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Help Possible Battery Fix from HTC

I'm on an overnight fishing trip. I want to get the most battery life that I can Incase there are any emergencies. I haven't been using my phone hardly at all because I get sea sick really easily, but I must say that after doing a few little tweaks to conserve my battery I have been getting phenomenal standby battery life compared to before the tweaks. Here Is what I did.
I turned off the following- enable always on mobile data, background data and auto syncing.
Yesterday I unplugged my phone at 6:00 am and fell asleep around 10 pm and I had 80% battery life left.
I was still receiving my email too so I really don't understand what any of these settings do besides give me a lot more battery life. Typically I would have gone through 2 batteries even though I wasn't hardly even using my phone.
This Isnt something I would do everyday, but incase anyone needs to conserve battery life for an emergency or because they don't have a way to recharge this is working really well.
 
How to calibrate HTC EVO battery and possibly double your battery life

I'm trying this just for the heck of it.

This is a one-time only procedure.

  1. Turn the EVO on and charge it for 8 hours.
  2. Unplug it and turn it off.
  3. Plug it back in and charge for 1 hour.
  4. Unplug it and turn it on.
  5. Wait 2 minutes and turn it off.
  6. Plug it back in and charge for 1 hour.

I had my phone off for one hour with a full charge and then when I turned it on it was on 98% and went to 96 within a minute while it was loading up. I now have it turned off again for another hour it says. Just Curious if it will do anything or not. But if you have a 100% full charge and unplug and turn on it should be at a 100%. I am guessing it wants you to do this for all your batteries and I have 3 extra. So I don't worry too much about it draining but just wanted to see if this helped any.

The other thing it says to do which I had done in the beginning before 2.2 was the on off thing and my battery would always turn back green when off within a minute or so. I think I'm ok and I know some say you don't need to do this and others say it xan help so I figured I would give it a try..

Edit: Ok so phone was charged for another hour and I unplugged it and it was green and full and now it turns on and is loaded and at 95%. Makes no sense..
 
Honestly....turning my 3G off hasn't increased my battery life. I'm in an area with, on average, 4 bars.

I use to turn my 3G off, and keep it off, whenever I wasn't using my phone. These past few days, however, I've left it on and my battery life is actually the same. Actually, according to Battery Left, my Battery Life went up about 45mins and I haven't changed my regular usage. I have most things syncing every 1-4hrs; really only 3 things...my email, HTC Facebook, and Newsrob (RSS). I also have Tasker running and changing my Background every 20mins or so and a few other daily things.

So I just keep 3G and not worry about turning it on/off. I get about 12hrs. I used some of the tips in Slick's post here and other random post/stickies or common sense stuff. So i'm happy. I can get through most of the day pretty easily for my needs.
 
How does turning off 3G still allow you to make/receive phone calls? Isn't it a bit ridiculous to have to go so far as to turn off your actual mobile network to conserve battery power? I mean, it's a *phone* after all.
 
It's weird for me cause sometimes my battery will last longer than others. Like the other night I went to a concert had pretty much a full charge and took some pics and uploaded to FB and texted a couple times and my battery drained pretty quick. I did have to swap out after about 3 or 4 hours I think. Maybe I didn't have a good signal and it drained quicker I don't know. It was an outdoor concert but I decided to just not worry about it anymore and to keep on what I want and use the phone to it's fullest since I have 3 extra batteries. '

But I still don't get that after an hour on the charger and a green light unplugging and turning back on and it said 98 once it fully loaded it went from 98 to 96. You would think it would turn on and be at a 100, Does powering up drain the battery? That just seemed weird to me!
 
JohnJSal said:
How does turning off 3G still allow you to make/receive phone calls? Isn't it a bit ridiculous to have to go so far as to turn off your actual mobile network to conserve battery power? I mean, it's a *phone* after all.
Click to expand...
You can still make phone calls and receive text messages with 3G (mobile network) turned off. You just can't do anything that involves the internet. So it's not actually "ridiculous"
 
brushrop03 said:
You can still make phone calls and receive text messages with 3G (mobile network) turned off. You just can't do anything that involves the internet. So it's not actually "ridiculous"
Click to expand...

Are you still using Sprint's network, or is this considered roaming, or something else? How does the phone even have a connection without the network being on? Or is it just using the basic Sprint network, without data?
 
JohnJSal said:
Are you still using Sprint's network, or is this considered roaming, or something else? How does the phone even have a connection without the network being on? Or is it just using the basic Sprint network, without data?
Click to expand...
Yes...sprint network minus the data. It's not roaming.
 
Rose4uKy said:
How to calibrate HTC EVO battery and possibly double your battery life

I'm trying this just for the heck of it.
Click to expand...

Hi Rose4uKy...

