Apple battery charger flashes orange

Rub the contacts (of the battery and the charger) with a piece of cloth (which you use to clean your spectacles or computer screen) will do. No harm to use a bit of alcohol to wet the cloth beforehand, but do not re-try charging until all things are completely dried. This charger is extremely stringent -- generates faulty message whenever the contacts are not perfect.

Stenito's answer is the one that works. The battery wiggling is really just achieving the same thing.

For whatever reason, this is a very common problem with Apple chargers - no idea why. (I have two chargers and they both have the same problem and have had since shortly after I bought them.

I suggest using just a little optical cleaning spray on a cloth and use that to wipe the contacts clear then let it dry well before replugging.

This fixed the problem in my case as well...

I found out that it was a charger problem (rather than a battery one) simply by moving a battery between slots. On one slot, the charger LED lighted up green (as the battery was full), and on the other one, it started flashing orange the moment I moved it.

Then I tested it with several other batteries as well (just to be sure) and saw the same behaviour. Then I took a close look at the contacts and also saw some marks/gunk on the problematic slot; so I just gave it a nice rub with some tissue paper until it was shining again.

That's it, it worked.

Cleaning the charger also worked for me too. I was surprised. Another poster said that his terminals looked clean - same with mine. Didn't look dirty. A quick wipe and the flashing orange lights have gone.

My situation is the same, but with a twist. I have a CyberPower 1000PFCLCD Sinewave UPS. When I plug the Apple charger into a regular socket (not backed up by battery) via a short 8" extension cord (3-prong, grounded), it blinks amber. If I plug it into a socket that has battery backup through the same extension, I get the solid amber until charged - then it turns green.

I'm not sure why this would be.

Thank you! it works just fine now, I was just about to tear it apart to clean it inside but it wasn't necessary after cleaning each and every contact even the regular AC connector with alcohol and some cotton 🙂 😉

I have the same problem and I thought the charger was faulty, but in fact it appears the problem is in the batteries. I found this by trying to load only one of the batteries each time, both in the left side of the charger and in the right side (charging led up). Some batteries charge no matter which side I put them, others only work in the left side. Some make the charge blink no matter where I place them.

Sounds like a bit of superstition, but I repeated the experiment several times with a set of 12 Apple batteries (I have 2 Apple chargers). At the end I found 8 batteries that are "charger side agnostic" and 4 that work intermittently depending on whether I charge them by themselves or carefully put them in the charger one each time.

@gadgetfish - this technique worked beautifully for me. Thanks! The key was to plug the charger into the wall first, and then gingerly, place each battery into position.

Hello:

I cannot tell, but from here it would appear that the batteries (or charger) are, indeed, faulty. I would return them for warrantry replacement.

Barry

Have to agree with Barry. There should be no need for some of the jiggery pokery described here. There's something wrong; change them. As hardware the charger is guaranteed for 12 months

That is working for me! Thank you!

This worked for me like a charm!

Wanted to confirm that surprisingly enough, the "wiggling" solution worked for me as well.

I would also like to add that you should also check the power source.

I had a similar issue and my outlet was the root cause.

My charger and batteries sat unused for several years. Rubbing all contact points with a cloth this evening, as suggested here, got them charging with a solid orange light again. Thank you!