Battery or Actual Phone problem?

[JesseBeers]

My uncle recently gave me his old Samsung Galaxy s3 which he has not used in forever. I got the phone connected yesterday and everything works great. The only problem I noticed is that it does not charge past 50%, and it also takes forever to charge. It can be plugged in for hours and it only goes up by 5-10%. I've tried different chargers that actually charge my other phones completely. Today at work I tried using my coworkers battery which was at 80% (Samsung s3 battery) I put it inside my phone and it only showed 3% when the battery was actually almost fully charged.
What do you guys think the problem might be, and is it fixable?
Thanks in Advance.

 

[Rukbat]

First try conditioning the battery. Charge it until the phone tells you to remove the charger. Use it without recharging until the phone shuts off. Do this 3 times. (If it's better, but still not quite right, do it 1 or 2 more times).

A Lithium Ion battery sitting by itself, not in a phone, will lose 1%-2% of charge every month. Sitting in a phone it will lose even more (part of the phone, the part that turns the phone on when you press the button, is still drawing current even if the phone is sitting in a drawer, which is why you should remove the battery for long-term storage.) If it's been sitting for too long a time it needs to be conditioned - run fully up, then fully down, a few times. If it hasn't been sitting too long (an S3 isn't that old, so it might not have been) you should be able to bring it back to almost full life.

If not, a new battery for an S3 is $12. Or you can get two of them with a charger (which can also charge one battery outside the phone) for $28. Go to Amazon and put

s3 battery

in the search box. Select S3 battery in cellphones from the dropdown.

As far as what the phone shows, that gets messed up if the phone sits too long. A few charges and it should be reading fairly accurately. If not, there are free apps to reset it.

 

[JesseBeers]

First try conditioning the battery. Charge it until the phone tells you to remove the charger. Use it without recharging until the phone shuts off. Do this 3 times. (If it's better, but still not quite right, do it 1 or 2 more times).

A Lithium Ion battery sitting by itself, not in a phone, will lose 1%-2% of charge every month. Sitting in a phone it will lose even more (part of the phone, the part that turns the phone on when you press the button, is still drawing current even if the phone is sitting in a drawer, which is why you should remove the battery for long-term storage.) If it's been sitting for too long a time it needs to be conditioned - run fully up, then fully down, a few times. If it hasn't been sitting too long (an S3 isn't that old, so it might not have been) you should be able to bring it back to almost full life.

If not, a new battery for an S3 is $12. Or you can get two of them with a charger (which can also charge one battery outside the phone) for $28. Go to Amazon and put

s3 battery

in the search box. Select S3 battery in cellphones from the dropdown.

As far as what the phone shows, that gets messed up if the phone sits too long. A few charges and it should be reading fairly accurately. If not, there are free apps to reset it.

I've tried fully charging the battery, I get home @ 5pm and I've left it Charging till 6-7am the next morning, charging all night and it never goes past 50%. I tried my Coworkers S3 Battery which was at about 80% and my phone read it as 5% (The Percentage my battery was at)
One of my coworkers said the phone's board itself might be messed up.

 

[JesseBeers]

I also forgot to add that the phone has a hairline crack from being dropped in the past. Might that be the reason why a battery or phone might not charge?

 

[Rukbat]

If it gets to "50%", it's charging, but the calibration is off. Leave it plugged in until the phone tells you to unplug it, or 48 hours, whichever comes first. Then use it until it shuts off. Then charge it again, etc.

If the charging circuit was damaged it just wouldn't charge. You can't damage it to stop at 50%. (Well, not by dropping it. You could "damage" it by replacing parts that are the wrong parts.)

 

[gordonfink]

I think a key thing you may have missed in the above is not just the charge, but the discharge. Let it run until it dies. Then start again.

 

[JesseBeers]

If it gets to "50%", it's charging, but the calibration is off. Leave it plugged in until the phone tells you to unplug it, or 48 hours, whichever comes first. Then use it until it shuts off. Then charge it again, etc.

If the charging circuit was damaged it just wouldn't charge. You can't damage it to stop at 50%. (Well, not by dropping it. You could "damage" it by replacing parts that are the wrong parts.)

Its at 23% right now.
Should I let it die and continue to keep trying to charge it?
How many times should I try this?

 

[JesseBeers]

If it gets to "50%", it's charging, but the calibration is off. Leave it plugged in until the phone tells you to unplug it, or 48 hours, whichever comes first. Then use it until it shuts off. Then charge it again, etc.

If the charging circuit was damaged it just wouldn't charge. You can't damage it to stop at 50%. (Well, not by dropping it. You could "damage" it by replacing parts that are the wrong parts.)

I just re-read your original post.
I will try this and see what happens.
I ordered a kit off ebay that comes with 3 batteries, an external battery charger and car charger for $14. Hopefully that fixes my problem.

Why would my phone not be able to pick up my friends almost fully charged battery? I automatically assumed it was a problem with the phone itself.

 

[freakshow85]

Try what you mentioned and run the battery down until the phone turns off.. see if it will turn back on after fifteen minutes.. and if not, start from there with a long charge. It is odd how another good battery only registered as five percent. Hopefully it is a calibration issue but it may well not be.

 

[JesseBeers]

Try what you mentioned and run the battery down until the phone turns off.. see if it will turn back on after fifteen minutes.. and if not, start from there with a long charge. It is odd how another good battery only registered as five percent. Hopefully it is a calibration issue but it may well not be.

What could be the reason for an s3 doing this? I think the only thing he did was drop it, and it doesn't look severe. Very minor unnoticeable hairline crack.

 

[Rukbat]

What could be the reason for an s3 doing this?

Sitting in a drawer with a battery in it for months.

BTW, 3 batteries for $14 is awfully cheap. I hope you get good batteries.

 

[JesseBeers]

Sitting in a drawer with a battery in it for months.

BTW, 3 batteries for $14 is awfully cheap. I hope you get good batteries.

It wasn't sitting in a drawer, he'd use it as a music player. He just didn't have it connected or anything like that.

 

[Rukbat]

It wasn't sitting in a drawer, he'd use it as a music player. He just didn't have it connected or anything like that.

Then he may have run the battery down to 0 too many times or the one drop may have broken something. (It's all guesswork without actually having the phone in hand.)

 

[JesseBeers]

Then he may have run the battery down to 0 too many times or the one drop may have broken something. (It's all guesswork without actually having the phone in hand.)

So I've been doing what you told me, charging it and letting it die. I had it charging since last night and when I woke up, the phone was at 100% and it was telling to unplug it. 5 mins later the phone went back down to 46% lol...I don't get it.