I'm always curious as to what, exactly, people are doing to cause failures of cables, cracking screens, and so forth....
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Lightning Cables Failing Due to Corrosion, Cause Unclear
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I've never had issues with my cables fraying, though I am rather careful with them. I have, however, had issues with my iPhone not charging because of the connector port on the phone itself getting lint and dirt stuck in it, which has caused issues with charging. I actually found these dental picks, of all things, to be really awesome at cleaning out the ports as they're small and rubbery and have little teeth to pull out the lint without seemingly damaging the connector itself.
http://www.gumbrand.com/between-teeth-cleaning/picks/gum-soft-picks-15-ct-632rm.html
http://www.gumbrand.com/between-teeth-cleaning/picks/gum-soft-picks-15-ct-632rm.html
That's true. Gold is a noble metal with a passivation layer. I think Brockap3 meant actually electro-chemical migration, which Gold is also highly resistant too.
These connectors seem to use gold plated copper pads.
Based on the images I would hypothesize that plugging the cable in and out scratches the gold and allows the copper to be exposed. I think that the compound that we see on the pins is some form of copper deposit (actually you can only see it being deposited on the exposed copper underneath the gold plating).
This is no corrosion !
Thanks for the detailed pictures. Sorry for telling you this, but the pictures do not show any sign of corrosion at all.
All what I can see is a failed atempt to solder something onto those gold contacts. The microscope pic shows residue of solder, the brown spot on the normal pic is caused by the heat of the solder iron or soldergun to attach something.
As someone else already posted, Gold does not corrode. It has 8 electrons in the outer shell and is chemicly speaking "complete"
At least those pics are not Apple's fault, someone tinkered with that contact.
Thanks for the detailed pictures. Sorry for telling you this, but the pictures do not show any sign of corrosion at all.
All what I can see is a failed atempt to solder something onto those gold contacts. The microscope pic shows residue of solder, the brown spot on the normal pic is caused by the heat of the solder iron or soldergun to attach something.
As someone else already posted, Gold does not corrode. It has 8 electrons in the outer shell and is chemicly speaking "complete"
At least those pics are not Apple's fault, someone tinkered with that contact.
Good for you. I'm also careful as I appreciate not spending £30 on a cable ever few months when I'm on a tight budget as it is as a student. I'm sure it's possible to 'baby' the cables so that they survive, but for me they've never been great. Lugging them around to different places in college and then back home has always resulted in them breaking down, and like I said, older apple cables such as your old FW cable were never the problem, but since the era of the MagSafe, Apples cables have NEVER been that good- in my opinion.
I have no problem at all with my cables. Never had a broken one. Considering that many share the same situation as mine, and at the same time, many complain for having the oposite situation I think its more of a personal issue and how you care your stuff. The cable is ok, and it can last longer than the phone itself if you treat it normally. The durability is subjective definition but in no way I can say that the Apple cables are not durable.
BTW, I had many other charges for PC laptops and other phones that broke very fast and I had to replace them. Given that I do care about my apple cables the same way I care about my non-apple cables, my personal experiance shows me that Apple cables are superior in quality and durability compared to any other cables I had from other brands.
The same can be said about headphones. The Nokia and Samsung headphones that come with their phones normally last weeks for me, but my iPhone headphones last years.
There may be some issues, I agree, but my preliminery opinion is that the human factor was critical for many of these issues.
BTW, I had many other charges for PC laptops and other phones that broke very fast and I had to replace them. Given that I do care about my apple cables the same way I care about my non-apple cables, my personal experiance shows me that Apple cables are superior in quality and durability compared to any other cables I had from other brands.
The same can be said about headphones. The Nokia and Samsung headphones that come with their phones normally last weeks for me, but my iPhone headphones last years.
There may be some issues, I agree, but my preliminery opinion is that the human factor was critical for many of these issues.
Do you guys actually take and use these Apple supplied cables out of their wonderfully packaged and vastly superior premium box or do they go directly to the Apple altar?
I think I'm doing it wrong...
I think I'm doing it wrong...
It is quite simple... Stop pulling the cable instead of the connector.
This is absolutely the reason for cables fraying like this. Apples cables tend to be thinner and more fragile than most others so you need to use them properly and not yank the cable to unplug it.
