OK, so here's the deal:
Had my S2 for about a month now, and apart from the battery draining faster then would be nice this phone is an absolute killer cool thing
But now here is the issue:
In the month I had this phone I had 3 occasions of the battery draining to empty while it is ON the original wall-charger. Do describe the most recent case:
Im at work, and I see the battery could use some charging soon. So I plug it in, leave it for a bit with screen turned off. A bit later I pick it up whilst still in charger to do some minour things on it. After a few minutes (phone very hot in mean time, but known issue) it gives me a pop-up that I need to plug in the charger which it is already on. So I check my Juice Plotter and notice that indeed it sees it is on the charger, but the line which shows you the level your battery is charged is coloured red and has been dropping just as fast as before I plugged it in. Near critically empty?
So to check if some app is draining the juice in the background i closes all running services and apps and leave it for a moment. I check: only about 1 percent charge left? O - M - G.
So i did what I did in previous 2 cases: Turn phone off to get it charged to at least about 20% (how nice that someone/something else is forcing me to be unreachable by phone ). When I turn it back on at that point, I check juiceplotter first... No real changes or battery charging for first maybe 5 minutes (it just stays at a flatline level) and then finally it starts charging again slowly but steadily.
What's the deal here?
Since 1st time this happened i started keeping my home screen as clean as possible and such to be as energy-efficient as possible. Barely use screen-brightness (by the way the auto-brightness sucks). On 1st page of homescreen I have the Juice plotter widget showing me battery depletion / battery charge time levels. Funny that in the explained problem cases you can actually see the time till charged getting longer and longer by the minute :S
With very light usage, I've managed to get my Evo3D to last just shy of 2 and a half days. When actually using it, it's been a bit hit or miss, some days it tanks pretty fast, other days it's done quite well. But one thing I have noticed is that sometimes, especially around the 35% range, it'll spontaneously drop 10-15% (it actually did 43% straight to 14% this afternoon). It's visible in the battery use graph as a sudden nearly vertical line. It's never happened when I had the screen on actually doing something, it just happens randomly after turning the display off. Has anyone else seen this? It's pretty confusing.
First thing is first....
Did you download spareparts and see what is consuming battery? In other words, check for a wake lock.
You have to give the battery time to get conditioned. It gets better the more you go through charging cycles. I'm at 75% after 8 hours of moderate usage and that's pretty consistent for me.
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Darineth said:
With very light usage, I've managed to get my Evo3D to last just shy of 2 and a half days. When actually using it, it's been a bit hit or miss, some days it tanks pretty fast, other days it's done quite well. But one thing I have noticed is that sometimes, especially around the 35% range, it'll spontaneously drop 10-15% (it actually did 43% straight to 14% this afternoon). It's visible in the battery use graph as a sudden nearly vertical line. It's never happened when I had the screen on actually doing something, it just happens randomly after turning the display off. Has anyone else seen this? It's pretty confusing.
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For the first week or 2, the phone has a hard time understanding how full the battery is. Try draining it down to 50% or so, and then resetting it. You'll probably see a sudden drop or rise in the battery%. Resetting it will force the issue, but it can also happen while the phone is on. That's pretty normal till the the phone "Learns" the battery.
It doesn't mean you suddenly used 15% of your battery, it would probably explode if you did that... it just means the phone re-calculated the battery's life and changed the number.
Your not alone as soon as mine hits 35 percent ill shut the screen off and here it beep at me and bang its at 14%. lol same as you.
Don't know if it will help you.
I had a similar issue as you, battery would get to around 30ish % I could turn the screen on check an email, set it down and bam 14%, and the low charge noise.
I wasn't trying to fix it, instead I was doing this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1153371
When I attempted this I had about 35ish percent battery left, following the directions my phone restarted when it came back up I got a 1% battery warning, then my phone went into emergency shut down. I thought something happened and I was going to have to return the phone. I powered it back up and it read 33%, from there on out my phone now drops a % at a time, and my battery life is as good as the other people who get phenomenal battery. I'm going on 48hours with light usage and still have 25% left. I've txt'd music, videos, nothing heavy.
Take it for what it's worth, I don't know what happened maybe the data reset, resets the battery calibration, I have no clue, all I know is what happened to my phone and the result.
Hey Everyone,
I apologize if this is a repost. I know I read somewhere (I believe here) about a similar issue, but I couldn't find it in searching.
A little background - AT&T SGS2 running stock rom (2.3.4), rooted, using a custom kernel (2.6.35.6) I got off of here.
Anyway, my phone has been working great for months. All of a sudden, my battery indicator is completely wacky and innacurate. It seems to have started after I came back from a trip and had to put it in 'airplane mode' a few times.
The battery level indicator goes down very quickly, and is not a true indication of my phone's charge level. I noticed it a couple days ago (after we came back) where after about 6 hours, I was down to 40%. Normally after a full day's usage I am still at ~80% by the time I get home from work. Since my phone had been running for weeks without a reboot, I decided to reboot it, thinking maybe I had some overzealous background processes running. It came back online with the battery indicator at 8% (down from 40% a minute prior)! After about 30mins or so, it began to go up, and settled around 14%. It stayed at this level for hours, until I plugged it in when I went to bed.
