I recall having to use the original charger on my ipad 4 (2012) to get it to properly charge.

Hezus wrote on 2024-12-23, 22:30:

I recall having to use the original charger on my ipad 4 (2012) to get it to properly charge.

Early Apple stuff was like that ... I have a later generation one which did charge from most any source and is
USB-C

Unfortunately the USB-C connector has recently shorted - it literally sends several different chargers
we tried into short-circuit shutdown. With a larger one I have which can charge 10 devices (so like 8+ amps
available), It fried the USB cable (got hot then didn't connect)

Aside from not being able to charge it still works perfectly (on what battery us left)

A local shop we've used before quoted us $400 + labor basically to install a new mainboard.
As it's 6 years old., we decided it was time to replace it with a standard 256g unit.

But this one is a pro with 1TB of storage and 13" screen ... so I want to see what I can do with it!
I do see some vendors offering replacement parts.. a new iPad USB-C connector can be had for <$15

But.. I do know from past experience that working on stuff like this will be very difficult.

Does anyone have any suggestions/tricks on how best to:
- Take the thing apart without to much damage.
- Replace the USB connector (guessing it's board mount)

I do have hot-air rework tools etc...

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

There are videos. Heat the bezel, which softens the glue. Use a playing card to separate the lense from the rest of the unit. Seems pretty strait forward if you take your time.

The videos I watched were specific to this model. There has got to be dozens speçific to each model.

oldhighgerman wrote on 2024-12-23, 22:23:

1st gen 12.9. It was said to be 100% functional, in actual perfect physical condition, but had no charge when I took it out of t […]
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1st gen 12.9. It was said to be 100% functional, in actual perfect physical condition, but had no charge when I took it out of the box. I just happened to have a short usb-a to lightning cable. I proceeded to attempt to charge it with an old LG cell phone charger. It looked like it was charging, but red battery icon always stayed skinny. It would turn on, and wanted to be setup, but wouldn't last without the charger plugged in(maybe even with it plugged in).

Not having an actual Apple charger, or even anything beefier then what I used, I attempted to charge it off of my laptops usb-c connection, using an adapter. Results weren't much better, and erratic (charge reported to be 5,6,71,100% at various times).

Would. An official charger make any difference? Could I have damaged something?

Just so you know, not all of these chargers are created equal, USB-C or no. Even the older pre-Pro iPads had a chonkier 1+ amp charger compared with the cellphone's usually < 1 amp models. A cellphone charger would typically not have enough oomph to charge an iPad!

For USB-C, you'll want to make sure adequate amperage is provided, and that the charger is USB-PD certified/compatible. After that it shouldn't matter if it's Apple's or not.

Also, if you want to check the condition of the iPad battery, and you happen to have access to a Mac, you can download an app called coconutBattery which can give you stats for the battery health for your iPhone/iPad when it's connected to the Mac running the app.

It's all a question if it's worth the trouble. Paying someone to fix something out of warranty is absurd. Some people like getting their hands dirty, appreciate the challenge ... if the seller gives me a huge discount, I might go that route (replace the battery). O/w it's going back. As I've said it's in pristine shape cosmetically. But it be old. Not going to drop anymore then 75$ into it. That is if the seller makes me REAL happy.

I bought a Tandy 1000 in 1985 for 1300$+. You can get an M4 based Ipad Pro for 1100$ from Best Buy I think. Apples and oranges? If you were looking to pare down your computing life, and have nearly 1 device, the Pro seems reasonably capable. Can even game on it to some degree. The M2 based 13" Air is 700$ from BB. Nothing to sneeze at either.

I figured I could get some use out of this and determine if I even like the damned things. It's hard when a vendor lies.

Am I going to have.to get an official charger to know for sure? USB-C is capable of 15 watts. Doesn't mean my little notebook's port puts that out. Though. The original Pro only had a 12 watt charger UIM.

leonardo wrote on 2024-12-23, 23:46:

Just so you know, not all of these chargers are created equal, USB-C or no. Even the older pre-Pro iPads had a chonkier 1+ amp c […]
Show full quote

oldhighgerman wrote on 2024-12-23, 22:23:

1st gen 12.9. It was said to be 100% functional, in actual perfect physical condition, but had no charge when I took it out of t […]
Show full quote

1st gen 12.9. It was said to be 100% functional, in actual perfect physical condition, but had no charge when I took it out of the box. I just happened to have a short usb-a to lightning cable. I proceeded to attempt to charge it with an old LG cell phone charger. It looked like it was charging, but red battery icon always stayed skinny. It would turn on, and wanted to be setup, but wouldn't last without the charger plugged in(maybe even with it plugged in).

