Car Charger Burnt My Phone!

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gsdaheley

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Aug 3, 2006
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I bought a twin USB car charger (2A) from Halfords and a 2M Belkin micro USB from Halfords.

I was using phone as sat nav for a while when one day I noticed a plasticky burning smell. I noticed the charger and my phone were very hot. I pulled the cable out of the phone and as I did, the metal of the cable twisted through the rubber of the cable. I found I couldn't charge the phone with any charger and the port had blackened.

I sent charger back to Halfords and they are carrying out investigations. I sent the phone to Carphone Warehouse for repair under Manufacturer Warranty and am awaiting for them to diagnose the problem.

Has any one had a similar experience?
I am worried both Halfords and Carphone Warehouse will blame each other leaving me with a dud phone. Any advice?

Here are the links to the products I bought:
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_839071_langId_-1_categoryId_165489
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...productId_1007339_langId_-1_categoryId_165635

The assistant in store had a guess that possibly the wire was not rated for 2A? But I think he was reaching.
 
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Chris_c81

Chris_c81

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Dec 31, 2012
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I do a lot of travelling in my line of work and only once have I seen something similar happen to me and oddly it was in my personal car not the work van I drive regularly!

But yes, it was the cable that went. Not sure why. I doubt it was a rating thing to be honest. Its more likely the insulation has failed in the cable somewhere causing a short and to heat up. That will travel the length of the cable so its no wonder it burnt out the socket on the phone especially with the HTC being constructed of metals.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 
S

stevedebi

Senior Member
Sep 7, 2005
3,381
238
Los Angeles
gsdaheley said:
I bought a twin USB car charger (2A) from Halfords and a 2M Belkin micro USB from Halfords.

I was using phone as sat nav for a while when one day I noticed a plasticky burning smell. I noticed the charger and my phone were very hot. I pulled the cable out of the phone and as I did, the metal of the cable twisted through the rubber of the cable. I found I couldn't charge the phone with any charger and the port had blackened.

I sent charger back to Halfords and they are carrying out investigations. I sent the phone to Carphone Warehouse for repair under Manufacturer Warranty and am awaiting for them to diagnose the problem.

Has any one had a similar experience?
I am worried both Halfords and Carphone Warehouse will blame each other leaving me with a dud phone. Any advice?

Here are the links to the products I bought:
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_839071_langId_-1_categoryId_165489
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...productId_1007339_langId_-1_categoryId_165635

The assistant in store had a guess that possibly the wire was not rated for 2A? But I think he was reaching.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

The stock charger is rated at 1.5 amps. Isn't 2 amps too high?

EDIT: I looked it up and it is a twin charger. The question is: do they put the full amps out a single port, or divide it in half, for twin 1 amp charges. I've seen chargers that do one or the other - depends on the design.
 
D

dragunbayne

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2008
365
54
stevedebi said:
The stock charger is rated at 1.5 amps. Isn't 2 amps too high?

EDIT: I looked it up and it is a twin charger. The question is: do they put the full amps out a single port, or divide it in half, for twin 1 amp charges. I've seen chargers that do one or the other - depends on the design.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

It does not matter. It could be rated for 5 amps, a device should only pull as many amps as it needs. As long as the voltage is right and you meet the minimum amperage you're fine.

EDIT: Short version, improper voltage will kill electronics fast.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
 
Y

yuppicide

Senior Member
Mar 11, 2013
397
36
I needed a car charger and I noticed a lot of them said 2A on them. I was told directly from HTC not to buy a charger rated over 1.5A or I could damage the phone.
 
7

7eventy5

Member
Oct 6, 2010
11
2
Frisco, TX
gsdaheley said:
I bought a twin USB car charger (2A) from Halfords and a 2M Belkin micro USB from Halfords.

Has any one had a similar experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

How long have you had the cable? I've seen it several times with cables that have shorts in one of the ends, generally showing signs of ware such as exposed wires, ripples in the outer shield etc... if they were both new then it's probably still the cable at fault, generally when chargers fail they just stop working.
 