The next morning, same thing, it would lose 1-2% every few minutes until it got down to <10%, where I would get a warning about a low battery level. But once it hit that mark, it would stay there for hours and my phone would work perfectly fine.
As I mentioend above, I thought I read a similar story where the recommendation was to turn the phone off, charge it up all the way, and then turn it back on after it was fully charged. I tried that last night, but my phone is down to 87% after only 2 hours of non-use.
I've made sure that UV/OC'ing was disabled, that no background apps are doing anything weird, etc. And it's not like my battery is really dying quickly - it's just that Android thinks it is. I've checked the level using multiple programs, and all report the same incorrect information.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix it? Thanks!
You have encountered two separate issues, one of which is widely documented (fuel gauge reaction to rebooting), one of which is unexpected but possible on UCKH7 (abnormal drain).
But it doesn't look like the battery is really draining that much quicker, only that it's showing that it is. For example, while it might take me only 3 hours to go from 100%-10%, I'll stay at 10% for hours.
It's like the battery is no longer calibrated properly.
Do you use Samsung original charger? If not, try. It should go away.
Take your battery out for a few minutes. The SG2 differs in that it uses a chip for battery calibration/stats. You need to cut power to it completely to reset it. Now, if it still does it afterward, either the battery is faulty, or the phone's ability to measure voltages is wonky.
Also, are you using the phone's Power Saving mode? Maybe the battery is dying but the phone is taking steps to make it last longer?
---------- Post added at 10:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:18 AM ----------
CyberGhos said:
Do you use Samsung original charger? If not, try. It should go away.
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I used to never use my Samsung charger and never had issues. However, months of using my blackberry charger has rendered it now ineffective. The charger dongle was slightly smaller, and its continuous wiggling messed up my phone's power port slightly. It's a good thing that my Samsung charger still works.
When we were on vacation, I was using my wife's charger for her phone (T-Mobile G2x) so we didn't need to take two (seemingly) identical chargers with us. My understanding was that the pinout and voltage were all the same, so I didn't think it would matter. Maybe that had an impact?
Normally I use my Samsung charger, and have been since we got back.
I haven't tried removing the battery yet, since its in a hard shell case and was hoping I could resolve the issue without taking it apart. But I'll try that tonight.
Power saving mode is disabled. I've also disabled BT, Wi-Fi, GPS, and shut down every app. In the time since my first post (84%) and now, I'm down to 58%, and my phone has been sitting on my desk unused the entire time.
According to the built in battery monitor, Android OS accounts for 92% of battery usage, with Display at 3%, Cell Standby at 3% and Phone Idle at 2%.
As I mentioned above, I thought I read something about a 'trick' to reset the battery gauge by turning the phone off, charging it to 100%, unplugging it, and then turning it back on. Was I mistaken?
Thanks for the responses.
FYI - I just pulled the battery, let it sit for a minute, and plugged it back in.
Battery level went from 58% to 39% after it powered back on.
I'll try charging it again to see if it has any noticeable impact.
Oh, I did want to mention that I've been very religious when it comes to charging my phone properly and trying to "take care" of the battery. I never let it get below 20% (outside of recently due to the issue), I always charge it up to 100%, I never do quick "let me just charge it for 15 minutes to make a call" type charges, I always use a wall charger and not a car charger, etc.
Down to 38% during the time it took me to type this...
phonic said:
When we were on vacation, I was using my wife's charger for her phone (T-Mobile G2x) so we didn't need to take two (seemingly) identical chargers with us. My understanding was that the pinout and voltage were all the same, so I didn't think it would matter. Maybe that had an impact?
Normally I use my Samsung charger, and have been since we got back.
I haven't tried removing the battery yet, since its in a hard shell case and was hoping I could resolve the issue without taking it apart. But I'll try that tonight.
Power saving mode is disabled. I've also disabled BT, Wi-Fi, GPS, and shut down every app. In the time since my first post (84%) and now, I'm down to 58%, and my phone has been sitting on my desk unused the entire time.
According to the built in battery monitor, Android OS accounts for 92% of battery usage, with Display at 3%, Cell Standby at 3% and Phone Idle at 2%.
As I mentioned above, I thought I read something about a 'trick' to reset the battery gauge by turning the phone off, charging it to 100%, unplugging it, and then turning it back on. Was I mistaken?
Thanks for the responses.
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That to me sounds like you might have an app creating a wakelock and preventing it from going into deep sleep.
phonic said:
But it doesn't look like the battery is really draining that much quicker, only that it's showing that it is. For example, while it might take me only 3 hours to go from 100%-10%, I'll stay at 10% for hours.
It's like the battery is no longer calibrated properly.
