Root Phone charging is taking longer than normal

[gale65]

since I installed DU. In the past I could plug it into my computer and when I got up 5 or 6 hours later it would be fully charged. Now, 8 hours after plugging it in, it's still not quite charged all the way. I know the USB takes longer but I'm comparing USB to USB in this case. Using the same cable I always have. I use greenify and nothing seems to be going on in the background. I have WLD but it's set for 'since unplugged' so it's not showing anything.

Any idea why this is happening and is there any way to fix it?

eta: battery widget reborn says it has been taking about 9 hours, 25 minutes to get to a full charge. That is a long time.

 

[gale65]

This is odd. It finally finished so I unplugged it. 1 second later it was at 99% so I plugged it back in (I want to monitor it from a full 100% charge). Now about 10 minutes later it is at 97%.

 

[Hook]

Hmmmm, I was hoping someone who knew more than I did would answer this. I'm not sure what is going on. I don't know exactly what is going on because I have not seen this happening. However, here are a few ideas.

1. Starting with the simplest things, try a different USB cord even if that one has always worked.

2. Whenever I get weird charging or battery flakiness, the first thing I do is a simulated battery pull. This involves holding the power button (ignore the menu that pops up) until the device spontaneously shuts off. Then release the power button. The device should spontaneously boot back up. Don't know why, but that tends to clear up a lot of general flakiness.

3. Did you flash the version of DU that is linked on the first page of the DU thread in this forum. Check under Settings->About Phone. Does the kernel have the word "furnace' in the description? If so, I know some people had trouble with that kernel on the N5, though I don't know the specifics of what that troouble was. You could try downloading and flashing the alternative MAC kernel that is linked in the same post and see if that improves things. I always use the Franco Kernel. DU has abandoned the Furnace Kernel in their test builds, so you could also go to the G+ community and download the latest Hammerhead Test Build, but it is a est build. I find the test builds very stable, but they are not official.

If these choices (if you choose to try them) don't work, I haven't got much else for you, sorry.

Hope this helps.

 

[gale65]

The one I flashed was called du_hammerhead_4.4.4_20140713-1441. It isn't the one in the thread but it was at the google+ community.

I'll try the other things. I did try a different cable but it didn't seem to matter. Another thing I should probably try is a battery calibration app.

 

[gale65]

I'm nervous to try flashing something different. We leave for a 2 week vacation next week and I won't have a pc handy. Probably no wifi most places either. Should I download and store other versions on my phone so I can dirty flash if I have to?

eta: I have way better battery life since flashing this so I'm happy with it. For now I can charge with a wall charger if I need to do it quickly (actually have not tested that yet) but otherwise I'm pretty happy with the rom and my settings so I don't want to change too much.

 

[gale65]

I must be using a test build. I don't remember anything pointing to that when I downloaded but I can't remember the exact post I downloaded from-it was at G+ but that's all I know. I guess if it's been working for a week+ I should be okay. I can always recover from my backup if I have to, right? Without having to have a PC handy?

 

[xdrc45]

I'm nervous to try flashing something different. We leave for a 2 week vacation next week and I won't have a pc handy. Probably no wifi most places either. Should I download and store other versions on my phone so I can dirty flash if I have to?

eta: I have way better battery life since flashing this so I'm happy with it. For now I can charge with a wall charger if I need to do it quickly (actually have not tested that yet) but otherwise I'm pretty happy with the rom and my settings so I don't want to change too much.

Never be nervous to flash anything new...Always be excited to flash something new!
Even though your leaving on vacation... As long as you have your base's covered, as in Nandroids and EFS backups, past/current official DU build and a current DU test build all stored on the internal storage of the device really your fine.
Typically when you flash a ROM it settles in and runs good right from the start. It might take a reboot or a hour or so with it on and running for it to really settle in and reach the peak performance. A kernel on the other hand may take just a little longer to really settle in and reach peak performance. My point is if you have what you need and you flash your zip files correctly, and wipe when necessary and just never wipe your internal storage (sdcard) you can flash ROM's, kernel's, mods and be setup in minutes without any worries or a PC.
Lol... I probably shouldn't say this but... I don't believe it texting and driving! But I'm guilty of flashing ROM's and driving!

I create a separate sub folder on the SD card, called "Root Stuff" or /SDcard/Root Stuff/
Within this folder I keep everything I need to recover my N5, from pretty much any situation and can perform mods easily. I save anything from current/official ROM's, kernels, recoveries, Gapps, radios, flashable zips and etc... Of course TWRP has its own sub folder on the SD card to store nandroids.
Technically you could also save all of these files on either an external hard drive, USB thrumb drive, SD card and USB card reader, and then use an OTG (On The Go) cable to connect the USB drive to your N5 and flash any of the files on it through TWRP since it supports OTG.
No PC or WiFi need in the senerios...

