One of the more common issues I run into when using a Shark cordless vacuum is not knowing when charging is complete and starting to use it, only to find it powering off halfway through cleaning. So, I wondered how I would know if my battery was charging fully? After all, This is the kind of thing that can turn a short 20-minute cleaning task into something that’ll take a couple of hours.
It turns out there is a simple way of knowing when your battery is charging. The battery indicator lights start to blink when they are charging, and all the indicator levels will be illuminated when the whole battery is charged. However, issues can arise if the battery is faulty, the plugs aren’t working, or the charger isn’t functional anymore.
So, while keeping an eye out for your Shark battery being charged is easy, the vacuum may still have issues working if there are other problems. Let’s take a deep dive into the possible issues you can run into and how to solve each issue.
How To Charge Your Shark Vacuum Battery
Let’s learn how to charge your Shark vacuum battery to get started. Most commonly, you will be using an ION battery pack, a lithium charging battery with a 25.2 volts capability. The ION pack is removable, which means you can take it out of the vacuum and charge it. After charging, you can then place it back on the handheld.
Each battery pack from Shark has light indicators. These indicators are handy as you can use them to see how charged the Shark battery is. You can also use the lights to see the current status. For example, the light will blink if the battery is low. In some cases, the lights also indicate errors or damage to your battery.
You will know charging is complete when all the indicator lights are lit up. You can use a Shark battery charger to charge the battery pack and connect it to a wall plug. The battery takes around 3-4 hours to charge, depending on your model. However, in some cases, you will notice that the battery is not charging. In this case, or if the battery seems to be charging but is not working, you need to troubleshoot some steps.
Related: Shark Vacuums: Which One Is Right for Me?
Why The Shark Vaccum Won’t Charge
You might find it extremely frustrating encountering a vacuum that refuses to charge. Still, the good news is that there are only a few things to troubleshoot. Here’s what could be going wrong:
- Your wall plug or outlet isn’t functional.
- The battery has seen some damage and needs replacing.
- The charger isn’t working anymore, or it needs a cleaning.
If the issue at hand is one of the last two – there is good news if you still have a warranty. Under warranty, you can replace the battery and the charger if they stop working. To see if that is an option, you can try to contact customer service from Shark. If you do not have a warranty, it’s time to troubleshoot the actual cause.
Troubleshooting Issues
When it comes to figuring out the cause for not being able to charge a Shark battery, as mentioned above, you can look at the wall plug, the vacuum, or the charger.
The Wall Plug
A lot of the time, the issue is as simple as just checking the primary power source. More often than not, battery issues come back to the plug or the outlet you have at home. So, you can do a couple of things to see if the outlet itself is the problem.
Try plugging in something else to the same outlet. For example, you can plug in a light, as it has a clear indicator that the power is on. If nothing else you connect to the plug works, that means it is no longer functional.
Next, you should try connecting the Shark battery to another outlet. Use an outlet that you know works. If the battery starts charging, congratulations! You have solved the issue. However, if the battery doesn’t charge, you know the outlet is not the problem. It would be best if you moved on to the next troubleshooting step.
The Vacuum
Sometimes, the issue isn’t the battery but the Shark vacuum itself. To eliminate this issue, just plug the vacuum into the wall. If the vacuum switches on and is working fine, there is no issue with the rest of the vacuum. However, this shows that the battery or the charger is the primary contender for the problem-causing.
The Charger And Battery
Now that you have narrowed down the issue directly to the charger or the battery, it’s time to try and fix the problem. Often, you will have trouble connecting the two because they may not be clean. This makes it hard to establish a clean connection, causing the battery not to charge. So, the primary way to handle this situation is to clean the two up. Here’s how:
- Unplug the charger from any outlet or the battery.
- Use a soft, dry microfiber cloth to clean up the charger.
- Do not introduce any water to any part of the charger. Any small amount of water can damage the entire charger.
- Focus especially on the areas of connection between the charger and the battery.
- You can also use a small toothbrush to get to crevices you can’t reach with a cloth.
After you have wiped everything down, it is time to test the charger and battery again. If the connection works, it means the issue was the accumulation of dust all along. From this point on, make sure to include charger cleaning in your routine maintenance for the vacuum.
However, if the connection isn’t working, your charger might be faulty. At this point, you will need to reach out to Shark for a replacement. You can also take the battery and charger to a vacuum repair professional.
Conclusion
To see if your Shark battery is working, you just need to keep an eye on the battery indicator lights. However, if there are other issues at hand, cleaning can sometimes resolve charging issues.