The last place you ever want to find yourself is when one of your wireless Bluetooth earbuds won’t charge. It could be as frustrating as your phone quenching on you when you have to make that one call in a desperate situation.
You relate, right?
While it can put your plan on pause, it doesn’t mean that the earbud can’t render you its services again. It does mean you may not have taken good care of it at some point, or it’s nearing its service life.
You don’t need to be alarmed, as this is far from both earbuds not charging. I’ll guide you through what to do to diagnose the issue. While the solution may not be a silver bullet for all cases, I’ve put together what works for almost all cases.
In addition, I’ve shared with you how to deal with this issue for specific brands as case scenarios. Here we go!
Why Is One of My Bluetooth Earbuds Not Charging?
One of your wireless Bluetooth earbuds (either left or right) isn’t charging because of a defect in the charging case, or the charging port of that earbud is faulty. In most cases, that particular earbud has loose contact with its charging port, or the continual plugging and unplugging of the earbuds might have shifted the pin in the charging port of that earbud such that it doesn’t make contact.
For wireless Airpods Pro, the most common reason is when the magnet that holds the left or right Airpod in place is dislocated. This results in that Airpod losing its firm contact with the charging case. It usually happens when your Airpod falls several times.
The problem may also come from using an unoriginal charger for your Bluetooth earbuds, dirt settling in the charging port of the earbud, or shock on that earbud due to falling or hitting a hard surface.
Most of the causes are likely to come from handling issues that may have resulted in component wear or defects in the charging port.
The causes of this charging issue may not be as similar to when both earbuds are not charging. Hence, troubleshooting it may differ from when your charging case is dead.
Related: Why Are My Bluetooth Earbuds Connecting Separately?
How Do You Fix Bluetooth Earbuds When One Side Is Not Charging?
You have to undertake several steps to diagnose your exact problem since there could be several causes. To kick start:
1. Check the battery level of the charging case
More often than not, the problem originates from the charging case when one of your Bluetooth earbuds is not charging. When the battery level of the charging case is below its minimum threshold, say 10%, it may not be able to power both earbuds.
So, the first thing you want to cross-check is the battery level of your charging case. Put your Bluetooth earbuds or Airpods in the charging case and check the battery status on your phone.
For Airpods, bringing your case closer to your iPhone and opening the lid displays the battery information. If your charging case is at full battery capacity, move to the next step.
2. Reinsert Bluetooth earbuds
Despite the full battery capacity of the charging case, one of the Bluetooth earbuds may not charge if it’s not sitting well in the case. This results in the earbud not making proper contact with the charging port. Therefore, reinserting the earbud could fix the issue when it makes good contact.
If this step fails, then there may be other glitches that would have to be dealt with. Move to the next steps to fix that.
3. Gently clean the earbud and its holding spot
The next thing you want to do is ensure that the Bluetooth earbud is dirt-free. If you work in a dust-prone area, dirt is likely to settle on sensitive parts of the earbud.
Gently clean those areas, including the charging case holding position, particularly, where the connectors are located. Also, ensure that the earbud’s metallic side that makes contact with the charging case pins is cleaned.
Others have found that using isopropyl alcohol on the cotton of a swab helps clean these areas to remove the dirt that has settled on the device. After cleaning, reinsert the Bluetooth earbud to see if it charges.
If this step doesn’t resolve the issue, the next step has to be adjusting some physical parts of the device, which I explain in the next steps.
4. Check whether the pins in its charging port are dislocated
The Bluetooth earbud loses contact when the pins in the case’s charging port shift. In such cases, ensure that the pins are rightly adjusted to make proper contact with the earbud’s metallic side.
After rightly aligning the pins, reinsert the earbud. If this fails, then you move to the next step.
Related ==> Is It OKAY To Charge Bluetooth Earbuds Overnight?
5. Re-position the magnet in the earbud
This solution mostly works for Airpods when one side is not working. Airpods are held in place to the charging port by a magnet. Usually, one Airpod may stop charging when the magnet that holds it firmly to its charging port is dislocated.
However, this could also work for Bluetooth earbuds with similar designs to the Airpod. This requires that you open the earbud and do the re-position. Don’t worry; the video below walks you through it.
6. Reset the Bluetooth earbuds
Sometimes, resetting the Bluetooth earbuds fixes the issue. Resetting removes bugs or errors that may have been stored in the Bluetooth earbuds’ memory, which interfere with the functionality of the charging case.
