Charging problems / tilted position in order to charge

yes, that’s what they said, that the board is broken in the place where the connector sits. but i hope the good people at the berlin klinik will know about these tricks?

If the board is able to boot and can somehow connect to the outside world (wifi/bluetooth/SD card), then I’d imagine any decent repair place should be able to get at most of the data for you without too much hassle.

danke für den tipp mit dem universalcharger - das werde ich tun :slight_smile:

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Hi everyone,

I’ve been having exactly the same issues - fairphone 1, failing to charge unless one of my chargers is held in a very specific position - even then it sometimes does not transfer charge even though it says it is connected. So I was wondering:

  • Has anyone experimented with a contactless charger that doesnt need cables at all?

  • And if so, does anyone know if there are any/what kind of contactless chargers are compatible with this battery/phone?

Thanks for your help,
Pete

Unfortunately those chargers require a foil-like adapter inside the phone that leads to (read: requires) the USB port.

Hi there,

I purchased my FP1 two years ago but I am giving it up now - just like any other damn phone on the market I will have to purchase another one because it cant be repaired. And I have tried, yes I did:

First of all: I LOVE the idea. Not love like any presidential candidate loves anyone and anything but really the idea moved me and amongst all the great things fairphone stands for I find the idea to keep your phone as long as possible an honorable one. I have had uncountable phones in my life and it is simply not good. So I bought the FP1. With the special cover.

In the meantime I had a few questions to the customer support over the years and it seems that you (fairphone guys) have significantly improved in this area. From super long waiting times to fast answering and reminder and follow up mails. My battery died - exchanged. My cover and back had issues - changed. But now the most annoying part - I cant charge my phone anymore if the cable is not held steadily at a certain angle, a problem everyone has encountered in his life I am sure, this damn part cannot be exchanged. Because you dont know if it will ever be produced. The tipp to go to a good cell phone repair service didnt help. I have literally 5 cell phone repair services around my street, no one seems to be able. Now I tried long time to ignore the problem but in fact even if I plug it in it only charges in 30% of the cases which makes it impossible to use it. And that is too much. I have used the FP even though it is an inferior product (I have an iPhone as company phone so it is not very fair to compare though) that is not very fast, not super smart in its functions (from superuser to the inbuilt browser that cannot even detect a mobile version of a page in around 80% of the time) and not very applicable for my use cases (I run a lot, the bluetooth connection always breaks, I have switched to my company phone).

So…what should I do? Even though the idea is great and it is better to invest in a FP than in a regular phone I am quite frankly pissed that the life time is 2,5years for an inferior product. I dont want to hear the 3 “reason whys” from your website repeated. The products promise didnt come true and I honestly dont know what to do. Supporting the idea even though reality doesnt hold up to it seems equally wrong. For the same price as a FP2 I could get a better phone that also lasts 2,5 years. Sorry for my rant I just had very high hopes but looking at my phone which says it is charging but somehow didnt make it over 7% over night (again in 30% the cases it charges completely) I cannot use it. SUCKS!

Best regards,
kajetan

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This is a community forum and you cannot address the Fairphone team here. For that you have to send your rant to Fairphone support.

I don’t know where you live, but most of these repair shops are confirmed to be able to repair your USB connector:

I myself had the Vienna one repair my USB connector, which took them three tries, hut eventually works well. I can continue to charge my phone now. I hope you can find one that is more professional than “the five around your corner”.

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I think I had similar thoughts when my USB connector broke.

I went to three repair stores - the third finally took my device and repaired it.

Yep, I totally agree. Having a soldering iron is one thing, but actually being capable to use it properly and these days often on tiny, miny smd parts with almost no space between is something quite different.
Someone might simply fry your super thin multi-layer pcb or turn a large part of it info one solid solder block.

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I feel your pain! I am having the same problem. So annoyed too, as I wholeheartedly support ‘the idea’… my phone is only about 18 months old and my connection is the same. I have read this a few times on here too, which means its a fault with their product, not just a one off.

I have been persevering for months, trying to angle it in any direction so the little red light comes on saying its charging… but sometimes it just drains the battery. Its very poor.

If, like some of your responses suggest, that another repair store could fix it…then why are FP not recalling these ones and welding the connection back on, or whatever these other guys are doing?! Its so disappointing. :frowning:

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I think that they don’t have the capacity to do microsoldering. If they’d grill your motherboard they would be liable, so they would need some repair professionals, which they simply don’t have. Letting a local shop do the job is your only chance, I’m afraid.

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I have just found out that Fairphone cannot fix my less than 18 month old phone (which isnt that old in my opinion!) I opted for FP so if something like this happened, I could fix it myself. Even though this is how they have marketed their phones, Im now left with a faulty product. My phone doesnt charge properly due to a loose connection. I have read on here that others have also experienced this problem, seems like a fault with the model! I’ve been told I need a new motherboard, but FP cant provide it! Can anyone help me??

Contact a local repair shop and ask if they can resolder the USB connector.

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Until you have found a repair shop and got the USB connector fixed (a compatible replacement USB connector – as you can find deep in the thread that Stefan linked to – is the MOLEX 105017-0001), you might want to get a universal charger that can accommodate a battery of 5.3 cm width.

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good plan, I didnt think of removing the batter and charging it outwith the phone. thanks. I’ll have a look.

yeh, i just read the same advice on another thread with someone experiencing the same issues. Seems its a common problem, which indicates a faulty product! Also, if it’s fixable by resoldering it, FP should be offering that fix! Thanks for your message.

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The soldering job is quite tricky, so not every repair shop will be able to do it. And some might not want to risk it. The USB connector is the part at the very top, one third from the left:

Picture: iFixit.com

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@KajetanSB @dilemma: I moved your posts here, as this topic deals with the very same problem.

Hi everyone!

That’s not going to surprise anybody here if I tell you that I have the same problem :slight_smile:
Plus the fact that the battery rate is often crashing from 20% to 15% to 7% to 4% in less than a minute… But that’s another issue…

I have the charging problem for a year now I think… And I still had the chance to find ways to charge it. I don’t know why but it seems that the phone has his own humours… For a week I have not so much troubles to charge it (still have to find the good position) and for another week I’m almost living without any phone… Because he refuses every cables or charging positions…

I manage to place a little piece of paper between the USB and the front cover so that the USB stays well pressed against the motherboard. It seems that it improved for a while but now I’m back to the “who knows if I’ll be able to call you tomorrow” period…
I’m about to buy a new back cover (the camera protection is broken, so cannot take any good pictures…) and a new battery because I’m leaving soon for a long trip around the world and I want to believe that I’ll be able to fix my USB connection in a close future.

I went in one repair shop (in a small city in France) and they simply said that they had no insurance to take care of this Fairphone brand. So they simply refused even to touch my phone and see it… I’ll try others sooner or later to see what they can do.
Thanks for the tips about the compatible USB and if I find a repair shop who can deal with this I’ll tell you.
Anyway, what do you think about the possibility to reference all the repair shops which accept to take care of our lovely FP in the same place? Maybe it already exists… But I’m asking in case :slight_smile:
So on my way when travelling if I go in a city where one of you found a good repair shop for USB issues on FP and that my problem is not fixed yet I’ll definitely go say hello :slight_smile:

Have a nice day!

Yes, here’s the (unfortunately short) list:

I hope people will add more entries! :slight_smile: