Need some help with a cell phone issue

[Monty]

I've got an Android phone that's about a year old.  Nothing fancy, but it does everything I need it to do.

I used to be able to fully charge it in under two hours, but a couple months ago it started  getting less of a charge in that amount of time, and then it dropped off to where it would have to charge overnight.

I bought a replacement charging cord, but over the last couple months it has been getting "looser" as far as actually plugging into the phone and staying attached.  

I live in a small farming town, so there aren't a whole lot of places to take this and have it repaired.  Anything I can do myself to get it working again?

[Ctmodeler]

1 minute ago, Monty said:

I've got an Android phone that's about a year old.  Nothing fancy, but it does everything I need it to do.

I used to be able to fully charge it in under two hours, but a couple months ago it started  getting less of a charge in that amount of time, and then it dropped off to where it would have to charge overnight.

I bought a replacement charging cord, but over the last couple months it has been getting "looser" as far as actually plugging into the phone and staying attached.  

I live in a small farming town, so there aren't a whole lot of places to take this and have it repaired.  Anything I can do myself to get it working again?

Clean the charging port out with compressed air. Possible that the charger /cable is junk but usually when a battery starts charging slowly or overnight it's the battery itself that's bad

[bobthehobbyguy]

12 minutes ago, Monty said:

I've got an Android phone that's about a year old.  Nothing fancy, but it does everything I need it to do.

I used to be able to fully charge it in under two hours, but a couple months ago it started  getting less of a charge in that amount of time, and then it dropped off to where it would have to charge overnight.

I bought a replacement charging cord, but over the last couple months it has been getting "looser" as far as actually plugging into the phone and staying attached.  

I live in a small farming town, so there aren't a whole lot of places to take this and have it repaired.  Anything I can do myself to get it working again?

Sounds to me that the charger cord might be the issue. It needs to be a tight fit. Sounds like a poor quality cable. 

Why did you replace the original cable? 

 

[Rodent]

I have had issues with "pocket lint" in the charging port. A toothpick works well to clean it out. Or the pointy end of one of the single use flossers.

[Monty]

1 hour ago, bobthehobbyguy said:

Sounds to me that the charger cord might be the issue. It needs to be a tight fit. Sounds like a poor quality cable. 

Why did you replace the original cable? 

 

I assumed it was the problem since it was taking longer to charge the phone.  It didn't occur to me that the problem might be at the receptacle end. 

Edited October 18, 2021 by Monty

[peteski]

As I see it, the debris (like lint) in the charging port (connector) would not slow down the charging process. The connection is either made, or not made. The type of debris  are non-conductive (insulators).

The slow charging is more likely caused by the battery aging out, or defect in the charging circuitry inside the phone.  But batteries usually last longer than a year.

You mentioned that you tried new changing cord.  Did you try the cable only, or also the charger "cube" that plugs into the AC outlet?

Edited October 19, 2021 by peteski

[espo]

Unless you're doing a lot of searching on the internet turn off the WiFi at all times. The WiFi setting will have your phone searching all the time and will run ytouir phone down quickly and may even prevent it from charging faster than the WiFi can draw away power. 

[Toner283]

11 hours ago, espo said:

Unless you're doing a lot of searching on the internet turn off the WiFi at all times. The WiFi setting will have your phone searching all the time and will run ytouir phone down quickly and may even prevent it from charging faster than the WiFi can draw away power. 

Also make sure Bluetooth GPS Etc are all turned off. Have you recently downloaded any games or apps? I have downloaded apps that just eat the battery in my phone. Deleted the app off of my phone and the issue went away. Depending on whether you have a fast charger or not, it may be using the battery juice almost as fast as it charges.

[Snake45]

Not long ago TLMS's Ipad was taking forever to recharge. The problem was the recharging unit. We replaced it and it's been fine since. 

My other guess would have been bad battery. My house (landline) phone won't hold much of a charge when the battery goes bad. 

[Keavdog]

You can try some of the ideas here:  https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-check-android-battery-health

 

[Monty]

Thanks for all the suggestions.  I did a bunch of things recommended by you guys as well as various "experts" on YouTube but nothing helped.  I tried several methods for cleaning out the port, but never saw much dust/dirt/lint come out. In the meantime, none of the charging cables, including the new one, will fit snugly on the tab in the charging port, so I'm moving on. 

Fun fact - it's an LG phone and I just found out they're getting out of the cell phone business.  Kinda sad 'cuz the phone was inexpensive and simple to use. Hope I can find something similar soon.

 

[Rodent]

If none of the charging cables fit, that tells me that either the charging port is broken/damaged, or there is dirt in there that you missed. I had the same thing happen to my Pixel, and I took it in to a repair place. He found a whole bunch of dirt in there that I failed to remove. I cleaned it one more time myself, using the toothpick part of a plastic flosser and my lighted magnifier that I use for modeling.