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

Battery problems, quirks and issues: Read first.

droid26 said:
ok after three full discharge/charge cycles with no improvement with the battery meter i decided to try the theory of using the usb cable instead of the ac cord. I took the phone of the charger connected to my laptop at 6:30 this morning, its now 3:18 and my phone only reads 70%. thats with a few calls and texts and browsing for 10 min. battery graph shos it took 3 hours to go to 90%, an hour and 32 minutes to reach 80% and about another hour and 30 minutes to get where its at now, 70%. not bad. not sure if this improvent is because of the charging from usb or not but i will continue to charg that way from now on.
Click to expand...

Put it in Airplane mode during a time you know you won't be using the phone (like before you go to bed), and you'll get the 100%. Just keep in mind that the charger not only has to charge the phone but everthing else that's On. I've hit 100% everytime I do this. I use an app called TIMERIFFIC to automatically turn the phone's Airplane mode on and off.
 
Hi. I'm new at this but I've been reading all you have said and still my battery dies out pretty fast. I charged it about 4 hours till it said complete charge and then 5 minutes after being unplugged and turned back on. It read 80. My battery was completely died by 3. -_- this phone is starting to get me mad. And I only have about 15 more days till my 30 days expire. I love this phone it is awesome. But will uodates really fix all the problems its giving. I am very dissappointed that sprint would release a phone that has so many isssues. And I really starting to get upset. Is there anything I can try to make my battery last longer then 5 hours without barely any use. I can't continue to ignore phone calls and texts because I am worried about my battery , when either ways it dies out by 3pm. -_- any help? Thanks very much.
 
LaDiiVyse337 said:
Hi. I'm new at this but I've been reading all you have said and still my battery dies out pretty fast. I charged it about 4 hours till it said complete charge and then 5 minutes after being unplugged and turned back on. It read 80. My battery was completely died by 3. -_- this phone is starting to get me mad. And I only have about 15 more days till my 30 days expire. I love this phone it is awesome. But will uodates really fix all the problems its giving. I am very dissappointed that sprint would release a phone that has so many isssues. And I really starting to get upset. Is there anything I can try to make my battery last longer then 5 hours without barely any use. I can't continue to ignore phone calls and texts because I am worried about my battery , when either ways it dies out by 3pm. -_- any help? Thanks very much.
Click to expand...
Have you tried draining the battery completely then recharging to 100%, at minimum, twice? This seems to help out a good deal, it has for several members.
 
Today was my second time running it dead (conditioning it)
I didn't get the same battery life that I did yesterday, but I was using it more intensively. Also, the normal functionality lasted much longer today.

Today:
about 9hrs total run time
about 7hrs full function
about 2hrs below 15% (battery saver mode)

Yesterday:
over 12hrs total run time
about 4hrs full function
about 8hrs below 15% (battery saver mode)

Strangely, I had 3hrs less run time today, but nearly double the amount of normal use time. But having more 'above 15%' time, at the price of total run time, is actually how I would prefer it to be.


Prior to Today, I charged via USB
Prior to Yesterday, I used the wall charger

I don't know yet if it's the conditioning or the charger that is making the difference. Tonight I will charge with the USB again, and tomorrow I will try to behave the exact same way that I did yesterday. The result should be pretty decisive in showing which variable is making the difference.
 
Also when i had my HTC HERO people were saying that the messaging app on phone was keeping the phone awake. You have to get task killer or some task app to disable the messenger. Then download a 3rd party messaging app. I had my phone charged last night at 90% left it off the charger. Woke up and the phone was still at 90% even after a few calls it stayed at 90% for a good hour before going down to 80%.
 
krishnac said:
With respect to your earlier comment about charging stopping too early, perhaps Samsung had deemed it unsafe to charge it more than what it does. That you are using a 12 V power supply seems to me to be a flaw with your experiment rather than Samsung? Of course it will take more charge at 12 V. I am not an electrician but this is what I remember from my college physics class.
Click to expand...

