Right after that start sampling (any rate from 2 MHz and up should be fine). Take a logic analyzer, a Lightning male-to-female passthrough breakout board, some accessory (normal Lightning to USB cable would fit just fine) and of course some device with Lightning portįirst connect logic analyzer's channels to both ID lines of the breakout (pins 4 and 8) and connect the breakout to the device, but do not connect the accessory just yet: Very similar to Onewire protocol Now we can play Let's sniff the negotiations between Tristar and HiFive. So, IDBUS - is a digital protocol used for negotiations between Tristar and HiFive. For convinience, I'll only use term IDBUS from now on, as it seems more correct to me (and that's how this technology called in the THS7383 datasheet) These 2 terms are often referred as kind of synonyms. It contains a logical element as well - that chip is known as SN2025/ BQ2025 What're SDQ and IDBUS?

NXP CBTL1612Ax - Hydra used since iPhone 8/X and apparently everything else that supports wireless charging ( x - number of generation)įrom now on, I'll only use the term Tristar, but keep in mind that it will also mean Hydra as well, as they are very similar in the most of aspects that are gonna be covered in this text What's HiFive?.

There're multiple generations of this one ( x - number of generation)

NXP CBTL1610Ax - second-gen Tristar used since iPhone 5C/5S and apparently everything else that doesn't support wireless charging.

NXP CBTL1609A1 - mysterious first-gen Tristar used in iPod nano 7 - source.

NXP CBTL1608A1 - first-gen Tristar used in iPhone 5 and iPod touch 5.

TI THS7383 - first-gen Tristar used in iPad mini 1 and iPad 4.

There're 5 major Tristar/Hydra variants known to me: The most significant change appears to be a support of wireless charging, but that's to be verified: Hydra - is the new variant of Tristar used since iPhone 8/X. Basically, it's a MUX:Īmong many other things, its main purpose is to communicate with Lightning male connector once one was connected - detect orientation and detect Accessory ID and route internal interfaces like USB, UART and SWD accordingly Tristar - is the integrated circuit embedded in every device shipped with Lightning female port.

Many Lightning accessories I've played with have mirrored pinouts in their connectors What're Tristar and Hydra?

Thus, a host device have to detect orientation of a cable before doing anything else Please pay attention to the fact that in the connector, pins on both sides of connector aren't wired in exact same order. You can see the female port pinout on the picture above and the connector pinout on the picture below: Lightning - is a digital interface used in most of the Apple's iOS devices since late 2012. Delton Lightning USB Cable for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, White, Pack of 3 (CE14541A) 37.

Kanzi cable iphone