Help Requesting input from experts: Battery question

[canigeta]

I have read up on the many tips, gripes, and stories about the Nexus battery. I am hoping you can help me determine if my situation is the norm, or an indicator of a larger problem.

On my hour commute as a passenger this morning I surfed the web, checked facebook and twitter, and used flipboard for an hour of screen time. No gps turned on, weak to moderate 3G service, screen set to max brightness. My battery went from 100% to 39%. This is common on my phone. My question is whether this is on par or perhaps an issue. Reducing brightness will help, and I realize that, but I am wondering if my situation is normal given the parameters. Thank you so much for helping me!!

 

[canigeta]

Here is a screenshot that I wasn't allowed to originally post since it was my first post to the forum. You can see it shows wifi until half way through. I never once was using wifi but didn't understand why it was showing solid simply by being turned on and not connected...so I shut it off completely.

 

[Turdbogls]

yes, keep wifi off when not connected...it will continue to search for a wifi signal which uses battery.

as for the battery life, i would say that is pretty normal. usually i can get 2 hours screen on time at an average of 50% brightness. so one hour, in a bad signal area, with full screen brightness, constantly pulling in data and going down 60% is normal IMO.

 

[blahblahyoutoo]

CDMA/LTE or GSM?

 

[canigeta]

CDMA/LTE or GSM?

I apologize I should have mentioned that. I have Verizon CDMA/LTE.

 

[quickaudi]

my understanding is that you could get 2 hours max on low brightness with the screen on, so I'd say that's about right.

 

[jbdan]

There are so many variables to take into consideration. Using ~60% of juice in that time on a weak 3G signal sure that could happen, especially on a stock 4.0.2 phone. I've seen worse, but we don't know what your signal is, what apps you've installed, how many apps you have querying the net and how often, etc... So you had a total of 1 hr screen on time?

If you look at your battery graph I'd bet it didn't start at 100% though. The way these phones charge, then trickle to ~100, then drain, then trickle again, it's hard to catch it at a true 100%. You'll often see it read a full battery, but it could be at 90%.

Are you on stock 4.0.2 with the stock battery? You are in luck, this can be improved with some willingness to experiment with different settings and tweaking apps (refresh updates) and so on. You can also get the 2100mah battery for it. You can also root it and really tailor how your phone makes use of it's power source, of course only if that was an option to you

 

[canigeta]

You are so right about the variables involved. I have facebook set to pull every 30 minutes, I have a battery indicator widget, weather widget, and other apps that may or may not be pulling on the battery.

The screen was pretty much on for the entire hour and ten minutes as I browsed. It was registering almost 70% in the usage stats. I am running stock 4.02. I can accept the battery life given my choices and the variables involved. I just wanted try and be sure that there wasn't an underlying issue that I shouldn't be ignoring. If others under certain test conditions were only dropping to, say, 60% then I would be in a different boat.

Thanks to all of you for your input/advice!

 

[Sandroidfan]

Try disabling facebook sync or even uninstall it and use browser for FB.
Also as jbdan mentioned it's a bit tricky to get full 100% charged Gnex. I usually charge in the morning to get up to 100% and let it stay there extra 20 minutes until it becomes "100% full".

 

[Tim K]

I'm not surprised by your results. In my unscientific tests, 70% brightness drains about 30% of the battery per hour. I'm not at all shocked that 100% brightness would drain that much in 70+ minutes... especially considering your signal was really poor (judging by the amount of bright yellow and even some red in the graph). I'd like to see the other battery charts too.

 

[Tim K]

Also as jbdan mentioned it's a bit tricky to get full 100% charged Gnex. I usually charge in the morning to get up to 100% and let it stay there extra 20 minutes until it becomes "100% full".

You're wasting your time. Its almost never going to be 100% full....and even what it reports as 100% isn't necessarily. Read This. To sum it up, from the second your phone hits 100% charge....the battery begins draining. Leaving it plugged in extra is NOT adding more charge...its still draining. In fact, it drains down to about 90% before juice starts flowing back into the phone.... and the whole time your phone will still report 99-100% just to keep you from freaking out!

