Battery replacement issue

[anon(10333429)]

My OEM battery isn't in terrible shape, but have been wanting to replace it. I've tried 2 batteries so far. Both were "supposed" to be OEM, but I don't believe they were, even though they spec out the same as the original. The main issue with both though has been that they simply will not charge. Both will go to about 79-80%, but no further. I've tried different chargers, cords, all the "fixes" I can find, but even leaving them on charge for nearly 24 hours they won't budge over ~80%.

Slap my old battery back in and it's "business as usual".

Am I missing something when installing a new battery? Is it some issue that my S7E just won't recognize a non-OEM battery? I'm stumped!

Any links to a guaranteed OEM battery would be most appreciated as well.

TIA for any insights or information.

 

[natehoy]

For replacement batteries on my current phone (Note 4), I have found that "OEM" batteries are highly unpredictable since so many people copy them, and few of the copies are as good as a real original battery. Some of the copies look quite genuine.

The only bad review on this MaxBear replacement is someone who couldn't figure out how to replace it.

https://smile.amazon.com/Polymern-Internal-Replacement-EB-BG935ABE-Warranty/dp/B072MNMHYD

If you click on the little "MaxBear" name on top of the page, you'll be taken to their other battery products, and as you can see all of their batteries have tended to have pretty good reviews.

That is as risk-free as it is going to get, unfortunately.

 

[anon(10333429)]

Thanks, Natehoy. I'll give that Maxbear a try. I asked the sellers beforehand to ensure they were actually Samsung branded, new (not pulled) OEM's and both said they were. They "were" both new/never used, but neither was Samsung branded. The second seller tried to give me a song and dance, "oops. Our supplier must have done a switch on us. Try it. If it doesn't work we'll refund you and no need to send it back." That was "half" cool, but it really shouldn't be so difficult to get a flippin battery. ;-)

Of course... now I've bunged up my back cover with all the off and on's. I have a new one, but no way I'm putting it on or sealing it back up until I can get this battery issue dealt with. What a PITA.

The only thing I can think of is that there must be some type of chipset or other that the S7E needs to properly register the charge levels that they aren't putting in the knock-off's(?).

Thanks again for the info and link.

 

[natehoy]

The only thing I can think of is that there must be some type of chipset or other that the S7E needs to properly register the charge levels that they aren't putting in the knock-off's(?).

Unlikely. It's far more likely that the batteries you had were, for some reason, bad - and could not reach the voltage levels that indicated "fully charged" for a good Lithium battery. Either they knew they put junk cells in there and programmed the battery management system to keep the voltage artificially low, or the BMS detected that the voltage wasn't going to go up any more and did a cutoff because the cells were junk.

As with all things, caveat emptor. The best you can do with stuff like that is go with what is rated best through a solidly reliable seller. It's a little easier in the Note 4 world since batteries are designed to be replaced, so batteries for that beast tend to have hundreds of reviews and you can get a lot of information from them.

In a "not designed to be replaced" battery world, far fewer people venture into that territory, and you will get correspondingly fewer reviews (and the negative ones tend to be skewed toward "broke my phone trying to get it apart and I'm blaming the seller!" so it's even harder to find the bad ones).

 

[anon(10333429)]

Just by way of follow-up... the MaxBear seems to have done the trick. Charges perfectly and a very noticeable increase in available juice the past few weeks. New backs sealed and in place so all's right in the world.

Thanks, Natehoy!