Q: iPad mini shows lightning bolt while plugged into wall outlet 240v but power % keeps dropping. What could be the cause of this?
My question is general, My girlfriend overseas has my iPad mini 1st gen.. it should have the latest update, but I'm not 100% sure her wifi is pretty bad, some apps won't even update. Anyway, her problem is, and I can see it on find-my-phone app.. When plugging in the iPad it shows the lightning symbol, yet the power % is not rising, in most cases it drops, especially if it's in use. she is using the 5-watt charging system. I have purchased a 12-watt wall charger for her but she won't get it for a couple of weeks. Her voltage is 220-240. I am wondering if it can be a dirty socket in the iPad itself or can voltage spikes also be a problem, they are known to have brown-outs, so that pretty much tells me the power is inconsistent there. Sometimes overnight it gets a full charge other times it's getting half charged. I'll add other devices using that same power source are fully charged. We have used apple cords and after market cords, both have the same issue. either it shows it's charging but decreases or it just doesn't show to be charging at all. We are going solely on the lightning symbol to discern whether it is charging or not, but from some other posts I have read that may not be a good indicator as to it's charging state. Pretty frustrating, any advice could be helpful!
I am having her get the socket cleaned today to see if that helps.. Next step will be replacing the charging socket inside the iPad, I'm really trying to avoid that, it is close to 3 years old, so that might be the problem as well.
iPad Mini
Posted on Apr 11, 2016 8:14 PM


