Charging the FP2 / cable problems

In my opinion it is primarily a cable problem . Now I 've tried a lot of cable . My old cable is not working . Regardless of which charger . For all other smartphones without any problems. I also bought a new cable. This cable works well not on Fairphone , but on all other smartphones. Its really crazy. My charger works all.
I then tried cable from a friend . These worked , we then exchanged . Previously worked for charging only one cable with Micro-USB-adapter-cable of a Multi-Charger. I hope I have the problem now solved in the long term . However, I can not understand technically and it was very frustrating problems

There is a difference between charging cables (two threaded) and data cables (four threaded). For charging a FP2 you need a data cable, as a charging cable wonā€™t work.

Hello , I can not confirm . I have a cable (my old one) that easily works as a data cable with the Fairphone 2, but not for charging . With other phones it workes both before.

Now hereā€™s a good one (and interesting as well):
(maybe also of interest for @borjan)

So far I had no problems with any charging devices. Used 4 different old chargers (3 different brands), additionally 3 different cables, and a powerbank, all worked fine!

Yesterday I came to my office and plugged in the phone on my computer with the cable I had in the office, and it didnā€™t charge. The battery symbol always jumped between as if it was charging / non charging, the work computer made noises as if I would constantly plug in / plug out the device. The phone didnā€™t get charged, in fact, it even drained 2 or 3 % before I unplugged.

Good thing was that I also had a cable with me from home, with which I plugged in the phone in the same USB slot, without any problems. Now the funny and interesting part: both cables are the same model: Samsung APCBU10BBE, though they are from different batches (one made in China - which works, one made in Vientam).

BTW: The cable which didnā€™t work on my FP2 does work fine though for other phones!

Edit: Another interesting aspect I just figured:
When looking on the micro usb side I realized, that the cable not working was missing a connector (it only had four, not five like the working one). Connector 4 from schematics is missing on the non-working cable.

Close up of non working cable: only 4 connectors, pin 4 missing.

Very interesting observation! Unfortunately, it seems not to be the reason for all. My cable also has only 4 connectors and pin 4 missing and itā€™s the data cable Iā€™ve used so far for charging via PC and even for flashing the phone. :wink: It also works with a charger.

Maybe the charging logic in FP2 is sensitive to voltage drop so it cease charging if voltage drops even slightly?

I have not noticed this with fairphone, but in other projects have used some cables that had very low conductor copper area, and thus too much drop to charge at full rate. The power clients there (ā€œUSB power banksā€) did not stop charging, but needed more time to charge.

A variant of this could be worn connectors in combination with some variance of the connector internal dimensions (both between cables and between phones) so some combinations of cable/phone have a larger contact pressure than others. (been there too, but with laptop/USB A side of cables)

But as some here reported that it depends more on the charger than cable, and the voltage (5 to 5,2 volts) and current rating of the charger did not seem to matter, it may be dependant on how well the charger regulate the output when loaded.

It would be interesting to have one (with FP2) non working charger, and then add a large capacitor (10.000 uF or more) on the cable just for testing to see if that helps. (yes i love my soldering iron :slight_smile: )

But so far, all my chargers seem to work with FP2 ā€œunfortunatelyā€.

exactly the same here :slightly_smiling:

Also, I can confirm that the Anker charger that was posted above is working. Thanks @Paule!

I have the feeling, that all we do here are shots in the dark. The circumstances which determine, if the FP2 is beeing charged seem to be quite erratic. For some of us, everything is fine, for some it depends on the cable, for others itā€™s on the charger. And then, itā€™s not only the charger, that matters. Itā€™s also, if the phone is turned on or off. And sometimes the charging starts properly but after a couple of hours it stopps and then starts to drain the battery.
I think we would need a proper, good equiped testing facility, a variety of working/not working FP2-cable-charger combinations, and people who know what to do. Unfortunately Iā€™m not one of them.

I have the same problem with 2 different Apple chargers, which unload the battery rather than loading it! Using a standard Belkin charger works well.

I have a problem too. I donā€™t think it is because of the charger, but more because of the micro usb port. It happened with my Sony Xperia before too: since yesterday night, the only way to get the battery charging is to put the charger usb plug realy deep into the the port and squeeze the cable, That does mean: to charge, I need to hold the cableā€¦ And I tried with different chargers. Do you think the USB port is already dead? After one month olnly??? How can I fix it?

Hi Yauty!

Hm that sounds more as if it were a problem with your cable or charger than a problem of the phones.

Have you tried different cables? As reported, quite some people also had problems with non-working cables. Maybe you try a data cable instead of a charging cable as @Lidwien has suggested before.

