Nexus 4 And Charging

[jwcivic]

I have the same on going problem with charging with the stock LG charger. It sometimes barely makes it to 65% over night. I think this has got to be an issue with the plug adapter since many are experiencing the same thing

 

[badbrad17]

My N4 has been acting the exact same way.

I have used three methods of charging:
1. Stock LG charger plugged in to the wall
2. HTC 12V Car Charger
3. Via USB cable connected to desktop (Full USB)

I have not seen any problems charging it through options 1 and 3. When I use option 2 and come home to charge it the regular way using the LG stock charger, it never fully charges. Next step I do is to restart the phone and then charge the phone using the stock LG charger to top it off. This seems to work. Kinda strange, but maybe the phone suffers from shorting issues or any other charger vs. the stock LG charger might have a different amperage. The only other Android device that I have that is picky with charging is my Asus TF300T, which only charges using the stock charger.

Some devices require a consistent voltage and many car chargers are total crap. I would suggest recalibration of your battery. Drain it until it shuts off then do a full charge from the stock wall charger, then run the battery calibration app in the play store.

Your tablet requires a stronger charge so regular phone chargers don't work. IPads are similar.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[jyemenai]

My laptop does the same thing with all my phones I've had. BlackBerry, or Android. This has nothing to do with the phone. And for what it's worth you should use the wall charger for the first couple of weeks of charging. Your laptop trickle charges which according to Battery University is not a good way to initiate your battery cycle.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

Just charge it with the wall outlet not through your laptop.

I've charged it with the stock charger plugged in to the wall, and the same issue happened. I believe the very first time it worked fine, then maybe the second or third time, it stopped charging in the middle of the night. I've also used as charger I found on Amazon, with the same issue. I've charged my phone at work before, but charging is always okay for the first few hours even at home.

Some devices require a consistent voltage and many car chargers are total crap. I would suggest recalibration of your battery. Drain it until it shuts off then do a full charge from the stock wall charger, then run the battery calibration app in the play store.

Your tablet requires a stronger charge so regular phone chargers don't work. IPads are similar.

This is what I thought, too, but I've used my tablet charger before and the exact problem happened. Weirder still, my N7 can still charge when my Macbook Pro lid is closed, but the N4 will not. I literally just double-checked it and my N7 charger doesn't work when plugged in to USB when charging my N4, but works perfectly fine on the N7. The N4 stock charger also works for the N7. I also switched which ports they were both connected to and the same issue happened.

As long as my MacBook Pro is sleep, my N4 won't charge. And I won't be able to test the wall outlet problem again until tomorrow, cause I need battery while I'm at work.

 

[alzakx]

Hey man,

I've been having the same issue with my N4. It started happening just recently. I usually wait for the battery to drain completely and them plug the N4 to the charger on the wall outlet and let it charge to 100% with the phone turned off.

Yesterday I noticed that the charging from the previous night didn't quite reached 100% but insted made it to 70%. I thought that was weird. I turned on my phone and continued charging it on a different wall outlet by my desk. I also have setup Keep Screen On While Charging.

A few minutes after it began charging I noticed how the screen will come on and then off several times, and the charging indicator will turn off and on. For some reason the phone dropeed the charge from 70% to like 40% in a couple of minutes, so I decided to leave the phone alone until it drained again.

I've been using the same charger to charge my N7 and it also does not charge it correctly.

It has to be the charger or the USB cord.

I'm doing a test run right now. Phone completely drained, charging with the stock charger and USB cord from a wall outlet.

If that doesn't work, I'll try my sister's iPhone charger with my stock USB cord.

More updates to follow...

 

[Ana Sima]

Do you have any updates on this? My N4 is exhibiting the exact same behavior and I cannot charge it over 70%... :'(

Hey man,

I've been having the same issue with my N4. It started happening just recently. I usually wait for the battery to drain completely and them plug the N4 to the charger on the wall outlet and let it charge to 100% with the phone turned off.

Yesterday I noticed that the charging from the previous night didn't quite reached 100% but insted made it to 70%. I thought that was weird. I turned on my phone and continued charging it on a different wall outlet by my desk. I also have setup Keep Screen On While Charging.

