FixYa.com
Technical Support, Instructions & Repair Service

Back to:


Phone won't charge at all? No lights? Fix it...

PCTServices
By Wiz PCTServices
Rank: Wiz
Rating: 85%, 244 votes
posted on Oct 02, 2007
FixYa! (100)


Your battery has been depleted past a chargable state.  This is a due to a bad design in the phone that doesn't monitor the battery power state well enough.  It actually allows the battery to be taken under the minimum amount needed to recharge the battery. 

You can fix this, but do so at your own risk.

You can simply purchase a new battery, that will work, just been sure not to let it deplete the battery totally anymore.

Now, on to the fix

-Take out the battery.
-Get any usb cable you can find sitting around. (any usb wire will do, an old printer cable, anything with a usb end that can plug into your computer)
-cut one end of the plug off. You need to leave the side on that connects to your computer. Cut off the side that plugs into a device (printer, camera, web cam, etc)
-Strip the rubber off the wire and expose the wires inside.
-Separate the wires from each other. You will only be using the BLACK and RED wires.
-strip the very end of the black and red wires carefully using a wire cutter exposing the metal wire inside the red and black covering.
-Plug in your home made battery charger to your computer. Careful not to touch any exposed metal, as it will give you a small shock.
****WARNING****
DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ALLOW THE RED AND BLACK WIRE TO TOUCH EACH OTHER
****WARNING****

-now carefully hold the black wire to the negative terminal on the battery (it should be noted with a black circle with a - in the middle). Then touch the red wire to the positive terminal (it will be noted with a red circle with a + in the middle).

Hold the 2 wires there for 20 seconds. Then quickly plug the battery back into the phone, and then plug it into a regular charger. Give it little bit of time, if you've done everything correctly the charge light should come on.

I had to repeat the last step again to get the light to turn on indicating it was charging.

You must not hold the wires to the battery for too long, 20 seconds should do it. You can overload a battery with this trick and actually make it explode if you hold it there too long. You are well within the few minutes needed to detonate the battery due to overcharging by sticking very strictly to 20 seconds.

Just be careful and you'll be fine.

One you get a charge light give it a few minutes in the off position, then try powering up the device and keep it plugged in until you get 100% charge.

Good luck,

Peter





Did you find this Tip Helpful?

Comment #1
posted on Jul 18, 2008

fantabulous
By Apprentice fantabulous
Rank: Apprentice
Rating: 0%, 0 votes

Thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!


You Helped me so much, If i knew who you were i would kiss you cause You made my day.. These are the days that I apprieciate the internet... Thank you thank you :x
Comment #2
posted on Jul 10, 2008

RalphRhineau
By Apprentice RalphRhineau
Rank: Apprentice
Rating: 0%, 0 votes

Peter,

You nailed the problem on the head!

When I implemented your fix, I disassembled of my wife's Apple one-button mouses instead of cutting the USB cable apart. This allowed me to connect the wires by clipping together the clips from the mouse and the visor battery. If I wanted to, I could reassemble the Apple mouse, but I don't plan to.

I too needed two tries to get the battery to hold enough charge for the Visor to sense the presence of the low-charge battery. I started by following your 20 second charge recommendation, followed that with a 40 second charge, and it's now happily blinking it's green LED at me as the cradle is continuing to recharge my Visor.

Thanks for a terrific simple fix!

Ralph Rhineau
Comment #3
posted on Jun 10, 2008

UNKOWN3553
By Apprentice UNKOWN3553
Rank: Apprentice
Rating: 0%, 0 votes

PETER

Comment by UNKOWN3553, posted on Jun 10, 2008

PETER THIS TIP WAS HELLA HEPFUL I HAD MY MDA FOR 1 YEAR NOW AND HAD 3 NEW BATTERIES THAT COSTED ME UP TO 100$ BUT SINCE U GAVE THIS TIP I CAN NOW FIX MY MDA NO PROBLEM AND SAVING ME MONEY THANKS ALOT MAN KEEP THIS UP

