Are you fed up with frequent failure of your phone chargers? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ander
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 09:45:43 am
content: Our devices get smarter each year, but the charger still get messy. It breaks. AND...,It slowly kills the precious battery with heat and mini-cycles.So experts warn us“Don’t leave your fully charged phone plugged in. Lithium-ion batteries can overheat is charged for too long. ” Samsung says “unplug once charge’s complete,” and Apple tells us “remove certain cases during charging”.But we can’t always follow them, can we?That’s why we created UsBidi(http://www.usbidicharge.com/)

author: crispy_tofu
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 10:27:35 am
content: This certainly looks interesting ... I'd really like to see how all of this is implemented in such a small package, and its priceproviding it's not bsThat being said, Qi Charging is becoming more and more common, as well as Qualcomm Quick Charge, which can charge at up to 3A...EDIT: My charger hasn't broken in about 10 years, I think I should replace my phone now

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 10:36:48 am
content: Quote from: ander on September 22, 2015, 09:45:43 amNo, because I haven't had a phone charger fail in 10 years of using them daily.And I'd rather not have my battery eaten up while I'm asleep because my 'smart' charger stopped supplying power.

author: dr.diesel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 10:44:30 am
content: Quote from: Monkeh on September 22, 2015, 10:36:48 amI can't remember the last time one of mine died as well, probably just as long.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 10:47:56 am
content: Completely useless and misleading product, like Batteriser but even worse. There is no point in it at all, when the battery is charged, phone will not consume energy from charger as it don't need it (EDIT: I mean consume for charging). So cutting off the power from the phone is useless. The charger still need to be removed from the mains socket to save the power which it would still consume by itself and prolong it's life. Also for safety reasons as any electronic device plugged into the mains for prolonged time without attention, serves some small potential risk.Quote from: ander on September 22, 2015, 09:45:43 amUnplug from theMAINS SOCKET, NOT PHONE

author: krivx
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 10:48:48 am
content: Is there any data on how using this extends battery life? Does the cable cost less than a new smartphone battery anyway?

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 10:50:14 am
content: Quote from: wraper on September 22, 2015, 10:47:56 amActually yes, it will. The phone will effectively run off the charger so long as it's present. Which is why my phone is 100% charged in the morning. Every day. There's none of this 'micro-cycle' crap going on, either.Are we going to see one of these cables for laptops soon? oops, shouldn't have given them that idea.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 10:50:31 am
content: QuoteMisleading statementQuoteMisleading statement

author: firewalker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 11:02:52 am
content: Never had a charger failure. I have my phone for 7 years now. And the battery last for 5 days.Alexander.

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 11:49:34 am
content: I've never had the charger fail but the USB jack, particularly the micro jacks, act up after a few years, the older jacks were less problematic. Cleaning helps but often it requires try to tighten the connection.The proprietary jacks used in motorola phones never failed compared to USB, but it was a PITA because it was proprietary.Ergo, a true need is a better designed universal power jack.

author: Jeroen3
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 11:58:03 am
content: Good job. You've made a cable more expensive than the ones from Apple.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 01:27:59 pm
content: Quote from: ander on September 22, 2015, 09:45:43 ambefore sleep i usually put my SP into charger, tommorow when awake ready for work, my SP is already full, unplug and off to work... its been a year now, and sometime i dont care to put it like that for a day. and i have many charger stock ($15 a pop) that are yet to replace the original one. you should move your ads and marketing to any politically correct forum, not here

author: ferrix
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 02:00:13 pm
content: I suspect the failed chargers are those imposter low$ ones in the crap bin at checkout lanes that Dave tears down.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 02:06:58 pm
content: I have my phone for 4 years now. Charged for 6-8 hours daily through the night, when I'm sleeping. It has 2-3 days of battery life (smartphone, not android or iPhone of course ) and over 1200 charge cycle in it, with the same charger.I'm more worried that some stupid software update kills the battery or the phone. Fortunately they stopped some time ago.

author: mikerj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 03:36:07 pm
content: Quote from: ferrix on September 22, 2015, 02:00:13 pmIn which case a dead cell phone battery is the least of your worries when it fails - fire or electrocution is the reason those things should be avoided.

author: Neganur
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 22, 2015, 05:16:18 pm
content: I think this one has a better concept:https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/asmo-charger-unplugging-chargers-is-so-last-year#/

author: bitwelder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2015, 05:34:27 am
content: The auto-unplug symbol rubs me the wrong way

author: TheSteve
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 23, 2015, 06:46:16 am
content: Hah, never had a charger fail and I never plug my phone in. Wireless charging for the win!This product is not needed...

author: mzzj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2015, 07:21:46 am
content: Seems like your marketing talk doesn't work hereGot buckets of chargers from old phones that failed before charger but not a single broken charger.Charger cables are totally different case, especially Apple's cables seem to fail if you look at them in a wrong way. Could be worse. I am less pissed off if the cable breaks instead of the phone's connector.

author: jwm_
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2015, 07:23:41 am
content: Quote from: ander on September 22, 2015, 09:45:43 amThis can't be true for anything modern. The charger doesn't connect directly to the lithium battery terminals, it goes through a manager, which has a lot more information than the cable, in particular, current draw by just the battery (vs whatever else your phone is doing), battery temperature, current battery voltage, historical charge information, I don't see how you can improve on that with the cable that has none of these signals to go off of.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2015, 09:53:11 am
content: Quote from: Neganur on September 22, 2015, 05:16:18 pmQuotethanks but... my current charger will starts up automatically without pressing any button, on-the-go feature or not...

