These damned things aren't cheap, about $20, and I discovered that the rumors are true about the cheap aftermarket knockoffs - that they are unreliable. I was in Oregon on the way back home when my $4 eBay cord wouldn't charge my nearly dead phone, this after a relatively short period of service. Luckly I had a genuine Apple product in my computer bag, cuz I needed that phone.
A few days ago I noticed one of my cords starting to self-destruct, see photo. The small housing is not very tough. One needs to grab it quite carefully so as not to pull on junction between the cord and housing. A client asked me once to try to repair one of his cords but it was beyond help - the wires had pulled out of the housing. These are not like fixing a lamp cord plug.
But mine still functioned, just probably not for long. So I used a leather scrap and epoxy to reinforce it. Had to wrap it sort of conically as the nub is bigger than the cord, of course. I used black electricians tape to hold it while drying. The flexibility of that stuff allows for stretching it to hold tight.
Worked pretty well, it's much easier to use than as originally configured. iBad.
