• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Battery not lasting all of sudden

agpthng

agpthng

Member
In the past month or so I've noticed I'm not getting my usual 2 days out of a charge. When I look at what is using the battery, the first thing listed is the Android OS with the highest percentage. Is this normal?
 
It's just weird that I was getting like 40 something hours worth of battery out of a charge and now I'm not. My phone sits on my desk at work not used for mostly 8 hours a day, I mainly use it for phone calls since I have a tablet that I use for emails, games and other apps. Not that I don't use my phone as well for that but lately I haven't been.
 
Have you done a Wipe Cache Partition deleting all temporary files and not touching anything else?

If that doesn't solve it you can try running in Safe Mode disabling all apps you added without uninstalling them. If that solves it it is caused by an app that you added.

... Thom
 
I like Thom's idea of a wipe of the cache partition. That said, Android OS using battery in a relatively unused Turbo I think is perfectly normal.

I'm not sure how old your phone is, but it could be battery fatigue that is causing a perceived loss of battery life. The more charging cycles a phone goes through, the more it deteriorates. If you bought a Turbo close to the time that it was introduced, which was nearly 18 months ago, I'd say it wouldn't be surprising that the battery is not lasting as long.

For what it's worth, the lithium ion batteries in phones last longer when they have more smaller chargers rather than fewer deep charges. Rather than trying to make the battery last for days, the battery will last longer if you charge it more frequently. While I know that Verizon marketed the phone as having a battery lasting up to 48 hours, that doesn't meant that this is a smart way to use your battery. I'd say that if you can find some time every day to give a little charge to the phone, the battery will last a bit longer.
 
doogald said:
I like Thom's idea of a wipe of the cache partition. That said, Android OS using battery in a relatively unused Turbo I think is perfectly normal.

I'm not sure how old your phone is, but it could be battery fatigue that is causing a perceived loss of battery life. The more charging cycles a phone goes through, the more it deteriorates. If you bought a Turbo close to the time that it was introduced, which was nearly 18 months ago, I'd say it wouldn't be surprising that the battery is not lasting as long.

For what it's worth, the lithium ion batteries in phones last longer when they have more smaller chargers rather than fewer deep charges. Rather than trying to make the battery last for days, the battery will last longer if you charge it more frequently. While I know that Verizon marketed the phone as having a battery lasting up to 48 hours, that doesn't meant that this is a smart way to use your battery. I'd say that if you can find some time every day to give a little charge to the phone, the battery will last a bit longer.
Click to expand...

My phone is just a year old. I thought that charging it often trained it to not last a long time. But maybe that's old school and older phones that we used to have. I'm anal about getting as much out of each battery charge.
 
agpthng said:
My phone is just a year old. I thought that charging it often trained it to not last a long time. But maybe that's old school and older phones that we used to have. I'm anal about getting as much out of each battery charge.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's "old school". It has less to do with older phones than with battery technology. Lithium based batteries do not have a "memory effect" like older Nickel-based rechargeable batteries do, but I can't think on any phone made in the last ten years that wasn't using a lithium based battery.

Here's a lot more information from Battery University: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

Key quote:

A partial discharge reduces stress and prolongs battery life.
Click to expand...

Also: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_increase_the_runtime_of_your_wireless_device

Do not discharge Li-ion too low; charge more often. A random or partial charge is fine. Li-ion does not need to be fully full charged as with lead acid.
Click to expand...

If you are keeping your phone on your desk at work, it would be smart to have a charger there (if you can) and pick a time when you'll be at your desk to charge for a period of time every day. With the rate you use your battery, it probably doesn't have to be much more than 15 to 20 minutes, particularly if some of that charge is a turbo charge. Or if you commute by car, plug in while you are commuting. As it turns out, it's probably better to be anal about charging that way than trying to get the most out of every charge.

Even a year is long enough to show some battery deterioration. Battery is probably one small reason why phone companies started with two or three year contract cycles for phones - they knew the batteries wouldn't last that long (though the increase in other phone technology is probably the biggest reason...)
 
doogald said:
Yes, that's "old school". It has less to do with older phones than with battery technology. Lithium based batteries do not have a "memory effect" like older Nickel-based rechargeable batteries do, but I can't think on any phone made in the last ten years that wasn't using a lithium based battery.

Here's a lot more information from Battery University: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

Key quote:



Also: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_increase_the_runtime_of_your_wireless_device



If you are keeping your phone on your desk at work, it would be smart to have a charger there (if you can) and pick a time when you'll be at your desk to charge for a period of time every day. With the rate you use your battery, it probably doesn't have to be much more than 15 to 20 minutes, particularly if some of that charge is a turbo charge. Or if you commute by car, plug in while you are commuting. As it turns out, it's probably better to be anal about charging that way than trying to get the most out of every charge.

Even a year is long enough to show some battery deterioration. Battery is probably one small reason why phone companies started with two or three year contract cycles for phones - they knew the batteries wouldn't last that long (though the increase in other phone technology is probably the biggest reason...)
Click to expand...

Great thanks for the read! I'll try not to get so anal (lol) about making sure I get my 40 hours still out of the charge. It's a great phone overall.

Carol
 
If this happened all of a sudden, then it's quite possible that a process is 'stuck' on and showing a drain through Android OS. Most times simply rebooting your phone will take care of this. As Thom suggested, clearing the system cache won't hurt either. I would suggest you do this from recovery rather than using a cache cleaner (That's just my preference, YMMV)

Are you having WiFi issues? I just mention this because if your access to WiFi gets weak or 'wonky' (<< technical term ;) ) your phone will consume more power trying to maintain the connection and it will show up under Android OS in battery stats.

