Apple charger cable repair?

[HansBlinkers]

I have an Apple lightening cabe that's badly frayed and about to break. I don't want to use a spurious cable on my iPad.

Anyone know of a place that would to a good job on it?

[FolkGuitar]

Personally, I'd replace it. Lightening cables are cheap enough these days, even the genuine Apple cables.

May I ask what your objection to third-party cables is? I've been using them on my iPhone, mini-iPad, and iPad ever since I first bought them.

I have the original from my phone, but have replaced the ones from the iPads several times, as well as having 'travel spares' in my pack.

EDIT: Amorn Electric has a repair department in the Big C branch, but I think you'll spend more on the repair than on a new cable.

Edited February 24, 2016 by FolkGuitar

[HansBlinkers]

Where is the best place to get an original cable?

I've had problems in the past with spurious cables when it came to data transfer. Also when using them only for charging they work for a while then stop. I also believe that they burn out batteries quicker.

[FolkGuitar]

Where is the best place to get an original cable?

I've had problems in the past with spurious cables when it came to data transfer. Also when using them only for charging they work for a while then stop. I also believe that they burn out batteries quicker.

You can buy original Apple cables in the AppleCare shop one the first floor of Kad Suan Kaew, in front of the Bangkok Bank. There is another Apple shop on the third floor of Airport Plaza.

Interesting to hear your take on third-party cables. Thanks for giving me your views. I've never run into those problems, but maybe I've just been lucky. As I said, they are all that I use for my mini-iPad and regular iPad, and as travel cables for my iPhone. There is an app you can get for your iPad called "Battery Health" (not Battery Doctor!) that will let you monitor the number of recharge cycles, the current state of your battery's ability to take a charge, as well as the usual battery stuff... i.e. how much charge, how long it will last if you use the phone vs listening to music, etc. I believe it's a free app, or at the most $1.99. Very interesting to see which of my chargers give the fastest charge-up, how many mAps etc., etc.

[Bill97]

Where is the best place to get an original cable?

I've had problems in the past with spurious cables when it came to data transfer. Also when using them only for charging they work for a while then stop. I also believe that they burn out batteries quicker.

Original from the Apple stores, called iStudio stores.

Some (Anker) but not all knockoffs are just as good. Here I would buy Apple or mail order Anker.

[justmaybe]

I'd go with an Apple original also, even though it's more expensive. A couple of months ago I left the charger for my Macbook Air in a hotel room and ordered a well-reviewed third party replacement from Amazon. It powered up the laptop fine on the first day and overcharged the battery on the second before burning out. The battery for the Air hasn't held a charge well since. It could just have been bad luck, but it has put me off third party products for a while.

[FolkGuitar]

I'd go with an Apple original also, even though it's more expensive. A couple of months ago I left the charger for my Macbook Air in a hotel room and ordered a well-reviewed third party replacement from Amazon. It powered up the laptop fine on the first day and overcharged the battery on the second before burning out. The battery for the Air hasn't held a charge well since. It could just have been bad luck, but it has put me off third party products for a while.

May I ask why you believe the battery was overcharged? It's my understanding, from various tech sites, that lithium-ion batteries have an automatic cut-off at 100% capacity, then simply switch to using the line to power the device.I do understand that if the device is inside some sort of case that traps heat, this will reduce the life-span of the battery.

I've always left my three Apple devices plugged into third-party chargers over night, and have for the past few years. I still get between 350-450 'charge cycles' from the batteries I install, or about a year and a half to two years of daily use (from the phone. The two iPads don't get as much usage.) The quality of the batteries do make a difference. 1,000 baht batteries bought in Airport Plaza, even though 'new,' are actually re-conditioned batteries that some company has revitalized. I have an App that will show the number of charge cycles a battery has had, and some batteries that I've bought in local small shops show 1200 to 1500 cycles, compared with a new Apple battery that show just one.

Here are some quotes from tech sites about LI batteries;

------------

While the latest charging ICs Apple uses are proprietary it is unlikely that Apple performs a significantly different charging process than every other battery charging IC manufacturer.

This process charges the battery as quickly as reasonable while protecting the battery from damage or increased wear and tear. Please note that the charging IC - or Power Management IC - is located inside the device. So this applies regardless of the external USB powering device you use to charge it. When the battery is full, the charger turns off the charging process. The battery is left alone without current going into or out of it.

