Won't charge iPad?

[Shurhold]

Not sure if this has been covered. Can't seem to find it when I search.

The USB ports in the car charge my iPhones and iPods just fine. As for my iPad it will not charge. Do these ports not have enough power? Anyone else test this?

 

[dsm363]

Some discussion here
iPad charged by USB (PC or Mac): Apple Support Communities

I think the USB in the Model S is just the standard power USB (not sure about that). That would explain why it doesn't power the iPad.

 

[SebastianR]

Not sure if this has been covered. Can't seem to find it when I search.

The USB ports in the car charge my iPhones and iPods just fine. As for my iPad it will not charge. Do these ports not have enough power? Anyone else test this?

Are you sure it doesn't charge at all? Many chargers I have don't visibly charge my iPad while it is on but do some kind of trickle charge when the screen of the iPad is off. I seem to remember that my iPad simply says "not charging" when connected to these chargers.

 

[PaceyWhitter]

Ipad pulls 2.1A verses 1A for the iphone. A usb port puts out .5A (this is why even your phone charges much slower off usb). The IPad considers this amout of power negligible and reports "not charging" but Sebastian is right, it will still pull power, it just may not be enough to counter the usage amount so your SoC could still be going down.

 

[mitch672]

You can get 12V adapters that plug in to the power port (used to be called "cigarette lighter"), they have 2.1A versions availble for under $20

 

[kendallpb]

Further clarification: When you have the screen on, it is using the incoming juice to power the iPad as much as it can, so it won't charge at the same time. This doesn't mean that when it's off, it won't charge or it considers the charge negligible; it simply means that it can't charge and use the power at the same time to keep from draining the battery. So while it may not charge while plugged in and on, it will eat up battery life slower than if it were not plugged in. But this won't help much if you're playing games that drain a lot of battery, have the screen turned to max brightness, etc. ;-)

I expect even with a high powered port, it will charge more/better/faster if you're not using it, i.e., not consuming power. "Not charging" simply means, in this case, that you're using more power than is coming in by just having the screen on. People at my office with low powered USB ports thought that it wasn't charging their iPads for the same reason; I have the same computer and left my iPad plugged into my computer and left my iPad off--sure enough, when I checked later in the day, the % battery had risen. (Some are annoyed that it needs so much juice that it can't both charge and power the iPad at the same time from a lower-powered port....)

This is a frequent source of confusion; there's too little space and Apple can't fit all that info into the little part of the top line on the screen. ;-)

 

[Doug_G]

Right... there's a catch-22 there. If the screen is on the iPad can't charge on a standard USB port because there is 't enough power. But if the screen is off it can't tell you that it IS charging.

 

[montgom626]

You can get 12V adapters that plug in to the power port (used to be called "cigarette lighter"), they have 2.1A versions available for under $20

Use this setup for my iPhone.

 

[Puyallup Bill]

Three Amps for seven bucks.
http://www.meritline.com/mini-dual-usb-car-charger-adaptor-for-apple---p-84497.aspx

 

[kendallpb]

Right... there's a catch-22 there. If the screen is on the iPad can't charge on a standard USB port because there is 't enough power. But if the screen is off it can't tell you that it IS charging.

Heh, true, but just leave it for a while and check later (quickly, LOL, so you don't wipe out the gains) to see if it's working. You tempt me to try charging on the way to work today--25-30 minute trip, I bet I'd get at least 1% back.