Slighly OT -- Cell Phone Not Charging

Does your phone use a SIM chip? If so...you can buy phones on Ebay for dirt cheap, stick in the SIM chip and toss the one you have in the dumpster.

I buy all my cell phones on ebay. Mine dont use the SIM chip as they are an older style...but when one goes into the coolant tank, or slams into the floor from the scaffolding...I simply go out to the truck, grab another one from my brief case (pre programmed with all my essential phone numbers via computer download cable), call Nextels 800 number, give em the EIN number and within 5 minutes the new phone is online. Free.

I standardized on one phone, as all my accessories fit each one, along with my hardwired car kit with the speakerphone, data cable and so forth. Its nice to be able to fax from the truck.

Go to ebay, and enter your phone model number...

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

I can only relate my experience with a (film) camera. It got a major soaking in salt water (enough that Kodak bitched about the salt content of the film!). I dumped the batteries (disposable) and headed for shore and rinsed the camera with fresh water after remooving the film. Then I took a short flight to work where I had LOTS of demineralized water and a vacuum chamber; I flushed generously with the DW and put into the vacuum chanber to dry. The camera worked fine for years until one day I used the (mechanical) self-timer and that locked everything up.

Steve, it may be worth replacing the battery to see what happens. Our cordless goes through batteries a little more often than once a year, enough to make me wonder if they deliberately overcharge to sell batteries.

I've had good luck with both of these places, bought lots of rechargeable batteries from both:

Steve

Steve Koschmann wrote:

What brand? The newer Motorolas that use a charging plug that looks kind of like a fork on the end are notorious for having solder connections pull loose inside. We've had it happen on a couple.

Or, does it use a different plug for a car charger vs. a home charger? If so you can try the other to see if it makes a difference and that will tell if it's a problem with the connector.

If you're using a car charger, check its fuse. All the one's I've seen have them.

But since it got wet but worked once afterwards my best guess is the battery has packed it in.

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

Somehow my ethics take a short vacation when dealing with such large corporations as telephone companies. Would some white-out correct your red dot problem?

Never heard of these dots. Any idea where they come from? Sounds like the OP did the right thing, assuming the battery was pulled out immediately.

Could there be another battery inside? Or water trapped inside? If you take it apart, look for white (or sometimes black) deposits along traces. Clean the board with a mild solvent and a toothbrush if you see anything that looks like that. The traces could be eaten away if power was available for long. If you have a vacuum chamber, you could try drying it out that way.

I once told the engineer at a big foodservice equipment manufacturer that his current supplier was putting one-shot temperature stickers in the product to see if the max ambient was exceeded for even a moment (so they could void the warranty). They were all pissed and called a big meeting to deal with it. ;-) There was quite a few $millions involved and the biggest fast-food customer around.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

I think I saw those water damage dots in the Digikey catalog.

Lance

Here is a link to one such product...

THANKS for all suggestions... I will try a new battery from ebay /// if that doesn't work, try to buy a new/used phone on ebay. My phone is/was a Motorola V220 and it does use SIM card. I can pull the card and get back into sevices.

As for the white "moisture" dots... THANKS for the link on replacement dots. I will check it out further. Most newer phone have these dots somewhere inside the phone according to the rep at Cingular; they are specifically used to determine if the phone got wet.

Steve

"Steve Koschmann" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com... | THANKS for all suggestions... I will try a new battery from ebay /// if that | doesn't work, try to buy a new/used phone on ebay. My phone is/was a | Motorola V220 and it does use SIM card. I can pull the card and get back | into sevices. | | As for the white "moisture" dots... THANKS for the link on replacement dots. | I will check it out further. Most newer phone have these dots somewhere | inside the phone according to the rep at Cingular; they are specifically | used to determine if the phone got wet. | | Steve

I had a warranty on my phone about breakage and all that. Broke it, called folks all over and had to pay fifty bucks deductible for a phone that supposedly cost over two hundred. Waited a few days, too. I got the old phone I had and decided to put it into service. I missed the bells and whistles of the new phone, but the old phone was far more durable and fit better in my hand. Sigh. Next time I can get one on ebay for way less in less time. I have a LG phone with Verizon. The Motorola black flip was awesome about taking a beating, but the antenna tended not to last very long. I won't do that again. Come to think of it, I think I'll buy a better phone next time!

If you buy a phone on eBay or otherwise used, make sure it's SP unlocked, otherwise the SIM card won't work. Most of the dealers will do this as part of the selling price, but individuals may not have the equipment or knowledge, and it's possible to damage the phone trying.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany