Dust particles in your phone’s charging port can hinder battery charging due to their electrostatic charge, acting as an insulator. New studies reveal that even small amounts of charged dust significantly impact power flow
Do you sometimes experience the charm fading from your device as time passes by? You plug it in every night, only to find the battery still at a low level the next day. Although we tend to look into a drained battery or an inadequate power cord for the reasons behind it, there is a less evident reason that might be causing such a problem.
The issue is not only with visible particles blocking the charging hole.Imagine that when you are plugging in your device, the electrical charge should pass through the port without any obstacles. But there is a reality factor to consider. Your smartphone is constantly being stored in your pocket, handbag, or placed on your desktop, where some dust gathers. The problem is that even though we see the dirt on our devices and in other areas, there is more to the particles than meets the eye.Why does dust in your pocket prevent an electrical charge from passing through the connector?New studies can give a good explanation as to why dust may prevent the connection from transferring the electrical charge. For instance, in the article Charge Measurement of Dust Particles on Photovoltaic Module, researchers from the University of Dundee tried to understand how the dust behaved with respect to the electrostatic charge.
Even though the study was conducted to investigate dust particles in solar modules, we can extrapolate and think of dust as being present on smartphones as well. According to the results of the investigation, dust possesses an electrostatic charge itself.It may not always be a large accumulation of dirt, and it is dependent entirely on the behaviour of the dust from the electronic point of view. Researchers from the University of Dundee discovered that the moment a particle gets charged, there is a notable drop in the voltage level.
The effect brought about by the charge dust is akin to insulation, making it more difficult for the charger to communicate with the cell phone’s battery.
Regular cleaning with an anti-static brush or dry toothbrush can break this electrostatic bond and restore charging speed.
In addition, the study has revealed the basic principle according to which small particles acquire positive electrical charge, whereas larger ones obtain negative charges. When the dust settles on the connector in the charging port, the opposite charges attract each other and make the dirt stick to the metallic contacts as if it were glued by magnets.
That’s why sometimes you have to shake your phone or plug it into the charging socket at a certain angle, trying to break the electrostatic connection between the dust and pins.How to break the electrostatic bond and save the charging speedHowever, there is hope: one does not have to know anything about physics or spend money on expensive repairs to solve the problem. After understanding that the trouble is purely electrical, one understands what should be done.
You just have to clean out the dust particles and eliminate the electrostatic charge they carry.In another significant paper published in the Journal of Electrostatics, researchers noted that the charge level of dust had a more dramatic impact on power flow than the actual quantity of the dust itself. This explains why a “clean-looking” port can still cause a phone to charge at a snail’s pace. To fix this, you need a tool that can break that static cling without damaging the delicate internals of your phone.Sometimes, simply running through a thirty-second procedure will help to revive the dead electronic device. Instead of using any metal objects, such as a paper clip that may cause an electrical short circuit, a user should use something else. For this purpose, either a small brush that has been specially designed to be anti-static or a dry toothbrush will do well.Maintenance is essential for the optimum performance of the gadget. In areas characterised by low humidity or where there are fibrous dust particles, the accumulation of such charged layers occurs easily. Taking just one minute each month to clear the connector means that you have provided an unrestricted pathway for electricity flow to the battery. The maintenance routine ensures that you save money by not buying another charger for your phone.
Additionally, the practice makes you avoid the frustration of dealing with a gadget that always needs charging.
