Mobile is charged if power is off

This is a post from our smartphone FAQ section. To see other questions please click here. 

Yes. Once your phone, tablet or any other electronic device that charges in a similar fashion has completed its charge, it will continue to use energy if it remains connected to the power source.

Once the phone is fully charged, it will continue to use a small amount of energy even in standby mode. The charger will therefore continue to replenish the supply of energy. This is known as Trickle Charging. It doesn’t consume as much energy as when it’s charging an empty battery, but it does still use a small amount.

Many handsets are now advanced enough to reduce the energy used to a minimum, but it is a waste of electricity so you should unplug if possible.

Does keeping your phone plugged in kill the battery?

Yes, but not really enough to worry about it too much.

Continual charging of the battery will gradually reduce its capacity over time, but this process will take several years.  For those of us that change our handset every one to two years this isn’t so much of a problem, but if you plan on keeping your handset for longer you should take care of its battery where possible. This is especially true for those handsets which have a unibody design and a battery that is not easily removed by the user.

Strictly speaking rechargeable batteries in electronics should be partially discharged before they are charged again. In an ideal world your battery should be close to being completely flat before it’s recharged again, but naturally this isn’t always practical.

How can I tell when my phone is fully charged?

Many phones now come with an LED indicator that will signal when battery is critically low, in the process or charging or when it is fully charged. However, this isn’t always the case and if your phone does not have a notification LED, the Full Battery & Theft Alarm app (for Android) is worth checking out.

The app will sound an alarm either when your battery is fully charged or when the handset is unplugged from its charger. This is great if you need do not have the means to charge the handset within close proximity to what you are doing.

Should I charge my phone overnight?

Many people choose to charge their handset overnight so that it has full battery in the morning. This isn’t a bad things and as mentioned it would take a long time to have an impact on battery life. If you do have the means to charge it for an hour or two before you go to bed though, this option is slightly better in terms of battery health, saving energy and also safety (see below).

If you do charge before you go to bed, leaving the phone on standby overnight will not use much battery at all, provided you have things such as Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and mobile data switched off.

Is it dangerous to ‘overcharge’ a phone?

Yes, to an extent, but it’s not that frequent for a problem to arise. Once a phone has reached a 100% charge, the protection circuit will prevent it from charging any further, i.e. over charging. However, should the protection circuit fail (which is extremely rare) there could be problems.

In the case of one Reddit user, his Samsung Galaxy S3 exploded while charging overnight (photos here). In this kind of situation ‘extremely rare’ wouldn’t be much of a consolation if the phone was close enough to do you some damage.

Fortunately the user escaped unharmed, but if you are charging your phone overnight make sure it’s a reasonable distance away from you and that it isn’t covered in any way, which could cause it to overheat.

Do mobile phone chargers use electricity when plugged in without a phone?

Yes, although it is a very small amount. The same goes for all electric devices though – TVs, microwaves, DVD players, etc. If they are left plugged in, even when turned off completely, they will continue to use a small amount of energy. Individually the amount of energy consumed is minuscule, but collectively – across a whole nation – a fair bit of power is consumed in this way, so we should unplug is possible.

Download and Use Policy

This Site is owned by Edison International. Unless otherwise indicated, all of the content featured or displayed on this Site, including but not limited to, text, graphics, data, photographic images, moving images, sound, illustrations, computer code, trade marks and logos and the selection and arrangement thereof (referred to in this section as the "Content") is owned by Edison International, its licensors or its third-party image partners and all rights in relation to the Content are reserved. All Content is protected by copyright, trade dress, moral rights, trade mark rights and other laws relating to the protection of intellectual property. You may use the Content for your personal, or news-related, non-commercial use, but you may not otherwise reproduce, modify or in any way commercially exploit the Content.

Every editorial product is independently selected, though we may be compensated or receive an affiliate commission if you buy something through our links. Ratings and prices are accurate and items are in stock as of time of publication.

While some might mock society’s reliance on cell phones, it cannot be understated how useful of a tool a modern smartphone can be during an emergency.

The cell phone is pretty much technology’s answer to the Swiss army knife. Just one phone with a data plan can give you access to local emergency updates and cutting-edge weather-tracking apps, as well as providing a way to communicate with the outside world when other methods fail.

During an unexpected power outage, prioritizing your cell phone battery level isn’t a sign you’re addicted to social media. It’s a vital part of emergency preparedness.

The first thing you need to do when your power goes out is make sure your phone isn’t using any more of its battery than it needs to. Shut down any and all applications running in the background and only open an app if you truly need to access it.

Also be sure to turn off your device’s WiFi, location services and Bluetooth, since each draws on your phone’s battery even if they aren’t being used directly. If your phone has the option, turn on “Low Battery Mode” (which should be accessible through the battery settings) and dim the brightness of your screen as low as you can go without straining your vision.

And don’t use your phone to play music or podcasts to pass the time during a power outage. It’s better to be bored than drain your phone’s battery during an emergency.

How to Store Cell Phone Charge

Charge All Your Devices

The best way to make sure your phone doesn’t run out of charge during a power outage is to keep plenty of spare battery power stored specifically for emergencies. If you know a major storm is on the way, fully charge all your devices ahead of time. This is especially important because the USB ports on a fully-charged laptop can charge cell phone batteries for hours.

While it might seem counterintuitive to use one battery-powered device to charge another, it’s better in an emergency if your phone (the device that can connect to a 4G network) has power instead of a device that relies on a WiFi connection.

Invest In Power Banks

Another efficient way to store battery power is through portable chargers or “power banks.” These devices can store enough battery power to charge your phone multiple times over.

