Lightning Cable Corrosion?

Like many others here, I'm an electronics technician and have been in my trade/profession for 50 years. Every technician who has ever done bench work has seen the contact degradation problems caused by arcing hundreds of times over and the lightning connector is indeed a problem. I have had the same issue as many others, wasted an inordinate amount of time making contact with the so-called "Genius" bar and turned up to my appointment only to be cheerfully given a new cable by an Apple employee who had no knowledge of electrical arcing and didn't want to listen to my explanation of how I had not contributed in any way to this problem.

IMHO there are several contributors to the problem and the probable poor design of the aptly named "Lightning™" interface. Apple employees who have put it down to moisture are partly right but it does play a part in all electrical arcing. What I guess they are overlooking is that water vapour in the air isn't ever going away and will always be absorbed by minute contaminants, mainly dust and grease particles which form a bridge allowing arcing which is just like "lightning" conduction and which can happen at pretty much any energy level.

Several others have pointed out that the blackening of the connector contacts is burning, not corrosion and they are right. How this burning happens can be simply put down to the fact that most of us forget to switch off our chargers and wait for the energy to dissipate before unplugging, and a tiny arc "spark-erodes" the power contacts when we unplug. Over a very short period time the very small amount of gold flashing on the contacts is penetrated to and the copper contact is able to oxidise and form a carbon film. In a perfect design, the contacts would be solid gold, there would be adequate transient suppression on the power conductors, more contact pressure and so on, but the design is simply not perfect and the reality is that Apple does not see it as a sufficiently serious issue to warrant any sort of a recall, which would be a logistical nightmare anyway, nigh impossible given the volumes of iPhones sold.

It's just disappointing that somebody from Apple is not honest enough to admit that the design is lacking and promise that the next model will be better. I think we would all would prefer that to employees blaming moisture exposure and avoiding the real issue. I have great admiration for Apple but a simple act of honesty goes a long way to retaining customers for any business.

The best solution to at least lessening the problem is to always keep the contacts clean, use a little bit of electrical contact cleaner or even isopropyl alcohol on both the plug and the socket and always switch off and wait a minute before unplugging or plugging in the charger. The little dental cleaning brushes that you can buy for cleaning between teeth are great for cleaning the socket, and you'll amazed at the amount of gunk that accumulates in there.

Yup

This is a common issue - and not surprising. I have had 4 of them go like this.

Because the contacts are exposed, unlike all the other connector types, they are prone to touching other surfaces.

This happens most commonly in cars if the cable is left plugged into a maintained charger (ie not switched off when the key is removed) and the cable touches even a remotely damp carpet (for example). Electrolytic action occurs which destroys the contacts that are 'live'. Like this:

Damage can also occur if the plug comes into contact with grounded metal parts of the car, but that is less likely.

As for corrosion happening at home, when the plug has never apparently come into contact with anything wet, it only takes trace moisture to start the electrolytic action if the cable is left plugged into a live charger. It could even happen with traces of hand cream because the surface of the contacts is in the same plane as the supporting insulation

When I first saw one of these connectors when the 5 first came out, I immediately wondered if this would be an issue. You wouldn't normally leave live exposed wires with *any* voltage on them hanging around without expecting some failure. A week later, because of careless unplugging in the car and leaving the cable plugged into the charger with the connector resting on a slightly damp carpet, my concern was verified. That was the first of them to go this way. Sadly, despite trying to remember to unplug the charger every time I leave the car, I have now destroyed 4 of them in exactly the same way. Doh.

An imperfect design.

rshum is exactly right on this count. Apple has not designed to take into account the probability of arcing at the connector when it is removed from the phone or other device during a charge phase.

Short of a much higher quality connector, if you are having this problem just be sure that before you pull the connector from your phone, that either the phone is powered off and already fully charged or you have unplugged your cable from the other end (preferable) so that power is no longer flowing into the phone.

This should mitigate problems with arcing or pitting or corrosion of the lightning connector contacts in normal use.

Here is an image of a lightning connector which has not yet failed but probably isn't far from becoming intermittent. The pitting on the connectors is apparent:

ConnectorPits

Another problem of course is failure of the cable at the junction with the connector body. This is common with cheap knock-offs, but can also occur with the Apple brand part. My solution is to put a short section of adhesive lined heat shrink tubing over the back end of the lightning connector and also on the USB connector to act as strain relief. This has prolonged the life of my cables significantly.

Finally took mine to the Apple Store last weekend. The guy claimed that this could only result from liquid damage. I said that was impossible, that I've taken care of my device and cable, etc. So he checked the liquid indicator on my phone, found no evidence of liquid damage, and exchanged the cable for me. Hooray.

