iPad intermittent charging when connected to macbook air.

I went into the Apple Store to get my iPad looked at - suffering the same intermittent charging pattern as you describe - well... is was the cable! I had two different cables, in two different parts of the house and the iPad liked neither of them. When I took my iPad and cable to the Apple Store, we plugged it into the tech's own iPad Air... it suffered intermittent problems just like at home. Then, we tried a new cable, and it was fine! I've bought two new cables to replace the ones at home, and the problem has gone away. iPad now happily charging from my iMac right now.

So lesson learnt - even if an old cable (or relatively new one...) looks good on the outside, the inner wires may be in bad shape from use. Try replacing the cable - it might work for you.

And of interest... iBook Air USB will charge an iPad. We did it at the Apple store last night (and the iBook wasn't plugged in either). Other posters saying the iBook Air doesn't have the capability to charge an iPad are in error.

Hi Brian, I don’t believe that is a sufficient answer. I have the same issue when trying to charge my ipad on my iMac with an OEM cable to the USB port(s). This iPad used to charge just fine but now is intermittent and cycles from charge to no charge rapidly when plugged into the iMac. iTunes goes nuts trying to keep up. The same iPad no longer charges on my iHome clock radio device either when it used to fine, and that same iPad also charged when hooked up via cable to my MacBook Air (as long as the Air was also plugged into a wall outlet). The only way to charge this ipad is now to plug it into a wall outlet - then it charges up fine. However, because of the rapid cycling when charging, updates are no longer possible. I have a Genius Bar session on Tuesday - I will update this post depending on what the Apple team find. Very strange that an iPad method of charging changes over time when it used to be fine with wall outlets or USB to computer connection, but now only wall outlets work! Thanks, James

Pancho.... This is not true. When a laptop is plugged in to a wall outlet, that provides sufficient power to charge USB connected devices. Untrue answers like this do not help people figure out their tech issues. Please do your research prior to responding.

Considering there's no such product as an "iBook Air", you don't really have room to talk about who's in error. Additionally, our point was that for the larger battery of the iPads, the USB ports on Mac laptops are not designed with the purpose in mind of charging iPads. Just compare the current output of standard USB to the output of the charger that ships with the iPads. Nuff said.

Sorry MacBook Air. You are correct. Thanks for correcting my typo.

Your point was mis-stated because the USB ports on Mac Laptops are indeed designed with the purpose of charging and data transfer. Confirmed with Apple Tech in store yesterday. Definitely nuff said.

Your MacBook does not output sufficient current to keep your iPad alive and sync/transfer data. Keep your iPad charged, then connect it to your Mac for data transfer.

Hi

This is because the USB on pc,s is not powerful enough to charge ipad

Use mains or buy a portable power bank.

Cheers

Brian