Chris_c81

Chris_c81

Senior Member
Dec 31, 2012
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Samsung Galaxy Watch 5
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yuppicide said:
I needed a car charger and I noticed a lot of them said 2A on them. I was told directly from HTC not to buy a charger rated over 1.5A or I could damage the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

This is rubbish and smacks of HTC just covering their arses. I sometimes use a 2amp charger with my M8 in the house and never had a problem. As previous poster said, the phone will draw what it needs.

Aside from that, the M8 supports quick charge 2. Whilst that requires a special charger to work, said charger kicks out nearly 2amps and a higher voltage (9-12v). So I don't think anyone has to worry.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 
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Tejr

Member
Jan 11, 2013
7
5
yuppicide said:
I needed a car charger and I noticed a lot of them said 2A on them. I was told directly from HTC not to buy a charger rated over 1.5A or I could damage the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

This is the problem with HTC support, they don't seem to really know what they are talking about!

I don't understand how the phone will pull more current just because the charger is capable of supplying it. Its like saying, don't plug your phone charger into a wall socket capable of supplying 13A, because it only needs 3A!
 
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Lopan12

Lopan12

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2010
175
62
Raleigh, NC
Tejr said:
This is the problem with HTC support, they don't seem to really know what they are talking about!

I don't understand how the phone will pull more current just because the charger is capable of supplying it. Its like saying, don't plug your phone charger into a wall socket capable of supplying 13A, because it only needs 3A!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Oh man! I better not use my kitchen outlets! Those guys are 20A rated outlets on a 20A breaker!
 
G

gsdaheley

Member
Aug 3, 2006
20
0
Update

So I returned my phone for repair, and after two weeks, they just sent me a replacement. I asked for details on the overheating problem and they fobbed me off saying now the 'repair' was complete they can't contact the repair centre.

I also returned the charger and wire to Halfords, and they exchanged on the spot.

I used the new phone and car charger again, and it seems to be heating up quite a bit again. I'm noticing the charger itself is warming up quite a bit and the phone is getting very hot.

I rang HTC customer services and they said they only offer support on genuine HTC products and told me to go to their shop.

Anyone else have any words of advice on what charger/wire is working well for them?
 
Chris_c81

Chris_c81

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In struggling to understand why you exchanged the charger (which 99.9% probability is the problem) for another, so that it could potentially happen again!? If that was me, I'd have got a refund and bought a different charger.

For what its worth I'm using a Proporta 2a twin in car charger with no problems. I'm using this with a short cable 5-6" long as I hate having long cables trailing in the car.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 
jaggrey

jaggrey

Senior Member
Jun 6, 2008
302
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Does this behavior only happen when you're using navigation and charging at the same time, or does it happen when you just charge? I've noticed with every HTC I've owned that when using GPS and charging, the phone will get pretty warm and the orange LED will start flashing indicating it's overheating.
 
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stevessvt

Senior Member
Nov 6, 2010
2,037
553
Lake Worth
jaggrey said:
Does this behavior only happen when you're using navigation and charging at the same time, or does it happen when you just charge? I've noticed with every HTC I've owned that when using GPS and charging, the phone will get pretty warm and the orange LED will start flashing indicating it's overheating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

This is exactly what happens on mine, using it as navigation, so obviously screen on, on hot dashboard, while voice and music are piped through bluetooth, it overheats my M8 and the LED starts blinking and stops charging, even with power saver on. But, if I shut the screen off for maybe 10 minutes it cools down enough to start charging again.
 
G

gsdaheley

Member
Aug 3, 2006
20
0
Yeah I'm noticing it heats up generally, but especially when using a car charger vs using mains charger.

When I had the issue, there was no warning or light. It just stopped charging and burnt the port and wire.

