New charger, now battery goes down even while plugged in when iPad is in use

[ShadowOfMonet]

And this is not okay... I use the device ten plus hours a day. It needs to charge or at least maintain when plugged in and in use. It is my lifeline and how I communicate with my deaf partner who lives five hours a way. I did not have this problem with the original apple charger, or the walmart replacement I was using up until today when that one also fell apart. Is there a certain brand I need to get? I have limited funds, I am disabled. I won my iPad a couple years ago by pure luck! Thanks for any tips, btw it's an iPad 3.

 

[ShadowOfMonet]

BTW I use it to skype her, but mostly just use Facebook messager all day. Nothing intense. And it was never a problem the last two years until this new charger, which is btw a rayovac brand is all one piece, not a separate cord and plug like my old one. It doesn't say anywhere that it is specific for iPad or what. And it does slowly charge the iPad if I am not using it

 

[twerppoet]

Your charger needs to supply at least 2A at 5V, or 10 W. Anything less will charge the iPad very slowly, or not at all if it's in use. Any charger that says it is for the iPad will have this minimum spec.

iPhone and iPad Mini chargers have far less power than the chargers for the full sized iPads.

 

[auntyj]

I had exactly the same experience with non-Apple brand USB cable (original charger, but I wanted a longer cable). As twerppoet says above, it needs to meet the power specifications of the iPad - so if you can't find a cheap one that does, I guess the ultimate solution is to fork out for a genuine Apple one. The cheap cables I bought (one from the local market & several from various sellers on eBay) all looked like genuine ones, unless you knew what to look for (and knew, of course, from where you purchased them that they weren't!) but obviously didn't have the adequate power rating.
By the way, if you're buying a non-Apple charger or cable, be very aware of checking that it meets your country's electrical safety standards - a woman was electrocuted here in Australia recently by a faulty USB charger she had her iPhone plugged into - when they were pulled from the electronics store she bought it from, (yes, a proper electronics store, not some dodgy dealer on eBay) they were all found to be electrically unsafe. A $2 charger isn't worth your life.

 

[twerppoet]

TUAW did a recent review on Belkin's MIXIT lightning to USB cables. They found them to be as good or better than Apple's cables, and about $5 less. Belkin is a reputal manufacture and its Apple products are all certified.

They also make some decent Apple chargers. Just make sure they are for the iPad, not the iPhone.