9to5Mac reports that with the iOS 4.2 update, the amount of electricity that is put out by the iPad’s 30-pin dock connector has now been cut back from 100mA down to only 20mA. This is great news for the iPad’s battery life, but not so much, for owners who previously used the Apple Camera Connection Kit for other things than what it was intended. We’re talking about using the kit to connect other power hungry USB devices such as keyboards and flash drives.

With the update, if you happen to connect a USB device that is not self-powered and requiring more power than the 20mA limit through the use of the kit, an error message will appear stating, “The connected USB device requires too much power.”

Oh well, it was a great run while it lasted!

[9to5Mac]

Tweet