Lightning cable shorted and caught fire.

Absolutely. I stopped using it as soon as I notice the damage. The actual OEM cable and adapter were less than 3 months old and in perfect condition. I had my phone plugged in the night before, but did not notice any damage until after the phone was unplugged. Unfortunately I've now learned that my phone is no longer charging because of damage the cable did to the phone. Still trying to get all of this worked out with Apple.

We had a burning smell in our house.

It took an hour to find out where the smell was coming from.

If the cable had been on a carpet we would have had a fire (see photo).

I have tried to return it to Apple- they do not appear interested.

I think this is a common problem they do not want recognised.

Perhaps Samsung may have a look!

I'm actually on the phone with Apple support right now.... This morning I decided to work from home and started to smell something burning. It was the end of my lighting cord. It is OEM and plugged into an OEM adapter. The plastic around the end was melting and turning brown. I immediately unplugged it and it cooled off. I plugged it back in, and the end started to heat up like a curling iron. Scary. I changed the adapter to a different OEM adapter: same result. I tried both OEM adapters at various power outlets in my home: same result. This my newest OEM power cable and no visible signs of damage or wear-and-tear. I'm frustrated as this easily could have caused a fire, and apparently other Apple customers have been experiencing the same issue since at least 2014 (per this discussion group). Are we really expected to be right beside our product the entire time while it charges in case the cord is defective? Can I not charge my device while I sleep for fear that it could overheat and cause damage or worse a fire? I've been a big fan of Apple mobile devices for a while, but this has really shaken my faith in the products.

tennjd2000 wrote:

.. It was the end of my lighting cord. .. The plastic around the end was melting and turning brown. .. I plugged it back in, and the end started to heat up like a curling iron. .. I changed the adapter to a different OEM adapter: same result. I tried both OEM adapters at various power outlets in my home: same result.

If a power accessory shows signs of damage or a fault, I strongly suggest that you stop using it immediately and that you do not plug it back in even once more, let alone repeatedly.

tennjd2000 wrote:

Unfortunately I've now learned that my phone is no longer charging because of damage the cable did to the phone.

It's much more likely that the phone shorted out internally and that's what caused the damage to the cable.

The voltage has nothing to due with the heating of the cable! As a Electronic engineer and a cirtified arson investigator it's the current and I personally watched mine smoke no flame but I stoped it by unplugging it. The outer jacket stranded sheld as well a the common ground wears out and when it gets down to a few strands the heat and cascading damage

last night, i was using my charger and i noticed it stopped charging. i then thought to take it out, and noticed the charger was unusually hard to take out. when i did take it out, the charger was burnt! i am currently using a new charger right now but am being very cautious with this one. any ideas?

So how I take what is being said here is my BMW is cheap. After 30 minutes of driving I smelt smoke and nearly burnt my hand trying to unplug the "lightning cord" from my iPhone. I think Apple is simply cutting corners. Apple getting cheapo.

Yup, voltage is largely irrelevant to fire risk. The cable/plug you're using is clearly untrustworthy, possibly defective, but your situation is very rare, other than trying to ensure that all contractor builds are perfect 100% of the time what would you like Apple to do, things do break, but when it is 1 in several million it may be difficult to completely eradicate.

I know that this is an old post but I found out something that is relevant to this post. It's a good idea to check the voltage of your charger and to check your usb to lightning cord with a usb multimeter. Drok makes a great meter.

DROK Pocket Digital Multimeter USB 3.0 Hub, OLED Display DC 13V Voltage Ampere Power Capacity 4in1 Multi Tester. This multimeter will let you measure the voltage from the charger. It has many functions. It has great reviews. I just recently order one to be able to test my lightning cords and my chargers. It can also measure how much voltage your Apple phone battery has in it after charging it. It's a must have tool. If you have this tool you can keep up on the voltage of your cords, charger and battery. And I wasn't able to lower the letter size in this post. After copying an article from Amazon. So sorry about these large letters.

My lightning cable burnt. It appeared to be in perfect condition.

If it had been on a carpet rather than work surface it would have burnt the house down.

Apple don't seem too bothered. I have ben asking to return it by post rather than take more photos but they haven't been able to find a way to do this.

I am looking for an independent assessor in The UK to send it to instead.

Any ideas?

Thank you

This has totally happened to me minutes ago.

So, I have an iPad mini air 2 in which was bought 2 years ago. I’ve had a terrible experience when I first got it. A charger cable plug was stuck on my charge plug so I had needed help. Its been affecting my chargers. 4 broken chargers every single month, maybe even year.

This time, my Charger cable broke and won’t totally charge so I tried charging it with my charger cable that was bought 7 months ago. I noticed as I plugged the head, the wire started having little sparks of light in the end of the small plug.

So I un-plugged it, making sure it wasn’t electric. I checked again, I moved the wire a little, there it was again. I kept doing it and small fire just started to melt over and smoke was starting to come out.

I was freaking out. Like, totally freaking out.

This has scared me of leaving my charger plugged when I’m out somewhere. Glad it wasnt only me who experienced such small event. It’s dangerous and it could cause fire to your house.

7 DEC 2017 - I just suffered an Apple brand charger cable failure: I was opening my MacBookAir and the screen brightness varied up-and-down, as if the charge cord was being disconnected. I moved my hand to check the magsafe connection and noticed a yellow incandescent glow in the cable, with smoke coming from the same area.

I immediately pulled the charger out of the utility outlet and discarded the defective charger - luckily the wife had a charger that I can use while I order another replacement.

It looks like flexing about 3/4 of an inch from the magsafe connector had caused the cable to short internally. This failure is the same as that which caused me to replace the original charger for my late 2011 MacBookAir. So, I will be on my third Apple charger for this MacBookAir. As an engineer, this is sort of looking like a design weakness to me....

whelanjh

No.

When connected to an Apple power adaptor?

If an Apple cable and power adaptor, call AppleCare or make an appointment at an Apple Store if there is one nearby.

Yes, Just happened to me last night. Good thing I was close as I had to immediately pull charger out of my iPad. Very dangerous. What is Apple doing about this?