I see corrosion all the time in mine. I usually have to replace once every 2-3 months. I always replace it for free by buying a new one amazon and returning the busted one. Such stupidity on apples part to design a cable that breaks so often and costs so much.
I was thinking the same thing until I realized the photograph is being illuminated from the left. So what I thought was a bump on the surface is actually a indentation. (An optical illusion caused by a deficient frame of reference in the photo.)
So I'm guessing it's the result of arcing leading to pitting of the surface: The same thing happens to switch or relay contacts over time. Picture below shows side-on view of new contacts (left) compared to old pitted contacts (right).
Attachments
A friend of mine was always using her iPad while it was plugged in and the way she was holding it was causing the cable to bend and it eventually frayed. She got a new cable and doesn't have it plugged in when she's using it. No fraying, cable looks brand new.
I'm affraid I'm going to have to "jump on the band wagon" and also say that I have never had any problems/issues with any of my cables and headphones over the past 4 years.
This includes 3 iPhones (30 pin and Lightning cables and headphones and EarPods), 2 iPads (30 pin and Lightning cables) 2 MacBook Airs (MagSafe 2).
I have bought additional Apple cables for work etc and I think the build quality is good, if cared for.
Yeah... Apple is charging 20 dollars for 1 meter of cable that is thinner and more fragile than most others that charging under 10 dollars. Going through reviews on Apple Store online site, it seems lots of people broken their cable in relative short period of time.
I had lots of issue with old 30 pin cable. Many of the were fraying after a year or so. However, all of my lighting cables are working good
Interesting...I'm asking because I've owned - and dropped on occasion - every iteration of the iphone and the most I've ever done is scratched the back case or chipped off the powdercoat on the chamfered edge of my iphone 5. And the only cord I ever damaged/frayed was a 30-pin I recently had to retire, for an iPod I bought in like 2008. That cord was almost 6 YEARS old when it became what I thought was a hazard, with exposed wires...Other than that, I've never damaged a cord.
I know my story is anecdotal, but still...It's pretty interesting to me how others can manage to really damage these items...
Ditto. I personally treat my Apple products with great care and pride. And at the slight slip of the phone in my hand, where it could have fallen to the floor, I panic lol
But I think some people charge their device (iPod/iPhone/iPad) and then play a game where they need to turn it landscape and require both hands to hold either end (Asphalt8 for example), in doing so bends back the cable and then they wonder why it frays/breaks, and then call it a bad design.
I say, let it charge or play another game lol
How much of this is a combination of arcing, as well as weather? The ones in this thread that had their cables last forever, where about are you geographically?
I live in a northern climate with salted roads. Recently, I had to throw out a 30-pin cable from the car that had intermittent connections with my phone. It turned out the contacts were corroded. The cable was long, and it would sometimes drop onto the floor that had melted snow/slush on them.
This ruined my dock connector, with the same green corrosion, and I had to replace it too. It got to a point where there was a consistent short in one of the pins, killing my battery life, and making it impossible to turn off my phone. It would just come back on again when you held the lock button down.
I live in a northern climate with salted roads. Recently, I had to throw out a 30-pin cable from the car that had intermittent connections with my phone. It turned out the contacts were corroded. The cable was long, and it would sometimes drop onto the floor that had melted snow/slush on them.
This ruined my dock connector, with the same green corrosion, and I had to replace it too. It got to a point where there was a consistent short in one of the pins, killing my battery life, and making it impossible to turn off my phone. It would just come back on again when you held the lock button down.
That is there business, if you don't want to pay for the fragile cables there are alternatives. Other cables are stronger but are also bigger and uglier, the compromise is a straight forward one. Personally the Apple cables are not a problem for me because I always pull the cable out by holding the plug rather than pulling on the wire and because of this have never had a cable fray or break.
Yes...I do not care if cable is uglier...it is just a cable...no one really care or babying it..
My cheap micro USB cable is stronger than any Apple cable....
I am using my iPad more like a laptop... I have a keyboard cover and I always have my cord plugged in while I am using it... Because of the chartering is pulling the cord...it is freaking easy to fraying the cord...
I have a lightning cable that is doing this. But only on one side. I can't charge my iPhone with it, but if I just flip it over, the other side is fine and it charges fine. Hard part, is that when I usually plug my phone in, is by my bed and it's dark, so I have to listen for the "Charging" sound from the phone, if I don't hear it, I just flip it over....