Help charging problems

[buckhead]

I have done some searching on this topic and always find others with the problem, but not much in the way of fixing it.

Never had a bit of charging problems until yesterday. I always charge it fully before going to work. I get there and the first time i check it, it's down to 21%.

I can plug my charger in and it will say "charging", but i come back to it and find that it has less power than before.

I have been running CM7 without problems for months, and have made no changes in the last week. I see the charging indicator next to the battery charge percentage, going up like it's charging, but see no increase in charge after giving it some time.

I'm trying to charge it now off my computer to see if that makes a difference. I did get it to charge for awhile yesterday with my phone charger, but it's a no go today. Hard to tell right now if it's a software or charging plug issue. Anyone have any ideas to try, short of sending it back?

 

[thIsgUy20]

It might be the charger. That happened to me I would put it on charge and the battery would still be going down while on charge. In my opinion Motorola chargers are complete crap. I bout 3 different Motorola chargers and somehow they all would mess up. What I do is I use my HTC evo v charger on the Motorola triumph and it charges it way better than stock charger and it has neva messed up

 

[buckhead]

You must be right thIsgUy20. My phone does charge off my computers USB port, but with my mouse's micro USB cable. Thats the only way it will charge right now.

Still seems strange that this would just happen overnight.

 

[thIsgUy20]

all them Motorola chargers mess up easily. I bought one and not even in a whole week it had got messed up I was like wtf

 

[buckhead]

all them Motorola chargers mess up easily. I bought one and not even in a whole week it had got messed up I was like wtf

I would rather it be the charger than the USB port itself. Alot easier to remedy. But i'm thinking it may be the port. My wall charger and a emergency charger both act the same way. My car charger seems to work about half the time.

 

[thIsgUy20]

So you only charge yo phone while you in your car

 

[buckhead]

So you only charge yo phone while you in your car

I could live with that, but it will probably only get worse with time.

 

[thIsgUy20]

I would say get a HTC charger. I charge my triumph with it and it has neva messed up once

 

[buckhead]

Ok. I'm beginning to think it's not the charger.

I can plug in the charger. It will start the homepage with the lockscreen and say "(charging ##%)". Then i come back later to find the charge percentage is lower than when i plugged it in.

 

[thIsgUy20]

what kinda charging cord are you using? and if you charge it in your car and you cut the car off I don't believe its going to keep charging it and sometimes cars will take energy from them phone. like in my dad truck when he cuts it on it pulls energy from the phone

 

[buckhead]

if you charge it in your car and you cut the car off I don't believe its going to keep charging it and sometimes cars will take energy from them phone. like in my dad truck when he cuts it on it pulls energy from the phone

Yea. I understand that. I even wondered is my computers USB port worked in the same manner. But it seems to always be charging there whether the computer is on or not. But my puters motherboard is very new and expensive. It supports stuff i don't even understand yet, so it may just depend on your computer.

As far as charging cords, i have tried my wall charger, phone charger, my computers USB cable, and even mixed and matched wall plug ins with different usb cords. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. One cable that worked last time might not work this time.

I just find it strange that i can see a battery charging icon at the top that is showing a battery level that rising line by line (if thats easy to understand), but sometimes the number itself just goes down like it's not charging at all.

 

[thIsgUy20]

Well I'll do some googling and try and find a answer for ya

 

[buckhead]

Well I'll do some googling and try and find a answer for ya

Thanks, i will do the same. I already did some googling before i started the thread but most of them seem to be a person with the problem and a bunch of others chime in saying they are having the same problem. But not much at all in the way of answers.

 

[thIsgUy20]

mmm well maybe its just the charging piece inside the phone

 

[buckhead]

I kinda wondered that too, as i do read many people saying their port went bad. But i was assuming it either physically broke, or had a loose cable when plugged in. The plug on mine always snaps in perfectly and seems in good shape.

But sometimes it says it's charging after i plug the phone in (so it must be able to tell it is plugged in), and will still say charging when i check it an hour later, only to fine it with less of a charge.

