Gemini won’t charge

[FredL]

Sorry to resurrect such an old thread, but I experiencing exactly the same problem.

@Paul H - did you manage to resolve this by replacing the battery?

Sorry, ignore, my Gemini seems to have eventually come back to life.

[Roy KG]

I hope there is..... Needing a battery so soon is disappointing.

Mine has lasted a little longer but it has failed quite quickly, and considering how little it has been used it is certainly very disappointing!  Only a few days ago mine suddenly would not charge beyond 85% full and then the following day I used it until it had totally run out (thinking it might do a battery recalibration).  I tried to charge it up again but it would go no further than 58% and in fact if I left it longer it actually started dropping to 57% and then 56%...  Then whilst using it, while it was still plugged in to the charger, it actually lost charge!  I gave up once had dropped to 15%.  I've tried other chargers but to no avail.  On top of the fact that you could never do full proper backups (confirmed by Planet Computers) and the fact it failed to answer phone calls using the side button after only months, (it would only answer if it was open so you could click on 'Accept') I have now given up and it will be scrapped.  I'm not going to waste any more time or money on it.  It is such a shame as I considered it well made, especially for their first device, but the software never quite did what was promised and it was never well supported as they moved on to the Cosmos and Slide versions before really sorting the Gemini.

[nitrem]

Hello, I registered to make this topic more helpful for new users of Gemini PDA.

I recieved new Gemini with dead battery. Tried slow charger as 5V/1A, but not slower in my reach.
I contacted Planet Computers, because I was little triggered by this situation, and they give me tip which eventualy worked.

Try to connect Gemini to PC/laptop USB for few hours.

I was not sure if new USBs 3 will solve this, so I found old USB 2 on my father's computer.
I kept it there for some time, and Gemini woke, so I waited to have capacity 3 percent and then switched to slow charger 5V/1A, and was able to fully charge Gemini.
Lets explore!

[Daniel W]

considering how little it has been used it is certainly very disappointing!

While the number of charge cycles matters a lot, a Li-ion battery keeps aging somewhat, even when not used. From what I have read, if kept nearly full for a long time (weeks), it degrades faster, which is why it is recommended to charge a phone to about 50% before putting it into storage. Having a Li-ion battery go completely empty is apparently even worse. Phones will typically shut off a bit before that, but if then left like that for long, that remaining charge will leak away and that can damage the battery severely. Temperature and the quality of the individual battery also matters. What I'm trying to say is that it can be quite hard to know why a certain battery ages quicker than it should.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to directly to directly measure the charge level of a Li-ion battery (its voltage only gives a hint). By trying to guess how the battery ages and somehow measuring the energy flowing in and out, a phone can indirectly track the approximate charge level, but small errors adds up over time. Only when the phone gets fully charged, or runs until it shuts off will the charge controller get any authoritative information on the actual state of the battery.

If your device stops charging at weird values and suddenly has begun losing charge even when connected to a charger, I would suspect your immediate problem is that the charge controller inside the device has lost track, and has locked itself into a kind of "safe mode" where it drains the battery until the device shuts down, to make sure it doesn't accidentally overcharge the battery. While I haven't experienced it with my Gemini, it has happened to at least one other device I have.

I would try keeping the Gemini on until it shuts down and then, much like nitrem suggested, connecting it to a PC/laptop USB (or other a non-fast charger) over night and see if anything useful happens. If the battery is very low, seemingly nothing might happen for a while, when connecting the charger. Some of my old Nokia phones could need half an hour or so to even light up the charging LED, if the battery was very low to begin with.

I have read various suggestions about (trying to) charge a phone to 100% and run it until it shuts off a few times to "re-calibrate" the charge controller. For me, running it until it shuts off once and then leave it on the charger for a few more hours, when it says it is full, has been sufficient, provided the battery wasn't actually dead for real, but given the sudden onset of your problems, I think your main problem lies elsewhere

[jakfish]

I will try this interesting approach on both my Gem and Cosmo. Batteries appear to be shot and I can't find replacements anywhere in the world.

Jake

Follow-up: this did not work for my battery

[inmontanis]

Also had the problem, not charged my Gemini a few months and now it wouldn't accept any charge. Plugged-in the charger, the red light came up, a few seconds later it vibrated, what seems to make the battery brake again, light goes off and a few seconds later the same again and so on.

Regardless which charger or USB-Port for hours, no chance.

My last try was to use 2 chargers, one on each USB-C-port of the Gemini. And what happened? No vibration, the Gemini charged, after a few minutes I removed the right charger, the Gemini charged as usual from the left side and it booted again! So if anyone also has that problem, you could try that too.

Nevertheless, it is sad to know that one day my Gemini and Cosmo won't boot again because there will be no replacement battery to buy

[gidds]

Nevertheless, it is sad to know that one day my Gemini and Cosmo won't boot again because there will be no replacement battery to buy

Indeed — but isn't that pretty much the situation for any phone (or indeed any device with built-in, custom batteries) these days? Of course, the most popular devices will be supported for longer, but nothing lasts for ever…

(FWIW, I used my Gemini every day for 5 years, and the battery never misbehaved or lost any appreciable capacity. I attribute that to a) charging it every night, without waiting until it looked low, and b) using a bog-standard slow 5V 0.5A USB1 charger and not a fast charger. All batteries warm up a bit while charging, but heat kills them, and so to a very rough approximation the slower you charge, the longer they last.)