Help 3rd Party Generic Battery Issue

[matt88si]

Okay, so I know there was supposed to be a Sticky thread regarding battery problems, however, I could not find it on any of the threads. I probably wasn't looking hard enough. Sorry to the mods if they have to move this later.

On to the issue...

As the topic states, I purchased a 3rd party generic extended life battery from Amazon a little over a week ago. After installing the new battery, I tried turning on the phone, but it wouldn't power on. So, I attached the charger and waited around 5-10 minutes before it even powered on. Normally, the battery charge screen would appear rather than the phone just instantly turning on while plugged in to the charger. I shrugged this off and finished charging my new battery.

Just a few days ago, and again yesterday, I received a notification on my phone stating that the new extended life battery was not compatible with the phone. This struck me as odd since the phone did not display this notice in the beginning when I first installed it, nor did it display the message after rebooting a couple times after and prior to the notifications.

On the battery it states that it goes to I-500 series phones so I thought that it would work with no problems. On the Amazon seller's page for this item they stated that it worked with all I-500 series Androind phones and gave a list of the different models; Mesmerize, Fascinate, etc.

So I'm down to this: Either the battery is loose and the prongs are not sitting correctly so whenever a larger-than-normal bump comes along and rattles the phone, it disturbs the battery and makes the phone think its not compatible, or the phone is just delaying the message and it is, indeed, an incompatible battery.

Suggestions?

Thanks for looking!

~Matt

 

[matt88si]

Okay here is a little update on what's going on with this battery...

Today while playing the Android app My Country, the screen randomly brightened to an intensely high gamma and a black line shot across the screen and froze. Unfortunately I couldn't get a screen shot, because, well, the phone froze. So I'm thinking okay, the battery must have shook loose. I opened the back and the battery was in place. However, I noticed there is a lot of play in the setting of the battery so I placed a sliver of paper between the battery and the back wall where you could pry it out with your fingers making the battery press against the connectors a little firmer than normal.

Hopefully this works... Stupid generics. -.-

 

[2acclaim]

that's always the downside to non oem. They don't always work the way you hope they will.

On the upside though you can often be disappointed with oem as well as generic.

 

[LaTuFu]

Are you playing a game that keeps the screen display on for an extended period of time? Do you have a heavier case on the phone, like an otterbox?

The heat given off by the battery during a period of heavy current draw (like playing a game for a while) can sometimes warm up the phone enough to freak out the display.

I have done the same thing numerous times with my stock battery, if I play a game for too long with the Otterbox defender still on. If I take the otterbox off, it usually isn't a problem.

You're running a heavier battery, which could also generate more heat during operation.

 

[matt88si]

You're running a heavier battery, which could also generate more heat during operation.

I can't believe I didn't think of that. Thanks, again, LaTuFu!

It really makes sense. I'm using a larger battery with bigger case and I have noticed the phone feeling warmer than usual.

Tonight, I'm going to put my stock battery back in, charge it, and see how the battery drain is after installing Gingerbread. Hopefully it makes up for the drain I used to get with Froyo on the stock battery.

I will update tonight...

 

[shortride]

I've been using a 3000mAh Seidio extended life battery for a couple of months and it has worked fine.