Weird battery charging issues

[Moo Cow]

So in the 2-3 weeks I've had my Stratosphere, I've encountered two situations in which the extended battery didn't want to charge. I got the extended battery two days after I bought the phone and with my usage and how thicker and better-feeling the phone is with it, I have no desire to go back to the regular battery.

Before I begin, I've used both the stock charger and my Motorola bluetooth headset charger to charge my phone and for the most part haven't had any issues whatsoever. When I charge it I'm usually not using it at the same time so it's simply charging plus whatever background activities it may be running, which are minimal. Also, my OS is the stock OS that came with the phone.

One time, the battery was low, so I used the charger that came with it and plugged it into the wall. The battery showed the lightning bolt to indicate it was charging, but it simply did not charge. Even when the "100 percent" icon popped up, I unplugged it and it was as if it had never charged. I plugged it in to my other charger for my Motorola bluetooth headset, went to bed, all was fine the next morning.

This morning, the battery had ran down to nearly nothing. I plugged it into my Motorola bluetooth headset charger. I woke up, the "100 percent" icon popped up, and it was the same issue again when I unplugged it: the phone had no juice as if it never charged. I plugged it back in, waited a while (15-20 min or so), no dice. The battery status field in the setting said it was low on power and needed to be charged -- which I was doing.

So, I powered the phone completely down and left it off for a couple of minutes. Then I plugged it into the charger again, then I turned it on. Now it appears to be charging. The battery status field was at 16 percent and then 18 percent when I checked a couple of moments later. The battery icon charging animation went from the orange empty battery to a full blue at first, and now is partially-filled blue to full blue, which shows the progression that it is charging.

Now, when you create a thread on this message board, it will pop up possible duplicate threads based on what your title is. I came across this one.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/dr...ttery-issue-says-charging-but-really-not.html

I'll be honest, given that this is a spot occurrence, I don't think it is the strength of the chargers in question, especially since it has happened with two chargers. Since I didn't think to look at what apps were running, however, I cannot rule out those possibilities of apps consuming power -- yet e-mail, basic phone usage, and hourly updaters like Facebook and the Accuweather widget are pretty much it, and those do not consume much it appears.

I guess I am not sure what more to add here to describe my problem. I tried to be as thorough as I could be, but in the event I missed something I will gladly add it the next time I see this thread. But the bottom line is I want to know what is causing the issue so I know if it is a software bug, if it is an issue necessitating a return to the VZW store, or another option that needs considered. (I wouldn't think it would be the battery, because this problem is rare; I'd think a battery issue would mean it would never hold a charge.)

Apologies for my long-windedness. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[Shadowfalx]

I would take the phone and battery to a verizon store, or call customer support.

It could be phone's harware (micro USB port, charging circuit) or software (reading battery state wrong). It could also be the battery's software (not calculating cell charge correctly, preventing cell charge) or hardware (bad/intermitent circuitry).

Sent from my SCH-I405 using Tapatalk

 

[decaydance99]

same problem here bro, its not the phone, my GF also has a Strat and she loves it it will not charge with another brand of charger because of the stock kernal, Remeber how the fascinate would not charge oem batteries and how the other devices such as the TouchPad requires the charger it came with in order to charge? I love samsung phones but they way they lock down thier phones to a certian battery or even charger just plain sucks. We will just have to wait till a great dev like Imnuts brings us a kernal fix now that we have root and a recovery good day sir. let me know your comments

 

[Moo Cow]

same problem here bro, its not the phone, my GF also has a Strat and she loves it it will not charge with another brand of charger because of the stock kernal, Remeber how the fascinate would not charge oem batteries and how the other devices such as the TouchPad requires the charger it came with in order to charge? I love samsung phones but they way they lock down thier phones to a certian battery or even charger just plain sucks. We will just have to wait till a great dev like Imnuts brings us a kernal fix now that we have root and a recovery good day sir. let me know your comments

I haven't had the problem since, but I am keeping a watchful eye on things.

