Corroded terminals in iPhone 5s Lightening port?

Rod


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Melbourne, Australia and Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
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2021 M1 MacBook Pro 14" macOS 14.4.1, Mid 2010MacBook 13" iPhone 13 Pro max, iPad 6, Apple Watch SE.
A friend of mine recently reported to me that an iPhone 5s of hers had stopped accepting a charge. Of course i suggested to try a different cable and charger but same problem She took it to a Licensed Apple Reseller here in Bali who told her that the terminals in the charging port were corroded. I was a little doubtful about this diagnosis because I had never heard of such a thing. I did ask if the plug or phone itself had ever been wet but she denied any possibility of that. (Indicator not red)

My thought it was more likely that an insect (we have a lot of tiny ants here) may have crawled into the port and been squashed against the terminals by the plug. She did say that she could get it to charge briefly if she pushed the plug hard to the left. So it seems a contact related issue but how to fix it?

Has anyone heard of a similar problem? Does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe compressed air or a cotton bud to fix this.
We're open to any suggestions?
 

chscag

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I suppose it's possible that with the high humidity you have there in Bali that some corrosion could happen. I worked in Hawaii for the government some years ago and with the high humidity there and salt air from the surrounding Pacific Ocean, we always had corrosion problems with electronic equipment.

Anyway, try cleaning the terminals with a gentle scraping motion using a plastic or wood toothpick. Compressed air contains moisture and probably should not be used. Don't use a cotton bud either as some of the threads can get caught in the connector and then you have more trouble.
 

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