User profile for user: FabioSical
FabioSical Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

12v charging damage

if i charged my iPhone using a Firewire cable (actually, an apple brand dual cable, that has one firewire 600 end and one USB 2.0 end. i used the dock provided with the iphone, and charged it for a couple of days.

What type of damage can this cause to my iPhone? if the Voltage is higher (12v compared to 5v). what can go wrong? i have stopped using this now.

The battery charges on the wall adapter (fine) on my macbook pro USB port (Fine)(whether im on mac os or win xp, still works and synchs great)

if there could be a possible damage, what could it be?

I have a 30 gb Video iPod that just wont sync to my pc anymore.

Thanks

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.10), boot camp, WinXP

Posted on Oct 26, 2007 11:20 AM

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14 replies
User profile for user: LadyAdun
LadyAdun
User level: Level 2
280 points

Oct 26, 2007 11:24 AM in response to FabioSical

Well the firewire is putting out 12 volts of power when the iPhone is only supposed to recieve 5. I think the fact that your frying your phone should be very obvious. You shouldn't charge your iPhone with any other cables or wall adapters then the ones that came with it. If you need another charging set, get one from your local Apple store or from the oline store.

Oh and you probably fried your iPod too.
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User profile for user: Maynerd69
Maynerd69
User level: Level 1
61 points

Oct 26, 2007 11:37 AM in response to FabioSical

I'm no electrical engineer, but I'd think It could potentially fry any, all, or several components of your phone. I chose not to use a car charger because of this possibility. Even the chargers that Apples approves for sale in their store are 12 volt chargers (the iphone requires 5 v DC). After long winded discussions with Apple care, Apple support, and in person at an Apple store, I wasn't satisfied that a 12 volt car charger was safe to use. Currently I only use the wall charger and schedule charges at night when needed.
If I do have a need to charge in the car, I have a 12 volt DC to 110 volt AC charger I can use in my car and just plug the wall charger into that.
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User profile for user: Lawrence Finch
Lawrence Finch
Community+ 2025
User level: Level 10
228,792 points

Oct 26, 2007 12:22 PM in response to FabioSical

FabioSical wrote:
if i charged my iPhone using a Firewire cable (actually, an apple brand dual cable, that has one firewire 600 end and one USB 2.0 end. i used the dock provided with the iphone, and charged it for a couple of days.

If it did any damage you would know it by now. As one of Apple's tech notes says you can charge the iPhone from a Firewire port I can't imagine it will do any harm. And any Apple engineer who approved a design where using an Apple cable in an Apple phone could damage the phone should be fired. Thus, the iPhone design should include the ability to charge from 5 volts or 12 volts if that is what Apple chargers supply.

Yes, there are a few stories of the phone overheating when being charged from a Firewire charger. But the number is small enough to be coincidence. Especially as there are also reports of the phone overheating with a USB adapter, and all USB adapters are 5 volts. It's also possible that the phone was charged while in a case, which would hold in the heat and thus make it more likely to overheat.
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User profile for user: FabioSical
FabioSical Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Oct 27, 2007 5:09 PM in response to FabioSical

Thanks a lot for your answers, they are very appreciated. The reason of my question was because when i started using the firewire charger, my iPhone suddenly became more likely to freeze, so i had to keep restarting the phone (aprox every 7-8 hours, after using it randomly, calls, wi-fi, etc)

I stopped doing this for almost a week now, and guess what? no more freezing!! what i did was i fully charged the battery with my USB wall adapter (provided with the phone) and then used it regularly, when it crashed (less constantly) i woulds just reboot. I let the battery drain all the way to the bear minimum, so that it can complete one full cycle (similar to my macbook pro). Once dead, i fully charged the phone one more time, and i have a happy ending now. No more freezing, or iPhone getting stuck.

this was my case only, but if it helps for others having the same problem, well, be my guest and give it a shot.

Thanks
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User profile for user: romad
romad
User level: Level 3
933 points

Nov 8, 2007 8:27 PM in response to LadyAdun

LadyAdun wrote:
Well the firewire is putting out 12 volts of power when the iPhone is only supposed to recieve 5. I think the fact that your frying your phone should be very obvious. You shouldn't charge your iPhone with any other cables or wall adapters then the ones that came with it. If you need another charging set, get one from your local Apple store or from the oline store.

Oh and you probably fried your iPod too.


No. The 5 vdc comes in on different pins than the 12 vdc. Apple says that while you can only SYNC with USB, you can charge with either FireWire or USB.

Now the problem that MIGHT happen is that when you charge using one of those cigarette lighter-to-USB adapters in your car. If the circuitry that reduces the 12/14 vdc down to 5 vdc fails, you COULD have 12/14 vdc coming in on the 5 vdc pins. Double overvoltage could ruin your whole day.
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User profile for user: azeteg
azeteg
User level: Level 1
0 points

Dec 2, 2007 7:24 AM in response to Karsten R

I did the exact same thing last week - by mistake I used an old ipod mini firewire charger over the night (it looks pretty much exactly the same as the iphone charger).

When I woke up, the iphone was dead. I connected it to the laptop and put it in DFU mode, which worked. Then when trying to restore - itunes stops at "waiting for iphone" and then the iphone screen shows alot of rectangles in various changing sizes and colors for a while, freezing at a zebra pattern. Then iTunes gives an error message.

I suspect that the battery is giving too little power for the circuits to function properly. I thus ordered a new battery, will see if changing the battery can restore my iphone back to life.

It is really sick that charging with an old firewire charger can kill your iphone this way, Apple have made a huge blunder on this one.
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User profile for user: azeteg
azeteg
User level: Level 1
0 points

Dec 3, 2007 12:08 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

The only problem is that I've seen quite some of these reports around in different forums, all saying the same thing "I charged my iPhone with an old 12V firewire charger and now its dead". I know how the connector works etc, firewire power gets in on other pins than USB power - and Apple should have taken care of proper downstepping of power, but all these reports make me suspicious.

Martin
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12v charging damage

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