Apple Pencil 1 Battery and Connection

Being infrequently used is the nub of your problem... and the failure, as described, can only be attributed to this.

Your Apple Pencil is displaying classic symptoms of a dead battery - that will not accept or hold any charge.

The tiny internal Li-ion battery is susceptible to permanent/irreversible damage through being left discharged for long periods. Even some “new” pencils can exhibit signs of failure out-of-the-box if they are “old stock”.

It is absolutely essential that if you have an Apple Pencil that you charge it regularly - whether used or not - so as to protect the battery from deep-discharge. Do not allow a pencil to remain in low-charge state for any period of time - as the internal battery will fail, rendering the Pencil useless. For the Apple Pencil 2, is should be kept “docked” to the iPad when unused - as this will protect the battery.

If the Pencil Battery has failed, the only remedy is to replace the Pencil. If purchased directly from Apple, if the battery has failed and your pencil is within its one-year warranty, you should look to having it replaced at an Apple Store.

Sorry, I appreciate that this isn’t the analysis that you were hoping to learn. I hope this information proves to be helpful in both diagnosing and resolving the problem.

You cannot store Apple Pencils for any prolonged period of time and NOT keep them charged up to some level.

If your Apple Pencil/s sat around unused or unopened and not kept charged up for more than a few weeks, or so, OR

LONGER, then the battery in your Apple Pencil may have failed and is dead and you will have to purchase another

brand new Apple Pencil or get, if still under warranty, a free replacement Pencil from Apple.

Sorry.

And it looks like some things about the Apple Pencil have NOT changed in the new version 2 model, either.

FYI and something Apple will never, EVER divulge to it potential iPad Pro/Apple Pencil customers/users unless the potential customer/user is smart enough to ask about,

Due to the “always on and active/standby” nature of the Apple Pencil and, also, due to its very tiny rechargeable Li-

ion battery ( smaller than the eraser head on a REAL wooden pencil ), the Apple Pencil needs to be constantly charged up to some significant charge level ALL THE TIME, even when not using the Pencil for prolonged periods of time.

The Apple Pencil needs to be kept charged to a minimum of 5-10% all the time.

If the Apple Pencil battery is allowed to drain down to 0% and allowed to stay in that flat condition for more than a few weeks, or so, OR EVEN LONGER, that very tiny little Li-ion battery is too small to keep at a 0% state for a long period of time and it will fail and the Apple Pencil will be dead and you may have to “pop” for another $99 Apple Pencil, once again!

Apple only has a one-year warranty on any Apple accessory items.

You need to keep your Apple Pencil charged all the time, even if it is only to 10%-15% charge. It must keep some charge level in that tiny Lithium-ion battery at all times!

One last ditch thing you can try is to plug the Pencil's Lightning connector into the iPad.

Then, try a simple hard reset of your iPad by holding down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then release the buttons.

See if the Pencil starts charging then, when it reaches a sufficient charge, like over 15%, or so, or more, disconnect the Pencil and reconnect it to see if it Bluetooth pairs.

If it does pair, try using it.

If still no joy, your Pencil is definitely dead.

Sorry and Best of Luck to You!

I had the same problem (unable to charge my series 1 pencil with my series 1 ipad Pro). It occurred to me to connect my pencil to the iPad charger but I’d misplaced the female/female connector which would have allowed me to do that.

I took the pencil to the local Genius Bar and they were able to resurrect the ‘dead’ battery by cleaning the terminal at the end of the pencil with an alcohol wipe and then connecting the pencil to an iPad Pro charger for a few minutes. Once it was resurrected I was able to charge the pencil to 100% using my iPad.

The local Apple store didn’t have any female/female connectors in stock and I can’t seem to locate them on the Apple site. Can anyone help in locating one in Qld Australia.

Antony,

Check among this list:--> Apple – Location Selector

Regards

Giulio

Did you buy that Apple Pencil 1st gen for your current iPadPro 11" model?

What generation is your iPadPro?

Your battery is damaged, you will need to buy a new one

Thanks Giulio.

As soon as I hit Post it occurred to me to check eBay and YES they sell them. 🙂

You're welcome