Dirty Lightning

Shortly after replacing the battery in my iPhone, I noticed that it did not always begin charging when I plugged in the lightning cable. I would have to reinsert the connector and/or wiggle the connector to begin the charge.

I figured that the lightning cable was going bad, so I ordered a new cable, but it did not make a difference. Charging was still intermittent, so I ordered another lightning cable, but the problem persisted.

Although charging was intermittent, the iPhone would get fully charged eventually, so I left well enough alone. But well enough got worse the last few days and I had to do something.

I used a flashlight to look in the connector to see if there was an obvious problem. Instead of bare metal, I could see various shades of grey matter inside the connector! It was full of dirt.

I took a straight pin and used it to clean the connector. I couldn’t believe all the crud I pulled out of there! I worked at it for about a half hour until I could only see bare metal inside.

I then plugged in the lightning cable and the iPhone began charging immediately without interruption.