I'm just warning you that I posted this EXACT SAME LINK/info up a few comments back (#671 above) and got laughed at and ridiculed by Captain Slicky in this forum. Yep, just like you, tried to HELP with a FRIENDLY post but apparently Albert Einstein posts in this forum too...

So, just letting you know that you're VERY LIKELY gonna catch some obnoxiousness coming your way...sorry, sad, I know... :(
 
Well I just didn't like how fully charged off:( and green then unplug turn on and its at 95. Oh well I have 3 extra batteries so I'm not gonna worry about it anymore.

scudder said:
Hi Rose4uKy...

I'm just warning you that I posted this EXACT SAME LINK/info up a few comments back (#671 above) and got laughed at and ridiculed by Captain Slicky in this forum. Yep, just like you, tried to HELP with a FRIENDLY post but apparently Albert Einstein posts in this forum too...

So, just letting you know that you're VERY LIKELY gonna catch some obnoxiousness coming your way...sorry, sad, I know... :(
Click to expand...

I
 
Rose4uKy said:
It's weird for me cause sometimes my battery will last longer than others. Like the other night I went to a concert had pretty much a full charge and took some pics and uploaded to FB and texted a couple times and my battery drained pretty quick. I did have to swap out after about 3 or 4 hours I think. Maybe I didn't have a good signal and it drained quicker I don't know. It was an outdoor concert but I decided to just not worry about it anymore and to keep on what I want and use the phone to it's fullest since I have 3 extra batteries. '

But I still don't get that after an hour on the charger and a green light unplugging and turning back on and it said 98 once it fully loaded it went from 98 to 96. You would think it would turn on and be at a 100, Does powering up drain the battery? That just seemed weird to me!
Click to expand...

Using the LED light to take pictures will cause battery drainage. Just like leaving the LED light on will cause battery drainage. If you plan on taking pictures at night, take an extra battery.

If you do not unplug the phone within so many minutes of the light turning green the battery power is going to drop. The battery stops charging once it reaches maximum capacity and will not start charging again until the battery percentage reaches a certain level. If I am correct, you didn't unlplug your phone from the charger as soon as the light turned green did you?

Just remember, I can charge a phone in the off position. Come back 4 days later and the battery will be dead on my Sprint Touch even after I have not turned the phone on.
 
@Slick1020

a. thanks for your list of "how to"

b. was getting to the account sync section...the account settings for updating "stocks" and "news and weather" are both grey'd out...I cannot change the setting on these to manual...I would prefer to do this...what am I missing...???

your input would be appreciated and helpfull..

I made onle some of the settings you suggested prior to today and have dramatically improved my battery life...

THE biggest thing that was helpfull was turning background data to OFF...major difference!


thanks

Shanty
 
No I didn't take my phone right off charger when green. I was trying some thing and had it charging for eight hours. Then unplugged it and turned out off and charged it for an hour. Unplugged turned on for two minutes then off for an hour charging again. But I'm not trying any more battery calibration things. I always have extra batteries on me. But this site mentioned doing this one time what I did so I tried it. But I know to unplug right when green.


Slick1020 said:
Using the LED light to take pictures will cause battery drainage. Just like leaving the LED light on will cause battery drainage. If you plan on taking pictures at night, take an extra battery.

If you do not unplug the phone within so many minutes of the light turning green the battery power is going to drop. The battery stops charging once it reaches maximum capacity and will not start charging again until the battery percentage reaches a certain level. If I am correct, you didn't unlplug your phone from the charger as soon as the light turned green did you?

Just remember, I can charge a phone in the off position. Come back 4 days later and the battery will be dead on my Sprint Touch even after I have not turned the phone on.
Click to expand...
 
Rose4uKy said:
No I didn't take my phone right off charger when green. I was trying some thing and had it charging for eight hours unplugged off for an hour unplugged on for two minutes then off for an hour charging again. But I'm not trying any more battery calibration things. I always have extra batteries on me. But this site mentioned doing this one time what I did so I tried it. But I know to unplug right when green.
Click to expand...

LOL, I understand now. So the calibration/double your battery life didn't work for you?
 
shantytownbrown said:
@Slick1020

a. thanks for your list of "how to"

b. was getting to the account sync section...the account settings for updating "stocks" and "news and weather" are both grey'd out...I cannot change the setting on these to manual...I would prefer to do this...what am I missing...???

your input would be appreciated and helpfull..

I made onle some of the settings you suggested prior to today and have dramatically improved my battery life...

THE biggest thing that was helpfull was turning background data to OFF...major difference!


thanks

Shanty
Click to expand...

Hey Shanty, I'm here for you brother.