That would be true if the battery weren't 'smart'. All LI Ion batteries are controlled by some kind of IC that regulates it's charging. A single cell battery, which we likely have, should yield 4.2V at full charge IIRC. Putting 12V on to it at 0.1A vs putting 5V at 0.7A or 1A should make no difference, other than maybe charge time. Capacity should be a definable constant regardless of the charger used.

When I got home I was at 40%, even after playing a good 30 mins of music in my car. Something is definitely different today and I think it was the second charge to 100%.

EDIT: I wasn't thinking about the car charger quite right. I was putting 12V into the charger, but of course it only outputs 5V, and this specific charger does at a max of 1A, just like my wife's Pre charger. I wonder why it doesn't charge up all the way first and then does 10 minutes later?
 
My spare parts doesn't seem to update. I'm trying to see other time since last unplugged. Seems like if I put it on the charger and pull it off both running and screen time should be 100%. Mine doesn't seem to change?
 
Yes i have about 3 time already have i let it die. but it still dies out before 3 pm. this is really getting me mad. i just think i cant deal with all this b.s . im just thinkin of changing to the tour. -_- THANKS ANY WAYS
 
LaDiiVyse337 said:
Yes i have about 3 time already have i let it die. but it still dies out before 3 pm. this is really getting me mad. i just think i cant deal with all this b.s . im just thinkin of changing to the tour. -_- THANKS ANY WAYS
Click to expand...
Hmm, if you are not using the phone and it is still dying within 5-6 hours, I would suspect a bad battery or parasitic drain from an app on the phone. There are several users who have reported 20-30 hours of battery when the phone is not being used. Perhaps check what apps you have installed and that the weather app is disabled, if nothing is popping out at you, then I would take it back as a defective device and try another one.

And not trying to be mean, just making sure. It is known that the phone will survive many hours on 15% and then many hours on 5%. I personally got about 10 hours on 15% till completely dead, this is with Moderate usage, videos, web, calls and messaging.
 
when i had a HTC Touch Pro, i used "advanced configuration tools" to change defaults and such on the phone.

is there an app that is like a advanced configuration tools for the moment that could help eliminate these apps that keep popping up?
 
abrahan said:
when i had a HTC Touch Pro, i used "advanced configuration tools" to change defaults and such on the phone.

is there an app that is like a advanced configuration tools for the moment that could help eliminate these apps that keep popping up?
Click to expand...
Android doesn't really work the same way. Sometimes it is not really an app just popping up, but another app is requesting information from that app. This is why it is generally accepted that you don't randomly kill apps. Unless you know for certain, then the app can be killed. Usually Android will kill the app itself if the app is not needed.

To answer your question thou, yes there are app killers on the Android Market.
 
Adrift said:
Android doesn't really work the same way. Sometimes it is not really an app just popping up, but another app is requesting information from that app. This is why it is generally accepted that you don't randomly kill apps. Unless you know for certain, then the app can be killed. Usually Android will kill the app itself if the app is not needed.

To answer your question thou, yes there are app killers on the Android Market.
Click to expand...

thnx. i currently use an app killer. advanced config tools was a way into the back end of the phone. enabling the user to change stuff to their liking. want this button to do this: boom, changed. want the camera to take a picture in a half a milla-second? boom, changed.

anything like that available?
 
By the way folks, I went ahead and tested the battery with AC charging and USB, with the same result. After fully charging with AC it again gave a false "Fully Charged" and within 30 minutes of removing from charger and not touching it, I was back at 80%, Hooked back up to AC charger within 3 minutes "Fully Charged". Soon after back at 80%.

Hooked up to USB, several hours later... fully charged and using Battery Graph it shows I have been at 100% for 3 1/2 hours. I actually forgot I was testing the battery charge and watched some Sprint TV to test something for another board member. Still at 100%.

I was thinking maybe it was just a placebo effect of sorts, but I keep getting the same results. Lol, maybe I am some how willing the battery into showing 100% for so long.

