And it's not "one out of 4 billion", as there have been other cases of iProducts bursting into flames. Yes, it's quite rare, but not as rare as you suggest. Enough that the Federal Government investigated...
Posted on 07/10/2010 2:25:03 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
My view of this connector is NOT based on size, but on the pins visible and the side connectors. They do not match my iphones or ipods. They look like cheap knock offs. But at any rate one out of 4 billion still means FAKE or FUD.
And it's not "one out of 4 billion", as there have been other cases of iProducts bursting into flames. Yes, it's quite rare, but not as rare as you suggest. Enough that the Federal Government investigated...
GMTA!
We both used vector-mode graphics for further analysis, and I agree with you that there is significant distortion/foreshortening error in that photo.
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As shown in the following composite (at upper right) the scale and non-linearity of the distortion is most apparent to the untrained eye in the diference beween the round screw heads/holes.
My measurements (includng the two microphone slot widths) gave a similar (75 - 80%) nonlinearity across the width of the phone.
(BTW & FWIW, I used Canvas, a precision vector drawing program with siginificnt bitmap processing capability...)
I started by drawing a (red) vector arrow across the width of the connector -- giving a width of 267 pixels; then I used precision vector rotation to rotate copies into the other two positions -- maintaining the 267 pixel length. Then i did the same with the slot length (in yellow, @ 343 pixels). This gave a CABLE CONNECTOR / PHONE SLOT length ratio of 0.778.
After noticing the distorted screw heads, I did several checks across the width of the phone, (not all shown) and, as you did, came up with a distortion ratio in the vicinity of 0.75 - 0.8. (Note that the ratio of connector to slot at half the phone width is still unexplained.)
The visble indication (green lines) that the connector is too thick flor the slot remains somewhat puzzling...
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FWIW, while I had it loaded in Canvas, I "played around" and "uncoveed" the "half-portrait" of the photographer or his helper revealed in the reflection... ;-)
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Bottom line, I agree that there is too much foreshortening, distortion, and side-to-side loss of focus to make this photo useful for unequivocal measurements...
Thanks for the zoom-in image analysis!
You just proved my point. LOOK.
LOOK AT THAT PIC YOU POSTED.
Look, and tell me if it is the same. It is NOT.
It is so obviously a DIFFERENT connector in the burn photo.
The one you posted DOES look like mine and all the others I can find.
I don’t know what that one in the burn photo is, but it is NOT OEM.
Rachel, it is the same. Apparently you’re not familiar with a connector in its constituent pieces. Look at the metal shell - same position of the tension springs, the cuts, the holds. Look at the PDF, you’ll see it’s the same dimensions as your iPod connector.
It’s the same connector. Any EE in this thread will confirm what I say, we’re used to seeing these parts naked and exposed. The back housing may be different, but that’s totally immaterial to the connector itself.
It’s the same connector.
I think it's a short from debris in the connector or damaged pins, the result being shorting the +3.3VDC (pin 18) and +12VDC (pins 19/20) outputs together. Note that the +12VDC output is for powering Firewire devices, and can provide up to 1.5A, so that's a solid 18W and would give the type of damage seen.
I just simulated this picture. I have an Ipod touch, but it's the same connector. I took a picture, moved it around in photoshop and it doesn't fit. It's a perspective issue here. See for yourself. The only thing is that the cable in the picture in question is upside down(you can tell by the little connect detents and lines)...so that's how I took shot one, in shot two, to connect to the ipod face up, the cable had to be turned over.
I think it is extremely obvious now that the burned connector IS a normal iPod connector. The position and proportions of the metal shell prove it.
I think it’s a legitimate connector issue. I don’t think it’s a major issue for Apple. All consumer electronic products will have a percentage of failures, some catastrophic. This may have an explanation as simple as a failed limiting diode in the charging circuitry.
I think I have to agree with Puget and Malsua that the connector issue is a genuine Apple part and the appearance of no fit is an artifact of perspective.
It may be as simple there of a case a bad solder joint. I have seen bad solder joints start a plasma arc that can get very hot. That’s what happens in regular duplex outlets when you don’t make a good mechanical connection. To meet Greenpeace’s demands, Apple is no longer using lead/tin solder with rosin flux to connect the wires to the contacts and is using substitutes to make these connections. There may be new and rare unintended consequences.
Sorry Swordmaker, you're wrong. It's nothing to do with Greenpeace, it's called RoHS compliance for electronics components, it's from the EU and the US, and it regulates the lead/cadmium/heavy metal content of all electronics components. And it's been in force for about 6 years.
EVERYONE has to deal with this solder issue, it's not unique to Apple, and it's not from Greenpeace. Everyone who does electronics design has had to deal with this for a LONG time.
Based upon reports of this happening to other people, too, people who had a functioning phone (including 3GS units) and cable, it's most likely NOT an assembly issue with the connector. It is either debris ON the connector (either the phone or cable), or a damaged connector (either side, again).
HOWEVER, what this DOES show is a "bug" in the layout of the iPod connector. There are two different power supply rails right next to each other. On a fine-pitch connector that is a definite "do not do" in terms of layout. You short to rails together, and unless you have some VERY good output current limiting circuitry you will generate a LOT of current flow.
Plug the output from your 110VAC outlets into your 220VAC stove outlet - watch the sparks fly and cables melt. NEVER short power supplies of different output together. EVER. Bad things happen (like what happens when you cross the streams).
Having high power connections next to each other is safe, until you bridge those pins. Then it gets bad - really quick.
Is this a bad enough issue to force a recall? No, there's only been a few dozen times this has happened. But I can guarantee that if Apple ever releases a pinout V2 there WILL be isolation between those two pins. So that if you do have foreign debris in either side of the connection, it will not melt down and burn things up.
Actually - Greenpeace played a major roll in the international adoption of RoHS standards. And no, Apple is not the only company dealing with this issue.
Peterson is a company that specializes in high-quality musical tuning equipment. They are the only maker of strobe-type tuning devices (Conn use to, but quit years ago). When the RoHS standards became “law”, they had to re-engineer a lot of their products - significantly increasing prices and also the defect rate. At the time, I was still a band director and became acquainted with RoHS when a portable version of their trademark device went into 6-10 month backorder because of RoHS. Circuit boards just plain do not hold up as well without the solvents and lead in the solder. those connections are far more brittle and unreliable.
I know several people who do repairs of electronics (yet another field that is dying because of our disposable society) - who complain about all the bad solder on boards. Amazing how the environmental nuts screamed and hollered (with Greenpeace as a major player) for the elimination of these substances in electronics... yet because of the inferior nature of the replacement, MORE electronic parts are now ending up in landfills and as general waste.
Could this iPhone issue be related to that... maybe. But as you pointed out - it could be a cable/connector issue as well. I would hesitate to jump to too many conclusions - with how many million iPhones with that same design connector produced and sold over the last few years...the number of verifiable failures (involving the unaltered/damaged iPhone and the Apple-supplied cable) seems like an amazingly low failure rate.
No, I'm not wrong but neither are you. We're both right. The RoHS compliance is more voluntary at this point but Greenpeace is making noise and was targeting Apple. My point is that politically forcing technological change like this has unintended consequences.
I suspect you're right that a foriegn substance shorted the lines. That combined with the proximity of polar oppose live lines or grounds would be sufficient to establish arcing and a hot plasma. The arc can be started by something as innocuous as a hair.
I know there were a few (under six) Apple MagSafe power connectors that had similar melt down failures during the first year they were available. The fault was finally tracked to a "cold solder" joint that arced. The damage to the cable, plug, and jack looked remarkably similar to what we see in these iPhone 4 pictures.
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