On my Moto-G (2nd Gen), why do I have false battery percentage readings?

[geoffllo]

Moto-G (2nd Gen) false battery percentage readings

Yesterday, my phone's battery reading stayed on 100% all day, until I turned the phone off last night. This morning I turned it back on and it showed 87% for a while, before it powered itself off. I connected it to the charger and the charging symbol showed it as 0% and charging. About 15 minutes later I turned the phone on and the indicator showed 100% again. Obviously this was incorrect, and the phone powered itself off again after a few minutes of use.

I asked Motorola (chat line) and they told me to do a factory reset. I see this as a last resort, and I'm not at all keen on the idea.

Can any of you kind folk PLEASE suggest anything else I can try first?

Thanks. Geoff.

 

[SpookDroid]

Re: Moto-G (2nd Gen) false battery percentage readings

I would try depleting the battery fully first. Charge the battery to 100% (you'll basically have to wing it since your reading isn't accurate), then let it run until the phone shuts off on its own. Then charge back up to 100.

That should reset the battery stats and your battery should start giving out a better estimate. However, if the battery is too old or faulty, the reading might not be accurate and you may need to replace the battery. Unfortunately this device doesn't come with a removable battery, so testing the faulty battery theory is not that easy.

 

[geoffllo]

Re: Moto-G (2nd Gen) false battery percentage readings

Cheers for the prompt reply, Spookdroid
The phone is only 4 months old, so the battery shouldn't be finished yet, but who knows, eh?
I'll do exactly what you suggest and see how I get on.
Thank you. Geoff.

 

[SpookDroid]

Re: Moto-G (2nd Gen) false battery percentage readings

No problem! Hope that helps! And if it doesn't, try the factory reset. But if that doesn't help, ship that thing back for warranty replacement.

 

[iacasa]

Hi geoffllo and spookdroid,

I have the exact same problem with one of my 2 moto G (2nd gen, LTE, bought in June 2014). After much research and testing, it is most likely a faulty Qualcomm component which reads the battery level. It gives spurious readings every now and then and the problem is really a hardware problem. Motorola offered me no solutions (besides asking me to reset to factory settings, which didn't work) and won't acknowledge the problem.

Since I have two identical phones (only one of them with this flaw), I've opened them and switched batteries between them to understand what happened. A battery charged to 100% on one phone would read 56% on the other one, and then 100% again when I placed the battery in the first phone again. So there was a large discrepancy between the battery level readers. Battery calibration was of no use.

Now, my faulty phone when it reaches 30% or so, sometimes starts misreading and thinks the battery level in negative, so it won't charge or turn on anymore until I switch batteries between phones (which is risky and very time consuming). Motorola wouldn't take the phone for replacement at the time and I'm out of warranty now.

I'd very much appreciate some advice to fix this! I can root the phone if necessary.

cheers
Iacasa