The reason I went for an exchange was because it's a reputable retailer. Not some eBay product.
 
leongwengheng

leongwengheng

Member
Jan 7, 2014
49
18
London
Interesting point, lyrical1278. I bought a charger for my car when I use Google Maps navigation. I'm a bit worried it will fry my phone though if I'm charging and navigating at the same time.
 
L

lyrical1278

Senior Member
Mar 2, 2009
654
139
HAIL to the Victors!!!! That should tell you plen
leongwengheng said:
Interesting point, lyrical1278. I bought a charger for my car when I use Google Maps navigation. I'm a bit worried it will fry my phone though if I'm charging and navigating at the same time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse


Yeah, I remember plenty of times I was using nav with the charger and the phone would be blistering hot (from previous phones I have used). So I stopped doing that.

I would simply leave it off charger unless I absolutely needed to charge the phone (around 20%). The downside to that is that there is no way around it. If you get a lower rated charger, you risk the device using more power than the charger can give it and doing more harm than good.

This is where the external batteries come in. I use those now since there isn't any more stress on the phone than what it would normally dram from it's own battery. AND the phone doesn't get hot.
 
leongwengheng

leongwengheng

Member
Jan 7, 2014
49
18
London
lyrical1278 said:
Yeah, I remember plenty of times I was using nav with the charger and the phone would be blistering hot (from previous phones I have used). So I stopped doing that.

I would simply leave it off charger unless I absolutely needed to charge the phone (around 20%). The downside to that is that there is no way around it. If you get a lower rated charger, you risk the device using more power than the charger can give it and doing more harm than good.

This is where the external batteries come in. I use those now since there isn't any more stress on the phone than what it would normally dram from it's own battery. AND the phone doesn't get hot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Yeah, feels like the charger I bought was a waste of money now lol. Probably better to just keep an external battery in the car.

I have a USB port in my car, which I used to use, but the battery would go down faster than it would charge at when using GPS/3G/Wifi/etc. I didn't realise that was bad for the phone until reading your post!
 
S

stevessvt

Senior Member
Nov 6, 2010
2,037
553
Lake Worth
A quick fix for over heating in hot climiates would be a vent phone holder, and turn AC on. Its kind of a bobo approach, but it would work. Also I think having a case on is interfering with thermal transfer,..its insulating the phone and keeping some heat from being radiated away by the metal casing.
 
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    Chris_c81
    Chris_c81
    yuppicide said:
    I needed a car charger and I noticed a lot of them said 2A on them. I was told directly from HTC not to buy a charger rated over 1.5A or I could damage the phone.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    This is rubbish and smacks of HTC just covering their arses. I sometimes use a 2amp charger with my M8 in the house and never had a problem. As previous poster said, the phone will draw what it needs.

    Aside from that, the M8 supports quick charge 2. Whilst that requires a special charger to work, said charger kicks out nearly 2amps and a higher voltage (9-12v). So I don't think anyone has to worry.

    Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
    View
    1
    T
    Tejr
    yuppicide said:
    I needed a car charger and I noticed a lot of them said 2A on them. I was told directly from HTC not to buy a charger rated over 1.5A or I could damage the phone.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    This is the problem with HTC support, they don't seem to really know what they are talking about!

    I don't understand how the phone will pull more current just because the charger is capable of supplying it. Its like saying, don't plug your phone charger into a wall socket capable of supplying 13A, because it only needs 3A!
    View
    1
    Chris_c81
    Chris_c81
    lyrical1278 said:
    Just a thought. But, and this CAN actually happen....

    You're really NOT supposed to use a phone while it's charging. That can cause overheating in both the device AND the charger.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    I'm sorry but this is complete nonsense. Three reasons why I think this.

    1) desktop charger-come-stands. Designed to keep your phone charged while still being able to use it.

    2) satnav apps. Your phone is in use while the app is running and you're going to want to plug it in else have a flat battery by end of journey.

    3) in car bluetooth calls. Most likely your phone will be on charge while your phone is taking/making that call.

