A weak charger is fine. Broken / half broken cable is a fire hazard though.
this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
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Without knowing what, if anything, is electrically wrong with your cable, your adapter, or your phone, there's no way to answer this question. It will most likely have absolutely no effect. There's a small but non-zero chance it could cause catastrophic damage. You have to weigh up the price of replacing your phone against the price of replacing your cable.
Not an expert by any means but slow charging is better for your battery than fast charging. Although, I don't expect a steady, stable voltage from a damaged cable, which is always bad.
So the fluctuation would be bad for my battery?
No one here can tell you for sure what's wrong with your cable. So no one can answer if it will be good or bad over time. Slow (normal) charging is better for your battery than fast charging. A wobbly wire might stop and restart the charging process, which might be detrimental to the battery over time.
But it could also be that your port is so clogged up with pocket lint that the contact in your phone is affected and that's why fast charging no longer works. Something could be broken in the brick you use and that's why it won't work any more. It could be that the cable was bent so many times it's broken. It's probably that.
You could try to narrow down where the error lies. If you use a friend's cable does the same thing happen? Friend's fine-working cable in your power brick? If you got a phone repair kiosk in your neighborhood, maybe ask them if they could clean your port. If they're friendly, they can probably help you narrow down this problem also.
Ok so it's more dependent on what actually is malfunctioning. It's just my cable that's messed up, I bought a new one that works fine but I was wondering If I left it plugged into an old phone 24/7 as like a digital picture frame/alarm or something if that would be bad in the long run
Your biggest worry would be the battery, they don't like to be at 100% all the time. If the phone charging limit can be adjusted you should be good to go. But I'd watch the battery closely for any swelling.
I’ve been observing the voltage and current of a bunch of chargers, cables and phones with a handy little power meter that plugs in between the charger and the cable. I still have no idea whether a bad cable hurts the battery or not, but it can result in fluctuations though.
For example an iPhone just loves to crank up the current every few seconds. If the power supply or cable can’t handle it, the voltage will crash below some tolerable limits set by the phone. In response, the phone will lower the current back to a level where the voltage remains high enough and then the cycle repeats. Interestingly, an iPad or an Android phone I tested don’t do that sort of aggressive current ramping. Those two just figure out a sustainable low current in the beginning, and let it be, whereas the iPhone is never satisfied if the current is a bit lower than you would normally get from a good power supply and cable. Either way, I suspect that’s just the Battery Management System (BMS) doing its thing, and every device seems to have a different BMS.
Will the BMS be able to provide a stable current and voltage to the cell even when the power draw is far from stable? Sounds unlikely to me, but ask an electrical engineer to make sure.
Will an unstable charging power hurt the cell in the long run? Ask a battery scientist. I just know that extreme temperatures definitely hurt it. Also high C-rates are harmful as well.
The house fire it starts, might
I would buy a new cable.
What kind of phone are you on?
If you have a Samsung, id hold off on any drastic moves until you are sure its not a symptom of shitty software updates.
So say one of my usb c cables inevitably poops the bed and everytime I plug it in my phone it says "slow charging". Does it damage my phone at all to continue using that cable for long stretches of slow charging?
My phone was doing the exact same shit that you just outlined. Bought brand new charging blocks, brand new usb C to usb C cables, as well as usb 3.0 to usb C cables and for 2 months I was forced to limp along with with a 1 year old phone at most that wouldn't accept any type of plug in chargers or cables. I had to use the power sharing from old phones or a charging pad to charge it but even then were talking 8hr minimum to get from 0% battery to 50%-70% at most.
Idk how to crosspost yet but I just replied to another thread with this story of the shit show its been the past couple of oaths for Samsung and Android update releases.
Damn this was a post from 3 months ago lol I had to read my own post to remember what this was a reply to. The reason its such a distant memory for me is because for the past 1-2 months Ive been having to use shitty slow as fuck charging pads or other broken screen phones to charge them in order to use them to charge my phone. Spent $150 on chargers. Had a new phone in my shopping cart despite nothing being wrong with my phone other than not charging. Was hemming and hawing for the past 2 weeks if id pull the trigger on different/new phone that could charge. Im type 1 diabetic with constant glucose monitor that connects thru Bluetooth to phone so any time I was out, I was going blood glucose blind once phone died.
Fuck dont mean to chew your ear off but the point of the story is that it was all an issue caused by another fucking Samsung update. Just downloaded a random update last week and that day it had my phone back to charging normally like nothing fuckin happened.
So I apologize but my Samsung rage totally made forget all about being annoyed about them fucking up the UI settings for no reason lol. Im 100% riding this phone into the ground and going to any other phone manufacturer than Samsung for my next.
Got any phone recommendations for a make/model/line that really stuck out above the rest in quality?
I'm concerned about cables pooping in bed now
Don't kink shame
A cable making your phone say “slow charging” doesn’t mean the cable is “broken”.
Nope
If the cable is damaged, yes, there is a risk to your phone, your home, and you: It could catch on fire.
If it's just slow charging and everything is intact, no that's actually better for your phone's battery longevity.