I think I am siding with you on this. After talking to my colleagues, I received two plausible suggestions:

1) two gold electrodes placed in an aqueous solution with a positive voltage on one wire and ground applied to the other will corrode the positive gold electrode away

2) electrical arcing causing the corrosion (originally I dismissed this as it is just USB - i.e. 5 V /2 A max)

After examining the male and female sides, it would seem both are likely culprits, but you would have to have some pretty serious condensation on the pins to get this to happen with steam. See the pictures attached (shared images on google drive). You can see in the female side that the number 4 pin is shorter than the others and blackened. In the image of the male cable you can see how the metal is actually gone from the pins, literally holes in the metal. Corrosion due to water damage and such isn't so spot specific and definitely wouldn't leave other portions of the meal untouched. Let me know your thoughts. Enjoy the Apple close-ups.

Female: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-euQuYfdC_QQm9pQnBBbFZNV1E/edit?usp=sharing

Male top: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-euQuYfdC_QUzFidEFJci1oRlU/edit?usp=sharing

Male bottom: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-euQuYfdC_QWU1SMnl4bC1oMHc/edit?usp=sharing

Just a head's up that I experienced corrosion failures with two of our Apple USB to Lighning cables, and I blogged about it here: http://www.zdnet.com/lightning-cables-failing-due-to-corrosion-7000026982/

Both of my iPhones are covered under AppleCare+ and both were replaced at the Genius Bar at my local Apple store.

Anecdotal evidence from reader emails indicate that these failures seem to be more prevalent in wet/moist climates and of cables kept in a vehicle. If the Lightning end of the cable is dropped onto/dipped into a wet or snowy floor mat (while plugged into a vehicle’s 12 volt power outlet) it can arc/short the cable (and even the device!) if plugged in while the end of the cable is still damp.

I've just had a look at mine under a magnifying glass, and after trying a few progressively harder objects to remove what appears to be a carbon deposit, I finally shifted the stuff with some bared copper hookup wire.
After doing that, I noticed the remaining metal formed two peaks, roughly 1/3 and 2/3 along the contact area, and both sides were virtually identical.
My educated guess is that the matching contact in the iPhone/iPad (iPad in my case) is not held against the cable contact with enough pressure, and they are effectively arcing, in the same way an arc welder works. If that is the case, the only real option is for the connector in the iDevice to be redesigned to exert just a little more pressure on the cable plug.

The same thing has happened to a lightning-30 pin adapter I bought (from Apple) with the iPad4, although to a lesser extent, as it hasn't seen as much use.

Frustrated much.

I had this same problem. I took nail polish remover a sewing pin and a Q-tip. I scratched away the corrosion on the cable with the sewing pin and then dipped the Q-tip in the nail polish remover and cleaned the pins after scratching away the corrosion on the pins. Plugged it into my ipad and the cable worked again hope it helps!

Funny, this just happend to my Dad and his 30pin-to-lightning adapter that he uses with his car. He started complaining that it would sometimes not charge his phone or sometimes the phone would give the non-apple accesory error. A few of pins looked dark in color but wouldnt clean when picked with a toothpick. The local Apple store replaced it under warranty. Luckily my Dad was able to find he recipt as the guy at the store was not aware of any issues plauging the cables. The store covered the replacement as the cable less than a year old (it's about six months old).

i am a master electrician and repair electronics and one of my responsibilities is to have manufacturers own up to their warranties. At this point it seems as if my technical expertise had hit deaf ears at the "genius bar" at apple. My phone stopped charging for good last night, I noticed corrosion on the charger before

but cleaned if off with contact cleaner and a toothbrush . this actually wasn't corrosion at all but carbon deposit left from arcing and overheated conductors. I agree with the others on here the charger plugs in without enough pressure and too loosely into an aluminum framed phone which expands contracts with heat and cold more then almost every solid metal and bends too easily. My charger just doesn't have enough pressure and even when new, could not charge fast enough to run Google maps.

Yesterday afternoon it just wouldn't charge past 7 percent and died. I thought perhaps my charger was no good anymore after charging it and tried my wife's brand new charger she purchased for her iPhone six plus. It almost held a charge but I could feel the cord overheating in less then a minute, pulled it out to find carbon marks and green corrosion from the arcing electrolysis. I cleaned it off and didn't mention it to her.

I called apple care and they told me likely that they would replace the phone because it was a manufacturer defect.