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With the exception of high load immediately following a reset (which is why it goes funky on a low-battery reboot), it's basically impossible for the fuel gauge to go out of calibration. It's designed to continuously converge towards truth.
Check the raw battery voltage when it seems to be funny. If your voltage is consistently low, you might be experiencing a hardware failure (like maybe the battery's protection circuit is on its way out.)
After pulling the battery, putting it back in and recharging it, it seems to be working well now. Too early to say for sure, but I went the entire afternoon and evening (up until now) with some mild usage, and am only at 84%. So far so good!
phonic said:
FYI - I just pulled the battery, let it sit for a minute, and plugged it back in.
Battery level went from 58% to 39% after it powered back on.
I'll try charging it again to see if it has any noticeable impact.
Oh, I did want to mention that I've been very religious when it comes to charging my phone properly and trying to "take care" of the battery. I never let it get below 20% (outside of recently due to the issue), I always charge it up to 100%, I never do quick "let me just charge it for 15 minutes to make a call" type charges, I always use a wall charger and not a car charger, etc.
Down to 38% during the time it took me to type this...
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The phone has a voltage drop which causes the drop from 58 to 39 when you reboot it. I'm not a fan of it either.
This is a defect I have observed all the way from Android 1.6 to Android 5.1.1, and I cannot understand how it can still be there without ever getting repaired.
The problem is that the battery indicator shows a positive number, for example, 8%, although the battery is actually at 1% and the phone will shut down any moment now.
This alone would be bad enough, but it gets worse. After the phone shuts down on its own, either due to an immediate, disorderly power cut or by performing an orderly Android shutdown, Android should have registered the obvious, namely that the battery is empty.
However, it does not. When I connect the charger and start Android, it still shows 8% charge. I have just tested this again three times in a row with at least one orderly shutdown on my latest phone, a OnePlus One running CyanogenMod 12.1, and it never went below 8%.
How can this be? How difficult is it to program that after a shutdown due to an empty battery and a restart one minute later the battery is indeed empty? It is not physically possible to charge a battery from 0 to 8% in a minute. It would explode if you tried.
Do the charging electronics not store and provide information at least about the very recent charging history? And can the phone not evaluate the battery voltage, which it measures? At least when there is no load on the battery for a little while, its voltage and its temperature allow to determine precisely whether the battery is empty. Why does the phone not do that?
Needless to say, this defect is damaging. To know how soon the phone is going to shut down is one of the most crucial bits of information for every phone user. To show the user 8% while already shutting down is beyond stupid, it is derisive.
I have something in my head that I call the idiot bells. They ring when I notice idiocy in my surroundings. And whenever I see the phenomenon described above, they ring loudly.
Can anyboy who really knows how Android and the charge electronics work explain what is happening? Or is it just the ordinary idiocy that we have to keep living with?
Do not suck nonsense replies from your fingers. If you don't know anything reliably and in detail, keep quiet.
My HDX 7" has developed a behavior such that when plugged into charger it shows 100%. But immediately after disconnecting the charger a low battery alert is seen and then it shuts down.
Sometimes (just after that happens) it can be immediately restarted, and the battery shows 100% when it boots, and it behaves normally (gradually discharges) for a while.
Then, again, suddenly the charge will drop from from, say, 87% to 0% instantly, and the machine issues a warning and shuts down.
So I think the battery is actually OK (because it can come back and behave normally for a period, powering the unit for a reasonable time-span, even though it has previously issued the low-battery warning), but there is some sort of bad connection associated with the 'low battery' sensing. .
(I -can- work around it by keeping it permanently on the charger.)
Unit is about 4 years old.
Thanks for any thoughts, and especially if anyone has also had this behavior and been able to correct it.
skyhawk64 said:
My HDX 7" has developed a behavior such that when plugged into charger it shows 100%. But immediately after disconnecting the charger a low battery alert is seen and then it shuts down.
Sometimes (just after that happens) it can be immediately restarted, and the battery shows 100% when it boots, and it behaves normally (gradually discharges) for a while.
Then, again, suddenly the charge will drop from from, say, 87% to 0% instantly, and the machine issues a warning and shuts down.
So I think the battery is actually OK (because it can come back and behave normally for a period, powering the unit for a reasonable time-span, even though it has previously issued the low-battery warning), but there is some sort of bad connection associated with the 'low battery' sensing. .
(I -can- work around it by keeping it permanently on the charger.)
Unit is about 4 years old.
Thanks for any thoughts, and especially if anyone has also had this behavior and been able to correct it.
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Sorry for bad news - textbook symptoms of a failing Li-Ion battery. Voltage momentarily collapses and reported charge level drops dramatically (often to zero). You may be able to nurse a few more good cycles from the pack but total failure is likely not far off. Replacements are getting hard to find; cracking open an HDX without shattering the screen is a greater challenge due to copious use of glue. Your best defense is to keep the device tethered to a power source which *may* slow internal decay and eventual total shutdown due to high internal resistance. Good luck.