Losing battery life while charging?

[AC Question]

Why does my phone do this? I plug in the charger and it says charging. Sometimes it can go up slowly a few percent.. Then it struggles and stays there, then slowly begins going down.. I was charging all day yesterday and got to 60% .. Then in the morning it was at 48%.. is it time for a new battery?

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Why does my phone do this? I plug in the charger and it says charging. Sometimes it can go up slowly a few percent.. Then it struggles and stays there, then slowly begins going down.. I was charging all day yesterday and got to 60% .. Then in the morning it was at 48%.. is it time for a new battery?

Welcome to the forums!

Maybe time for a new battery, maybe not. I experienced that with my Note 2 and it was the charger. Samsung had some issues with their chargers and exchanged mine and several other chargers. Have you tried your phone with another charger to see if it happens then also?

 

[Rukbat]

The amount of current going into the battery is the amount of current the phone can draw from the charger (which is limited by the design of the phone, no matter how large a charger you use) MINUS the amount of current being used by the phone. Turn the screen all the way up, have all the radios running, run a few apps that all need a lot of CPU, and the phone is using more current than it can draw from the charger, so it's drawing some from the battery.

Does the phone charge as fast when it's turned off as it used to? That's comparing apples to apples. If it is, the problem is your usage pattern and expectations. If it isn't, it may be a bad battery. (Letting the battery discharge down below 40% regularly shortens its life. Read The Care and Feeding of Lithium Polymer Batteries.)