Amber charge light will not light -- battery not charging

[bcoley]

Hi,

I had my Thunderbolt plugged into a wall charger over night Wednesday night. When I woke up on Thursday, the green full-charge light was on. The next time I plugged the phone into a charger, however, the amber charging light came on only for a few seconds then went out. I removed and reinserted the cable several times, perhaps once getting a brief flash of the light, but not again after that.

Throughout the day I tried occasionally to create some charging activity, to no avail. The closest I got to success was the amber charge light coming on for perhaps 10 seconds when I plugged the phone in after I took a call. Since then, nothing.

Here's a list of the troubleshooting steps I have tried:

-- Three different batteries (all HTC branded, all healthy, as far as I know)
-- Two different chargers, both plugged into the wall and as USB chargers
-- Removing the battery for fifteen minutes before replacing in the phone

All combinations produced the same result: no amber charge light when the phone is connected to a charger.

The only thing different that I have done in the last few days is that I charged all of my batteries on a portable wall charger (the battery fits snugly into a rectangular depression in the unit, then the unit plugs into a wall socket). I think the battery that was in the phone when I went to bed Wednesday night had been charged in that portable charger. Then again, with that battery in the phone, the amber light shined, and the green full charge light was on Thursday morning, so I wonder whether the wall charger could have had a negative impact.

From what I've read, there isn't much else I can do, but since I am out of warranty and I don't have the insurance coverage, I decided to post here to ask for your feedback. Perhaps your wisdom will make a difference.

Thanks for reading this.

Bill

 

[Jude526]

The wall charger could be defective. Take the phone and the wall charger to verizon store. Let them check it out. On your next phone get the extended warranty. Well worth itGood luck

sent from my Rezound

 

[natehoy]

Hold a charging cable into the phone and very gently move it around and see if you can make contact enough to get a charge. If you can, then the USB connector has loosened with use. You might be able to find a USB or charging cable that fits (the one that comes with the Nexus 7 is longer, for example, and might find a non-worn spot to settle into and provide a charge) but you'll just continue wearing out the USB port.

If you cannot get the light to light up at all, it's possible that one of the connection points has failed or that the charging circuit has died. It could be as simple as some precision soldering work, or as complex as replacing a board.

Since you already have three batteries, about your best bet is to get an external battery charger and just swap out batteries when one gets low. Nowhere near ideal, I know, but you'll be able to keep your Bolt alive.

Either that or look into some of the inductive charging hacks. But an external charger is the safe route.

 

[bcoley]

Thanks to Jude526 and natehoy for your responses.

Jiggling the cables was another thing I tried in the first hours after I realized I had this charging issue. Perhaps once did I notice a brief flash of the amber light as I jiggled the cable, but only once - and I can't say for sure that that even happened.

Today the story is a bit more odd. When I connected the phone to the USB port in my car, the amber light came on and stayed on. Then I brought the phone inside and used the same cable that worked in the car to connect the phone either to a PC or to a plug-in charger: the light does not shine. Either of the two cables I have with me at the moment works with the car's USB port. Neither of those cables works anywhere else, whether attached to a wall charger or to a PC. I take from that, that this is not a cable or phone port issue, but rather a power source issue.

I have the extra batteries and the wall charger with me and will change out batteries as needed, but it would be nice to know why the phone charges in the car but nowhere else.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[bcoley]

Well, who knows?!

I currently have my Bolt successfully charging via one of the cables that yesterday and this morning would not provide a charge, however I jiggled it. Very strange.

Before this successful connection, I noticed that I also got a charge using a portable charger device that connects through the same micro USB port. That led me to connect that charger to the phone, and then the offending cable to the charger (which is the charging mechanism for the portable charger). The phone continued to charge, so I disconnected the portable charger and connected the cable directly. After pushing in on the connection a bit more than usual, the amber light came on and has since stayed on.

I guess I'm back in business, though I'm not sure how.

Thanks for your interest in this thread.

Bill

 

[natehoy]

One of the mysteries of life i guess...

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[Lanhoj]

Yeah my Kindle Fire has developed a finicky charging port too.
I've had to switch to a Kindle DX cable to charge it. It's the only cable I've found that works.