What do you all think?
 
abrahan said:
thnx. i currently use an app killer. advanced config tools was a way into the back end of the phone. enabling the user to change stuff to their liking. want this button to do this: boom, changed. want the camera to take a picture in a half a milla-second? boom, changed.

anything like that available?
Click to expand...
I believe you will get a better and faster answer if you were to make a thread dedicated to this question. Considering that this thread is about battery life and problems and solutions associated with that, your question is getting off topic.
 
Adrift said:
I believe you will get a better and faster answer if you were to make a thread dedicated to this question. Considering that this thread is about battery life and problems and solutions associated with that, your question is getting off topic.
Click to expand...

sorry, i left out that it maintained a healthier battery being able to set things up to run and not run in the background. which is my original reason of asking. thnx, again.
 
Just got 36 hours out of this charge before it powered down. Played with apps/internet while in class for 4 hours yesterday and today plus texting and callin the girlfriend.

I don't care what the battery meter reads now... knowing I can go past 30 hours reliably is enough for me.
 
Well, still at 100% going on almost 5 hours now. Took off USB charger at 6:30pm now 11:40pm. I don't know what to say.
 
hmm, you could say this is likely the strangest battery meter ever...

I have no idea why it would charge better over usb. The AC adapter gives 5V @ .7A
... usb is 5V @ .5A.

I dont know a whole lot about electricity, but .7A is def higher
 
baddubbin said:
hmm, you could say this is likely the strangest battery meter ever...

I have no idea why it would charge better over usb. The AC adapter gives 5V @ .7A
... usb is 5V @ .5A.

I dont know a whole lot about electricity, but .7A is def higher
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like this but maybe?

Think of trying to fill a 20oz coke bottle from a water faucet. Trying to fill it with the water at full blast. It fills quickly and just when you think it is full you shut off the water. Only to see that it appeared full because of the water sloshing around, due to the high flow rate. You are left with an 80-90% full bottle. Change tactics to a slower fill rate. The water is flowing in more slowly there by preventing you from misjudging the actual amount of water.

Perhaps the meter is misjudging the amount of juice stored in the battery due to the higher rate of charge from the AC charger, putting out a false reading of 100% and prematurely shutting off charging.
 
Adrift, you are freaking me out.....I was about to use the exact same analogy. I have never understood electricity that well but if you think of it as a fluid, it helps....voltage being PSI and amperage being flow rate.

Anyway, with my limited knowledge, there are different "qualities" of charge. Obviously, the wall charger doesn't "float" very well at the end and ends up not topping off the battery. I think the USB charger, while not as fast, is a much better float charger and tops it off better. That or the battery is alll the same and the different chargers trick the sensor that gives info to the meter...

For the USB chargers/testers..... let us know your opinion on whether you think your battery performs better or if it is just your meter that is performing better????
 
flyjbaker said:
Adrift, you are freaking me out.....I was about to use the exact same analogy. I have never understood electricity that well but if you think of it as a fluid, it helps....voltage being PSI and amperage being flow rate.
Click to expand...

Great minds think alike, my friend... or is it they just think in terms of fluid? lol

I was actually laying in bed the other night, just about to fall asleep when that analogy hit me. That's why I decided to try the USB the next morning.

*edit* BTW still at 100% 6 hours later, there has to be something to this USB thing.
 
If someone has a multi-meter handy, can you please see what the voltage that is coming out of the ac charger is? Is it 5V DC as claimed?
 
Just went to find my multimeter and it is in my car... oh well.

You guys definitely could be right about the lower current being able to charge the battery more effectively at the high end, I was talking about that very thing with a buddy at work earlier today.
 
I just had the phone fulled charged (100%) with the wall charger. Decided to plug it in the USB to charge it some more and the battery went down to 90% and its charging right now. So i guess you guys are right, a lower lower current is going to top off the battery better.
 
So I am comparing these today. I charged with the phone completely dead last night on AC and it dropped quickly still again. As of now it sits at 90% I think. I took it of the charger at 7:41am. It dropped before I left the house at 7:58. It is holding so far though and I have BT on and talked via BT for 23 mins on the way in. I also answered three texts and took a call without BT. We will see how it progresses. Once it dies I will charge while it is still off via USB.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom