What should I do with the old charger?

Cell Phone charger damaging phone?

• Hi All, I have an LG Razor phone. I also have the charger that was given to me with the phone. It's less than a year old. Recently, when I try to use my charger it doesn't charge my phone. However, it will keep it from dying if it is plugged in. When I look at the phone's screen while it is plugged in, it says that it is fully charged. Once I unplug it, I have roughly 10 seconds before it starts beeping that it's going to power off due to low battery. I tried taking the battery out and cleaning the gold thingys. That seemed to work once, but hasn't since. I borrowed a friend's charger and my phone charged up just fine. A couple questions: What's wrong with my charger? Can I fix it (I' broke and don't want to buy a new one)? Will using my crappy charger damage my phone?

• Answer:

  I used to have an Android phone that I bought a generic charger for. It worked fine for a few months, then it started charging more slowly as time went on. It also wouldn't let me use the phone while it was plugged in. Any other charger worked fine. So basically, yes, I think a bad charger can damage your phone over time. Cheap components or bad wiring may cause short circuits or power surges that ruin electronic devices.