Drastic decrease in battery life

**xocarrie** · 12-25-2010, 11:48 PM

Suddenly, my Droid's battery life has drastically decreased. I used to get at least 12 hours of moderate use, but now I find myself having to charge my battery every 5-6 hours.

I don't know what is causing this. My Battery Usage indicates that Display is using 59% but I'm not sure why because my brightness is on 0% and screen timeout at 15 seconds. All other apps are only using 2-5% of battery.

Could this be from using a car charger (somehow corrupted it)? Or perhaps a system update?

I just need my phone to last longer than 5 hours... any help/suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

**simp_10** · 12-26-2010, 03:54 PM

My battery also started draining very quickly and I considered buying a new battery but try attaching your phone to your computer and letting it charge fully thru the computer (takes some time). Ever since I did this it is lasting up to two days. I also rooted and have SetCPU to a max of 800 and a min of 125...this is no doubt helping my battery life as well. Also turn off GPS and Bluetooth when not needed.

**watersrules** · 12-28-2010, 12:08 PM

do you remember installing anything new or changing anything to the droid?

**Zorro1** · 12-28-2010, 02:12 PM

I've seen a number of us suddenly experiencing this starting just a few weeks back. Either we all got our phones this time last year and the batteries are kaput...or some app somewhere is sucking juice. Darned if I can figure out which one, but there's too many of us reporting this for it to be coincidental. I'm figuring the culprit will be revealed, and an update will end it.

**Sploinkin** · 12-28-2010, 02:22 PM

Not all of us run stock though. If it was an update problem it shouldn't be there in Cyanogen or Ultimate Droid

**ethan** · 12-28-2010, 10:35 PM

I'm having this problem as well. Anyone try buying a new battery? Would that work?

**Zorro1** · 12-29-2010, 11:06 AM

I am stock, btw. And it didn't start with 2.2...so I'm suspecting another app, but there's nothing new under Running Settings, and turning off stuff doesn't seem to matter, either. Just last night, I charged up, unplugged it, fired it up this a.m., 70% already, and after two hours on, down to 40%! Is it Weatherbug? SportsTap? Angry Birds (which doesn't appear to run in the background)?

**Ratchet** · 12-29-2010, 12:25 PM

When i had the D1, I had to tweak the update intervals for Weatherbug. Not sure if they have it in the newer releases or not. It murdered my battery! I also couldn't get those annoying weather alerts to stop coming regardless what I had altered within the settings. I uninstalled it and haven't looked back.

**Zorro1** · 12-29-2010, 01:45 PM

They have changed their alerts, thankfully. And it's set to shut off updates after 30% battery. But who knows? Maybe I should tweak the update interval and see what happens. Heck, I don't need to know every 15 minutes...good thinking. Thanks.

**Zorro1** · 12-30-2010, 03:50 PM

It can't be Weatherbug, since at night, it's in Airplane mode, so nothing is updating.

**Smitty_82** · 12-30-2010, 03:57 PM

In the past, I've seen a decrease in battery life after a year, give or take. If you see the loss and haven't really changed any settings or loaded new apps, my bet would be the battery. Batteries are covered if your still on your factory warranty.

**ethan** · 12-30-2010, 04:53 PM

how long does the factory warranty last?

**Sploinkin** · 12-30-2010, 06:18 PM

1 year from time of purchase or 90 days for a refurbished replacement.

**zero3187** · 01-30-2011, 10:51 PM

I had the same issue and I bought a new battery off of Amazon and it fixed the issue. The battery only cost like $5.

**Deuce643** · 03-02-2011, 04:42 PM

I just started having the same issue about a week or so ago. It's not the battery b/c I have 2 batteries and both are doing the same thing. Also, I tried using the battery from my wife's droid, same thing. Her phone is lasting 24 hours and mine is dying in 10. I also tried disabling background data but that didn't work either. I hope someone figures this out soon.

**ethan** · 03-02-2011, 07:29 PM

I bought a new battery for $5 on amazon, it seems to have helped a lot

**Tmak04** · 03-04-2011, 02:54 PM

i downloaded words with friends...did anyone else?

**pryanni** · 03-11-2011, 10:06 PM

I also have noticed my battery life decrease much more rapidly as of late. And as Tmak04 mention, I also downloaded words with friends and I am fairly confident that is the culprit. I haven't actually tried uninstalling it yet to see if my battery life improves due to the fact that I have several friends I play the game with.

**DerekCA** · 03-15-2011, 10:43 PM

Battery life has been great for me.

If you want to improve your battery life, get rid of your widgets and turn down the frequency that programs update. I can easily get a full day.

I am at 12h31m since unplugged and I have 51% remaining. I don't think the battery life could get any better.

**fearthepanthers03** · 03-16-2011, 12:51 AM

How old is your phone?

**Sploinkin** · 03-16-2011, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by DerekCA

Battery life has been great for me.

If you want to improve your battery life, get rid of your widgets and turn down the frequency that programs update. I can easily get a full day.

I am at 12h31m since unplugged and I have 51% remaining. I don't think the battery life could get any better.

You must not be talking about the OG droid, or mistyped (we only get battery % in 10s). Unfortunately there are problems that can be very phone specific, and while that is great advice(!), I think this has to do with the phone specifically.

I only use two widgets, one of which never updates unless I use it and I am resigned to the battery use of the other.