No technology is perfect, and you’re going to find that cell phone car chargers are right up there with everything else, in their propensity for things to go wrong or just wear out. Over time, your charger is eventually going to stop working of course, but most problems that seem like something major is wrong, is actually due to some simple problems that you can resolve. That’s why it’s always important that you troubleshoot your charger, before just going out and buying a new one. This way, you can get a feel for whether or not you actually even need to buy another, or if you just have a simple problem with the current model.
Of course, there are several things that you can do to check whether or not your cell phone car chargers are actually still in working order. Plus you’ll be amazed at just how easy they are to troubleshoot, because there’s not a ton that can go wrong or be fixed anyway. Here are a few things that you can do, so that you’re going to be able to look up just what’s wrong with your cell phone accessories:
1) Inspect the outside structure of the charger.
This is really important, so that you can check for noticeable damage. If something like a hole in the body or plug exists, or something like a tear or damage to the actual where that goes from the plug to the phone is apparent, you’ll find that it can compromise the use of your phone. But you’re also going to find that things like cell phone car chargers can also have problems with the pins inside of them, as they can bend around where they connect to the phone. If one of these is out of shape, it can mean your phone is not getting enough electricity to actually charge.
2) Try cleaning off the plugs that actually draw power.
Now you don’t want to use water for this, as that can be extremely dangerous when both ends are not dry once you turn the power back on. But rather, you want to just take a nice dry cloth, and rub out the inside of both plugs, just to make sure there’s no dirt affecting the connection. Of course, you also want to be sure that you don’t get any fibers or pieces of cloth stuck in either side, as that can cause a whole new problem altogether.
3) Test your charger with the car on.
This is really important, so that you can be sure that you’re able to make sure the charger is actually working properly. Though many things will work when you plug them into your car when the car is not running, as they can still draw power from the battery. However, that’s not always enough to charge your phone. But your car will kick out a lot more power when turned on, so it’s important that you check whether or not your charger seems to work when the car is on, as this will tell you that much more accurately, as to whether or not your charger is still working.
4) Test the phone itself to make sure it’s still working.
This is important, as you could be spending all this time testing a phone that actually doesn’t even work. So always test them out by trying to charge with your standard home or computer charger. If you’re still not able to get the phone to work after this, than you may want to look into whether or not it’s a phone and not an actual charger problem.
5) Read the product manual.
In most cases, the manual for just about any type of cell phone car chargers, is going to outline several different scenarios in which you can have a problem. Here you’re going to be able to look up information as to what could be causing a problem with your phone. This way you can trouble shoot other things that could be wrong, and that could specifically result from that particular model of phone.
6) Try taking your charger back to the store.
Whether you bought Verizon car chargers or cell phone accessories, or something from Best Buy or even AT&T, you want to always check with the local store that sold you the product. This way, you can either have the item looked at by a professional, or they can provide you with a refund or exchange, so that you can at least get a working charger of some sort.