If you want your phone to have the absolute MAX charge, you need to pull it off the charger as soon as it hits 100%.... Or pull it off for a few minutes and then put it back on until it gets to 100% again and pull it off.

 

[jbdan]

You are so right about the variables involved. I have facebook set to pull every 30 minutes, I have a battery indicator widget, weather widget, and other apps that may or may not be pulling on the battery.

The screen was pretty much on for the entire hour and ten minutes as I browsed. It was registering almost 70% in the usage stats. I am running stock 4.02. I can accept the battery life given my choices and the variables involved. I just wanted try and be sure that there wasn't an underlying issue that I shouldn't be ignoring. If others under certain test conditions were only dropping to, say, 60% then I would be in a different boat.

Thanks to all of you for your input/advice!

And you did post a screeny looks like it did get to a full 100%. Sorry about that

Yeah it all makes sense when you start looking at the app/s you have installed and how often they are polling the net for a refresh. If you can, increase the refresh times to an hour or more. I don't need anything to refresh. I just click the icon of the app when I want to see something. I guess I'm not "that connected" to the world although I do have the weather refreshing each hour.

 

[jbdan]

Try disabling facebook sync or even uninstall it and use browser for FB.
Also as jbdan mentioned it's a bit tricky to get full 100% charged Gnex. I usually charge in the morning to get up to 100% and let it stay there extra 20 minutes until it becomes "100% full".

We used to call it a "bump charge" when I had the Inc. This holds true for the GN as well, I do believe. I don't bump charge the GN though, I actually use a kernel feature that does not allow it to charge over 96%. It's called BLX I think... battery life extender. Just a kernel feature I've left running. Who knows what it does for battery life, but I am happy

 

[jbdan]

You are so right about the variables involved. I have facebook set to pull every 30 minutes, I have a battery indicator widget, weather widget, and other apps that may or may not be pulling on the battery.

The screen was pretty much on for the entire hour and ten minutes as I browsed. It was registering almost 70% in the usage stats. I am running stock 4.02. I can accept the battery life given my choices and the variables involved. I just wanted try and be sure that there wasn't an underlying issue that I shouldn't be ignoring. If others under certain test conditions were only dropping to, say, 60% then I would be in a different boat.

Thanks to all of you for your input/advice!

And btw, my signal is much worse than your screen shot at my home, which is where I'm at most of the time. I'll have days where I was 50% without a signal (aka half my mobile network signal usage is bold yellow with NO green at all).

And welcome to AF!

 

[Sandroidfan]

You're wasting your time. Its almost never going to be 100% full....and even what it reports as 100% isn't necessarily. Read This. To sum it up, from the second your phone hits 100% charge....the battery begins draining. Leaving it plugged in extra is NOT adding more charge...its still draining. In fact, it drains down to about 90% before juice starts flowing back into the phone.... and the whole time your phone will still report 99-100% just to keep you from freaking out!

If you want your phone to have the absolute MAX charge, you need to pull it off the charger as soon as it hits 100%.... Or pull it off for a few minutes and then put it back on until it gets to 100% again and pull it off.

I understand that. But question is when exactly does it hit full 100% on battery stats display? From my observation, it goes like this when it's close to full during recharging.

99% charging -> 100% charging -> 100% full -> 99% full

It seems to repeat that sequence and I think it reaches fully charged state when it becomes "100% full" from "100% charging". After that it begins that drain/recharge cycle you described. I tried unplugging Gnex at each point and from my experience unplugging it right at 100% full gave me the longest battery time afterwards.

 

[Tim K]

I understand that. But question is when exactly does it hit full 100% on battery stats display? From my observation, it goes like this when it's close to full during recharging.

99% charging -> 100% charging -> 100% full -> 99% full

It seems to repeat that sequence and I think it reaches fully charged state when it becomes "100% full" from "100% charging". After that it begins that drain/recharge cycle you described. I tried unplugging Gnex at each point and from my experience unplugging it right at 100% full gave me the longest battery time afterwards.

If you look at the chart I posted you'll see the phone hits 100% only once. It then dips and maintains about a 92-94% actual charge. The only way to force it back to 100% would seem to be to unplug and replug in.