A few minutes after it began charging I noticed how the screen will come on and then off several times, and the charging indicator will turn off and on. For some reason the phone dropeed the charge from 70% to like 40% in a couple of minutes, so I decided to leave the phone alone until it drained again.

I've been using the same charger to charge my N7 and it also does not charge it correctly.

It has to be the charger or the USB cord.

I'm doing a test run right now. Phone completely drained, charging with the stock charger and USB cord from a wall outlet.

If that doesn't work, I'll try my sister's iPhone charger with my stock USB cord.

More updates to follow...

 

[badbrad17]

I've charged it with the stock charger plugged in to the wall, and the same issue happened. I believe the very first time it worked fine, then maybe the second or third time, it stopped charging in the middle of the night. I've also used as charger I found on Amazon, with the same issue. I've charged my phone at work before, but charging is always okay for the first few hours even at home.



This is what I thought, too, but I've used my tablet charger before and the exact problem happened. Weirder still, my N7 can still charge when my Macbook Pro lid is closed, but the N4 will not. I literally just double-checked it and my N7 charger doesn't work when plugged in to USB when charging my N4, but works perfectly fine on the N7. The N4 stock charger also works for the N7. I also switched which ports they were both connected to and the same issue happened.

As long as my MacBook Pro is sleep, my N4 won't charge. And I won't be able to test the wall outlet problem again until tomorrow, cause I need battery while I'm at work.

The problem is the Mac Book. Toss it in the garbage lol. Jk.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[jyemenai]

Just wanted to update my status. I tried the wall outlet solution again and it seems to be working for me. Maybe the first few times of trying it just weren't "right" or something. For now, it seems to be working like it should be, so I guess I'm fine. Sucks I can't use it on my Mac but oh well. I need to look in to getting a longer cord, though, as my phone KEEPS falling, smh.

 

[Pinoy na Pinoy]

well why will you used android phones in your mac? are you crazy or something? its like square peg in a round hole!!!! People nowadays didnt know how to used their minds at all, high techs required high usage of brains, so if your not ready to stretch your brain don't used it, technology come responsibility, it is the product of massive thinking applied to have output which is technology. Please use it.

 

[badbrad17]

well why will you used android phones in your mac? are you crazy or something? its like square peg in a round hole!!!! People nowadays didnt know how to used their minds at all, high techs required high usage of brains, so if your not ready to stretch your brain don't used it, technology come responsibility, it is the product of massive thinking applied to have output which is technology. Please use it.

:banghead:

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[alzakx]

Do you have any updates on this? My N4 is exhibiting the exact same behavior and I cannot charge it over 70%... :'(

Yes, after some trouble with the charger, and testing with different ones, I came to the conclusion that maybe heat had something to do with the charging not working properly. I still had the plastic wrapper around the charger so I removed it and tried again.

It happened that when charging, the phone and the charger will get hot, so I placed both by a fan so they remained cool the entire time it took to charge. I drained the battery completely, and tried with the phone turned off all the time, and placed sideways so little surface of the phone would make contact with any other surface making it hard to cool off as it did on the past.

TaDa! The phone charged completely to 100%

 

[danielcj]

Just got the Samsung infuse 4G dock. Seems to work will do my first overnight charge tonight. On amazon for $14

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[badbrad17]

Yes, after some trouble with the charger, and testing with different ones, I came to the conclusion that maybe heat had something to do with the charging not working properly. I still had the plastic wrapper around the charger so I removed it and tried again.

It happened that when charging, the phone and the charger will get hot, so I placed both by a fan so they remained cool the entire time it took to charge. I drained the battery completely, and tried with the phone turned off all the time, and placed sideways so little surface of the phone would make contact with any other surface making it hard to cool off as it did on the past.

TaDa! The phone charged completely to 100%

This sounds like a faulty battery to me. My phone gets warm at times but not enough to have those issues. I would call Google.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[jkainnei]

My Nexus 4 isn't charging either. I received the phone yesterday and tried to charge it over night. It never got charged and stayed around 20% even though the battery status says it was charging the whole night. I was using my Asus Transformer charger. This morning, I've been charging the phone with stock charger and usb cord with phone off for an hour and the battery level didnt increase, even though the screen is showing it as being charged. Will try to drain the battery and try again.

My phone and battery didnt get hot while being charged too. Might have to call Google tonight.

