Plugged in not charging problem!!

[hackingmind92]

When i normally plug in my charger it says, plugged in not charging but if i twist it and try few times it charges.. How to solve this issue?? My previous charger was damaged by twisting it a lot!!

 

[razel]

Wow Nepal! One of the places I'd love to visit.

From your tag I assume you are charging a laptop computer? If you were twisting the part connected to your laptop then that power plug on your laptop probably has a weak connection. Luckily, this is pretty common to fix. I would suggest that you search ebay for a replacement plug and replace it yourself. If you are lucky the plug doesn't require you to solder. Otherwise you'll need to find a repair shop. At least at that point you already purchased the connector and save a little money.

By the way, Plugged in, not charging can happen if your replacement power supply isn't powerful enough or your battery is already close to full charge.

Best of luck and how are your neighbor's in Bhutan. I hear you guys are some of the happiest people in the world.

 

[RU482]

plugged in not charging...what % is your battery at? If between 95 and 100%, this is normal.

If you have an app from the manufacturer that allows you to cap charge off at 50-80% (some manufacturers offer this type of app for users that are plugged in most of the time, to prolong the life of the battery), then this is normal.

If you battery is old, try running it down till it shuts off, then charging to 100% a couple of times.

I'm betting your battery is old. When this happens, the battery gauge loses accuracy. So, when you charge the battery, the cells inside hit the upper voltage threshold before the gauge hits 100%. This flags the charging circuit to stop providing charge to the pack, resulting in the "plugged in, not charging" message at less than 100%.

Also, if you buy battery packs from ebay or the like, it is quite possible that the pack has been re-manufactured. This isn't always necessarily a bad thing, but you have to understand how battery packs are "re-manufactured". One scenario is this....a company offers a service to "recycle" used battery packs. When a user turns in an old battery pack, it often reaches end of useful life because 1-2 cells in the pack are bad. the rest still have useful life left. Cells in a new pack are matched as closely as possible, but none are exactly equal. As the pack ages and is used, the weaker cells get worked harder and are exposed to the voltage peaks (higher voltage first on charge, lower voltage first on discharge) due to the nature of being in serial with other cells, as is case in packs ~ 7.4V, 11.1V, and 14.4V.

The re-manufacturer will separate the cells from the pack, test them for impedance and capacity, and match them up with cells of similar impedance and capacity, and build a battery pack.

There are grades of cells, which likely correspond to the price you pay for the pack. The better condition of the cells, the higher grade of pack, the higher the price.