I recently bought a spare battery for my 3+. The idea was to have a spare fully charged one that I can swap when the other one dies. At present its not that convenient/quick as I have to swap batteries and charge them inserted in the phone,
I tried charging it externally using an old universal battery charger that I used for an old samsung from the days when you could take out all phones batteries. This didn’t work. The reason appears to be that this has 2 ‘prongs’ to fit in the battery and the 3+ battery has space for 4 prongs. I spent around an hour searching for a 4 pronged version, but they all seem to have 2 as standard.
I then tried placing the battery on one of the disc shaped wireless charging devices. The lights seemed to suggest that it was charging, but again it didn’t charge.
So my question is; is there a way to charge batteries externally (i.e. without being in the phone and charged via a usb)? As otherwise, its a bit pointless me having a spare battery. There must be some way around this.
A bit too late for DiscoFudge, but for others who may read this, nowadays I think in many cases it’s better to get a power bank rather than a spare battery. Here are some reasons that come to mind:
No hassle finding a compatible external charger
No need to open the phone each time to swap (yes I know they’re designed to open but each time it’s a bit of additional wear)
No need to turn off the phone to do the swap
The spare battery would likely be charged pretty high, often 100%, which is not recommended, especially if you’re not going to start discharging the battery immediately
The power bank can be used to recharge pretty much any USB device, maybe even laptop if you get the right one, so it’s a multi-purpose solution
Having the power bank you’re less tempted to charge the phone up to 100%, so the phone battery’s life will be extended.
The only drawback I can think of is that a power bank is going to be heavier than a spare FP battery. But I’m sure others will hasten to remind me of other potential drawbacks
Using the powerbank may in some cases be difficult e.g. when the phone is in the bike holder and you don’t have an additional bike holder just for the powerbank (and both devices won’t fit into one holder).
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