I bought an extension docking cable that allows me to hook my iPad to my radio dock I usually have my iPhone on. It charges the iPhone fairly fasy, but when I hook the iPad to it, my screen shows "not charging". Anyone know what this might be?
This can happen if the USB port isn't putting out enough power, usually 5 watts instead of 10. Try turning the iPad off and charging it from the radio dock.
Check this out -> iPad: Charging the battery
Note: Some USB 2.0 ports and accessories do not provide enough power to charge iPad. When this occurs the message "Not Charging" appears in the status bar next to the battery icon.
It's not a USB port, it's the docking connection.
Doesn't matter what it is, it's not providing enough charging current. Take a look and see how much your radio dock is putting out; it will probably be somewhere around 0.5A. The Power Adapter that comes with your iPhone puts out 1A; the one that comes with your iPad puts out 2A. Bigger batteries = bigger requirements.
And it probably is still charging, just very, very slowly.
Is that a Chinese, cheap cable, or an Apple-approved one (much more expensive but working)? Cheap Chinese cables are all very bad and should not be used to recharge the iPad (as opposed to synchronization). I'm pretty sure this is the reason it doesn't charge. There's even an article on their (sub-par) performance: http://www.iphonelife.com/blog/87/longer-non-apple-cables-and-charging-ipad
How long is the cable? The Apple cable is 3ft. A longer cable may not carry the 2A current required to charge the iPad.
Cheers, Tom 😉
It all depends on the cable model. There are cheap Chinese 1m (3ft) cables that can't transfer more than 1A and there are very expensive, Apple-approved 3m (10ft) cables that can transfer 2.1A.
BTW, the article I've linked above also links to these cables / explains the situation.
Is the radio dock designed to work with iPads? If it doesn't specifically say it will work with an iPad, then it probably doesn't output enough power to properly charge an iPad.
The cable is just over 3 ft. I am not positive but I think it was a brand-x. I am guesing that the answer is like many of you have said, it just won't carry the right amount of amperage to charge the iPad.
Thanks everyone.
The Amperage doesn't necessarily depend on the length of the cable but the quality. As I've stated above, there are a lot of cr@ppy Chinese knock-off 3ft cables not being able to deliver more than 1 Ampers.
Ipad not charging when using extension cable