Nonetheless, I've used various chargers. Last night I used my Amazon Kindle charger (just a USB cord in the plug box, like the stock charger is) and it charged the phone just fine. The car charger also works fine, too. So I have a hard time believing it is some stock kernal telling me that a certain charger has to be used.

 

[pastparticiple]

I've used various chargers. Last night I used my Amazon Kindle charger (just a USB cord in the plug box, like the stock charger is) and it charged the phone just fine. The car charger also works fine, too. So I have a hard time believing it is some stock kernal telling me that a certain charger has to be used.

I agree with this. My wife and I have been charging our phones with both the stock cord and old Palm Pre cords and we have not seen the issues you first reported with our phones. Good luck!

 

[Moo Cow]

I agree with this. My wife and I have been charging our phones with both the stock cord and old Palm Pre cords and we have not seen the issues you first reported with our phones. Good luck!

Not to jinx myself but this issue hasn't happened since. Maybe the complete restart I did was able to fix it all. Let's hope so anyway.

 

[radiodf]

Hi, Ive had a Stratosphere for the past few weeks now and also have had problems w/ the battery not charging correctly. At first I thought that it might simply be due to increased battery drain from an app that I had installed, so I stopped the two that I have added since I got the phone. Then I also made certain that both the blue tooth and wifi were turned OFF. No luck w/ either.

I think that I have identified a few things that may be helpful; The quick "cure" for it seems to be simply to remove the battery for 10 sec or so to reset the phone and then reinstall it. This pretty much tells me its an issue w/ the phone's firmware.

When the phone charges correctly, you will notice that when you plug in the USB, you will hear a short set of beeps AND the screen will come on for about 15 sec. If this doesnt happen, then the battery isnt charging. Even if it seems to be as indicated by the arrow inside battery symbol at the top of the screen.

As for non OEM chargers, Ive been using a couple of different ones, besides the cube/cable that came w/ the phone. No problems. In fact I had initially thought the charging problem might be due to a bad OEM charger.

Cheers

 

[Moo Cow]

Hi, Ive had a Stratosphere for the past few weeks now and also have had problems w/ the battery not charging correctly. At first I thought that it might simply be due to increased battery drain from an app that I had installed, so I stopped the two that I have added since I got the phone. Then I also made certain that both the blue tooth and wifi were turned OFF. No luck w/ either.

I think that I have identified a few things that may be helpful; The quick "cure" for it seems to be simply to remove the battery for 10 sec or so to reset the phone and then reinstall it. This pretty much tells me its an issue w/ the phone's firmware.

When the phone charges correctly, you will notice that when you plug in the USB, you will hear a short set of beeps AND the screen will come on for about 15 sec. If this doesnt happen, then the battery isnt charging. Even if it seems to be as indicated by the arrow inside battery symbol at the top of the screen.

As for non OEM chargers, Ive been using a couple of different ones, besides the cube/cable that came w/ the phone. No problems. In fact I had initially thought the charging problem might be due to a bad OEM charger.

Cheers

So maybe a firmware update whenever it comes out could fix it?

Glad you chimed in though. It is helpful as we seek a resolution, especially since you and I have figured out that battery pulls can take care of it as a quick-fix.

 

[pastparticiple]

Not to jinx myself but this issue hasn't happened since. Maybe the complete restart I did was able to fix it all. Let's hope so anyway.

Speaking of jinxing yourself...I just unplugged my phone from the original charger this morning when I woke up and received a critically low battery warning! It had been charging all night. The battery icon at the top of the screen was full blue. I plugged back in and checked the battery level in the phone settings and it was at something like 95-97%. I unplugged again and everything seems fine. I will try a restart on my way to work and see how it hold up today.

 

[Moo Cow]

Speaking of jinxing yourself...I just unplugged my phone from the original charger this morning when I woke up and received a critically low battery warning! It had been charging all night. The battery icon at the top of the screen was full blue. I plugged back in and checked the battery level in the phone settings and it was at something like 95-97%. I unplugged again and everything seems fine. I will try a restart on my way to work and see how it hold up today.

Wow that sucks. Were you able to fix it okay?

Anyways that's three of us to have the issue. Guess that means we're onto something here. Hopefully others who have the issue speak up, too.

