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Questions relating to designing PCBs
By lilyhack
#170066
Hi All,
I am designing a board that will have Apple lightning connector interface. I am looking into the pinnout diagram in Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_(connector) and confused on how to use lane 0 and lane 1. Should I just connect the same data port (positive/negative) to both the lanes?

I searched online but can't seem to find any reference. Please suggest.
Last edited by lilyhack on Mon Apr 07, 2014 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
By Ross Robotics
#170071
It is my understanding that the lanes represent the channel of data depending on what side of the connector is up or down. So, say you have the connector with a side up, it would use Lane 1 and if it's turned 180 degrees, it would use Lane 0. The connector has a chip inside that detects what side is where. So, I would say just to use lane 1 or lane 0..

I would advise you to study the patent files.

Connector Patent
Patent 1
Patent 2

Reference:
Apple Insider (patents)
Apple Insider Connector
By civi
#171643
lilyhack, I think you can connect the same data port to both the lanes as these lanes are the different channels to carry the data at different orientations as Apple lighting connector can work in both orientations like 0 and 180 degree and it is smart enough to select a lane according to its orientation to send the data.
By funkathustra
#173315
You are all completely mistaken. The phone detects the orientation of the connector by looking at the 8 signals on it. Based on observing the values of those signals, it will either assign the pins in a forward or reverse manner. For signal integrity's sake, I think it does this by either switching on the top set of contacts (pins 1-8) or the bottom set of contacts (pins 9-16).

...but you obviously need all 8 pins, including the two data lanes, the ground, power, and two ID lanes. And shorting them together wouldn't accomplish anything more than if you were to short the four lanes on your HDMI connector together, or short the RX and TX differential pairs together on your Ethernet cable.

If you're a licensed MFi developer, you have access to Apple's technical documentation on the connector which would answer this question. If you're not a licensed MFi developer, you won't be able to do anything with Lightning, since you won't be able to get the crypto chips from Apple to shove into your cable. Without that, your phone will refuse to send anything down your cable.
User avatar
By Ross Robotics
#173319
funkathustra wrote:You are all completely mistaken. The phone detects the orientation of the connector by looking at the 8 signals on it. Based on observing the values of those signals, it will either assign the pins in a forward or reverse manner. For signal integrity's sake, I think it does this by either switching on the top set of contacts (pins 1-8) or the bottom set of contacts (pins 9-16).

...but you obviously need all 8 pins, including the two data lanes, the ground, power, and two ID lanes. And shorting them together wouldn't accomplish anything more than if you were to short the four lanes on your HDMI connector together, or short the RX and TX differential pairs together on your Ethernet cable.

If you're a licensed MFi developer, you have access to Apple's technical documentation on the connector which would answer this question. If you're not a licensed MFi developer, you won't be able to do anything with Lightning, since you won't be able to get the crypto chips from Apple to shove into your cable. Without that, your phone will refuse to send anything down your cable.
I don't understand how you can say that we are mistaken. We stated the same thing you did but with different words..

This is why I don't use or buy Apple products. I don't understand why the OP wants to use a lightning connector as there are hundreds of different pinouts that can be used so much easier. Also, if he wants to use them for a consumer product, he will have to pay out the ***..
By funkathustra
#173331
codlink wrote: I don't understand how you can say that we are mistaken. We stated the same thing you did but with different words..
If you actually read and understood my answer, you'd see that what I said is *totally different* from what you said.

You wrote:
codlink wrote:It is my understanding that the lanes represent the channel of data depending on what side of the connector is up or down. So, say you have the connector with a side up, it would use Lane 1 and if it's turned 180 degrees, it would use Lane 0. The connector has a chip inside that detects what side is where. So, I would say just to use lane 1 or lane 0..
In other words, I think you're under the impression that there are 4 pins on the top and 4 pins on the bottom -- and that the two data lanes are both "the same thing" and should be connected together.

As I pointed out, that's totally wrong. There are 8 contacts on the top, and 8 contacts on the bottom. BOTH lanes (along with the other four pins!) are present on the top side, and both lanes (along with the other four pins) are present on the bottom side.

You guys don't seem to get it -- Lightning is not just a new fancy connector for USB data. It's a completely different interface with two, distinct lanes. You may be confused because the phone can shoot USB data down a Lightning connector, and there are tons of USB-to-Lightning connectors out there. But don't let that confuse you into thinking Lightning is USB -- it is not.
User avatar
By Ross Robotics
#173333
How can you say that I was under the impression? I see that you have a bad habit of putting words in mouths of others. I know how many pins are on the connector, as I have looked at every patent document and other websites that are related.

And again, you are putting words in other people's mouths with your last paragraph. NOBODY STATED ANYTHING ABOUT USB before you brought it up!
By funkathustra
#173339
codlink wrote:How can you say that I was under the impression? I see that you have a bad habit of putting words in mouths of others. I know how many pins are on the connector, as I have looked at every patent document and other websites that are related.
If you knew there were 8 contacts on the top and 8 on the bottom, and that the phone will pin-swap all the pins on the connector based on which of those contacts were connected, then why on earth were you telling the OP that he or she could simply ignore one of the data lanes? The patents you were so eager to link to are also pretty clear about the functionality of the connector.

For me, there is nothing more frustrating than people talking about things they don't know about -- especially when it could possibly send people down the wrong path. Apologies for my tone -- I just wanted to be extremely clear.

Anyway, it's all moot anyway, since I doubt the OP has an MFI agreement in place with Apple -- so they won't be using Lightning for anything anyway.
User avatar
By Ross Robotics
#173351
..are also pretty clear about the functionality of the connector.
For someone used to looking at patent notes and/or the actual connector, sure. But since the OP and I are not fluent in this connector, it just confused me and obviously the OP. This forum isn't about getting help from just "experts." It's about helping. As you can see from the lack of posts in this thread, there are no experts on this connector here. Sure, I may lead him down a wrong path, but isn't that a part of learning? I have learned more by making mistakes than I will ever do by reading patents.
Anyway, it's all moot anyway, since I doubt the OP has an MFI agreement in place with Apple -- so they won't be using Lightning for anything anyway.
This is the only thing we agree on.