Xiaomi’s phone is charging for a long time: what to do and how to speed up

The situation when a Xiaomi or Redmi smartphone spends much more time at the outlet than usual, is familiar to many owners. Instead of the usual one and a half hours, the process of replenishing energy can be delayed for three to four hours, and sometimes the indicator even freezes at a certain percentage. This is not just annoying, but also indicates that there has been a failure in the power system or software that requires your attention.

The reasons for this behavior can range from the banal use of unoriginal cable to deep system errors in the shell of MIUI. Before panicking and carrying the device into service, it is worthwhile to carry out a series of simple diagnostic steps that in 80% of cases help return a normal charging speed.

In this article, we will take a look at all the possible factors that affect the rate of energy input into the battery, learn how to distinguish software bugs from physical damage, and learn how to properly maintain the charging port and calibrate the battery.

Checking the charger and cable

The most obvious, but often ignored, reason is the state of the charging adapter and the connecting wire itself. Rapid charging technologies like Quick Charge or proprietary HyperCharge require that all components of the circuit be in good working order. If the cable has internal fractures, even if they are visually imperceptible, the resistance in the line increases and the current flows much slower.

Note the power supply. If you use a cheap analog instead of the original adapter, the smartphone can forcefully limit the input current for security reasons. Xiaomi often uses special protocols (handshake) between charging and the phone, which third-party units may not support correctly, as a result, the device charges in “normal” speed, ignoring the possibility of fast charging.

⚠️ WARNING: Using cheap Chinese analogues of chargers without certificates can lead to voltage spikes, which is dangerous for your smartphone's power controller.

For diagnosis, try the following algorithm of actions:

• 🔌 Replace. USB-cable is known to be serviceable and high-quality, preferably original.
• 🔌 Connect your phone to another power supply with similar or higher power.
• 🔌 Try charging your device from another source, such as a power bank or computer, to rule out socket problems.
• 🔌 Check whether the power supply itself overheats during operation - this is a sign of malfunction.

It's also worth checking the connector on the power supply itself. USB-The adapter ports can become oxidized or weakened, leading to poor contact. If the cable moves, the charging process starts, then it stops, and the problem lies in the mechanical connection.

Diagnostics of the charging connector (USB Port)

A USB Type-C or Micro-USB connector is a mechanical element that is subjected to constant physical stress, and in the pockets of clothes, pile, dust and small solid particles inevitably enter it, and over time this “cork” thickens and prevents the cable plug from entering the end, which makes contact only for data transmission or with great resistance.

Visually inspect the port in good light, you can use a phone flashlight or a flash of another device. If you see a compressed layer of dust at the bottom of the connector, it must be carefully removed.

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The ideal tool for cleaning the port is a wooden toothpick or plastic toothpicks, which are hard enough to heat up dust, but do not conduct current or scratch contacts.

The cleaning process should be delicate:

• 🧹 Turn off your smartphone completely before the procedure begins.
• 🧹 Carefully, without heavy pressure, walk with a toothpick on the inner walls of the port.
• 🧹 Use a spray of compressed air to blow out debris.
• 🧹 After cleaning, the cable should enter the connector with a characteristic dense click.

Another reason could be oxidation of the contacts, especially if the phone was used in high humidity, in which case the careful treatment of contacts with alcohol (without pouring in!) and the subsequent drying can help. If the connector hangs or has a backlash even with a new cable, it is a physical breakage of the socket, requiring replacement in the service.

The Impact of Background Processes and Applications

Often the problem is not hardware, but software. The MIUI shell is known for its aggressive work with background processes, but sometimes applications can freeze and consume CPU resources even in sleep mode. When the screen is off and the phone is on charge, the active background process can consume energy faster than it comes in, or significantly slow down battery load.

This behavior is especially common after upgrading a system or installing “heavy” applications from unreliable sources. Viruses and miners can also hide behind the mask of conventional utilities, loading the CPU and causing heating, which in turn causes the system to artificially understate the charging current to protect against overheating.

To identify the culprit, follow the following steps:

1. Go to the Settings menu → Battery and performance.
2. Click on the gear icon or select Statistics.
3. Check out the list of applications, sorted by energy consumption.
4. If you see a program you don’t use but it’s on the top of the list, that’s a cause for concern.

For such applications, it is recommended to turn on the “No Limits” mode only if it is a messenger, and for others to prohibit background work, it is also worth checking the running processes through the developer menu or simply restarting the device to reset temporary system errors.

⚠️ Warning: If the phone gets very hot in the top (near the camera) while charging without active action, this is a sure sign of malware or system failure.

System settings and MIUI functions

Xiaomi engineers have implemented many battery life extension features that directly affect charging speeds in their devices, one of which is Optimized Charging or Battery Protection. The algorithm studies your habits and can specifically pause charging at 80%, completing the process just before you wake up.

The user may perceive this as a problem when the phone charges up to 100% “long” when in fact the system just stretches the process over time.In addition, the enabled features of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and constant search for 5G network in poor coverage can significantly increase power consumption in the background.

For maximum charging speed, it is recommended:

• 📶 Enable "Flight Mode" for charging time if no calls are needed.
• 📶 Disable geolocation and Bluetooth if not in use.
• 📶 Activate Do Not Disturb mode so that the screen does not light up from notifications.
• 📶 Check the settings in the Settings section → Battery → Battery protection.

Also, you should pay attention to the ambient temperature: if the room is too cold or hot, the chemical reactions inside the lithium polymer battery are slowed down or blocked by the protection system, the optimal range for fast charging is from +15 to +25 degrees Celsius.

Table: Comparison of charging speeds

Understanding how fast your model is will help you diagnose the problem more accurately. The different Xiaomi and Poco series support different power standards.

If your device charges significantly longer than the standard set out in the table when using the original charger, this is a reason for a deeper diagnosis. Remember that over time, battery capacity decreases, and charging time can naturally increase, but not by many times.

Battery calibration and statistics reset

Sometimes the phone charges normally, but the indicator shows incorrect data or freezes at a certain percentage, which indicates the desynchronization of the software controller and the actual battery capacity, in which case the calibration procedure helps, which forces the system to re-examine the real capacity of the battery.

The calibration process takes time and should not be interrupted. You need to completely discharge the phone before it automatically turns off. Then, without turning the device on, put it on charge. When the indicator shows 100%, don't turn off the cable immediately - leave the phone for another 1-2 hours.

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Calibration only helps if the problem is in the software display of the charge, not the physical wear of the battery.

Then you can turn on the phone. If the problem was the lost statistics, the percentage display should be correct. You can use special calibration applications to fix the result, although MIUI often has enough native methods.

⚠️ Attention: Do not perform full discharge too often. Deep discharge is harmful to lithium polymer batteries and reduces their overall life.

When a battery replacement is needed

If the cable replacement, port cleaning, or software settings didn't help, the problem is probably the physical wear and tear of the battery itself. 500-800 After that, the chemical composition degrades, the internal resistance increases, and the phone starts charging for a very long time, and it starts to discharge instantly.

An indirect sign of wear can be the bloating of the battery. If the back cover of the smartphone has begun to move away or the screen is pushed out of the frame, the operation of the device must be stopped immediately.

Battery replacement is a routine procedure for service centers. In new Xiaomi models with glued housings, this requires special equipment and skills, so it is not recommended to open such devices yourself. In older models with a removable lid, you can replace the battery yourself by buying an original or high-quality compatible battery.