 

[thIsgUy20]

Well it probably got something to do with how its getting power or something idk I'm not a hardware wizard lol

 

[keisukehonda]

You're hardly the only one facing this issue; I posted this on the other thread, but I'll post my "fix" here as well:

Ran into this exact same issue recently. Thought it might have been the battery's issue or the cable's issue, but it turned out to be the charging port. Didn't want to get a replacement Triumph, as mine worked flawlessly besides the bad charging port, so I ordered this from Amazon:

Amazon.com: Hyperion Motorola Triumph 2 x 1600mAh Battery + Charger (Compatible with Motorola Triumph Motorola Triumph WX435): Cell Phones & Accessories

Now I have 3 batteries total which I charge through the external charger provided and swap them in and out as needed. I even prefer this to my old system of putting my phone on the charger as soon as I get home, as now I never have to wait for my phone to charge. I found this to be a great workaround to the faulty charging port on the Triumph.

 

[batvette]

It's both the charging port AND the charger cable. The port gets sloppy and the tensioner clips on the charger get recessed over time.
Since it's not practical to fix the expansion and wear on the shell of the port the solution is tweaking out the clips on each side of the charger cable plug, about once a month.

Not a big deal. Better than returning your phone and getting someone else's abused phone which will likely see the same issue appear in time.


Edit: After tweaking on several chargers for a few months mine has gotten worse and now it is apparent to me there must be an intermittent loose connection between the USB charge port and the phone's board. I'm usually pretty good at taking things apart and fixing them but I know my limitations and this may exceed them. I made an external charger and will buy an extra battery. (just because VM's new phone offerings don't excite me or those that do are out of the budget now- and I'm still on the 25 a month plan)

 

[Gratefulbruce]

I am having the same problem. I hook it up to a wall charger, and it starts out red for a brief period, then the LED goes out, and it seems to discharge. I use this for my alarm clock, and it will be dead and off before I wake up (guess I'll have to use my Ipod as an alarm clock). I have an external charger and a spare battery, so I can always put another battery in, but WTF. I do have one charger that still seems to work, that is one that I got with my bluetooth headset, it is a USB cord about 9-12" long. Has anyone found anything on this, or am I looking for a new phone?

 

[odojoe]

I just started having this problem also. The issue is not the Motorola Charger because the same problem with car charger or other phone charge. I did get the charger with the two extra batteries, but the charger would not charge them. Nor did I notice any increased life with the larger cap battery.

I bought another battery charger and have the same issue, the charger will not charge. I guess I have had about 20 months on this phone. I was going for 24 but looks like I will not make it.

 

[batvette]

As described in earlier posts I was having luck tweaking on the tension clips but mine has quickly gotten much worse, wouldn't light the red light up except maybe 1 in 10 times, then it goes out anyway.
Being the adventurous type and having some skills and tools, I promptly disassembled my triumph to gain access to where the USB port attaches to the board, and resoldered the two connection points, the shell IS part of the circuit. (there seems to be no easy access to the individual pin connections and if there is from what I saw I suspect they are SMT, not to be touched unless you want to just throw it away)
No improvement.
YMMV, if you got skills give it a shot. There are 2 T6 and 3 T5 torx screws to remove, that's it. Scariest part was splitting the case, purely a force-prying affair but it goes back together real clean if you use your fingernail or a credit card (meaning no metal tools!) to get it apart.
I soooo want to end my misery with this but ya know it's working well except for the charge issue and I barely made rent this month. So no Galaxy S2, bought 2 new OEM batteries off ebay for $18 and made my own external charger from some scrap plastic and epoxy and tape.
Hey, $25/mo android unlimited? CHEAP. IT'S THE NEW COOL.

That is until VM gets the HTC ONE. Here's what got me. Went to Radio Shack, they do that trade in thing, right? Triumph OH SNAP we'll recycle it for you. Zero Value. Okay.

Galaxy SII, Virgin Mobile, trade in value today?


OH SNAP they'll recycle it for you.

They know something we don't, like the Galaxy SII for VM is at the end of its sales cycle? Anyway it factored in my decision to wait and keep this lemon.

(In contrast you could trade in a VM iphone 4, the one VM sells for $350, for $140)