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[Weaver]

I have an old iPad, an iPad 5, which is probably about seven years old, guessing. The lightning socket in it seems to be wobbly, in the sense that you can rock the lightning connector plug to the left or right (ie rotate it within the plane of the iPad, not rotate/turn the lightning plug around the plug’s own axis of symmetry). On my good newer iPad Pro v1, you can’t rock the lightning plug like that at all; it seems securely seated.

I’ve tried various different lightning connectors and some are slightly better than others. On most good connectors I can’t get the iPad to charge at all. With one or two it will charge for a while if you find just the right spot, get it shoved in just right and then do not breathe on it. I think that the reason that very new connectors might possibly be better could be because there has been no opportunity for wear to increase the gap between plug and socket, so the fit is still very snug.

Has anyone else had this kind of problem?

Will I be able to get it repaired without the cost being silly?

God I hate the lightning connector; worst thing ever when they came in with the iPad 4. Thank goodness they are being replaced by USB-C, I think; Is that correct?

[sevenlayermuddle]

I’ve no idea whether this applies here, but worth pointing out that lightning sockets are sometimes damaged by use of bootleg charging cables, owing to non-conformant mouldings of the plug body.  They’re either too big causing damage when inserted or too loose, wearing down the socket by wobbling excessively.   Genuine Apple are often a much better fit.  MFI branded ones should be ok too, but you have to trust the vendor that the branding is genuine.

My iPhone 11 fast charger has USB-C at the charger end, which is good as it allows more power to be passed.  But the iPhone connection is still lightning, as lightning can already transfer that power.   The USB-C to lightning cable is slightly thicker, to cater for the higher currents, which might make it more robust.

[digbey]

In my experience the main problem with the lightning port is that it collects fluff and debris. Each time you plug in a cable it compresses the junk into tthe bottom of the port, it then makes it impossible for the plug to seat properly.

Using a tooth pick or something similar and some compressed air it's usually possibly clean the stuff out.

I must have fixed at least half a dozen iPhones belonging to friends using this method.

There are plenty of online videos and instructions how to do this.

[Weaver]

@digbey - that’s a fantastic tip. Thank you. I’ll go round doing iDevices as you suggest.

For this to be the cause here, it would mean that the plunge would have to refuse to go into the socket deep enough, yes? I’m not sure how I could tell whether or not this is happening.

I discovered the most bizarre thing. When plugged into an Apple white mains-USB charger unit and using a random cheap non-MFI, non Apple branded cable it doesn’t charge the iPad. But the same cable when plugged into a Belkin USB charger hub unit works 100% fine every time. As a third test, we plugged that cable into a different USB hub charger unit and it didn’t charge the iPad.

So only this cable works properly and this cable only works in a certain USB charger unit. Total madness.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Apple ship similar looking white USB charging bricks of different wattages, with different devices.  You need incredibly sharp eyesight to read the ratings, tiny print in grey on white.    Using a lower rated Apple USB charging source than that which shipped with the device should still work I believe, but may result in slower charging.   

Guessing here, but  I’m prepared to believe that a low wattage charger, coupled with a border line out-of-spec cable, might tip the balance even further from ‘slower charging’ to ‘not charging’.  That might explain why a cable works sort of, some of the time, depending on the hub, mood, or day of the week.

[Weaver]

I understand. I think one of our Kitizens pointed this out to me some years ago, or perhaps I’m just inventing memories, I seem to recall struggling to read small writing on such an adaptor and I think I determined from this that it was an iPad grade current device not one for iPhones only, if I’m understanding correctly. But I ought to recheck this.

To clarify though, I should have explained properly. When I said it doesn’t charge, meaning it "doesn’t work," very roughly speaking, the icon at the top right hand corner doesn’t show a lightning symbol and the icon doesn’t go green. It’s as if there’s no thing plugged in at all. It’s not a case if it looking as if there is power plugged in but the charge percentage figure fails to rise, so it’s not getting enough current for it to charge the battery, only enough to run the machine. It’s all or nothing.

At least I’ve found one usb charging hub + lightning cable combination that works, so I will be able to charge it all the way to 100%, I expect. I will need to leave the iPad on janet’s bedside table for now, as the usb cable isn’t long enough to reach me and she needs the usb charger hub, so I can just steal it off her, nor can I swap hers for mine as her hub doesn’t support enough devices for me; I need about six and hers only supports about two, iirc.