Help Charging Port and Battery Issues?

[kwalla]

So... after nearly exactly a year the charging port on my DINC2 has started to fail. My questions are:

1) Sometimes when I plug it in, the orange battery charging light goes on, but the battery continues to fall. Why would it do this? Either it is charging or it's not?

2) At the exact same time, my battery has started to behave oddly. I got the phone to charge to about 46% this morning and had to make a call. Post call I was at 39% -- that's all good. But about ten minutes later (with zero use, just plugged in, orange light on) the low battery warning went off and I was 13%.

I checked it five minutes later and I was down to 9% -- again, no use in between. Nothing downloaded or anything like that.

Could the messed up charging port actually be draining my battery?

3) I stopped by the VW store and lady told me the battery behavior was probably due to how I normally charge the phone. I tend to plug whenever possible even if the battery isn't low. She said I "taught" the battery to have a short life -- I thought that with the current generation of batteries this life/memory thing was bunk, is it?

In any event, I get my new replacement Tuesday, so I just need to limp through a few days. But if I need to keep this battery for the replacement, I guess I may need to buy a new battery.

4) Has anyone here used the charging mats? Can they work with a cover (silicone type cover) on the phone or I'd need to take that off before laying on the mat?

Thanks!

 

[kwalla]

I can answer some of my own questions:

I was looking at the inductive back online at VW.com and decided to use chat and ask the rep if it would work with a protective case. The rep said it would.

So.. I went down to the VW store and asked them if I could test drive the inductive back on the display charging mat. They said I had to buy the back, but if it didn't work I could return it -- fair enough.

The inductive back is ever so slightly thicker than the standard. The case I use is like this one: Amazon.com: Amzer Luxe Argyle Skin Case for HTC DROID Incredible PB31200 - Smoke Gray: Cell Phones & Accessories

With the inductive back on, it still wraps around all four corners.. but bows out at the sides. It still have "face down" protection since it wraps over the corners, but there's slightly less at the sides. The charging port is still accessible, but is nearly blocked due to the case being slightly out of alignment from the thicker back. The volume rocker buttons work fine -- you can feel that the alignment is off, but no issue for me to quickly rock volume up or down. Same with the top power button...the cutout is off just a hair, but no problem working it.

Anyway. I took the time to type all that out because the important part is that with the case on, the inductive charging still worked. Perhaps it will be slower with the case, I've no idea.. and don't care too much as this will be mainly used for overnight charging.

Cost:
The back was about $15 and the charging mat was listed as $69, but rang up as $39... so about $50 (after my corporate discount).

I'll get my replacement phone on Tuesday and have a year to go on my contract, so I'm looking at this as $50 of insurance to help avoid breaking another charging port. Not to mention, I'll just get an inductive case with my next phone and keep using the charger.

Too bad that the Dinc2 has such a unique back, no chance I'll ever be able re-use the new back. However, with the changes VW is doing to their plans and since I still have "unlimited data" -- I may just keep my Dinc2 longer than a year -- keep it until it proper breaks. 3G really is fast enough for what I need.

 

[jethro1200]

My phone just started doing the same thing. We have three of these Incredible 2 and all of them have had port problems but this one is different. The other two just quit charging. This is a strange case to me, hard to blame on software or Verizon, my two favorite trouble makers.
Does anyone have any idea what is going on?

 

[hilmar2k]

She said I "taught" the battery to have a short life -- I thought that with the current generation of batteries this life/memory thing was bunk, is it?

Not surprisingly, this is 100% inaccurate. In fact, with Li-Ion batteries, charging frequently is actually good for them. They do not like to be run down.

 

[bberryhill0]

Yeah but my grandpa told me that I should run my batteries all the way down before charging them so it must be true!