You might want to look into trying either Franco kernel or ElementalX kernel. Both kernels offer a USB fast charge feature that will allow the N5 to charge at a faster rate when connected to a standard USB port (PC). For eg. A standard USB port outputs 500 ma, where these kernel's will allow it to output 900 ma to the phone.

 

[Hook]

Oh, good. Someone smarter than me finally showed up.

 

[gale65]

Sounds good. I'll go ahead and install the franco kernel tonight and put everything else on my sd. I may also put it in my dropbox and then if I have to I can download it on wifi when I'm in a wifi area.

 

[xdrc45]

Sounds good. I'll go ahead and install the franco kernel tonight and put everything else on my sd. I may also put it in my dropbox and then if I have to I can download it on wifi when I'm in a wifi area.

I use Franco kernel as well and I think that you will be impressed with it!
You will need to either download the FKU paid app from the playstore, (worth the cost) this will allow you to make all kinds of kernel adjustments and turn on USB fast charge.
The free version of FKU only allows you to download and install Franco kernel updates.

Or an app like TricksterMod (compatable with Franco) that also allows you to set and make kernel adjustments. There is a paid version too. But you can make some kernel adjustments and activate USB fast charge on the free version

FKU - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.franco.kernel

TricksterMod - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bigeyes0x0.trickstermod

 

[gale65]

ok I'm downloading the paid version of the FKU app (I buy worthless game apps all the time so I don't mind paying for something that is this useful). I was going to wait until after vacation but I might go for it after all. I'll just do a nandroid backup first.

 

[xdrc45]

ok I'm downloading the paid version of the FKU app (I buy worthless game apps all the time so I don't mind paying for something that is this useful). I was going to wait until after vacation but I might go for it after all. I'll just do a nandroid backup first.

Really you can just flash Franco kernel right over the DU kernel without any issues.
No need to wipe anything or to perform a nandroid backup.
If you decide to go back to the stock DU kernel, all you have to do is just Dirty flash (not perform any wipe) the DU version that your currently using and it will wipe any of the modified system files that Franco kernel changes and it will replace Franco kernel with the stock DU kernel. Kernel's are pretty easy install and will only take 2 mins total.
You can download the newest version of Franco kernel through his FKU app, either auto-flash or a flashable zip through recovery. I always use the flashable zip... Download the kernel, reboot to TWRP, click on install and then navigate to the root of your internal SD card (it's not saved in the download folder - /SD card/downloads/) scroll down to the Franco R57 Nightly.zip and install, reboot and success. Then use your paid FKU app to tweak your kernel to your liking and enable USB fast charge!!

 

[gale65]

Done and done! And fast charging enabled and it went from about 60% to 100% in an hour or two. Definitely fast!

So far one of my apps is a little choppy (graphics wise) but I might just need a reboot or might need to reinstall that app (it's words w/ friends).

Normally on a 100% charge I can play a single game of klondike and my battery goes to 99% and 98% pretty quickly. Tonight it stayed at 100% through 2 games. It's at 98% now though, but that's after those two games plus I looked through the FKU settings a little, looked at weather (storm here right now), and looked at some instagram.

 

[gale65]

I wanted to add my screenshot. This has nothing to do with the charging. This is off the charger for nearly 11 hours, mostly just idle. You can see that it has only lost 4% charge in that amount of time-in the past I've lost 1-2% battery PER HOUR during idle times. I'm not sure what google search feature is causing the wakelock but I think 5 min in over 10 hours is nothing to worry about. This is using greenify for almost everything but system apps and with location history and reporting turned off. Location is on, but power saving mode only.

 

[xdrc45]

I wanted to add my screenshot. This has nothing to do with the charging. This is off the charger for nearly 11 hours, mostly just idle. You can see that it has only lost 4% charge in that amount of time-in the past I've lost 1-2% battery PER HOUR during idle times. I'm not sure what google search feature is causing the wakelock but I think 5 min in over 10 hours is nothing to worry about. This is using greenify for almost everything but system apps and with location history and reporting turned off. Location is on, but power saving mode only.

That's pretty good, only 4% battery loss in 11 hrs! Looks as though you've got it just about all narrowed down, figured out and everything is running pretty smoothly! Good job gale!
How are you liking the Franco kernel? The USB fast charge feature is nice isn't it?
There is a new DU test build 07/23 just released to day on DU Google+... If you want you can just dirty flash that over your existing DU ROM and then just reflash the Franco kernel and you will be all set to go!!

 

[gale65]

Here's something weird. When I looked at WLD just now it said it has been on battery for around 6 hours. Only thing is, I haven't plugged it in since last night (I transferred that screen shot via dropbox). So that would have been around 4 this afternoon but I wasn't near the computer at that time and my kids never touch my phone. The battery info in the settings says the same thing. Does it reset or something?

eta: just remembered I did a reboot this afternoon. That must be when it reset-I did it because I read on the other thread about some weird reboot thing using the Franco kernel R58 and this test build of DU and wanted to test it.