Not having an actual Apple charger, or even anything beefier then what I used, I attempted to charge it off of my laptops usb-c connection, using an adapter. Results weren't much better, and erratic (charge reported to be 5,6,71,100% at various times).

Would. An official charger make any difference? Could I have damaged something?

Just so you know, not all of these chargers are created equal, USB-C or no. Even the older pre-Pro iPads had a chonkier 1+ amp charger compared with the cellphone's usually < 1 amp models. A cellphone charger would typically not have enough oomph to charge an iPad!

For USB-C, you'll want to make sure adequate amperage is provided, and that the charger is USB-PD certified/compatible. After that it shouldn't matter if it's Apple's or not.

Also, if you want to check the condition of the iPad battery, and you happen to have access to a Mac, you can download an app called coconutBattery which can give you stats for the battery health for your iPhone/iPad when it's connected to the Mac running the app.

Basically my biggest question is could I have damaged anything. The thing didn't have any charge when I got it, so I imagine the battery was shot to begin with. But am still curious.

oldhighgerman wrote on 2024-12-23, 23:52:

leonardo wrote on 2024-12-23, 23:46:

Just so you know, not all of these chargers are created equal, USB-C or no. Even the older pre-Pro iPads had a chonkier 1+ amp c […]
Show full quote

oldhighgerman wrote on 2024-12-23, 22:23:

1st gen 12.9. It was said to be 100% functional, in actual perfect physical condition, but had no charge when I took it out of t […]
Show full quote

1st gen 12.9. It was said to be 100% functional, in actual perfect physical condition, but had no charge when I took it out of the box. I just happened to have a short usb-a to lightning cable. I proceeded to attempt to charge it with an old LG cell phone charger. It looked like it was charging, but red battery icon always stayed skinny. It would turn on, and wanted to be setup, but wouldn't last without the charger plugged in(maybe even with it plugged in).

Not having an actual Apple charger, or even anything beefier then what I used, I attempted to charge it off of my laptops usb-c connection, using an adapter. Results weren't much better, and erratic (charge reported to be 5,6,71,100% at various times).

Would. An official charger make any difference? Could I have damaged something?

Just so you know, not all of these chargers are created equal, USB-C or no. Even the older pre-Pro iPads had a chonkier 1+ amp charger compared with the cellphone's usually < 1 amp models. A cellphone charger would typically not have enough oomph to charge an iPad!

For USB-C, you'll want to make sure adequate amperage is provided, and that the charger is USB-PD certified/compatible. After that it shouldn't matter if it's Apple's or not.

Also, if you want to check the condition of the iPad battery, and you happen to have access to a Mac, you can download an app called coconutBattery which can give you stats for the battery health for your iPhone/iPad when it's connected to the Mac running the app.

Basically my biggest question is could I have damaged anything. The thing didn't have any charge when I got it, so I imagine the battery was shot to begin with. But am still curious.

I doubt you would have damaged anything by using a less than sufficient charger. The only thing I heard once was that some of those "pirate" third party USB-Lightning cables didn't have the logic required to work properly regardless of which way the plug was inserted (Lightning can be rotated like USB-C today, which is why Apple developed it in the first place) - so some unfortunate people ended up frying their Apple kit using a cheapo third party cable. It would have to be the cheapest garbage though, I have never seen a third party cable that bad.

You should try to get the iPad to power on and get the readings out of the battery. If you're over 1000+ charge cycles and at < 70% capacity, it might be pretty much EOL. It's not unusual for a battery that worn to sort of "give up" when it depletes to around 20~25% because the device might suddenly do something that causes a spike in the power requirements, which the battery then can't handle.

I ordered an Anker 24 watt slow charger. Ve vill see.

Needs to be at least 35W is a must. I know these ipad pro 12.9" is what I repair often at my work.

Using 35W is what needed to charge properly because current demand is high compared to other ipads like ipad 9 and older do fine with less.

All ipad pros of any generations will not work properly with under 35W charger.

I had to buy two 100W GaN chargers, one each for work and at home because of this and other devices that needs 9V, 15V and 20V not just 5V for testing.

PS: Cycles on average is about 500 to 700, we typically had to replace when 70-80% wear is reached. You can check for this using 3utools with any ipad models. Typical complaints is short runtime.

Cheers,

I still have the smaller model 11” just recently upgraded to the new pro
You need a charger capable of 2.1 or 2.4amps might also want to see if there is anything in your charge port.
Also when run down it takes forever to get past red bar far enough to boot up the once in download one of hardware tests to check battery condition.

