Thanks for the reply and the advice - we'll surely follow that route.
But wait a minute. I found another cable and the patient is responding to treatment - now at 70% and rising!
So could it be a duff or a dirty contact at one end or the other?................
Hi
Mike -
Ashwin has already provided you the information needed, but let me just reinforce those comments: 1) You own the 1stG iPad Mini (introduced in 2012 - not sure when you bought one?) which is updated to its maximum iOS, i.e. 9.x - see first pic below from
HERE; 2) Regardless of whether your different cable can charge the device to 100%, the battery is still likely 'old' - if you have an Apple computer, download
Coconut Battery (see 2nd pic below) - connect the Mini, pick the 'iOS Device', and view the results - the important numbers are 'Cycle Count' (above 500 is potentially bad) and Battery Health (ratio of 'Full Charge Capacity' to 'Design Capacity') - if the latter is down to 50%-60% or less, then the battery is dying (I just replaced an old iPad Air 2 that was at 60% which gave me just a couple of hours of run time).
As to your options - Apple will replace your battery (or give you a likely 'refurb' model) for $99 (look
HERE), but your iPad Mini is OLD! Invest your money in a new model. Dave
.