 

[pastparticiple]

No problem today after the restart. In fact, my battery might have performed a little better than normal. I will certainly be keeping an eye on it!

 

[jwyde]

Ug . . . same problem here. The phone seems to be charging but it isn?t. The only way to get the Samsung Stratosphere to really charge is to yank the battery for 10 seconds and plug it back in. Then I see the big battery with a glowing green charge indicator. This is more than a nuisance!

 

[jwyde]

Ok, I have to apologize to Samsung and the Stratosphere. The charger I got with my phone does actually charge. Looking at the specifications, it puts out 1[A] at 5[V]. The cables that don?t work put out only 700[mA] at 5[V]. My new theory is that the cables just don?t have enough power available to charge the phone.

 

[belmel75]

I have had the Stratosphere for a month, and have been fighting with this exact battery issue since day one. I've been trying different chargers, and charging patterns. I can't find anything that reliably works. I hope some solution pops up here.

 

[radiodf]

Hi, Just a quick update about the Stratosphere battery not charging: I got through this past week w/o any further charging problems. But when I connected the USB cable a few minutes ago, the phone did not respond as it should; Beeps and brief activation of the screen. I removed the battery and restarted the phone, and all is well again.

The only thing that I can think of is today I uploaded some MP3s and played w/ the wifi settings. So Im thinking what may be one trigger for this is anything that creates any shifts inside the phone's memory; Namely any large file uploads or app installs. Or perhaps changes to certain settings. FWIW

Hopefully Samsung will have a real fix for this soon,. Cheers,

 

[Moo Cow]

I had the issue again last night. A reboot fixed it. I'm definitely pegging this to be a software issue. An update of some sort would fix it once its determined what is actually causing it. As for what caused mine? No clue. I did a reboot a couple of times in recent days so perhaps a bad software load?

 

[redwizard69]

same problem here bro, its not the phone, my GF also has a Strat and she loves it it will not charge with another brand of charger because of the stock kernal, Remeber how the fascinate would not charge oem batteries and how the other devices such as the TouchPad requires the charger it came with in order to charge? I love samsung phones but they way they lock down thier phones to a certian battery or even charger just plain sucks. We will just have to wait till a great dev like Imnuts brings us a kernal fix now that we have root and a recovery good day sir. let me know your comments

My stock battery charges with the OEM charger, OEm car charger, Blackberry OEM home and car chargers. Even works with a USB cord in a ac head with a usb port on it Is it only doing this with the extended battery or the regular battery too? And for the others, since not everyone is having the issue, it's highly doubtful that its a firmware issue. JMHO

 

[godsgirl4you]

Oh this is not a good sign. I have only had my phone for 2 days and its doing the exact same thing as you are all explaining. Dang it! It was stressful enough to change services and to choose the "right" phone and now this is happening on day two. I really hope that they can do something quickly to fix it. :-\

 

[Moo Cow]

My stock battery charges with the OEM charger, OEm car charger, Blackberry OEM home and car chargers. Even works with a USB cord in a ac head with a usb port on it Is it only doing this with the extended battery or the regular battery too? And for the others, since not everyone is having the issue, it's highly doubtful that its a firmware issue. JMHO

There have been many times where people reported an issue on something (not necessarily a phone, but maybe other devices as well) that I never experienced myself. We have too small of a sample size on this message board to know what it truly is so we are unable to rule out that it's not a firmware issue. We're not getting an idea of how many people have the phone and how many people have this issue. Perhaps we should report this to somebody somehow.

Oh this is not a good sign. I have only had my phone for 2 days and its doing the exact same thing as you are all explaining. Dang it! It was stressful enough to change services and to choose the "right" phone and now this is happening on day two. I really hope that they can do something quickly to fix it. :-\

Have you tried a battery pull or restart? In my case, the two instances I experienced the weird battery charging were many days apart, and a restart fixed it.

 

[bigdawg6]

Has anyone found a solution to this issue? I have had my phone for a week and am having the same problem that everyone else has described. I have to pull the battery out nearly every time that I want to charge. I love the phone but this is getting to be intolerable.