author: Neganur
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 23, 2015, 10:09:34 am
content: Not sure if you read it all, but the whole point of Asmo is to not consume any power when the phone disconnects. And I found that a much better concept than the product listed by the OP since the phone already handles that issue.You gave a similar example; unplug the phone in the morning and leave.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2016, 02:55:10 pm
content: Quote from: Monkeh on September 22, 2015, 10:36:48 amIn the past year, I actually had two Apple USB chargers die — the ones that date back to 2005-06 or thereabouts. For fun, I cracked them open, and surprise, it was simple classic electrolytic failure. Something tells me this scammy cable wouldn't have prevented that!

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 30, 2016, 03:55:23 pm
content: This shite cable managed to collect $500k. People never learn. There already were similar uber smart usb cable crowdfunding campaigns failed, delivered useless pos at best.

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2016, 08:42:33 pm
content: I'm curious about the circuitry in this cable that supports the claims of 2x faster USB charging and the auto-unplug technology. So far it looks like all it has is an LED which indicates that it is plugged in the wall (or USB port).It claims 2x faster USB charging but I thought most USB charging from laptop was limited to 500 mA, unless you are on USB 3 or higher.... If you plug into your computer and it is supplying the maximum allowable, how does this device double it? It claims to turn off the "sync" feature (which is the data part) and therefore decrease charging time by double?So far it looks a modification of one of many other LED/magnetic/fast-charge Alibaba cables:http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/PNGXE-High-quality-fast-charging-micro_60354902443.html?spm=a2700.7724838.30.166.M42KkyDoes anyone know how the faster charging is supposed to work when USB max current is limited by a standard? And what happens when you are at 100% battery on your phone... Does it then just trickle-charge the battery? Wouldn't the "auto-shutoff" have to work anyways by detecting a decrease in current draw as the phone decides to reduce the current draw needed for charging and run partially off the battery? Then what? It uses up the battery all night long and by morning your phone has cycled through most of the battery?Something just doesn't add up.I like this one:http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/SCGK-High-quality-fast-charging-micro_60392712670.html?spm=a2700.7724838.30.242.M42KkyYes....... That company is called Shit-tech.... (http://schitec.com/)Anyways, this cable sounds to me like it is preying on the gullibilities of the uneducated public. Most modern phones have battery management circuitry and do not shorten the life or over-charge when staying plugged in constantly. I have yet to see any evidence that turning off the charge when your phone is 100% full sometime in the middle of the night (even if the cable can detect this, which is still a dubious claim) will only guaranty that you will have a partially charged phone in the morning running off the internal battery.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2016, 08:43:12 pm
content: I wouldn't mind seeing a device that would stop charging my phone at 90%. This would extend the useful life of the battery with only a small sacrifice in runtime. In particular, when I use my phone in my car as my GPS navigation, I'm aware I'm killing the battery slowly keeping it at 100% while the phone is warm. It'd be much better to keep it at 75-80% there.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2016, 11:55:29 pm
content: The phone should be able to manage this, but we aren't given such control. I've had laptops with configurable "full" level or a smart mode that would vary at what level charging would stop (90-100%) to prolong battery life. So, a software hack should do the trick.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2016, 03:52:07 pm
content: Well, today I turned on my S4 with 30% charge and whenever I went to launch an application the display fluttered and the phone rebooted; tried it a few more times and the same thing happened. At 90% charge it does not. Figure the battery has worn out so I've ordered a replacement -- at least you can easily replace the battery. I would like to find a custom ROM that lets you set charge level but I suspect it's hardware firmware stuff and not going to be possible.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2016, 03:27:11 am
content: Yeah, I've never heard of being able to control the max charge on a phone, just on laptops.

author: Jeroen3
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 06, 2016, 08:23:50 pm
content: It's one of the features that will get attention when the product is from nerd for nerds. Since they'll sure know better than the people who designed the battery and the circuit.Complete waste of developer hours imho.

author: keethrax
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 09, 2016, 04:35:26 pm
content: Quote from: Jeroen3 on February 06, 2016, 08:23:50 pmYou don't have to "know better" you just have to have a different set of priorities.

author: Kalidor
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 14, 2016, 05:37:26 pm
content: Remember sonicable? The scammed k$566, the thing it's not working and falling apart.https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sonicable-the-world-s-most-advanced-charging-cable/x/10280792#/comments

author: MrSlack
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2016, 01:28:13 pm
content: I've never actually broken a phone charger or blown one up. I've had tens of the things.Now a USB mini cable that the latch pins don't die after a week or fall to bits or crack around the strain relief would be nice. I'd buy that.

author: meeder
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2016, 01:30:55 pm
content: I have never had an issue with a failing charger or micro-usb port.If everyone switches to USB-C the last remaining problems will dissappear. In that respect Apple did it right with their lightning connector, it is a sturdy connector.

author: MrSlack
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2016, 01:37:57 pm
content: The connectors are fine but the cables aren't. I have to replace them far more often than the cheap USB micro cables.

author: Jeroen3
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2016, 07:58:34 pm
content: Quote from: meeder on February 21, 2016, 01:30:55 pmIt has to be. It's part of the chassis to be able to create those docks where the connector is the only part holding the phone.