous either. The Lightning connector is even lower and is harmless, as others have said.

By the way, high voltage only makes it easier for the electricity to run through your body. It's the current that kills, which is why super high-voltage static electricity is harmless.
 
lordhamster said:
That amount of volts/amps can't hurt you. You could lick the connector and get nothing more than a tingle.
Click to expand...

Voltage is not what you have to worry about. Amperage is what stops your heart. And 2 amps coming through a Lightning connector is nothing to sneeze at.
 
The charge shouldn't produce enough resistance to ampere you from getting ohm tonight.
 
Last edited:
faroZ06 said:
MacBook chargers are 16.5V I think, so that's not very dangerous either. The Lightning connector is even lower and is harmless, as others have said.

By the way, high voltage only makes it easier for the electricity to run through your body. It's the current that kills, which is why super high-voltage static electricity is harmless.
Click to expand...

But if the OP's claims are right then the MacBook charger would still pose the same, if not a worse threat. And if that was correct it wouldn't have been around for six odd years without people being killed by it :)
 
Threads like this are bred of ignorance. The pins on the Lightning connector combine with the logic circuit to tell the connector when to send power. It needs to see the outer pin grounded in the socket before it will do anything- then it figures out what's happening and does the appropriate thing.

Your tongue won't talk to the chip properly.:)
 
i believe i saw a video or read that the cable wont produce a charge unless its properly plugged into the phone. probably has to do with the circuitry in the cable itself. ive held the tip of the cable, you wont electrocute yourself. like UL and apple would let something like that out to the public??
 
faroZ06 said:
Licking a 9V battery was a bad experience for me.
Click to expand...

mag safe packs a bit more punch. Reminded me of when I was stripping land line phone wire with my teeth and someone called. Boy that sucked. But I think that is AC.
 
SomeDudeAsking said:
Voltage is not what you have to worry about. Amperage is what stops your heart. And 2 amps coming through a Lightning connector is nothing to sneeze at.
Click to expand...

Darn right. The little static electricity shocks you get sometimes are upwards of 100,000 volts. However, the amperage (current) is so small you don't get hurt.

I would rather be shocked with 100,000 volts at 0.1mA than 1 volt at 10A.
 
No, it is very unlikely that you will be killed

Definition of ELECTROCUTE
1: to execute (a criminal) by electricity
2: to kill by electric shock
 
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