Charging a Cell Phone - Flashing Red Light

This drives me crazy. I have had two cell phones in a row now where, when I try to snap them into the charger, the charger’s “charging status light” will hold a steady red light for about 3-5 seconds, then that light will start flashing - a few questions:

  • I assume that the flashing light means the electrical contact isn’t good and the battery isn’t charging - true?

  • If so, why aren’t the chargers designed better to force better contact?

  • Any tips/tricks to minimize this occurrence?

Thanks! To the extent that this turns out to be a stupid/obvious/inane question, sorry and I accept the inevitable mocking…

Contact the service provider. I suspect the batteries are not accepting a charge. Could be the charger itself. If possible take them all into the service center for repair or replacement .

If your phone is ON while charging, it may be that the phone is ‘pinging’ the cell tower at the time, just to check in. That takes power, which could cause the charger to switch from “fully charged” to “Charging” then back to “fully Charged” during the ping.

So it may be totally normal. If it’s really bothering you, put a piece of tape over the light, either totally covering it, or partially (or use colored tape to reduce the brightness) if you need to be able to see the light.

I own an LG vx10, and help administor about 50 others. All of these vx10s are eventually doing this with their cradle chargers. I have found a temporary fix of cleaning contacts on both the battery and the charger to last about 2 weeks. I just used standard Isoproyl alcohol. Also… sometimes, I just lick the battery contacts and it will work.
and now, instead of inserting the phone all the way into the charger(snap into place), if I just insert it to the point where the charge light comes on, it will usually stay on solid red while charging.

I can only guess that it’s a lack of connection between the contacts.