    I doubt it even says in any manuals you should not use your device while it's charging, given manufacturers of said devices also tend to make official desktop stands too.

    Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
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    Chris_c81
    Chris_c81
    xxquicksh0txx said:
    It's quite common sense that using very intensive apps and charging your phone at the same is bad for it. It'll overheat, which may not be bad for it every once in a while. But over time you're going to shorten the life span of your device.

    A bluetooth phone call hardly requires any extra juice, and it's only going to last a minute.
    Charging your phone while at home, you're not going to be using Google Maps + streaming music + utilizing every single sensor in the phone at the same time.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Right, and you don't think manufacturers take this in to consideration when they design a product?

    I'm not denying that an electronic device won't heat up. But said device would have been subject to lengthy QC tests under every circumstance and situation numerous times. That's AFTER engineers have designed a product to NOT overheat and tweaked it before final build.

    They're designed to heat up but they're also designed to dissipate heat as efficiently as possible.

    Now, that is of course if you're adhering to manufacturer guidelines i.e. using AC adapter supplied or recommended and heading any advice about keeping device free of any obstruction.

    You use a different battery or AC adapter or a case which hinders heat dissipation that is on the individual and is a plausible reason why device may heat up and damage.

    Again nowhere in the manual for HTC ONE M8 does it say you should not use while charging. In fact I refer you to page 15 "charging the battery" where it actual states "while using the internet while charging device may heat up this is normal" or words to that affect.

    ba7a9yva.jpg





    vulcanvillalta said:
    In terms of recharging stuff, just think of it like your body. If you exert yourself, you will use up tons of extra energy. We replenish energy with (sleep and) food. Ignoring the first one, with food, yes we can still function while eating. But we should not be fully exerting ourselves while we eat. We would choke and die. Same thing with a phone. Just allow it to charge, and never make it do too much, because then you're just asking for trouble.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Nice analogy but it doesn't fit the topic of conversation really. This is more an analogy of the charging process. It does not apply to using device while on charge.

    But I'll humour you.

    I can eat an energy bar or drink an energy drink while I'm running on a treadmill. My body might not like that, but it'll deal with it.

    Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
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    1
    Chris_c81
    Chris_c81
    xxquicksh0txx said:
    I never said anything you claimed was wrong.

    I agree that the phone getting hot is normal.
    However, using the Internet to browse Web pages is a lot different and requires a lot less power than using Turn by Turn navigation whilst streaming at the same time with your car in the windshield.


    It's kind of like taking your car to a track day. Cars are meant to get hot and dissipate excess heat.
    However there only so much your radiator and brakes can take before you need to stop, and take a break..

    Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    The problem is we're confusing common sense with manufacturer guidelines.

    Yes, I agree that using common sense, should I be using my phone while it's charging and I noticed it getting worryingly hot, then I would stop using it.

    However, there is nothing in the manufacturer guidelines which either make statements about not using it, or statements about 'applying common sense'.

    Common sense is subjective and open to individual interpretation. If one user destroys his phone (which is honestly unlikely) from it overheating while using it whilst the battery was charging, they would complain to HTC and they would no doubt make a point of mentioning in their complaint that there is nothing in the manual which states you should not use the device whilst charging.

    And HTC are unlikely to reply "you should have used common sense".

    It doesn't really matter about how the phone is being used, whether it's internet browsing or sat nav. If the device was not designed to be used whilst on charge then HTC would have made mention of this in the manual. Given it's not mentioned, it's safe to assume that they tested it to death and it's highly unlikely to destroy your phone.

    And I go back to my original reply. You can plug it in to a charging desktop stand and stream music over 4G whilst connected to your bluetooth headset and have the display on displaying album artwork. You can have GPS and 4G connections on whilst using a graphically intensive sat nav app downloading map data as you go and locking on to your location whilst on charge.

    If you couldn't, if it was of enough concern to HTC, it would have been stated in the manual.
    View

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