Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

macstatic

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Oct 21, 2005
2,010
163
Norway
I'm looking for a lightning extension cable (male-female) or some sort of adapter which allows a USB/Lightning cable to be attached.
I have a Belkin Ethernet adapter which comes with a very short lightning cable.
(The Lightning cable on the left is from a charger which allows the iPhone/iPad to be charged while attached. The short Lightning cable on the right plugs into the iPhone/iPad).
Belkin-Ethernet-dongle.jpg

With repeated insertions/removals of the cable on the right I risk a lot of wear to the connector and repeated bending of the cable can break it, so I'm looking for a way to extend it, so as to leave the short cable alone and instead insert/remove the extension cable into the iPad/iPhone.
A few years back I wrote a small review of the Belkin iOS ethernet adapter and eventually got hold of an extension cable which I also wrote about -the cable turned out to be useless and a waste of money.
It doesn't attach very well (resulting in no charging among other things, unless you wiggle it several times) and when it does charge it takes forever, making it quite useless.
71imEQqrGzL._SL1500_800x.jpg


Are there any quality alternatives I can consider?
Perhaps a USB-C to Lightning cable adapter which goes between the ethernet adapter and that cable, similar to that little adapter plug that goes between a lightning charging cable and the Apple Pencil?

Screen Shot 2023-03-04 at 15.30.11.png


I have one of those (as I have a 1st. gen. Apple Pencil) and it plugs fine into the Lightning end of the cable (the short cable that comes out of the Ethernet adapter), but the other end only allows for the Apple Pencil to be attached as a normal Lightning cable would have a USB connector of some kind (USB-A, USB-C etc.) at one end, and a male Lightning connector at the other end.

I see Apple have a USB-C to Apple Pencil adapter, but I'm not sure if it will work either: the 1st gen. Apple Pencil adapter I have (pictured above) allows the Apple Pencil to be plugged into either end, but the Lightning cable only goes in from one side. I conclude that it's because the Apple Pencil's Lightning connector has a longer reach than a regular Lightning connector, and the adapter is made for this. I have no idea why Apple made it this way, and I assume their USB-C to Lightning adapter works in a similar way, but I could be wrong.
Screen Shot 2023-03-04 at 15.43.19.png
 
Last edited:

DoghouseMike

macrumors regular
Jan 18, 2011
162
16
UK
No personal experience with em, but there’s a bunch on Amazon, eg- https://amzn.eu/d/fLDii7V

I’d guess the thing to look out for is making sure they say they do data, and aren’t just for charging.
A bit wasteful, but if they don’t work out, at least their returns policy is pretty easy.
 

macstatic

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Oct 21, 2005
2,010
163
Norway
Thanks. Yes, that's true about the return policy.
Unfortunately for me, living outside of the usual Amazon outlets, it also involves customs and import duties, so it would cost me extra in any case.

I'm puzzled as to why Apple, Belkin or any of the other authorized makers of accessories has such a cable. Could it be a length limitation?
 

arw

macrumors 65816
Aug 31, 2010
1,100
859
It's probably because of the fast voltage drop from 5V and thus devices not charging/working reliably anymore.
However, I gave a (no-name) extension cable a shot that IIRC explicitly stated "charging supported".
I can't find the eBay listing anymore but it has been working fine for years with my iPads in combination with the Lightning-Digital-AV-Adapter. Although it doesn't charge properly anymore if the iPads screen is set too bright and a continuous CPU intensive task is performed.
The female socket connects to the adapter very firmly.
 

Attachments

  • Lightning.Extension.Cable.jpg
    Lightning.Extension.Cable.jpg
    718.3 KB · Views: 87
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: DoghouseMike
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.