35 watts sound like a fast charger. That is most certainly NOT what am early pro needs. The original Apple supplies charger was 15 watts (I had originally thought 12). It's alleged.fast chargers, if not Apple approved (and probably none are for the 1st gen pro) can damage something. You can still find original new Apple chargers or something close for my device I think. But there were at least 2 complaints about the Anker Elite *not* being a fast charger, though it can charge up to 24 watts, so I imagine it will be fine.

Newer 12.9" models may very well need more then 15 watts to charge efficiently. Still not sure about 35. Some newer iPads can use 45 watt fast charging. Don't ask me for specifics.

With an oldee like this, speed is not important. Just give it what it needs. No more, no less.

Hey Dave they also have suction cups to pull the screen up once the adhesive is softened. If I decide to keep mine and (likely) upgrade the battery, I'll video tape the whole procedure. Not that it hasn't been done already. Hell if I have the confidence to do someone else's after mine is done, I'd do yours for free. You buy battery though. And you pay shipping also, ugh to and from NJ. Iirc you're in western Canada somewhere.

Nope, flubbed it again. Original Pro 12.9" had a 12 watt wall wart as I stated originally.

Holy crayola. My unit came with a 1 year warranty. I wonder what that entails me concerning battery life. My AAA membership gets me a free battery once a year. Not sure I want to lug a car battery around when I want to use my ipad. I have to believe it's not a ready fit.

oldhighgerman wrote on 2024-12-26, 00:48:

Hey Dave they also have suction cups to pull the screen up once the adhesive is softened. If I decide to keep mine and (likely) upgrade the battery, I'll video tape the whole procedure. Not that it hasn't been done already. Hell if I have the confidence to do someone else's after mine is done, I'd do yours for free. You buy battery though. And you pay shipping also, ugh to and from NJ. Iirc you're in western Canada somewhere.

Thanks, I'm in Ontario (just outside Ottawa).

Thanks for reminding me - I do have some suction cups I got when I had to replace a phone battery - not sure they would be large
enough, but worth a try.

Btw, I'm not looking to replace the battery - it's actually still holding a good charge (at least it did till I couldn't charge it anymore).
The problem I have is that the USB connector is shorted (drives any charger I try into short-circuit shutdown). I do see some
replacement connectors available ... but I know from past experience with other "modern" things that it's probably going to be
very difficult to replace. I do have a hot-air surface mount rework tool, but even with that I find it very hard to work on some very little
and tight things these days...

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Yes I reread your post. I believe you're up to the task.

My Anker charger came. Something about that name bothers me ... an Anker for my iPad. Or should I say an Anker for my iAnchor?

So have had it plugged in for several hours. When I got in, I pressed the home? button, and saw 'hello' in various languages. This particular unit insists on turning itself on when it's been charging for a bit. iPads are always somewhat dim when they're needing setup, at least this one is, but so was the mini (5th) I bought a week or so ago. All of a sudden the mini's screen brightened up. I imagine this one will also?

I'll leave it to charge all night and see what happens. I haven't tried to clear the lightning port of any possible debris yet. The damned thing is just so bloody huge. Can't help but love it. There are a number of 12"+ tablets out now, starting at under 200$. The Lenovo P12 is gorgeous, and it's only 250$. The Onn/Wally world 12.1" is 179$, but who'd buy that? The Samsungs are a bit over hyped and expensive, but are pretty well made. It seems the price has gone up on the Air and Pro at Best Buy. Not in a hurry to shovel out that much. They'll come down I imagine.

A good quality battery for this is only 35$. Installation is a monster though. I refuse to shrink in the face of duty! Though.

I think it’s quite a nice iPad mine lasted 8 years before its started acting sluggish it still works but it’s developed a personality of a sorts.
You can switch the iPad off again once you’ve plugged it in tho get the app to do a hardware and battery health check because if the battery is dead no amount of time is gonna charge it and with a completely dead battery you can’t even use it plugged in until there’s just enough juice in the battery to power it up to the Home Screen you also risk battery fire so keep it away from flammables while charging

Yeah I probably shouldn't leave it plugged in while sleeping. If 10 hours isn't enough to give it some kind of charge (beyond just being able to turn it on, which happens on its own), it won't recharge to the point where I can use it unplugged. The thing is in nice enough shape to replace the battery though I figure. I may hit up the seller for the price of the battery at least, given it was stated 100% functional.

I can use.my cell phone to set it up I guess, wifi isn't accessible (by me) in this house. If it has a nice screen it's a keeper.