Help Phone Battery is real bad

[Musichead4444]

Last week my phone battery has gotten very bad. And yesterday I got a new phone battery. But my phone battery is just as bad as it was with the old battery. What may be the cause for such a bad battery. Also my phone charges via wall charger. But when I charge it through the computer with a USB it does not charge. It says it is charging but the battery level really just decreases.

 

[Thom]

Need more information.

Are these OEM (I.e. Motorola) batteries and are you using the OEM cable and wall charger that came with your Bionic?

That is the configuration to try and see what the results are.

Charging by USB connection takes much much longer than using the wall charger (like 3-5 times longer).

... Thom

 

[doogald]

To add to what Thom posted, it's possible when the battery is discharged that the computer cannot provide enough power via the USB port to charge the battery at all, and, in fact, could possibly discharge the battery - as you've noticed. A USB port puts out only about 100 mA of current. USB charging is probably ok for a "top-up" but not for charging from a low battery state.

I suspect the reason that your battery is discharging is because you have an app that is running all of the time and drawing power. If you've added any apps recently, that could be it.

Thom, I don't have an ICS Bionic, can you provide the instructions for looking in settings for which apps are using the most power?

When the phone updated to ICS (Android version 4), did you do a factory data reset and reload the phone from scratch? If not, this might be a good time to do that.

 

[Thom]

... Settings | Systems Settings | Battery.

... Thom

 

[804hokie]

Assuming JB is very polished, I will likely be holding on to my Bionic for some time longer:

After the first one they sent came up wanting, it seems Hyperion sent me a "good egg" Saturday because in the last 24-hrs, my Bionic has undergone both moderate and heavy use (with the screen on the brightest setting), and still hasn't drained the 4,000mAh battery down completely. However, both the built-in and GSam battery indicators have had it showing 1% for close to 10-hours now. I fully expected needing to charge it this morning, but that may have to wait until after lunch! I need to find a way to tweak this for accuracy. Still, I'm excited about the possibilities of going long periods of time without needing a charge!

On that note, does anyone know how to calibrate battery indicators for accurate readings? Will the Bionic or the GSam Battery app do this on its own? Or do non-OEM batteries prohibit accurate readings?

 

[wildkitten]

Assuming JB is very polished, I will likely be holding on to my Bionic for some time longer:

After the first one they sent came up wanting, it seems Hyperion sent me a "good egg" Saturday because in the last 24-hrs, my Bionic has undergone both moderate and heavy use (with the screen on the brightest setting), and still hasn't drained the 4,000mAh battery down completely. However, both the built-in and GSam battery indicators have had it showing 1% for close to 10-hours now. I fully expected needing to charge it this morning, but that may have to wait until after lunch! I need to find a way to tweak this for accuracy. Still, I'm excited about the possibilities of going long periods of time without needing a charge!

On that note, does anyone know how to calibrate battery indicators for accurate readings? Will the Bionic or the GSam Battery app do this on its own? Or do non-OEM batteries prohibit accurate readings?

I really would not use that 4000mA non OEM battery. There have been a few horror stories about that one, not to mention it seems the majority of problems that people talk about the phone having, the root cause seems to have been non OEM batteries or chargers.

 

[804hokie]

I really would not use that 4000mA non OEM battery. There have been a few horror stories about that one, not to mention it seems the majority of problems that people talk about the phone having, the root cause seems to have been non OEM batteries or chargers.

Really, I've nothing to lose with opting for this large Hyperion battery. My Bionic's warranty has expired, and replacement OEM extended batteries run for 3-times the price of this much-larger battery. Yes, the first one they sent offered only marginal battery life improvement, but this one is superb. I got 26-hours of moderate-to-heavy use (with the screen set to its brightest) on the first full charge! In the last few weeks, I was lucky to get 4-hours of that type of use from the OEM extended battery. Hyperion will stand by their work, and not have you send batteries received back. But the Bionic is now considerably thicker (now about .75"), but it does it without looking ridiculously bloated.

My VzW device upgrade comes in May, but I may keep my Bionic until I know what the next Moto flagship device will offer. I'm glad I dumped AT&T and the iPhone. Either that, or go with one of the Samsung flagship devices.

 

[wildkitten]

Really, I've nothing to lose with opting for this large Hyperion battery. My Bionic's warranty has expired, and replacement OEM extended batteries run for 3-times the price of this much-larger battery. Yes, the first one they sent offered only marginal battery life improvement, but this one is superb. I got 26-hours of moderate-to-heavy use (with the screen set to its brightest) on the first full charge! In the last few weeks, I was lucky to get 4-hours of that type of use from the OEM extended battery. Hyperion will stand by their work, and not have you send batteries received back. But the Bionic is now considerably thicker (now about .75"), but it does it without looking ridiculously bloated.

