Battery/Charging Issues (Nexus 4)

Cooldood2012 · Jun 6, 2014

I am having problems with my Nexus 4.
History, replaced screen after phone was knocked out of my hand, probably damaged battery while trying to remove it, but everything worked once it was back together.
Screen broke again, and while working on that, I noticed the battery had swollen so ordered a replacement of eBay.
All back together now, but.
1 Phone does not state "charging" when connected to AC or USB charging, although the battery icon has the lightning bolt in it and the %charge does not drop while messing with the phone.
2 Phone does charge using wireless, but slowly, and status swaps back and forth between charging and not charging and the % will move from e.g. 40% to 35% as it says charging or not charging.
3 USB works for connection to PC.
I charged the new battery overnight, wirelessly. It got to about 90%, so slow charging, but seems to work. Phone is usable, everything seems to work. I connected it to PC and was able to use Nexus Root Toolkit to backup, the reset the phone, no change in charging behavior.
Booting into safe mode made no difference either. So it seems it is not software/firmware/apps that are causing the problem?
I guess next step is to open it up again and remove and remake all connections and check contact posts? Should I order a third battery? Or a new motherboard?
I searched here, but could not find anyone with the same problem.
Any and all help appreciated. Thanks in advance, guys.

Cooldood2012 · Jun 9, 2014

Opening and rechecking connections and coating with contact cleaner has made no difference.
Phone typically needs Volume Down and Power button pressed to get it to start, then Power Button to select start option, then seems to run okay.
Battery still not reaching 100% charged, generally 70-80% after a full night off, using wireless (my Nexus 5 charges happily on same charger).

Ordered a cheap battery from China, not really expecting that to be the problem, but no other clues or suggestions for now.

uncle_buckman · Aug 2, 2014

Any update?

My battery is ****e now, lasts 3-4 hours and I need to turn off the phone and charge. It takes 4+ hours to charge when switched on. Charging via the PC you can forget it, it drains the battery if anything!

I'm thinking of buying the battery on eBay and doing my research on how to fix myself.

zanyguy · Aug 7, 2014

Phone not switching on and Battery issues

Hi,

I have been facing quick drainage of my Nexus 4 battery since past few months. Recently I had been keeping it on charge almost the whole day, and a full charge would last only 2-3 hours! Further, the charging was taking a lot of time too.

Today, my phone had already switched off due to low battery when I put it on charger. After the white charging icon appeared for a few seconds, the phone wasn't charging at all. I have tried 4 different chargers, but to no avail.

Can someone help me? Is there a guide on how to change the battery?

Any help and urgent help appreciated!
Zany!

Planterz · Aug 7, 2014

Cooldood2012 said:
II guess next step is to open it up again and remove and remake all connections and check contact posts? Should I order a third battery? Or a new motherboard?
I searched here, but could not find anyone with the same problem.

It's possible some hardware was damaged when you took apart and put back together your phone. The USB board is a possibility, as is the back cover itself. These parts are pretty inexpensive, if you want to try buying a replacement, but that's just a shot in the dark.

uncle_buckman said:
Any update?

My battery is ****e now, lasts 3-4 hours and I need to turn off the phone and charge. It takes 4+ hours to charge when switched on. Charging via the PC you can forget it, it drains the battery if anything!

I'm thinking of buying the battery on eBay and doing my research on how to fix myself.

Buy a new battery. Li-ion batteries are only good for a few hundred cycles or so (~500 cycles is the expected lifetime), and the N4 isn't exactly the best in battery life, so you can reach the point where your battery turns to crap within a year or so (or less).

Go to ifixit.com and look at the teardown. All you need to replace the battery is a T5 TORX driver (for the screws at the bottom), something thin and plastic (like a guitar pick or a plastic knife - they do make professional tools for this) to pry the back cover off, a tiny phillips screwdriver (like for eyeglasses) for the battery screws, and something to pry the old battery off of the adhesive holding it in. Double sided cellophane tape works fine for keeping the new battery in. When prying the cover off, go slowly. A little at a time, don't rush or force things. Or you might flex too much and crack the back glass. Don't forget to take out the SIM tray first.

zanyguy said:
Hi,

I have been facing quick drainage of my Nexus 4 battery since past few months. Recently I had been keeping it on charge almost the whole day, and a full charge would last only 2-3 hours! Further, the charging was taking a lot of time too.

Today, my phone had already switched off due to low battery when I put it on charger. After the white charging icon appeared for a few seconds, the phone wasn't charging at all. I have tried 4 different chargers, but to no avail.

Can someone help me? Is there a guide on how to change the battery?

Time for a new battery. See above.

marcusorwen · Aug 7, 2014

My battery have started to swollen up a bit but not alot (around 1mm or less, but it is noticeable when not in a case, it can wiggle a bit from side to side but not alot at all).

I have already ordered a new battery if it is expanding more, but yet battery life is pretty good in standby but not getting more then 3hours of SOT. but since im mostly using the N4 for email's and texting its not a problem for me to get through a full day.

apocolypsecow · Aug 7, 2014

I'm having the exact same issue but I've never taken the phone apart. In the 20 minutes its been off charger it's dropped 11% screen off in my pocket. It also gets hot and shuts off.

Planterz · Aug 7, 2014

apocolypsecow said:
I'm having the exact same issue but I've never taken the phone apart. In the 20 minutes its been off charger it's dropped 11% screen off in my pocket. It also gets hot and shuts off.

That could be software/ROM related. It sounds like somethings keeping your phone going full blast instead of letting it idle.

CalculatedRisk · Aug 8, 2014

Yup, trying going back to full stock (should always be first step if possible), and then you can go from there. If it doesn't happen, than it was a software issue, and if it still does than it is definitely a hardware issue. Best of luck.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Free mobile app

---------- Post added at 04:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:27 AM ----------

With a swollen battery I strongly recommend you stop actively using the device. Swollen batteries can explode and that would not be good at all. I advise you to please not use the device anymore.

EDIT: Spelling

Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Free mobile app

Cooldood2012 · Aug 14, 2014

Third battery (original, suspect replacement, now China sourced replacement) has been working well, phone back together and preforming as new for the last few months

Topics

Topics

Battery/Charging Issues (Nexus 4)

Cooldood2012

New member

Cooldood2012

New member

uncle_buckman

Senior Member

zanyguy

Member

Planterz

Senior Member

marcusorwen

Member

apocolypsecow

New member

Planterz

Senior Member

CalculatedRisk

Senior Member

Cooldood2012

New member

Similar threads

New posts