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Apple's first generation iDevice USB cable. Manufactured and supported from 2003 through 2012

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Why does my iPhone charger only have red, green, and white?

So my iPhone charger cable was broken, and i attempted to fix it myself. I opened the case and found the little green platform (don't know what does are called) which has label of W, G, R, and B. I figured those stand for White, Green, Red, and Black. However, when i cut open the wire from the middle, I found only 3 wires. Red, White, and Green. Since I also wanted my charger to be charge only, I searched online and figured that I only need the red and black cabled. BUT I CAN'T FIND THE BLACK CABLE ITSELF! Other than the red, green, and white, I also found 4 bunches of ultra thin wire grouped together. Are those the black cable's inside?

Can anyone tell me how to plug/tape the wires into the green platform so my iPhone would charge?

Thanks.

Answer this question I have this problem too

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Alex, interesting little project. How about you post some images of the circuit board (green platform) and your cable and let us see what you see. Use this guide Adding images to an existing question to add images.

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Which one is positive and negative

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Please be so so careful - unless you’re a qualified electrician I would NEBRR meddle with wires, and even then I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Please don’t do this - massively dangerous !

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As above, there are three colored wires (Green, white and red) and additional unwrapped thin wires in the bundle. All of it is wrapped in foil, a braided sleeve and the rubber on the outside. If you're looking to power a device - you need the need the redish orange wire and the loose wires, the loose thin wires can be twisted into a cord and soldered in place. This info is useful you want to power a device if the connection (the female cable connection shorts) . . . I directly connected an LED light, for example. . .

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The extra thin wires are the black wire with no insulation I had the same problem I just wrapped the part I didn't want striped with some electrical tape. Your welcome

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10 Comments:

i just wanted to know so i can hit my dab pen

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lmfaooo me tooo

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took 20 mins on the internet found your comment tho thanks, now i can get smack my dab pen

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Sooo how many of us r here to try and hit our pens

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Well hello there my fellow crackheads I've come in search for answers on how to charge my pen

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buy a new charger Save you any bother

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TL-DR: Don't be cheap, buy another cable and even better get one that is good quality

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White is a data cable that is on positive volts .

Green is also a data cable but lives with the negative.

Red is hot.

You have a weaved wire that should be on the out side of the cluster of wires that is housed in plastic thus being your ground or 4th wire

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Seven years after response: The black wire in some cables is left un-insulated. When this happens the wire is usually silver in color (stainless or aluminum as opposed to copper) Be careful that none of your splices touch each other or the ground (black/un-insulated wire or wires). For charge only use just the red and black or un-insulated wires (ground) and be sure that any unused wires like green or white are cut at different lengths with no frayed hairs on them and or shrink wrap the ends to prevent damage to your device.

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okay so make sure only those 2 wires touch the device then

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I just opened a USB “C” cable because I just needed the other end to plug into a cigarette lighter for power. To my great surprise, no black wire. Red, Green, White and nothing else. So the Red is the power, normally 5 volts. Since there is no black wire you have to use the shield which is usually wrapped around a piece of foil. This is the equivalent of “Black” and at some point connects to pin 4 of the USB cable. Green & White are data wires.

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I have soldered two cables like this: red to red and black to the shield (as you reccomend). When I plug in, iphone opens but does not charge. .Can you pls explain why ?

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I'm actually here simply looking for a way to use this POS iphone cable to direct wire my LED headlamp and flashlights to a USB connector so I can power them with my power banks 🤷🤦😁🤣🤣🤔😶😏🤘😎🤘💯💯

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Alright bro if your really trying to do this and just want it to charge you just need the black and red wire. If you want it to exchange data or download something off a different device your going to need the white which is the positive data wire while the green is the negative data wire and those above which I listed(black,red). Just make sure you connect those wires to the correct corresponding mounts or you'll short your it out

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Just make a ground if you can't find it

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I have a green white an red an trying to figure out how to wire it to a red an black

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Be careful. It’s not as straight forward as it seems. Tried it and I accidentally discharged my phone battery. It didn’t turn on but it got really hot and dead. I couldn’t tell it was happening until I picked it up. I was just board and was using my old iPhone 5. But still I paid $600 for it vs $20 cable.

If you look with magnification you will see there is a small uninsulated braided cable in there. It easy to not see it and you will Accidentally pull it down into the mess of strings and mesh wires that you want out of the way.

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scratch that. I’m starting to actually learn something here I think. Maybe it’s the reason a cable would be built this way explains everything. Data is sensitive when transferring. You can’t have EMFS and other electronic noise interference interacting with data transferring . It’s an issue I discovered. Apple actually rocked it. They made two isolated power conduits. One for data and one for the fast charging . I think that’s why the mesh is often listed as a power cable & Shielding because of the mylar underneath the wire mesh and a decent layer rubber insulation underneath the mylar that protects the data cables.

If that’s true then unfortunately the entire cable and ? is solid state. The cable plugs are filled with Industrial strength epoxy glue the circuits come off the board before you can apply enough force to separate. I’m not testing anymore on my phone . Because once you cut the mesh you have a short and your phone won’t turn on until the mesh is reintegrated. I think

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Blk goes to grnd

V D+ D- G

red white green black

V T X G

also seen it that way

red to V blk to G

repaired chords make horrible data cables buy

a tier 1 chord for that.

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It’s a blue wire.. it’s half the size of the other wires.. I was having the same issue until I found the blue wire mixed in the middle

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Blue? The coating was gone by the time I discovered it was there.?

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The extra slim wires are the dark wire with no protection I had a similar issue I just wrapped the part I didn't need striped with some electrical tape. Your greeting Best Offset Smokers

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The further down the wire I strip I find more bare wires. Total of 2 so far. One copper and one steel color. Supposedly there is one more further down that’s the part that gets me. (3) ground wires (2) supposedly intergrade with the mesh and one gets hooked up. The copper wire is just as long as the colored ones. The other (2) are supposed to be down further. I will post a picture of what I have if I Can figure it out.

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I don’t see a picture just the file name. Hope it comes out. I see it. First time I hooked up the 4 wires on the left. It discharged my battery fast. I cant find any solid info. It’s almost a solid state situation. It’s very difficult to remove the usb without destroying it because they fill it with glue and its a rock. The wire mesh can’t be reattached by hand in the same way it was originally. If it’s part of the ground or power then it’s basically destroyed on that alone.

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The wires grouped together, is the black wire. I had the same problem

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Alex will be eternally grateful.
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