My VzW device upgrade comes in May, but I may keep my Bionic until I know what the next Moto flagship device will offer. I'm glad I dumped AT&T and the iPhone. Either that, or go with one of the Samsung flagship devices.

Except you are already talking about problems the phone is experiencing because of that battery which is why I responded to your post...

However, both the built-in and GSam battery indicators have had it showing 1% for close to 10-hours now.

OEM batteries do not have the built in circuitry, including the safety circuitry, of OEM batteries. Keep in mind also, the makers of 3rd party batteries also have no access to the designs of the phones so in no way can they insure that their batteries will be fully compatible.

And if you were only getting 4 hours of use on an OEM extended battery that says to me you have a charging issue. I get much more than 26 hours of moderate to heavy use on my OEM extended battery.

You asked about a problem you were experiencing, and I am sorry that you are starting to notice issues, but the answer you are going to get is the one that has been seen as the problem many times before, the 3rd party battery.

 

[804hokie]

Except you are already talking about problems the phone is experiencing because of that battery which is why I responded to your post...



OEM batteries do not have the built in circuitry, including the safety circuitry, of OEM batteries. Keep in mind also, the makers of 3rd party batteries also have no access to the designs of the phones so in no way can they insure that their batteries will be fully compatible.

And if you were only getting 4 hours of use on an OEM extended battery that says to me you have a charging issue. I get much more than 26 hours of moderate to heavy use on my OEM extended battery.

You asked about a problem you were experiencing, and I am sorry that you are starting to notice issues, but the answer you are going to get is the one that has been seen as the problem many times before, the 3rd party battery.

Charging problem... with the battery, phone, or charger (or all of the above)? The OEM charger is shot, but I got another from VzW. I've tested all sorts of chargers from OEM to 3rd-party and the OEM battery performance stayed constant. Many I've talked with say it's good to replace an Li-Ion battery after a year of use.

However, I don't see how a charging issue could be resolved at this point, because the warranty is expired. That is, unless Asurion will send me a brand new phone.

 

[doogald]

Charging problem... with the battery, phone, or charger (or all of the above)? The OEM charger is shot, but I got another from VzW. I've tested all sorts of chargers from OEM to 3rd-party and the OEM battery performance stayed constant. Many I've talked with say it's good to replace an Li-Ion battery after a year of use.

However, I don't see how a charging issue could be resolved at this point, because the warranty is expired. That is, unless Asurion will send me a brand new phone.

The issue may be catastrophic failure of the battery pack while in use - fire or explosion. You're probably fine, but look occasionally for signs of swelling of the battery pack, and check the temperature while charging.

I've read all of the Amazon reviews and nobody reports any fire or explosion problems, so I'll bet you'll be all set. Just be careful.

You may want to think about the app Battery Monitor: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=battery.monitor which can report percentages based on voltage rather than what is reported by the system.

 

[wildkitten]

Charging problem... with the battery, phone, or charger (or all of the above)? The OEM charger is shot, but I got another from VzW. I've tested all sorts of chargers from OEM to 3rd-party and the OEM battery performance stayed constant. Many I've talked with say it's good to replace an Li-Ion battery after a year of use.

However, I don't see how a charging issue could be resolved at this point, because the warranty is expired. That is, unless Asurion will send me a brand new phone.

Is the one you have gotten from Verizon a Motorola charger designed to be used by the Bionic? Reason I ask is because Verizon does sell 3rd party stuff as well. Many people have had problems with 3rd party chargers due to issues such as it not providing enough power to charge the battery to it not going to trickle charge once the battery is full thus causing damage to the battery itself.

It's quite possible that one of the 3rd party chargers you have used before damaged the OEM extended battery you have had.

You could try to resolve it by getting a charger designed for the Bionic if the one VZW sold you is 3rd party.

Amazon.com: Motorola Standard Dock with Rapid Wall Charger for DROID BIONIC - Retail Packaging - Black: Cell Phones & Accessories

New Original Motorola Home Wall Charger SPN5334 Motorola Droid Bionic XT875 | eBay

 

[Thom]

I think by now you see the "interesting" spiral this issue can take. The bottom line is ... get the OEM charger, OEM cable, and OEM battery and use them as your standard.

The OEM items will have a Motorola logo on them or burned into them.

An OEM replacement battery from Amazon is rather reasonable priced.

Almost anything can happen with non-OEM equipment. What makes the OEM equipment more expensive is that it actually goes through quality control and almost all the defective items never get shipped. This is not the case with non-OEM equipment.

... Thom