One other thing to consider, if the drain is not uniform, in other words, goes from 80% down to 40% in a short period of time, it could be a cell in your battery is failing.
 
lunatic59 said:
If this happened all of a sudden, then it's quite possible that a process is 'stuck' on and showing a drain through Android OS. Most times simply rebooting your phone will take care of this. As Thom suggested, clearing the system cache won't hurt either. I would suggest you do this from recovery rather than using a cache cleaner (That's just my preference, YMMV)

Are you having WiFi issues? I just mention this because if your access to WiFi gets weak or 'wonky' (<< technical term ;) ) your phone will consume more power trying to maintain the connection and it will show up under Android OS in battery stats.

One other thing to consider, if the drain is not uniform, in other words, goes from 80% down to 40% in a short period of time, it could be a cell in your battery is failing.
Click to expand...

I guess when I say all of a sudden I mean over recent days or weeks, just noticed that I seem to be charging more often. I don't notice any wifi issues either at work or at home. When I notice that the battery useage is from the Android OS I do reboot and I have done a clearing of the system cache (recently in the past month or so).
 
It has also been noted that a hard reset will recalibrate the battery and it might affect this.

With it already booted up ... press and hold the power button ... it will take about 7 seconds ... the screen will go black and then the logo appears. When the logo appears release the power button.

This has been referred to by some people as a "simulated battery pull".

... Thom
 
@agpthng -- The same exact thing has been happening to me! I've noticed a decline over the last few weeks of my overall battery life.

My charging habits haven't changed, and I haven't installed any new apps in weeks and weeks (just updates to ones I've had running for a long time). Yesterday, I couldn't even get a couple of hours out of a full charge, with most of the time the phone just being idle.

Last night, it drained from 100% to about 35% in a matter of hours. And the phone was hot-- 100 to 115 degrees, even when not being actively used. (This extreme version of the phenomenon is very recent-- just yesterday.)

I've done a Partition Cache Wipe. I just tried the hard reset like @Thom suggested.

Side note: I run GSam battery meter, and indicates that the majority of my battery power is being used by apps. And of those apps, the greatest one-- by far-- is e-mail (the stock e-mail app). The next most power-hungry app is the Kernel (Android OS), but that percentage is usually in the teens at best. Everything after that is in very low single digits or just fractions. No appreciable numbers from almost anything else. But e-mail sucks up 60-80% of the battery power being used by apps, which GSam is taking up as much as 80% of my overall battery power. (This goes down a bit when I use the phone more, and screen active time sucks more power.)

Sorry for the long post, guys! And @agpthng, I didn't mean to derail your thread-- I just thought that maybe we're dealing with the same issue here.

Any help, as always, is greatly appreciated!

~Chris



Quick update: In the 20 minutes since I last unplugged, 80% of my battery has been drained by apps. Of that 80%, 65% of it was from e-mail. And I haven't even checked my e-mail! The next closest app in battery drainage again is Kernel (Android OS), with 5% and then Android System with 3%. The rest are all negligible.
 
Last edited:
I dropped my first Turbo 2 into a pail of mop water while it was on.

After drying and waiting a day and using the rice ... the battery now drops from 100 to 0 in about 7 hours. It is also hot.

The reason for mentioning it is that it seems a lot like your problem. Did you get it wet? Did you have it in a steamy bathroom while taking a shower?

... Thom
 
Thanks for the quick reply, Thom!

No, neither circumstance. Never been wet, and never been exposed to steam like in a bathroom or anything.
 
MightyFurcules said:
Last night, it drained from 100% to about 35% in a matter of hours. And the phone was hot-- 100 to 115 degrees, even when not being actively used. (This extreme version of the phenomenon is very recent-- just yesterday.)

I've done a Partition Cache Wipe. I just tried the hard reset like @Thom suggested.

Side note: I run GSam battery meter, and indicates that the majority of my battery power is being used by apps. And of those apps, the greatest one-- by far-- is e-mail (the stock e-mail app).
Click to expand...

It's probable that your email account (or at least one of them, if you have more than one) has some corrupted data.

Here is what I would suggest: delete the email account and then set it up from scratch again. (If the account is IMAP or Exchange this should be more than fine; if it is POP3, you'll probably lose any messages stored on your phone.) See if that helps.

If not, if the account is an Exchange account, I strongly suggest looking into the application Nine from the play store. It is $10 but worth every penny if you have an exchange account. Otherwise, you may want to look into a third party email app from the Play Store, such as K9 Mail, which I think is better than the stock email app. You can even add POP3 or IMAP accounts to the Gmail app if you like.
 
Thank you for the ideas, @doogald! It's not an Exchange account, so that doesn't apply. I'll try deleting the e-m account and setting it up again, as well as trying a third-party app.

@agpthng -- Again, sorry if this seems like a derail of your topic! Not my intention at all. Just thought what is relevant to my situation might be relevant to yours too!
 
@doogald I deleted and set up my e-m account again, and it seemed to work very well! The percentage of battery being taken up from that app (according to GSam) is usually in the very, very low single digits, often even less than 1%!

This certainly helped quite a bit! My batt life is still not what it used to be, but this a great improvement over the craziness that was the last few days of the whole thing draining within a few hours.

Thank you again for the help!

@agpthng Do you think this might be the culprit for your battery drain too? Or have you tried something else that has helped?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom