How long do your cell phone chargers last?

[redpoint5]

About 1/4 of my cords fail after a few months of use, and the rest mostly keep working. My wife's micro USB connector on her phone stopped working, likely from mechanical damage, so she just uses wireless charging now. That works fine since the phone can go a day on a charge, and she charges it nightly.

[rmay635703]

My iPhone cables always seem to be quite fragile and become intermittent after 3 months or so

[me and my metro]

I have found that aftermarket IPhone cords are not worth buying. The oem ones are expensive but last a long time.

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by me and my metro

I have found that aftermarket IPhone cords are not worth buying. The oem ones are expensive but last a long time.

Especially the cheap Chinese ones. Ours maybe charged the iPad once successfully and 10 times it did not. 3 whole euros in the bin.
We finally got a decent replacement from TP-Link that seems to work fine.
The original Apple cable lasted just over a year, so OEM is not everything either.

[wdb]

Funny, I've never had any problems with Apple cords either. I *have* had issues with aftermarket suppliers though and have learned to only buy quality.

[JockoT]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

My iPhone cables always seem to be quite fragile and become intermittent after 3 months or so

My wife has an iPhone and her cable has lasted 30 months so far, charging almost every day. Perhaps it is how they are treated?

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by ksa8907

A 2.5 year old phone? I would bet the battery is very near end of life (approaching 1000 cycles).

I don't know about that. Mine's maybe 8 years old - bought used, the model was released in '08 - and still works fine. Charger is the same USB one I use for the tablets - I think it came with the ASUS tablet, so it's been around for several years.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by JockoT

My wife has an iPhone and her cable has lasted 30 months so far, charging almost every day. Perhaps it is how they are treated?

You mean like the situation where the cables are actually used as intended traveling with you from car to apt. To your motel to work?

My travel cord isn’t going to set perfectly stationary in one place at a dock, I wouldn’t need it if that’s all it did.

My blackberry cord lasted the life of the phone being used much more aggressively, why are OEM iPhone cables so much more fragile?

On that subject the only iPhone cord I have that has lasted is aftermarket and 3” long OEM Apple always get flakey by the phone end

[Xist]

There is a good chance all of my cables were made in China.

I used rubber bands to hold my phone to a wireless charger in my car. It seemed like I needed to trade in my Otter Box for one with a inductive plate, although I just bought a battery case.

I like my $20 Wal-Mart wireless charging stand way more than my $40 Target round one, but again, after a week or two, I had the same issues. I wish I could try this: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Wirel.../dp/B00NT5LDJ0, but I could purchase a phone that charges for $80.

There is probably a decent alternative that costs much less.

Inductive charging supposedly degrades batteries.

Know Your Mobile has a page called "Clean your dirty hole!" and says, if you have an iPhone, jam a toothpick in there, and pry out the lint, boogers, and space trash, but if you have an Android, "the internals of a microUSB port has more delicate connectors that can easily bend or snap off under too much pressure." They recommend 5-6 short bursts of compressed air at an angle, then shine a flashlight in and make sure everything is out.

I am going to try that and report back, but so far, nobody else seems to have the same problem.

My battery did not last long enough when it was new. It rarely lasted one day at drill with light usage. Samsung decided to make the phone thinner and lighter, instead of having a good battery, but it must be worse now.

[Xist]

The battery case worked for about three months. The phone charged fine during that time and it was great to hit a button on the back and fully recharge my phone without plugging in, but as a case it was horrible. It is hard plastic and slipped out of my fingers periodically. When that happened the case usually came apart and the phone came loose. I think there was too much movement on the connector; it stopped charging, so I went back to my Otterbox.

Since I am often told that I absolutely need to use the original Samsung cable, even though it died two years ago, I went to the Verizon store, and declined to pay $29 for a five foot cable with a logo. Dollar General sold a four-foot Duracell cable for $7, but unfortunately, my phone did not like it. I bought it and started driving to Show Low. My phone chirped more and more as I drove, and the cable slipped out of the phone while I was sleeping. I exchanged it the next day and the replacement stays in just fine, but I have still had difficulty charging.

I would take my phone to a repairman if there were one in Page or Show Low. I bought a refurbished phone like mine to use so I could repair my original, but the order never said they were mailing it. Everything I have ordered from Amazon has been shipped by UPS to my house, but if they use USPS I need to give them my P.O. box number.

When I saw it was coming through the post office I contacted the seller, but they said they could not change orders, so they will refund my money.

Fortunately, I was able to find original Samsung cables for $16.43 on Amazon.

We will see if those do any better.