# Battery or charger? old Nokia phone fault..



## weltweit (May 24, 2016)

Hi, my trusty Nokia (non smart) phone has been hail and hearty for a couple of years but just now the battery runs down much faster than it used to. Last night it was on 100% and this morning is down already to 25%. (i.e. pretty much useless).

The battery used to last all week.

So do I just get a replacement battery? or could the fault lie elsewhere?


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## bi0boy (May 24, 2016)

sounds like the battery, this is what they do when they get old


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## weltweit (May 24, 2016)

Seems odd though in that there has not been a steady decline, instead it was fine last week and then suddenly it is useless.


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## bi0boy (May 24, 2016)

It might be an infrequent manifestation of the battery dying. Mine sometimes drops from 30% to 0% in a few minutes, but sometimes it's not so bad. This started several months ago but it can still last a day if I don't use it too much. Keep an eye on it for a week or two.


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## StoneRoad (May 24, 2016)

My vintage Nokia does this - try letting it really go flat before fully recharging a few times. I only have this phone as my OH lost patience with it not holding enough charge. I hardly make any calls so it is OK for me.
The other thing mine does is appear to be going flat when the weather is very cold / windy, so I keep calls very short and tuck the phone back into a warm pocket, it usually 'recovers' after a while - at least enough to receive calls.
However, I think I'll invest in a newer battery ... or maybe a slightly brighter phone (eventually).


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## Pickman's model (May 24, 2016)

Hale healthy not hail falling bits of ice


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## weltweit (May 24, 2016)

I suppose it won't hurt if I keep trying it for a few more days.

I charged it again first thing this morning, I was up before it was used as an alarm. The power has already dropped to 75%. I have taken a short call and it is still on 75%.

Will try running it to zero and then charging in case that helps.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (May 24, 2016)

If you look on eBay, you should be able to find replacement batteries cheaply.


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## weltweit (May 24, 2016)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> If you look on eBay, you should be able to find replacement batteries cheaply.


Will they be Original Equipment?


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## UnderAnOpenSky (May 24, 2016)

weltweit said:


> Will they be Original Equipment?



They should be available. It's the kind of thing that is loads cheaper then going to a phone shop.


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## weltweit (May 24, 2016)

The phone is a Nokia 6303cl

And the battery is a Nokia BL-5CT, 3.7V







Note; for my info.


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## ViolentPanda (May 24, 2016)

weltweit said:


> Hi, my trusty Nokia (non smart) phone has been hail and hearty for a couple of years but just now the battery runs down much faster than it used to. Last night it was on 100% and this morning is down already to 25%. (i.e. pretty much useless).
> 
> The battery used to last all week.
> 
> So do I just get a replacement battery? or could the fault lie elsewhere?



I've got an old Samsung phone whose battery used to last 4 days, but gradually only lasted about 36 hours. Bought a new battery for £4, and the charge now lasts 4 days again.


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## weltweit (May 24, 2016)

ViolentPanda said:


> I've got an old Samsung phone whose battery used to last 4 days, but gradually only lasted about 36 hours. Bought a new battery for £4, and the charge now lasts 4 days again.


hmm, perhaps I need to do that, buy a new battery, they don't seem very expensive.


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## weltweit (May 25, 2016)

Got a battery on order.

But something is amis, last night it was at 25% and as expected was dead this morning.
I charged it first thing, but now, at 23:38, it is still at 100%
Something else might be going on.


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## weltweit (May 29, 2016)

So, I received my new battery yesterday morning and charged it. It seemed to stay at 100% the rest of the day but had fallen to 75% at bed time. This morning it was down to 25% Red!

So the new battery does not seem to be any better than the old one! What a pain!


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## weltweit (May 29, 2016)

> *Performance*
> The battery life and call performance are both exactly what you'd want from this sort of handset - excellent and reliable. Nokia claims its battery will provide up to 450 hours on standby or 7 hours of talktime, and we got over four days of normal usage between charges.
> 
> Nokia 6303 Classic review


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## weltweit (May 29, 2016)

I don't think they sold me a new battery. I am prepared to believe it is a genuine Nokia battery but I don't think its condition is "new" ...


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## ViolentPanda (May 29, 2016)

weltweit said:


> I don't think they sold me a new battery. I am prepared to believe it is a genuine Nokia battery but I don't think its condition is "new" ...



How long did you charge the new battery for?
Most manuals for phones tell you to charge the new battery for 16-24 hours the first time you charge it, then put it through 3-5 charge/drain cycles before it will bed in, and the charge will be accurately measured.


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## weltweit (May 29, 2016)

ViolentPanda said:


> How long did you charge the new battery for?
> Most manuals for phones tell you to charge the new battery for 16-24 hours the first time you charge it, then put it through 3-5 charge/drain cycles before it will bed in, and the charge will be accurately measured.


I just charged it until the phone told me it was fully charged.

I can give that a try next charge though.

I have now backed up my contacts and done a soft factory reset on the phone in case something I did caused the low battery life.


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## weltweit (Jun 1, 2016)

Nope no good, I left it connected to the charger for 24 hours and it still didn't give more than 20 hours uptime.

I don't believe it is new, there are wear marks on the holo Nokia sticker and around the base of the battery. I think this battery is as old and knackered as my own one. Going to try to get my money back and look for a better one.


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## weltweit (Jun 1, 2016)

The seller has agreed to refund my money.

Off to look for other suppliers in the hope they have a genuine new battery.


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## weltweit (Jun 6, 2016)

Just received my second "new" battery, from Glitzy Gizmos via Amazon. Whereas the first was just contained in a piece of nondescript cardboard this one was actually in a branded plastic bag. I am going to leave it charging overnight, then see how long it lasts.

Fingers crossed!


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## weltweit (Jun 8, 2016)

The second battery lasted 20 hours, I made quite a few calls but still way short of what the phone used to achieve. Now I suppose I should look at the charger and or the phone itself.

I already did a soft reset on the phone and checked to see all things like Bluetooth were switched off, now I have done a hard / factory reset. Will know tomorrow if that has improved battery life.

The charger is a very small unit which plugs into a mains socket. It is very small and I can't imagine what might go wrong with it ..


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## weltweit (Jun 9, 2016)

So, this the third battery, lasted a daytime and most of the night and completely died by the morning. Like the earlier one and my original. I now have 3 batteries, none of which last more than 24 hours, all are similar in their characteristics so I think I can say it probably isn't the battery at fault.

So perhaps the phone itself? I have done a factory reset which I was hopeful would restore battery life but it seems it hasn't. I will go through all the menus again now to be sure that Bluetooth is off and all roaming issues are also off etc

What about the charger, could it be faulty and not be charging the batteries properly? This is the charger: Genuine Nokia AC-11X Mains Charger 6303 Classic 8800 6300i 6500 6300 6220 C2 C5 it is very small and I don't know if it could have a fault mode which would explain this, on the other hand they are only between £3 and £5 so perhaps I should just buy one and see.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jun 9, 2016)

How much is a replacement phone?


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## weltweit (Jun 9, 2016)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> How much is a replacement phone?


That is probably a good idea, will look into it.


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## weltweit (Jun 23, 2016)

Something strange has occurred. After resigning myself to having a phone with only a one day life I kept charging it when it had fully discharged.

On Monday night I left it on the charger overnight, which I quite often do, but it stayed on 100% all of Tuesday, most of Wednesday and now on Thursday late am it is still on 75% charge!

It seems to be coming back to me, but I have no idea why?


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