This has happened to me numerous times. In all incidents, the normal USB that usually and mainly is used to charged my phone suddenly stop charging my phone. When I put the USB in certain position and angle, my phone indicated that it was charging. But that was not what happened. I continued to lose battery. However, the very same USB was able to charge my MP3. In another incident that happened before that event above, my new MP3 just arrived. The USB that came with it wasn't long enough, so I used my previous USB (that mainly was for the phone) to help transfer data from computer to MP3. Meanwhile, I used the new USB to charge my phone. It worked fine, but afterward I noticed my old USB was not able to charge my phone anymore. That was super strange. I was stuck with using the new USB that was super short. I recently made a trip to the store to buy a USB. I notice that the new USB is a tight fit for my phone charging port. I have to push and hear this click. The previous short USB was also like that when it was new. Now, the short USB is pretty loose. So what do you think or know is causing this? I am pretty tired of having to buy new USB every now and then. I don't even know where I can send the old USB to be recycle.
I don't think it is a cable problem. I had some similar problems in the past and it turned out to be the phone that was the problem. It could be the battery is bad or the charger in the phone.
1. The PSU of the PC 5+v rail might be weak, consider replacing PSU. 2. The longer the wire the less power is supplied to charge the phone if number 1 is true consider using shorter cables. 3. The USB cable is busted. Just throw it away and replace with a new one.
I have multiple USBs that I got over the years from different phones or devices so I never really had problems with them. I usually don't interchange them, but I don't really use them for charging anything either. I mostly use USB cables for data transfers. The only thing I charge by USB is my ipod which doesn't have a normal charger. I haven't recycled any cable so far. If a cable doesn't work or it is something I don't need, I just throw it to the trash.
The plus in the cable are designed to be the ones wearing instead of your device. It's totally possible that the connections are too "old & loose" to work correctly if your phone has a thigh margin for connectors. You can always use your warranty if the cable is not too old. For the old cable, here they have special container in shops and in trash recycle center