The video below shows you how to reset Bluetooth earbuds. It also provides additional approaches to fixing one of the Bluetooth earbuds not working.
The above steps should help you fix the problem of one of the Bluetooth earbuds not charging. If your problem persists after trying all the steps above, you may want to contact the manufacturer’s customer support for a replacement.
Why Are My Bluetooth Earbuds Not Charging In The Case?
The primary cause of both wireless Bluetooth earbuds not charging is malfunctioning in the charging case or the earbuds themselves being broken. Among several other causes of the charging issue, dirt in charging ports and case, defects in charging case and earbud batteries, earbud shocks due to falling, software bugs, and faulty charging ports are underlying reasons for most people who encounter this problem.
However, there are special cases where the Bluetooth earbuds may not charge due to using a charger that’s not original, batteries that are at extreme temperatures, not charging your Bluetooth earbuds for a long time, and component wear that may not be easily identifiable.
While it could be frustrating when found in such a situation, troubleshooting to find the actual cause of your case could be just a few steps. You don’t need any technical know-how to fix it, except the problem requires the manufacturer’s diagnosis.
Let’s look at how to sort it out yourself.
How Do You Fix Bluetooth Earbuds That Won’t Charge?
The steps to solving this issue are similar to the solutions provided for the case of one of the Bluetooth earbuds not charging. Before implementing those steps above, you must do the following preliminary check-ups.
1. Check the charging cable for the case
To rule out the possibility of charging system issues of the case, charge your Bluetooth earbuds case. Make sure the cable is firmly plugged into the charging case and USB power adapter or source. Then, ensure the power adapter is correctly plugged into a power outlet.
If the case doesn’t charge, then the problem could be from the charging cable. It implies that the charging case is improperly charged to power your wireless Bluetooth earbuds. Verify it by using another charging cable for the case or that cable on another device.
Now, if the charging system of the case works all right, move to step 1 of the solution offered earlier to one side case.
Note: Please remember to remove the cellophane paper from the earbuds, as this could cause a number of problems.
Related: Can You Charge Bluetooth Earbuds Without the Case?
How To Avoid Bluetooth Earbuds/Airpods Not Charging Issues?
While many people experience charging issues with Bluetooth earbuds or Airpoids for several reasons, you can minimize your chance of encountering this problem by caring for it properly.
Here are a few tips to use.
- Keep your Bluetooth earbuds and case clean and dry. Sometimes, putting the case in your pocket or bag where there is no debris could be unavoidable. So, it is important to make it a habit to regularly clean the case and Bluetooth earbuds, like weekly. Also, keep them dry to avoid short-circuiting them due to water seeping into it. This may save you a lot of issues.
- Don’t leave your Bluetooth earbuds uncharged for a long time. Over-discharging the batteries of your Bluetooth earbuds and case can cause charging problems. Earbuds left in such a state must be charged for longer than usual for them to kick back into usual usage. So make sure you charge them weekly or two to prevent charging issues caused by over-discharge.
- Replace the batteries of Bluetooth earbuds and cases when they heat up excessively. This hints that your batteries are weakening, so you should consider replacing them. Failure to do that could develop into charging issues.
- Ensure charging pins are not bent. Continually removing and inserting Bluetooth earbuds could cause charging port pins to bend when you don’t do that carefully. This results in contact issues between the pins and the metallic surface of the earbuds. When there is poor contact, the Bluetooth earbuds fail to charge
- Avoid shocks due to falls or collisions. When your Bluetooth earbuds and case constantly fall or hit a hard surface, they will likely incur shocks or component wear. For example, the magnet in Airpods can be dislocated, which causes charging problems. Hence, make sure to keep the case in a tight hold-up or ensure the earbuds don’t fall from your ears often when using them.
Read Me Next ==> Is It Bad To Keep Bluetooth Earbuds In The Case When Charging?
Final Words
Wireless Bluetooth earbuds can stop charging for several reasons. The primary causes are mostly Bluetooth earbuds and the charging case inherent. However, the cause can be troubleshot with the outlined steps shared above. I hope the article helped you solve your problem.
Kindly share in the comment box the steps that worked for you. Is there something else that worked for you? I will be pleased to hear that as well. It could save someone else.
Until then, take care.
not working…sad
Sorry to hear that but what exactly did you try?