Why can I only charge my samsung core prime when it's off?

[AC Question]

I've tried several different ways to charge (car, pc, wall) but can't get the phone to charge while it's turned on.

 

[Rukbat]

Probably because it's drawing more current when it's on than it's drawing from the charger, so all the charger is doing is letting it discharge slower.

Why? You may have a rogue app consuming lots of current, you may be running a lot of things in the background, you may have a hardware problem - that can't be determined here, it has to be determined here. but if you restart in safe mode and it charges while powered on, it's a rogue app. (Then comes the fun - install Ampere so you can see how much current the phone is using, than run your downloaded apps one by one until the usage shoots way up. That's the one causing the problem. Or you could look at your battery usage an hour or two after unplugging the charger, and see if one app stands out.)

The only other things I can think of are:

You're not using the stock charger, and the one you're using can't supply enough current. (With decent quality 2 Amp chargers going for $5, there's no reason for doing that.)

The cable, or one of the connectors on it, or the connector in the phone, is bad.