-------------

You simply can't overcharge an iPhone, or any other modern electronic device, for that matter. Any device that uses a Lithium Ion or Lithium Polymer battery must incorporate a charging circuit that cuts off charging power when the battery reaches 100%.

In other words, when your iPhone is plugged in and reaches 100%, it switches to external power and simply runs from that.

-------------

The iOS charging circuits will actually stop the charging process and let the battery discharge a little bit from time to time. Apparently this helps in battery life.

[cnx355]

Where is the best place to get an original cable?

I've had problems in the past with spurious cables when it came to data transfer. Also when using them only for charging they work for a while then stop. I also believe that they burn out batteries quicker.

I had the same problem with my I-Phone 4 . No data transfer using copy cable...I had to buy an original while I was in Bangkok at an Apple store....more than 700 Bahts just for the cable...

And sure... I had the charging problem using a power pack....only the original Apple cable would stay connected,,,Using the 2 copy cables I have , it would start charging the I-Phone then stop and tell me the equipment may not be compatible with my I-Phone.

I can use the copy cables only to charge from the charger on power outlet.

[FolkGuitar]

Quite often I get the same error message when using the third-party cables... saying they are not compatible with my iPhone or iPads. And even the little green charging icon would go out. But... the devices charged anyway!

I do recommend the App called "Battery Health." It will tell you exactly what is going on with your batteries in both phone and pads. You can see the charging power of your chargers, see just how your battery is handling a specific charger, and if it actually IS or ISN'T charging with a particular cable.

[maxtwo]

In original charger cables there is a chip which make it so Apple can alter what each contact does.So you can have fake cable that works upgrade your iOS and it no longer works.

[FolkGuitar]

Quite often I get the same error message when using the third-party cables... saying they are not compatible with my iPhone or iPads. And even the little green charging icon would go out. But... the devices charged anyway!

In original charger cables there is a chip which make it so Apple can alter what each contact does.So you can have fake cable that works upgrade your iOS and it no longer works.

Stops working, or only appears to stop working? Has anyone else tried charging after getting the error message, or did you just can the cable and use another?

As I said, I've often run into third-party cables that say they won't work, yet still manage to charge the device or download data.

[MadMac]

Quality problems usually come from the chargers itself, not the cables. They look the same from outside, but are cheap copies on the inside. Just do a random search on Youtube about such fake adapters.

Cables on the other hand may intentional be crippled by Apple, not sure about this, to put some nasty resistor or anything between two pins inside, the phone can detect and refuse proper function. Motorola did that in the past. Simple to fix if you know what it is, but the cheap cable are usually just cheap. You could also ask an IT shop in any mall, if you could try it, but I doubt it's worth the effort. Just get a new original cable (in every Central).

Edited February 25, 2016 by MadMac

[eaglesflight]

Quite often I get the same error message when using the third-party cables... saying they are not compatible with my iPhone or iPads. And even the little green charging icon would go out. But... the devices charged anyway!

In original charger cables there is a chip which make it so Apple can alter what each contact does.So you can have fake cable that works upgrade your iOS and it no longer works.

Stops working, or only appears to stop working? Has anyone else tried charging after getting the error message, or did you just can the cable and use another?

As I said, I've often run into third-party cables that say they won't work, yet still manage to charge the device or download data.

I bought a couple of third party cables from a small electrical shop here and they both stopped working within a couple of weeks.

[FolkGuitar]

Quite often I get the same error message when using the third-party cables... saying they are not compatible with my iPhone or iPads. And even the little green charging icon would go out. But... the devices charged anyway!

In original charger cables there is a chip which make it so Apple can alter what each contact does.So you can have fake cable that works upgrade your iOS and it no longer works.

Stops working, or only appears to stop working? Has anyone else tried charging after getting the error message, or did you just can the cable and use another?

As I said, I've often run into third-party cables that say they won't work, yet still manage to charge the device or download data.

I bought a couple of third party cables from a small electrical shop here and they both stopped working within a couple of weeks.

Did you try charging you phone with them AFTER they seemed to stop working?

I know that the ones I have will NOT light up the charge indicators on any of my devices, and I get an error message saying they aren't compatible with my devices, yet if I leave them plugged in, they will continue to charge the devices and I'm able to make data downloads on them.