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iPad mini not charging

My iPad mini won't charge at all. I tried the wall adapter that came with it, the adapter for my iPhone, and a couple others I had around the house. Is anyone else having this problem??

iPad mini Wi-Fi, iOS 6.0.1

Posted on Nov 2, 2012 11:07 PM

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Posted on Jun 20, 2017 10:48 AM

Well, hopefully this will help (although the original question was just a few years ago) --


There seems to be a weird quirk in charging that it appears it is not working, when in fact it is charging. It will go white almost immediately and say "not charging" but in cord after cord I have used, I found that the iPad Mini is in fact charging. Once it gets to 100 percent, it goes GREEN.


Hope this helps.

42 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jun 20, 2017 10:48 AM in response to m.lineweber

Well, hopefully this will help (although the original question was just a few years ago) --


There seems to be a weird quirk in charging that it appears it is not working, when in fact it is charging. It will go white almost immediately and say "not charging" but in cord after cord I have used, I found that the iPad Mini is in fact charging. Once it gets to 100 percent, it goes GREEN.


Hope this helps.

Nov 4, 2012 1:23 PM in response to m.lineweber

I am having exactly the same problem and so far, this is my experience:

When I first opened the box yesterday, the iPad mini wasn't completely charged up, therefore I plugged it throught the new lightning connector to the USB power adaptor that comes with it. I must admit, it is my first Apple device with the lightning connector, but when I first plugged it, nothing happened, therefore I thought I have plugged it the wrong way around, I turned the plug 180 degrees and and plugged it again. The charging message popped up in the screen and after a couple hours it was at 100% charge.


So far so good.


The problem came this evening, when I saw a new software update was available for the iPad mini (iOS 6.0.1) but as the battery of the iPad was only at 43%, there was a message at the installation screen saying “ Battery should be at least at 50% or the iPad should be connected to a power source”. Therefore I decided to plug it to the supplied USB power adaptor. And there it was when my problem started to be exactly the same than yours. This are all the tests I have done:


- I tried all sort of AC/USB power adaptors (from iPhone, iPod, third parties, etc), and also connecting it to my iMac, MacBook Air, without any success: not "charging" messages at all. By the way, the supplied USB adaptor is a 5W one, exactly the same as the iPhone's one.


- Turned the iPad off and on: not success

- Plugged and unplugged several times and turned around the lightning connector, just in case there was any dirt on the golden fingers (very unlikely as it is brand new, but just in case): not success

- Reset the iPad holding both, the home and wake up, buttons and after rebooting tried again: not success

- Finally I reset it and let it off for over half an hour, reboot it and tried again: at the second time I plugged the lightning connector the charging message popped up!


Right now it is charging, and I don't want to do any more tests until it is almost fully charged. I don't know if started to charge because some thing may have “cool down” inside the iPad or may be is just a random event. In any case, I will bring it tomorrow to the Apple retailer to find out.



pd.: while charging, I have been moving the power cord, while keeping an eye on the “charging icon”, in the areas close to the lightning and USB connectors, just in case they could have a bad contact (some thing that happens when cables are old and have been used and abused during long periods of time) but the “charging icon” kept steady all the time. What seems to indicate the failure does not comes from physical connectivity failures, but rather from some temperature or current protection circuit, which threshold is very close to the limit.



Today I haven't stop using and at times the iPad was a bit warm. May be, there is some kind of temperature sensor in the battery to avoid charging when it gets too hot. Obviously I am simply guessing.

Nov 4, 2012 2:23 PM in response to isshou

Update:

At the moment the battery is only charged at 88%, however the supplied USB power adaptor is really hot, what makes me think it may be working at its limit. Meanwhile, the iPad keeps fairly cold.


It would be very interesting if any one with the same problem could try it out with a 10W power adapter, instead of the supplied 5W one. If the 5W one is at its limit, it is very likely a current spike is being produced when it is plugged and, in order to protect itself , the power supply is being turned off.

Nov 7, 2012 11:17 PM in response to m.lineweber

i had the same problem and my ipad mini was not charging for days after i got it until it was drained, at first i thought something was wrong with the device or the charger/cable because it was not charging from with the charger (tried it everywhere) or PC or Mac, i gave up at some point and thought of returning it but then i tried plugging the charger directly into the wall socket (without an extension cord) and it worked! seems that the new high voltage charger's needs are only satisfied with direct power supply and wont accept any weaker voltage even its a minor difference. my ipad is now charging for the first time since i bought it as im typing this 🙂

iPad mini not charging

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