Because I’m Stoopid.
Actually, its kinda funny to think that the most sophisticated device in my possession is only going to work via the integration of a Rubber band.
Up to 83%. Stereo knocked it off it’s axis and was lying dead. Had to re-hook it. Wedged it harder…
Ugh. Seems to be a trend around here. My phone was griping about slow charge regardless of what cable I used (four different ones got tried). Turned out the charging port needed cleaning, according to my husband (he’s better on hardware than I am and could see the problem more clearly, having better vision).
Amazon has some Moto G Black Friday specials.
I’m just gonna say this agian…
I’ve been fixing computers professionally for decades and that isn’t funny at all to me, rather it seems like par for the course.
Many years ago I actually had a galvanized steel pipe that I kept around because it was perfect for whacking a computer when the hard drive head was stuck. (I could recognize it when a computer froze and made a distinctive “tick tick” sound.) A firm (but not too forceful) “thwack” was often just what it needed. These days with SSDs that specific solution is no longer a thing, but low tech solutions are still pretty common with electronics.
I even used to have something I called a “low level format” to deal with wiping a hard drive. That meant going to the underground parking garage beneath my building (the “low level”) and tossing that piece of shit against the concrete until it broke into little pieces.
That’s funny. An auto mechanic needs to keep a baseball bat or sledge hammer on hand for starters that go out. If the relay clicks, but it won’t turn over, have someone hold the key in position while you whack the starter. If the car then starts, it needs a new starter.
my 1979 IH scout starter went bad at a very broke time for us - we bout a $15 ‘brown box’ that one hooked to the batteries terminal and to something or another, and you flipped a switch and it would start. Kept the little beastie cranking over for the time it took us to save up the money to repair … can’t do that to a car now =( I think we got it from J C Whitney? [this was in um, 1992 or 3, snow time.]
I beat the starter on my Jeep like it owed me money.
Got the phone charged overnite. Dug some Chunksa out of the port this morning using the Swiss Army Toothpick and the corner of a wet-wipe. Not perfect, but it works.
I still don’t remember dropping this in the dirt.
If you carry the phone in your trousers, it accumulates pocket lint over time.
Yep.
I had a similar experience as Gatopescado this past summer with an old iPhone. Over the course of several months, I had cleaned out the charging port many times with an unbent paper clip. Though I’d get some gunk out each time, the charging was always compromised—still had to prop the phone in a just-so manner to get any kind of charge going.
Then one day, I got tired of it all and decided to once and for all see if I could get the charging port even cleaner. At this point, I was close to committed to buying a new phone ‘soon’, so I was willing to risk damaging the phone.
I scraped the ever-loving heck out of the inside of that charging port. Where in the past I had gone over the contacts gingerly, this time I scoured them. Before I didn’t probe deeper where I felt resistance—this time I stabbed and scraped away at that resistance with vigor.
In the end … success! Lots more gunk came out that I had missed so many times before — and the phone charged like new!
Keeping that charge was another matter, however. I only kept the phone about another month for sundry reasons. But it did teach me a lesson about cleaning charging ports. Maybe I got lucky not noticeably damaging the port, I dunno. But it seems apparent to me that some level of risk must be accepted when it comes to applying sufficient force to get a charging port well and truly clear.
All that is second nature for those who grew up with a NES.
The recommended method is to use a toothpick to dig out the solid gunk, then blow with compressed air and then clean it with IPA on a foam swab. In my experience, it’s built up pocket lint that causes the problems.
Dad had a lesser problem with his: he just couldn’t get the cable to stay in, but it did charge. He thought the problem was with the cable, since other cables would stay in. But I mentioned cleaning it out, and it worked for him.
Personally, I find USB-C much better about this than USB Micro B ever was. Those plugs seemed to rely on these small external prongs to hold them in place, and they would smooshed over time. USB-C stays in place fine and long as you keep the socket clean.
And if that’s a problem, surely they make little covers you could put on them–though I’d guess they’d be easy to lose.
I had the battery on an iPhone X replaced and I think it cost “only” $69 at the Apple Store. Googling, battery replacement for some older iPhones is only $49 for some of the older phones. I think both prices are reasonable, for a repair done at an actual Apple Store, rather than some random mall kiosk, where you don’t know how good the repair will be.
My moto phone has been doing the same exact thing. Because of this thread, I did some heavy-duty cleaning of the contacts. Seems to have made a significant improvement.
I have a couple of gadgets with small plugs of silicone which plug into their
micro usb ports. They are attached to the gadget by a small thread of silicone.
(Example)
I have something like that on my shower speaker, though it also covers up the audio jack. Problem is, those only work if the device is designed for it.
Still, I wonder if you could create a plug that you never actually remove from the device, that holds itself by using the port, covering it up when not in use. It would have to be rather thin and flexible to let the USB-C plug still fit, but maybe it would be doable.
One possible solution to the dirty port issue–you might try using “magnetic charging cables”. You plug the adapter into your charging port and it pairs with the magnetic end of the cable. No plugging or unplugging needed after that.
My otter box has a lovely little dust cover flap over the charging port.