The situation
A customer from St. Louis reached out to us because they were experiencing charging issues with their iPad. The device charged fine when plugged into the computer, but when the customer tried their USB Charging cube, no such luck.
Getting to the root of the problem
We delved deeper into the customer's report to ascertain the origin of the problem. It turns out the customer had done some of their own preliminary diagnostic work, testing out different power cubes and cables. None of the various combinations worked. Yet the customer observed that their iPhone held a charge with those same cables and cubes – meaning the problem likely was with the iPad itself. After a week of watching their iPad remain only chargeable when connected to a computer, the customer shipped it to us for an iPad repair.
The solution
First, we ran our own tests to confirm the customer's problem, and noticed the same failure to charge through the dock connector. We discovered that the iPad's dock connector had timed out due to some of the pins inside it being broken. There are a number of ways the pins inside the connector can get stripped down. Basically, anything that abruptly severs the dock connector from the iPad could cause this to happen. That includes dropping the iPad when it's connected, or even pulling out the connector too forcefully. In the case of our customer, the repair price was $89. We carried out the repair and sent it back to the customer, good as new. To avoid these and other iPad repair options for your device, be sure to treat it with care. That doesn't just mean not dropping it, but also being mindful of different weather conditions and avoiding using the device in extreme cold and heat.