You need to open up the News App and Stocks App individually. Menu - All Apps - then find the apps and open the apps. Follow the instructions from my battery tweaks posting:
Open News App - Menu - Settings - Set Update schedule - Make sure it says "Manual"
Open Stocks App - Menu - Settings - Make sure Auto Sync data and Update Schedule boxes are grayed out and no check in the Auto Sync Data box exist. Uncheck the "Update when Opened box" if you do not use the stocks app. If you use this app, its basically set to manually refresh upon opening if you leave the box checked.

Does this makes sense? If I'm not being clear just drop a another post for me.

Just so you know. By not having background data checked you have to check that box before the market app will function properly. I haven't noticed a difference with the box checked or unchecked in my battery life. However, my friend EarlyMon has noticed a difference by unchecking the box though. Just thinking out loud I don't have any apps that can send/receive data on their own. The only app I know with the ability to send/receive data on its own is my Sprint Football app. But I control the notifications I receive from the app by turning them off. I think all apps work the same way. You control them, they do not control your phone.
 
I didn't expect it to double my battery life I just thought it would fix the problem of draining if left plugged in too long on green that's all. But now I take it off right when green. I did some of the suggestions here but having four batteries I don't worry anymore..

Slick1020 said:
LOL, I understand now. So the calibration/double your battery life didn't work for you?
Click to expand...
 
To be honest, I didn't charge my phone last night. And my HTC charger in my car doesn't charge the phone extremely fast because its a charger for a Sprint Touch of which I put a micro usb adapter on the tip. Anyway, I hoovered around 30% all day today. To me 30% = 30 hours of life depending on how you use the phone. I was out all day today and I did not have time to actually throw the phone on a charger until getting to my hotel room. My phone did not die on me.
 
Slick1020 said:
Hey Shanty, I'm here for you brother.

You need to open up the News App and Stocks App individually. Menu - All Apps - then find the apps and open the apps. Follow the instructions from my battery tweaks posting:
Open News App - Menu - Settings - Set Update schedule - Make sure it says "Manual"
Open Stocks App - Menu - Settings - Make sure Auto Sync data and Update Schedule boxes are grayed out and no check in the Auto Sync Data box exist. Uncheck the "Update when Opened box" if you do not use the stocks app. If you use this app, its basically set to manually refresh upon opening if you leave the box checked.

Does this makes sense? If I'm not being clear just drop a another post for me.

Just so you know. By not having background data checked you have to check that box before the market app will function properly. I haven't noticed a difference with the box checked or unchecked in my battery life. However, my friend EarlyMon has noticed a difference by unchecking the box though. Just thinking out loud I don't have any apps that can send/receive data on their own. The only app I know with the ability to send/receive data on its own is my Sprint Football app. But I control the notifications I receive from the app by turning them off. I think all apps work the same way. You control them, they do not control your phone.
Click to expand...

The above does make sense, but that WAS what I was doing (i.e. opening them individually) i can see the setting, (one fore example is set at 6 hours) but I cannot change it...it is grey'd out...(????) can't figure out why that would be...any thoughts...

yes, I am aware that to goto the market I have to turn the backgound data on/off...maybe once i rid myself of some of these other frequent "push" items..I can turn it back on permanently-like...

I dont think i have much else running that "pushes" by itself...Honestly, I dont have much on my phone at all...I get a decent day out of my phone...but not the 30 hours some get (unless they are not making calls, like I am)

oh, one more thing..this "remove when its immediately green" thing: I am in a position where I must let my phone charge at nite, so I cannot do this, how BAD is this or is it "just not as good" to leave it charging for a few extra hours....if it is "bad", hopefully I have not done too much to the battery in the 3 weeks I have had the phone...I can probably make a change in habit if it will make that much of a difference.


ok, quick update: No issues with Stock app...was fine to change it this morning..(??)

the Issue is only with the "news and weather" app, not the "news" app or the "weather" app...maybe i should just uninstall this one...

Shanty
 
shantytownbrown said:
The above does make sense, but that WAS what I was doing (i.e. opening them individually) i can see the setting, (one fore example is set at 6 hours) but I cannot change it...it is grey'd out...(????) can't figure out why that would be...any thoughts...

yes, I am aware that to goto the market I have to turn the backgound data on/off...maybe once i rid myself of some of these other frequent "push" items..I can turn it back on permanently-like...

I dont think i have much else running that "pushes" by itself...Honestly, I dont have much on my phone at all...I get a decent day out of my phone...but not the 30 hours some get (unless they are not making calls, like I am)

oh, one more thing..this "remove when its immediately green" thing: I am in a position where I must let my phone charge at nite, so I cannot do this, how BAD is this or is it "just not as good" to leave it charging for a few extra hours....if it is "bad", hopefully I have not done too much to the battery in the 3 weeks I have had the phone...I can probably make a change in habit if it will make that much of a difference.


ok, quick update: No issues with Stock app...was fine to change it this morning..(??)

the Issue is only with the "news and weather" app, not the "news" app or the "weather" app...maybe i should just uninstall this one...

