My Nexus 5 dies and can't turn on without charger plugged in, should I buy a new battery?

Aloum

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Nexus 5 dies, can't turn on without charger plugged in.

Had this problem after the 5.0 update.
Happens a lot when i use different apps even googles own apps.
My phone just dies and when i try to turn it on with out my chargers plugged in it tries to start up but when in loading screen it just turns off again.
When i plug in my charger it starts directly.
Sometimes with 0% battery and other times with the same battery % as it was when it died.
And it doesn't turn off when i use my mobile when i have it plugged in.

Should i buy a new battery or is there an other solution to this problem?
 

Rukbat

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Feb 12, 2012
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Re: Nexus 5 dies, can't turn on without charger plugged in.

Look at the battery graph (Settings/General/Battery). Tap the graph at the top - you'll get a page with another graph. Look for a sudden "fall off the cliff" drop - that's the sign of a defective battery. Unfortunately, even though it's a problem with the chemistry we use in lithium batteries (it doesn't matter whose you buy - they all use the same chemistry), the problem is almost never covered under warranty. (It's called a dendritic short, and I can't find an explanation on the web that isn't highly technical, so I won't post links to chemical formulas that almost no one will understand.) The battery slowly develops a short that grows across the battery and shorts it. That's enough to turn the phone off, even though a small short burns out almost immediately, so when you turn the phone back on, you've lost maybe 1% of battery charge. If the short is thick enough to last for a few seconds, it can bring the battery down to 0%. (Once that happens, it's time to find some place that accepts used lithium batteries for recycling - yours just became hazardous waste. [Lithium is poisonous.] The battery will work, kinda-sorta, for a while, but it'll keep growing dendrites, and even when you're lucky and it doesn't, going from full charge to 50% charge will be a lot faster than normal.)

Replacing the battery is the only solution. The prevention is to condition the new battery (fully charge it before even turning the phone on the first time. Use the phone until it tells you to charge it [usually around 5%-10%]. Fully charge it. Do 3 full charge/use cycles.) From then on, try to never let the battery drop below 40% charge (50% is the sweet spot for maximum battery life according to Cadex, who's been in the battery analysis business for over 25 years). If the phone had an easily-replaceable battery, I'd tell you to carry a charged spare, but the N5 isn't that easy to change batteries on in the field.
 

DLK1

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Dec 15, 2013
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Re: Nexus 5 dies, can't turn on without charger plugged in.

I have been having the same problem since I installed Lollipop. I could have 98% battery open camera app and take two pictures it would power it's self off and I would have to put it on charge before it would boot backup. It would show 30% or could be 70%. Other times I could have 85% battery open IMDB enter search and before I get result back, it would power down, and show 40%. So I order a REPLACEMENT battery, took 17 days to get here from China. I got it this morning and installed it, I have taken 20 pictures, ran IMDB search and played a 3 minute trailer. Now I am replying to this message and I still have 90% battery left. So yes, I would replace the battery. When I removed the battery, I could see that the old battery was swollen. I also noticed that the new battery ran 10 to 15 degrees cooler.

Edit: Last night I recharge the battery and at 22:40 hour I took it off charge and went to bed. When I got up this morning at 08:00 hour it read 94%. Before this battery replacement I would have lost 30% or more. I used the phone all day with Chrome, Android Central app, Weather Apps, a few games. At 18:30 it report 10% time to charge. I got 20 hours between charges and 4.5 hours of screen on time. 20 minutes of talk time. I am a happy camper, I have two more complete charges/discharges to go before I complete the (condition the new battery phase). I think I will keep this phone another year, if nothing better show in the Nexus 2015, I may get another battery then and go for three years.

Posted via Android Central App
 
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DLK1

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Re: Nexus 5 dies, can't turn on without charger plugged in.

Edit: Last night I recharge the battery and at 22:40 hour I took it off charge and went to bed. When I got up this morning at 08:00 hour it read 94%. Before this battery replacement I would have lost 30% or more. I used the phone all day with Chrome, Android Central app, Weather Apps, a few games. At 18:30 it report 10% time to charge. I got 20 hours between charges and 4.5 hours of screen on time. 20 minutes of talk time. I am a happy camper, I have two more complete charges/discharges to go before I complete the (condition the new battery phase). I think I will keep this phone another year, if nothing better show in the Nexus 2015, I may get another battery then and go for three years.
 

Andrei Paval

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Oct 17, 2013
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Re: Nexus 5 dies, can't turn on without charger plugged in.

Hi,
Sorry to bother you, but could you tell me if your replacement Nexus 5 battery has a varies temperature?
I mean if the temperature goes up to 35 Celsius when it's charging or you're playing games, of if it goes down to 25 when it's idle.
Because my replacement battery always stays at 29 degrees Celsius, no matter how I use the phone.
I think mine might be bad, but I want to check with someone else before buying another one.
Thanks.
 

belodion

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Re: Nexus 5 dies, can't turn on without charger plugged in.

^^^That sounds more like a problem with whatever is measuring the temperature. The temperature must be varying, even if it is only with the temperature of your local environment.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

tonyr6

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Re: Nexus 5 dies, can't turn on without charger plugged in.

Does replacing your battery void your warranty? Are there places that will replace it for you?
 

evonne tan

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Feb 24, 2016
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where did you buy the battery? I have the same problem. It would read 100% and it would shut off 10 mins within use. I think its the battery too.
 

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