Burned phone charger, what is causing this?

Every few months we need to replace our phone charger and it is getting very annoying, not to mention the costs are starting to add up. It looks like the contact points are burned. I attached a picture, but it was difficult to focus on it any closer so this is the best I could do.

Any idea of what is causing this and is it fixable for a reasonable price? 

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but is that just some kind of crud building up in there which would interfere with charging?

Sorry duplicate post

That does look more like acidic liquid damage. The contacts are tarnished - you can use a toothbrush and baking soda/water for a scrub. If instead of water you have a dry liquid like isopropyl alcohol or WD40 that would be better, but water's fine as long as it's dry before you use it. 

Google "lightning cable corrosion", pop some popcorn, and settle in for a night of reading. Lots of people with the same issue.

Just get the "Amazon basics" version. They work fine, until they don't, but they're cheap enough that I don't care 

In my experience they last about as long as the apple and apple authorized ones.

I tried 91% rubbing alcohol in the past, it didn't work.  I haven't tried baking soda yet.  The first one that went was the official Steve Jobs approved Apple charger.  When that went kaput we bought one from Target.  Now that I know they won't last more than two or three months we basically buy the cheapest charging cord we can find.

Toothbrush is really the main ingredient - baking soda is there as an abrasive powder. Sometimes just mechanical scrubbing with a brush also works.

How about the other end...the plug - my kid plugged one in and the receptacle started shooting flames.  scary stuff.  any ideas why this happens?

royg said:

Toothbrush is really the main ingredient - baking soda is there as an abrasive powder. Sometimes just mechanical scrubbing with a brush also works.

I tried a tooth brush, didn't do much. Then I poured out a little pile of baking soda and borax (I keep it pre-mixed for cleaning) and wet my finger and dipped my finger in the baking soda mix, then used that to rub on the tarnished connectors. It worked and the charger now works again. Thank you!

OliveBee said:

How about the other end...the plug - my kid plugged one in and the receptacle started shooting flames.  scary stuff.  any ideas why this happens?

That's a house wiring problem, not the charger, and I'd get it fixed right away.  Receptacles can and do break, especially the cheap ones.

The lightning connector is really annoying. The cables are more expensive than others, they fail after short periods, and they often don't work because of dust or crud. You can get little bitty plugs to keep in your port while you don't have a cable in it. You will lose them and forget to use them, but do the best you can.