Shanty
Click to expand...

You cannot uninstall stock apps from your phone unless you are rooted. If the news and weather app is greyed out for the settings. You need to check the auto refresh box for the setting to become active so you can change the setting.
 
Slick1020 said:
You cannot uninstall stock apps from your phone unless you are rooted. If the news and weather app is greyed out for the settings. You need to check the auto refresh box for the setting to become active so you can change the setting.
Click to expand...

the "auto refresh" box is checked but ALSO grey'd out, and i cannot unselect this..this is where i think i am missing something...???

so also, what about this "battery unplug when just green thing"?
 
The News and Weather widget is wasteful - the Clock/Weather and News tools are simply better for your battery.

(Live widgets, as I think Slick has already pointed out - always wasteful. Use simpler tools/widgets and control the updates yourself. Not as automagic/sexie but much more power efficient.)

I think the "unplug when green" thing is covered, but I'm chipping in on this because sometimes it helps to hear the same thing with different words (ok - it often does for me):

EarlyMon said:
Again - once the phone hits full charge, the LED stays green, the indicators read 100% and it starts running off of battery and will do so until around 92~93% and then start on/off charging.

It does this to keep the battery from blowing up.

It's just like a laptop in this regard (the same thing that leads people to think their perfectly-fine laptop needs a new battery).

Take your phone off the charger the instant it hits green - or even at 98 or 99% and it'll stay at the high charge.

The phone is NOT dropping to 92% in 5 minutes - it's taking 5 minutes to accurately reflect the charged state - and the number of minutes will vary slightly, just like on a laptop.
Click to expand...

That said - any phone that's off for a few days with the charger plugged in, green indicated - and NOT having around a 90% charge but instead being dead as Slick's reported - that would bug me as a potential flaw.

It doesn't / __shouldn't__ hurt anything to leave it charging once it hits 100%/green - but it doesn't help anything either.

~~~~~~

I'm really intrigued by this whole grayed-out option thing you're reporting. In the event that you and Slick or others don't get this figured out quickly, would you kindly post the path to those specific options, in the form of..

Menu -> Settings -> Wireless & networks -> .... (or under whatever subsystem you're seeing them)

~~~~~~

If you're referring to widget options being grayed out - yeah. A whole _lot_ of the widgets are lame that way. I often find having to remove them from the desktop and then going into Application Management and clearing out their data and then adding them back to the desktop is the only way to re-access those options - upon setup, as if the widget's being used for the first time.
 
Thanks for the charger info...

EarlyMon said:
~~~~~~

I'm really intrigued by this whole grayed-out option thing you're reporting. In the event that you and Slick or others don't get this figured out quickly, would you kindly post the path to those specific options, in the form of..

Menu -> Settings -> Wireless & networks -> .... (or under whatever subsystem you're seeing them)

~~~~~~

If you're referring to widget options being grayed out - yeah. A whole _lot_ of the widgets are lame that way. I often find having to remove them from the desktop and then going into Application Management and clearing out their data and then adding them back to the desktop is the only way to re-access those options - upon setup, as if the widget's being used for the first time.
Click to expand...

menu->"news and weather"->menu->settings->refresh settings..


holy @$#$!!

as i was going thru the steps to give you the above info...'lo and behold...now NOT, i repeat, NOT grey'd out!!! Wild...all day this was grey! now it is unchecked and on manual refresh only!!

now since i last posted, i did the "Network app" gsm/cdma thing, inc the prl reset and
I think I may have also since stopped "genierefreshservice" that appeared under "news and weather" in the menu->settings->applications->running sevices, if you turn this off, it doesnt show up again unless you open news and weather, then it seems to run indefinitely...maybe this is what did it...

wont be opening this up again...
I like weather bug app anyway

(lots of things seem to run in the background without being able to shut them down, eh)
 
Here is a simple fix. I went on E-bay and bought 2 extra batteries and a wall charger from Hong Kong for $10 with free shipping. They work just as good as the factory battery. Keep an extra with you and you don't have to worry about your phone going dead. Simply replace the battery. Oh, and if that one goes dead replace that one with the extra, extra battery. Lasts for days, no apps required.
 
Boxkicker40 said:
Here is a simple fix. I went on E-bay and bought 2 extra batteries and a wall charger from Hong Kong for $10 with free shipping. They work just as good as the factory battery. Keep an extra with you and you don't have to worry about your phone going dead. Simply replace the battery. Oh, and if that one goes dead replace that one with the extra, extra battery. Lasts for days, no apps required.
Click to expand...

For ten bucks?!? Seriously?

Send me a link to one of these legit ebay auctions...how much was the shipping?:cool:
 
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