THANK YOU,

RYAN

Comment #4
posted on May 21, 2008

Toymangenie
By Apprentice Toymangenie
Rank: Apprentice
Rating: 0%, 0 votes

I used a standard 3310 type Nokia charger.
The charging plug has a small hole (+) - just the right size for a straightened length of paper clip.
The rest of the paper clip was wrapped around the larger diameter plug sleeve (-).
I then trimmed and bent the resulting ends to match the distance between the XDA battery terminals marked + and - and was able to hold a decent connection for several minutes.
When I measured the voltage with a voltmeter, it was showing 3.7 volts.
I then plugged the battery back into the XDA which was already connected to the mains charger unit and within a second or two, the orange charge light flicked a couple of times and then lit solid. - Job done.
Thanks for the explanation - What a stupid idea - the battery won't charge because its flat!

Ralph

Comment #5
posted on May 05, 2008

FalconGrey
By Apprentice FalconGrey
Rank: Apprentice
Rating: 0%, 0 votes

Excellent tip! I took it a step further... Ordered a new battery, however it came too low of voltage. My old battery was barely holding its charge but had a little for a few minutes. Took it and charged it as full as it could go then jumpered the positive to positive and negative to negative for about 20 seconds. Dropped it into the phone a up she started so I could charge my MDA's new battery and give it life once more!
Comment #6
posted on Jan 08, 2008

pilotair
By Apprentice pilotair
Rank: Apprentice
Rating: 0%, 0 votes

Hi,

I would like some help reg, the T-Mobile MDA charging.
I got 2 batteries, 1 is dead cos of this battery metering issue and the other is still on the run.
When I charge the mda through a wall power supply it indicates that its charging....so lets say that battery was 50% after some time gets 100%.
The strange thing is that when i reset the mda the battery level goes back down to 52%, or if No reset will go down rapidly until it reaches 52%....

This is very very strange...and used to happen on both batteries before one of them actually went dead.
So eventually to have it charged like 95% i have to reset the device to an un-countable times.
I tried different chargers even from pc.
It's very strange that the batteries life time has like expired at the same time no ?

PLEASE have anyone encountered this problem so far ???

Kindly Reply on derek.pk@gmail.com


Many Thanks

Comment #7
posted on Dec 28, 2007

pradeep_m
By Apprentice pradeep_m
Rank: Apprentice
Rating: 0%, 0 votes

Hi,
i got new Imate-jaq. I am facing problem in synchronising the imatejaq with my PC.
I have installed the Activesync4.0 in PC and the tried to connect through this softwre, but the message displayed while connecting is" Device is not found".
II want to know whether there is problem in the imate-jaq, or we have to configure settings in Imate-jaq to synchronise with PC.
One more thing is that while connect the imate- jaq through USB, the device is not recognised by PC.
Please give me some suggestion on how to syncronise PC-Imatejaq.



Comment #8
posted on Dec 27, 2007

Freddy Mac
By Apprentice Freddy Mac
Rank: Apprentice
Rating: 0%, 0 votes

Peter, You are the Man..worked like a charm..Thank you..

Best Regards,
Freddy

Comment #9
posted on Dec 09, 2007

uzcaliber
By Apprentice uzcaliber
Rank: Apprentice
Rating: 0%, 0 votes

Thank you very much for the tips. I would like to add that 20 sec is not necessary long enough. I used a multimeter to measure the potential of the battery. I had to charge the battery to the point where the potential was around 3.4V before it worked. Below that it's not enough to power the MDA to trigger charging.

Can you Help with these PDAs problems?

T-Mobile MDA
mda vario mk one
i cracked my screen i noticed... Answer This...
T-Mobile MDA
MDA will not charge
Hi, When my MDA is plugged in... Answer This...
T-Mobile MDA
Will not power on
The phone willnot power on and... Answer This...
T-Mobile MDA
Htc touch don't want to start
my htc touch needs reset almost... Answer This...
T-Mobile MDA
MDA Vario III sound prob
Hi, I have a new MDA Vario III... Answer This...

Sponsored Links

Repair Service
Find PDA Repairman Near You:

FixYa does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any information provided through its proposed solutions, posts, or Expert Assistance Sessions. By entering this site you declare you read and agreed to its Terms. You may NOT copy or distribute the content that appears on this site without written permission from FixYa Inc.
© 2005-2008, FixYa, Inc. or its affiliates