I went into the Apple Store today, the customer service rep told me it was likely they'd replace the phone under warranty. He came back and said, for 300 We can replace it because the warranty doesn't cover corrosion. I told him take it back in the lab the phone is bone dry. He did and the phone was dry but he said corrosion is not covered. At this point I could feel my blood pressure raising. They still had no hypothesis as too why the pins were melted clean off the inside of the charging point and the inside was covered in carbon.

I told him ," the phone was always dry, it's not corrosion its carbon deposit. The corrosion or carbon is a symptom of the arcing"

He went and got his manager.

the manager was very nice but had no intention of understanding the technicality of the issue and basically was there to say he had no power to replace my phone because of the technician in the back of the genius bars findings. I explained to him I read this thread and the issue is a loose connection. He agreed but shook my hand and listened to me waiting for me to calm down and leave. I can not recall being this angry in a long time. I left with my broken phone I purchased just 6 months ago and the burnt charger cable.

Not knowingwhat to do next I contacted apple care again and they basically told me that the genius bars decision is final and cannot be overrided. He said in their notes that the warranty was not honored due to user misuse. I was not told this in store. The notes had no explanation as to why two of the pins within the phone were completely melted off and again the contacts within the phone had carbon marks.

I spoke to Apple cares supervisor and surprise surprise she didn't even know what an electrical arc was and she couldn't do anything not transfer me to anyone who could help me. This is a major customer service failure on Apples part. A company with such a giant profit margin should have no problem owning up to their own engineering and manufacturing oversights. From this thread it is obvious to see I am not alone.

Hred dress the kicker, my wife emailed me telling me her new iPhone 6 plus lightening charger was broken and it wasn't my phone. I said no , my work phone is charging fine, which is an iPhone six , with my car charger. Turns out, just plugging it into my phone for five minutes destroyed a brand new charger. Even after I cleaned the contacts. And get this, she just got home after buying a new charger, and guess what now her iPhone 6 plus is dead and won't take a charge, I looked at the inside of her phone and bingo, carbon marks. Apple you better own up to your warranties, don't think your too big of a company too lose public trust, because you've severely disappointed me. I'm a professional in the electronics industry and you cannot fool me.

I've now seen this problem for the first time since starting to use Lightning cables 2.5 years ago. A user brought me a faulty cable, and I got it working by scraping black stuff off the middle two contacts on both sides of the Lightning connector. Three of the contacts are very deeply pitted, so I assume they're now down to the copper and will corrode quickly, so I gave her a new one.

We've got 80 iPads and 80 iPhones here, and have recently changed all the iPhones over from 5's to 6's, so there are 240 Lightning cables around the place. If this is the only one this happens to then I'm ok with this failure rate. This particular cable lasted the user about 6 months. If it's her phone causing the problem then it'll happen to the new cable too. I'm hoping it's not going to be widespread among all the iPhone 6's, as we're only 6 months into a 2 year contract.

pshute wrote:

I've now seen this problem for the first time since starting to use Lightning cables 2.5 years ago. A user brought me a faulty cable, and I got it working by scraping black stuff off the middle two contacts on both sides of the Lightning connector. Three of the contacts are very deeply pitted, so I assume they're now down to the copper and will corrode quickly, so I gave her a new one.

We've got 80 iPads and 80 iPhones here, and have recently changed all the iPhones over from 5's to 6's, so there are 240 Lightning cables around the place. If this is the only one this happens to then I'm ok with this failure rate. This particular cable lasted the user about 6 months. If it's her phone causing the problem then it'll happen to the new cable too. I'm hoping it's not going to be widespread among all the iPhone 6's, as we're only 6 months into a 2 year contract.

I should also note that this plug had black gunk in the indents on the sides of the plug. I can't imagine that could be caused by arcing.

I would just call them up to be sure they can replace it for your problem, but they had no problem replacing my wife's iPad mini, especially when they heard the same thing happening to multiple cables. I think they have something in their system that refers to this problem as they didn't even really ask me any further questions about it. The one year warranty should be plenty good to replace the cable and iPad. The problem you might have with calling is that that phone support ends after 90 days.

I was experiencing the same issue charging my iPad mini and had stopped using the corroded charger some time ago but the problem persisted until my ipad finally stopped charging with any cable. The apple store tech guys in Brisbane Australia looked inside the port and saw a small amount of blue green residue and said it was water damage, unfixable and charged $270 AUD for a reconditioned replacement. I showed them my corroded cable and they said it was further evidence of water damage. I asked about these posts and associated media coverage and they said they would also all be due to water damage. Basically they are claiming that the fault is with all of these users it seems. They said they are happy to replace cables because they cost them next to nothing, not because they are accepting fault. All I could say is that I have never had an incident with liquid but since this is not able to be proven I guess I have no recourse.