[Help][50% SOLVED] LTE = random heavy battery drain aka "plummet"

[jeffreii]

UPDATE/CONFIRMED:

The plummet is back.

After 10 days of plummet-free use with LTE disabled, it has returned after less than 48 hours uptime following my re-enabling of LTE.

For me, I am quite convinced that some LTE bug - perhaps with switching back and forth to HSPA+ - is causing the plummet. Unless some very knowledgeable devs join this discussion and help to find the root cause, I only see two options to avoid this problem:

1) Disable LTE and live with HSPA+ speeds
2) Wait for an OTA update with a fix, assuming Samsung/AT&T know about it

Personally I am sick and tired of wasting my time diagnosing this. I have lost time and enjoyment of my device trying to keep a stable testing environment. I now know the general cause and solution and am satisfied with that.

Thanks to anyone and everyone who helped.

Again, here is the link to my method for disabling LTE:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-...isable-lte-t-s3-you-can-disable-hspa-too.html
It's unfortunate that using HSPA+ only also disables 2G, but that's not really a problem for me in Miami.

Anyone who can help diagnose the cause of this would be my hero. Please read carefully the evidence I already have.

Scenario:
Battery life is great for awhile and then suddenly it will start plummeting for no good reason. It will continue to do so, even if the screen is off and the phone is unused with all tasks closed. It will not stop dropping fast unless I reboot it. Then battery life returns to normal/excellent..a day or so later it starts dropping fast again.

Things I've tried:
-Factory reset - reinstall only most common apps
-Exchanged the device at AT&T - same result
-Monitored with GSAM (Badass) Battery Monitor and Better Battery Stats. No culprit found.

Important notes:
-As per attached screenshot*, I have tested ways to stop the drain without a reboot. Turning off wifi does nothing. Turning off mobile data does nothing. Turning off the radio (airplane mode) is the only way to stop it - but once I turn airplane mode off, it continues to drop quickly. Only a reboot is a working temporary fix.
-The phone itself is reporting the "cell standby" as the major culprit. I am not sure if this is inflated due to the known bug in reporting that data.
-There is something quirky with the "mobile network signal" bar - I am in Miami where signal is strong almost everywhere. The steep decline occurs even at my apartment where I always have 4 or 5 bars of LTE signal. I am almost never in any area where there is no signal, despite what the line indicates.

Attached screenshots:
1 & 2) good battery life followed by a sudden and steep decline
3) the subsequent "test" listed in note # 1 above with the resulting plateau achieved by turning on airplane mode with the drop continuing when airplane mode was disabled
4 & 5) I then charged the device to full overnight and unplugged it in the morning. I let it sit unused for about 2 hours and the battery dropped 25%.
6 & 7) these screenshots are from normal excellent battery life scenario where the "plummeting" battery did not occur

Thank you so much for any help.

 

[wowpaw]

Re: Exchanging mine tomorrow - battery plummeting randomly!

I actually have had this issue as well. I thought switching wifi and 4G back and forth would do the trick; and at first, that seemed to work. But the other day it kept draining for no reason at an extreme pace. I'm on VZW

 

[JS_racer]

Re: Exchanging mine tomorrow - battery plummeting randomly!

check the task manager for running apps going crazy , should tell whats draining it.
don't worry about the cell standby, not accurate

 

[jcp007]

Re: Exchanging mine tomorrow - battery plummeting randomly!

I have not had this issue and I am on AT&T. I may be not doing this correctly and it may be overkill. I always hold down the homescreen button and clear everything. I also turn off WiFi when not it use as well as sometimes turning off BT. Can't you also adjust the GPS function as well?

 

[jcp007]

If you had more time, I would suggest trying a new battery alas well.

Sent From My Samsung Galaxy S III Handheld Device

 

[jaebberwock]

Re: Exchanging mine tomorrow - battery plummeting randomly!

I think it would be ridiculous to exchange your phone without first doing some kind of due diligence. You may very well have a bad battery or in a dead spot. Get something like the Go battery manager at the play store. It will break down what is eating up your battery in great detail. It could be something as simple as a bad piece of freeware. To me, it honestly sounds like you have a bad battery cell.

 

[pcguys]

+1

Gsam battery monitor showed me what the problem was. I'm ok now


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[jeffreii]

Re: Exchanging mine tomorrow - battery plummeting randomly!

check the task manager for running apps going crazy , should tell whats draining it.
don't worry about the cell standby, not accurate

Phone radio is #1 by far.

I have not had this issue and I am on AT&T. I may be not doing this correctly and it may be overkill. I always hold down the homescreen button and clear everything. I also turn off WiFi when not it use as well as sometimes turning off BT. Can't you also adjust the GPS function as well?

