advisable

Putting your phone on charge is a gesture that we do practically every day and it is something that is apparently very simple. Well, it turns out that we are doing it wrong. There is a key detail that many of us overlook and that can have negative consequences for both the cable and the mobile port. There are many recommendations for take care of battery healthsuch as avoiding downloading it to the maximum or charging it to 100%, but there is another factor that is not usually taken into account and that is the order in which we connect the cable. The order of the factors does alter the product And if not Tell my partner Álex Alcoleathe owner of the Lightning cable in the photo below these lines. The fact that the pins have turned black is not a dirt problem, but rather an order problem. Álex used to connect the cable to the cell phone and then to the power, which generates a brief voltage spike that goes directly to the connector. For once nothing happens, but if we do it continuously the result is a fried cable. This is how our colleague Alejandro Alcolea’s Lightning cable looked after several months It is a common phenomenon in any type of plug: you plug it in and a surge occurs. If the cable is already connected to the phone when this happens, a small electrical arc may be created where the pins make contact. This little sparkcan cause the cable pins to become damaged and, over time, the charge begins to fail or we have to move the cable to make contact. If you are wondering if there is a possibility of frying your cell phone with this habit, don’t panic. Smartphones have internal protections to prevent them from being damaged if there is a voltage spike and we are also talking about a very brief spike. The recommended order to charge your mobile Preventing that small spark from damaging the connectors is as simple as reversing the order, that is, connecting the charger to the socket and then connecting it to our mobile phone. In this way, the voltage peak remains contained in the charger and it does not occur when we connect the mobile. Manufacturers like Huawei and Samsung They recommend following this order to avoid possible damage: Plug the charger into the power outlet. Connect the cable to the charger (if separate). Finally, connect the cable to the mobile. What to do if your cell phone doesn’t charge If your cable or the charging port on your phone is starting to fail, the charging order could be a possible reason. To find out, check if the cable pins are blackened like those in the photo at the beginning, although if it is a USB-C it is more difficult to see since they are inside. The most common thing is that dirt has accumulated in the charging port and this does not let the cable connect well. If this is the case, you can clean it using a wooden toothpick, always being very careful not to damage the charging port. It may also be that your mobile does not charge because moisture has entered the port. In this case, try to remove the liquid by tapping it against your hand and leave the phone in a place where there is air flow, never insert anything to remove the liquid as you can make it enter even more. If the problem is not with the cable or the port, it is possible that it is with the battery, so you will have to go through technical service. In Xataka | Quietly, Spain is solving its biggest energy problem: becoming the world’s second largest battery power Cover image | Ivan Linares for Xataka