 

[skiptomylou]

well why will you used android phones in your mac? are you crazy or something? its like square peg in a round hole!!!! People nowadays didnt know how to used their minds at all, high techs required high usage of brains, so if your not ready to stretch your brain don't used it, technology come responsibility, it is the product of massive thinking applied to have output which is technology. Please use it.

I'm going to assume you're just being funny, otherwise this is the stupidest thing I've read on the Internet this week which is saying a lot.

I've been having similar issues w/ my macbook and am trying to figure out the issue -- an hour ago I was using the macbook on battery and had the phone plugged into it using the stock USB cord and eventually the N4 shut off with low battery. I was thinking that maybe the macbook would only send sufficient power over USB while plugged in, but now I'm replicating that setup (macbook on battery) and the N4 battery says charging, so I'm not sure what the deal is.

Is there a favorite battery app to use on the stock N4 that gives better info than the standard settings screen? (The picture looks nice but sucks if you want more granular info; I'm seeing four days' worth so can't tell at what time it was charging/discharging this morning)

 

[badbrad17]

I'm going to assume you're just being funny, otherwise this is the stupidest thing I've read on the Internet this week which is saying a lot.

I've been having similar issues w/ my macbook and am trying to figure out the issue -- an hour ago I was using the macbook on battery and had the phone plugged into it using the stock USB cord and eventually the N4 shut off with low battery. I was thinking that maybe the macbook would only send sufficient power over USB while plugged in, but now I'm replicating that setup (macbook on battery) and the N4 battery says charging, so I'm not sure what the deal is.

Is there a favorite battery app to use on the stock N4 that gives better info than the standard settings screen? (The picture looks nice but sucks if you want more granular info; I'm seeing four days' worth so can't tell at what time it was charging/discharging this morning)

GSM Battery

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[frederikwp]

I got my N4 in the first batch. Except for a cosmetic defect (off-center camera LED) everything seemed fine. A few weeks ago I started having the charging issues reported by others in this thread. I attached a screenshot of what this looks like. In addition to the obvious failure to charge fully I also noticed a more subtle error, which is that during discharge the battery level will get stuck at a certain value for prolonged periods of time (despite heavy use), then precipitously drop to a lower value. So I think this may be a hardware defect in the voltmeter that measure the voltage of the current (which decreases as a battery discharges).

Honestly, I think you are getting what you pay for with this phone. They probably used the cheapest possible components (except those that show up on the spec sheet) and rounded things off with really bad QC. I have no backup phone so I can't even RMA this one for the time being. I am worried that one day it will stop charging altogether.

 

[lmrvrgs]

Ive had the same problem with my n4. I have 3 chargers. The stock one. A samsung galaxy s blaze 4g charger and a car charger. All three use to work flawlessly when i would charge my phone but recently my phone wont charge in the car anymore and sometimes not even with the samsung one although all three are micro usb. Isnt this the point of a universal charging system? It seems to always work with the stock charger. But its odd thatwhen i first got the phone it would charge with all the wires especially the car charger which is important but now it does not and i have tried using different micro usb car chargers.

 

[frederikwp]

I don't believe this has anything to do with the charger per se. If the chip that controls the charging of the battery is defective then it might behave differently depending on the current. The current each charging method provides is different. USB is 0.5 A as far as I know, while a regular charger is 1 A. The charger that comes with the phone is 1.2 A. A non-defective device should be fully charged by any of these, albeit at different speeds.

What seems to help is a cold boot (i.e., take it off AC power, then shut down, then turn it back on after a while). It's not a cure as the problem reappears after a while in my experience. At least today this allowed me to fully charge my phone.

 

[ZeBadger]

Same with me. Left it charging overnight... when I woke the phone was hot (although my missus's nexus4 was cold) hers was 100% and mine was stuck at 60%. Turned it on and off and it started charging again.

Had another problem today. It was down to about 14%, I put it in my car charger and in about 20mins it said full! Later that evening it died while I was using it at about 80% !

 

[sandozer]

It may be expensive, but it really works well. I bought a Panasonic QI charger from Japan on E-bay ( QE-TM101-K). Just drop the phone on the pad and it charges every time to at least 99%. Its fast too, and no wear and tear on the micro usb connector. Actually I am looking for a blank plug to cap off the micro usb, as I will only ever need it again when doing long trips in the car.