Thank you for your response. I did use different cables, but it didnā€™t change a thing. And my charger have also a charger cable. It is a phone charger from Philips. Worked really good. Till yesterday.

Well, then you should probably contact support.

I have to arrange my cable in a specific direction for the phone to charge

It just happened to me with my FP2. I am really angry because it was one of the reason I bought a new phoneā€¦ It is always happening. I have the FP2 for 1 month now, and the only way to charge it is to stick the charger plug really deep into the micro usb port and squeeze the cable in weird positions. It is a false contact. I am really not handy with electronics. But what can I do now? I donā€™t have any other phone. SHould I buy a new port? Should I send it back to Fairphone? Please helpā€¦ Thanks!

I know it feels like itā€™s the phoneā€™s fault (USB connector), but itā€™s actually much more likely that itā€™s the cableā€™s fault. I have a few cables that have the exact same problem you describe with both FP1 and FP2 and then I have some cables that work perfectly.

So first try a (few) other (high qualtiy) data cables.

I understand the reasons for not supplying a charger with the FP2 but I canā€™t help thinking that this is causing terrible PR problems for Fairphone. I bought mine from the Phone Co-op in the UK. My phone wouldnā€™t accept a charge. I tried four different chargers (yes I have drawers full of them!) and three different cables. No joy. I contacted the Phone Co-op and explained the problem. They sent a new phone out. Same problem! Having read this thread several times over I decided that the cable and not the charger was probably the problem. I went out and bought a high end data cable (about Ā£10.00) and it worked perfectly first time! Even if Fairphone just pointed out when supplying the phone that you need a good quality data cable that would save so many people (and the phone suppliers) so much grief. Personally I think the cable itself should be supplied with the phone. Most mini usb leads just donā€™t work. If you have problems charging I suggest you stop tearing your hair out and buy a new good quality data cable.

Seems like it makes more electronic waste if people buy different chargers and cables hoping one worksā€¦ Kind of ironicā€¦ And so far it does not seem to be a problem fixable by a Software updateā€¦ I habe bought a socked with USB outputs to put between the wall socket and normal cables ( Does anybody know what I mean?) And the FP 2 can not be charged with it no matter what cable I use. With one cable I have constant reconnects. The cables from my 3d glasses, which are not data cables but only for charging, do not work at all. I have one old charger which works, but slowly, and one which is faster but has some reconnects.

This is just wrong. (FP has Micro USB, NOT Mini USB, you mixed them up)
I didnā€™t have to buy any ā€œgood quality cableā€, all of my cables do work. Just use a standard data cable and everything is fine. Canā€™t imagine why this should lead to ā€œterrible PR problemsā€ :grin:

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Hi!
My feedback about this is that my FP2 charges without problems with:

  • 1A charger
  • 2A charger (it charges faster, so i believe the FP has an adaptive charging circuit)
  • 1,35A charger
  • 2A powerbank
  • 2A car cigar port

I use USB cables rated for high amperage.

Only annoying thing is that when chargers are connected to power outlets without proper grounding the display is unusable. Never happened with previous smartphonesā€¦ :confused:

Here are my 2 cents regarding this topic.

Iā€™m using a HTC TC E250 (I own 3 of them), which was stated as functional by @hnms. I can confirm itā€™s working using the included cable, but there are some issues.

Iā€™ve been charging my phone with that charger since I received my device end of December almost every day (is that a lot?) and most of the time itā€™s charging normally. I.e. it takes about 6-8 hours to charge from <10% to 100%.

But then one day I plugged my phone in for charging and came back some hours later. At that time the same thing as reported by @Charlotte happened. The battery was at 0%, although the icon had the flash and the lock screen told me it is charging (but I think the estimated time was missing). As soon as I removed the cable the phone shut down. Reconnection of the cable made the phone charge normally again. Rebooting with not unplugging the cable leads to a normal charging process as well (-> software issue).
That happened to me 3 or 4 times until now.

Also, the flickering battery icon happened to me, but it seems not to be connected to the charging state. The flash was there all the time, but in the lock screen the percentage next to it came and went in milliseconds. The charging took place and sometimes the flickering went away after an new number was reached (16% > 17%)

Then the other day I plugged in for charging and came back after 3 or 4 hours or so and it already was full! Imo thatā€™s supposed to be the normal charging duration at 5V/1A, but for me it sadly was just an exception.

Now I searched my boxes and found a new and still sealed USB data cable from my AKG Bluetooth headphones. Used it with the HTC charger 2 times now and the battery was full after less then 3.5 hours.

Just for the sake of completeness: my Raspberry Pi charger doesnā€™t work at all. Nothing happens when plugging it in. There are 5 contacts visible inside the USB connector, but itā€™s probably not a data cable, as the cable is fixed to the wall unit and not removable.