I switched over to magnetic charging cables a few years back, and would never look back. Keeps the port protected, protects against wear out, and the cables are now universal with Micro USB and lightning devices.
You should use the usb until you can’t, wireless charging will burn out your battery and you’ll be in the same place you’re in now, but if your port stops working you’ll have the wireless to fall back on.
How do you the plugs eliminate fire risk?
Keep them clean. There’s no more inherent rush than a regular connector, since the magnetic ones are just the same with a magnet holding them in place instead of friction.
Also, if they were to break, it’s far easier to replace them instead of the port on the phone. I recommend the ones that are just adapters and not the whole cables though, since they let you use the cables you already own.
my phone charging port has been inoperable for years. wireless charging is the only thing keeping it alive
Meanwhile my phone lowers the volume by itself an I’m thinking how to fix it. I assume it’s because of dust or something. Annoying ah with this random popping out and lowering volume when I want sound.
For my old phone I would put a drop of super-glue on the face of the USB-C cable, and let it dry.
Step 1: clean out the lint from the charging port
Step 2: make sure you actually got all the lint out and there isn’t any hiding to the side.
The sim ejector pin that used to come with phones can sometimes just barely fit between the center blade and connector housing. Otherwise a paperclip with a slight hook bent into the end can work well.Flosspicks work well to dig out the lint.Also consider getting a wireless charger for nightly charging if your phone supports it.
Wireless charging WILL wear out your battery faster.
For longevity, use a slow wired charger. This will put the least thermal strain on the battery.
How exactly?
Also, my phone charges slower with a wireless charger.
Magnetic charging loses some energy in the form of heat on both coils.
Technologies like MagSafe lessen the severity of energy loss via ensuring the coils allign, however there is still some energy lost in the form of heat.
This is just a limitation of electromagnetic induction.
It’s a producer of heat placed right next to the battery.
This inefficiency also makes it take more energy to charge your battery. However, I would imagine it’s a nominal amount.
That’s an interesting theory. I’d like to see some numbers because I really doubt that this heating could be anywhere close to the many other kinds of heat produced through normal phone use. Especially considering that you’re unlikely to be stressing the biggest sources of heat in your phone (the screen and the processor) while it’s sitting in a wireless charging cradle. Also, the charging circuits certainly monitor and adjust for this kind of heat dissipation specifically and are able to control it far better than, for example, the sun hitting the screen or a warm pocket.
I don’t know but anecdotally I’ve experienced this with every single phone I’ve had that’s been wireless charging.
It just shortens its life somehow. I thought I was crazy. It didn’t make sense unless it does fancy shit with the crystals inside or it heats it badly
That is a deeply unsatisfying non-answer.
I ended up having to use an actual sewing needle since the lint was compacted and the ejector pin was too wide
I prefer a toothpick. Wood won’t scratch the metal or cause a short, but it’s still stiff enough to scrape any lint that’s stuck. And lint sticks a bit to the toothpick, so that helps get it out.
Neither will the plastic of a floss pick. And the floss pick is narrower so there is much less risk of deforming the interior parts of the plug. Also, less risk of splinters.
another good choice
I just shave the end of a match down. It’s flat and you can make it pretty thin easily.
Toothpick is absolutely the best solution for this. 3d printed cleaning picks are also usable but aren’t as strong in my experience
Sometimes the toothpick tapers too quickly though and I have break it or shave a bit off to make it fit all the way into the port
Everyone raves about usb-c but despite my hating everything Apple, the lightning port’s physical design is so much better.
Who thought putting a thin circuit board projection inside the port was a good idea?
Lightning is an amazing design but I fucking hate that my XS Max is USB TWO SPEEDS
The port on my old phone broke entirely but it still had wireless charging so I got three more years out of it. Then the display failed and since phones have switched to USB C I figured it was time to upgrade
time to upgrade
They fucking got ya. That’s like a $30 repair and you just threw it in landfill and gave them another grand or more. Weaksauce.
Given that the phone didn’t have USB-C that most likely means it was from like 2016, so it’s fair to say that it’s time to upgrade. Phones have gotten so much better since then, especially the cameras.
If the connector hadn’t changed I probably would have gotten it repaired. But since there’s not aftermarket port swaps I figured I should bite the bullet.
Maybe by 2032 I’ll be ready for a new one again.
Ouch. Why don’t you remind them that their dog is dead as well. Really lay into them.
Also electrical contact cleaner if it’s really nasty
DeoxIT, they have a name and we respect it around here.
A comment like this one saved me from giving up on my aging phone.
No matter how convinced you are you definitely cleaned it, there still could be a little bit more stuck in there.
To add to this, get yourself a USB-C nubbin to protect it going forward.
It’s me! New Cable!
New cable was ineffective against bad port!
Holup, is this real or fan art? When did they make Cable a twink?
Fewer pouches, but still not zero pouches. This tracks.
I’m suspicious of those feet though. They look biologically plausible and therefore wrong for the character.
When we had real headphone jacks the phone lasted longer because you didn’t use the same port for both audio and charging, wearing it out faster.
For me:
USB-B : always doing this rather quiclky
USB-C : never does this
What about you?
B 2.0 or B 3.0?
…did you try cleaning the port?
Get a wireless charger. If your phone is less than ~6 years old it probably supports wireless charging. Can find them for as cheap as $10-15…
So much easier.
Don’t you have to replace the device if it’s USB C because the compliant mechanism is in the port, not the cable?
Lint gets stuck in the base, so the cord will not properly seat. I’ve found that dental floss picks get in there great, and are non conductive.
Charging ports are the belly buttons of the digital world.
It could just be build up in the port. Throwing some sticky tack in there a bunch of times to pull out all the debris has “fixed” multiple devices for me.