Many high-quality power banks can store battery power for months without losing any of that charge over time. All it takes is a little bit of planning ahead. Buy a power bank, charge it up all the way up, and throw it in with the rest of your emergency supplies. The next time your power goes out you’ll have a dependable and reusable source of battery power on hand.

Another power source available during a power outage is your car battery. Vehicles made in the last ten years or so will likely have built-in USB ports for your phone’s charging cable. If your vehicle lacks USB ports, USB car adapters are typically inexpensive and do the job just as well.

Crank-Powered Phone Chargers

While they’re definitely not the most efficient method for charging a phone, hand-crank phone chargers are one of the few ways to do it without a battery source. You’ll need to crank really hard to generate a useable phone charge, and it likely won’t last for long. But even a few minutes of battery life can go a long way during an emergency.

Originally Published: March 03, 2021

Of course, you don’t want to turn off your phone anytime you charge it. You obviously want to receive alerts, reply to texts, or complete your movie series.  But why you have the problem of phone charging only when switched off? Why do you always have to turn off your phone to recharge it? Well, that could be caused by many reasons, and you’ll get it fixed right after reading this article.

Why is my phone only charging when switched off?

In most cases, your phone that charges only when switched off could result from simple issues like a faulty charging port or temporary system glitches. And in other cases, it could be as critical as a damaged motherboard. Nonetheless, the good news is that you can correct the issue. And that’s why we’re here.

Here are some reasons your phone is only charging when switched off. By sourcing the problems, you could find solutions to them easily.

Faulty charging port

The most common causes of phones not charging until switched off are caused by faulty charging ports.

As you already know, the charging port acts as a ‘connector between your phone and the USB cable. However, it malfunctions once the port is in critical conditions – such as when it’s wet, dirty, dusty, or got rusted after contact with liquid.

Once there’s a defect in the charging port, it reduces the amount of current your phone can take in. And once such happens, your phone only charges when switched off. Even with that, it charges sluggishly in its switched off state.

How do you fix that? You can learn how to clean your phone’s charging port. Or better still, visit the official repair centre to fix it.  

Bad battery

Besides a broken charging port, your phone may not charge when turned on if the battery is no longer good. Like any other type of battery, your phone’s battery may become weak after hundreds of recharge cycles and years of usage.

With that, it repels the current when you plug in your charger, and the electricity goes directly into your phone as you use it rather than charging the battery first. In such a case, it doesn’t matter if you use another charger or charging method; your phone won’t charge until switched off.

If that’s what’s happening on your phone, then you need to replace its battery. Visit the official service provider for your brand to replace the damaged battery. They’ll diagnose your phone and tell if your battery needs replacement or you need to fix another issue to make your phone charge normally.

Related: How to Know If Your Cell Phone Battery Needs To Be Replaced

Could be a result of a faulty mainboard sometimes

If it’s not caused by a bad battery, then it could be a faulty motherboard. The mainboard (or motherboard) acts as a universal connector where all the components on your phone are connected. And once the area that maintains the charging of your phone is affected, it might not charge normally again. Hence, a technician needs to diagnose and fix what’s wrong with the motherboard.

Not sure your motherboard is damaged? Various things could damage your phone’s motherboard, including liquids, overheating, high charging voltage (usually after using an unsuitable charger), overusing your phone, and many more.

However, you can’t tell by yourself if a faulty motherboard causes your phone to only charge when switched off. The reason is the mainboard is complex and it requires a highly experienced technician to diagnose and fix it. So, you should visit the repair centre to fix such an issue.

Faulty cable/charger

After all said, your charger and its USB cable also have a high impact on if your phone will charge or not. If you have a damaged USB cable or your charging brick is incompatible, your phone would likely not charge when turned on. And if it charges when switched off, it’s not going to charge normally.

To fix that, we recommend you try switching to another USB cable. You probably have many of them lying in your drawer. And if not, get one from your friend.

If that still didn’t do the trick, then you may need to use another charging brick as well. Or better still, try to change to another charging source/method.

If switching to another charge feels like you just wasted your time and effort, then your phone could be faulty as per the three faults mentioned earlier. Visit a technician!

Software issues and heavy usage

More often than not, software glitches could cause your phone not to charge when it’s turned on and active. If that’s it,  then the reason your phone only charge when switched off is that the abnormalities in the software keep running and affecting the charging process when your phone is turned on.

To fix that, you need to address the issue. Start by updating your phone to the latest version.

If updating your device does not fix the issue, still, you may need to cut down on heavy usage while charging your phone. If you're playing a high-graphics game, downloading stuff in the background, and doing other heavy tasks, your phone might have a hard time recharging the battery. The charging current goes straight to the phone instead of charging the battery first.

In that case, all you need to do is close all your running apps, then let your phone charge for a while before reusing it. Also, we recommend you restart your phone first to refresh the system, then leave it to charge before you bounce back to using it

Where to fix your phone that’s charging only when switched off

Many times, phones charging problems have nothing to do with software glitches. And sometimes too, your charger might be working in perfect condition. In such cases, you need professional assistance.

Especially for a broken charging port, damaged batteries, and faulty charging port, only an experienced and reliable technician can rectify them. With that, we recommend you only visit the official repair center for your brand when you’re ready to fix the silly problem.

Do you own an Infinix, itel, or TECNO device, you must follow your kind heart to be on this page. Carlcare is the exclusive customer support provider for these brands, and we’re always ready to help you.

At Carlcare, our technicians are trained and authorized by TECNO, Infinix, and itel to repair your phone. So, you can rest assured of getting high-quality repair service and genuine spare parts when you walk into any of our service centers.

If fixing this issue requires battery replacement, Carlcare provides the original one sourced from your brand’s factory. They’re tested to serve you for the long run and you also get a warranty afterward.

What’re are you waiting for? Book an online reservation with us today to repair your phone in the shortest possible time!