I clear all the recent tasks multiple times a day as well. I also keep GPS off unless I am using Google Maps. I have tested this with WiFi on and off and it has happened both ways.

If you had more time, I would suggest trying a new battery alas well.

No more time...but the battery seems quite stable MOST of the time until this suddenly happens...and if I don't do a reboot it will keep happening for days. I can charge it to 100% overnight and take it off and it will continue plummeting.

I think it would be ridiculous to exchange your phone without first doing some kind of due diligence. You may very well have a bad battery or in a dead spot. Get something like the Go battery manager at the play store. It will break down what is eating up your battery in great detail. It could be something as simple as a bad piece of freeware. To me, it honestly sounds like you have a bad battery cell.

Nothing ridiculous here.

I have been testing this and troubleshooting, trying to isolate it, for 3 weeks now. I am using the stock battery monitor, Better Battery Stats, and GSAM (Badass) Battery Monitor.

I have done a complete wipe and reinstall of only the most common apps to try and remove any less popular apps that might have issues that wouldn't be widespread common knowledge by now.

I have verified this same result at least 5 times. Battery plummets, phone radio rises drastically, mobile network signal bar goes solid. Same thing every time. Seems like the radio is bugging out.

Exactly what else should I do without being called ridiculous? It's day 30, the last day, of my exchange period and the last thing I can try now is to see if a new unit will fix the problem.

 

[Roboticz]

Re: Exchanging mine tomorrow - battery plummeting randomly!

When you goto the battery menu... what apps does it show are using the majority of your battery life?

 

[jeffreii]

Re: Exchanging mine tomorrow - battery plummeting randomly!

When you goto the battery menu... what apps does it show are using the majority of your battery life?

70% phone radio when this happens - climbs higher the longer I let it go on. The apps are negligible. Again I am watching with GSAM Battery Monitor for apps and nothing is significant at all other than the phone radio.

Anyways I exchanged it today - reinstalling and doing my settings for the 2nd time this week. Since today is day 30 if there are any issues with this one I'm stuck with the over-the-phone warranty exchange...so I spent about an hour in the store setting it up and running tests to make sure it was fine.

Fingers crossed that no defects show up and the battery drain problem does not come back!

 

[jcp007]

Re: Exchanging mine tomorrow - battery plummeting randomly!

70% phone radio when this happens - climbs higher the longer I let it go on. The apps are negligible. Again I am watching with GSAM Battery Monitor for apps and nothing is significant at all other than the phone radio.

Anyways I exchanged it today - reinstalling and doing my settings for the 2nd time this week. Since today is day 30 if there are any issues with this one I'm stuck with the over-the-phone warranty exchange...so I spent about an hour in the store setting it up and running tests to make sure it was fine.

Fingers crossed that no defects show up and the battery drain problem does not come back!

Hope that you have better luck this time.

 

[corychevalier]

Good luck. Battery problems are very aggravating.

Sent from my Galaxy S3

 

[jcp007]

Re: Exchanging mine tomorrow - battery plummeting randomly!

70% phone radio when this happens - climbs higher the longer I let it go on. The apps are negligible. Again I am watching with GSAM Battery Monitor for apps and nothing is significant at all other than the phone radio.

Anyways I exchanged it today - reinstalling and doing my settings for the 2nd time this week. Since today is day 30 if there are any issues with this one I'm stuck with the over-the-phone warranty exchange...so I spent about an hour in the store setting it up and running tests to make sure it was fine.

Fingers crossed that no defects show up and the battery drain problem does not come back!

Any update on the battery on your replacement exchange?

 

[jeffreii]

Re: Exchanging mine tomorrow - battery plummeting randomly!

Any update on the battery on your replacement exchange?

Typically it starts happening about 24-48 hours after a reboot. I rebooted last night after installing like 20 apps so I figure if it's going to start happening again it will probably be late tonight or tomorrow.

I'll post an update in this thread...I'm really hoping it was a hardware issue and I can forget about it! Battery paranoia/testing has limited my enjoyment of the phone these last few weeks.

 

[jcp007]

Re: Exchanging mine tomorrow - battery plummeting randomly!

After installing all your apps, don't forget to take some of the battery saving tips in one of the threads in this forum.

 

[jeffreii]

Re: Exchanging mine tomorrow - battery plummeting randomly!

So I'm now at 3 days uptime and no battery plummet yet...I can almost say the issue is gone but I feel like I want to make a full week first. See my battery goes down nice and steadily here - no big drop off!






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[epicness4G]

So I'm now at 3 days uptime and no battery plummet yet...I can almost say the issue is gone but I feel like I want to make a full week first. See my battery goes down nice and steadily here - no big drop off!


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Is that how long you've had your phone off the charger? I because I'm lucky to even get 8 hours on mine. I I'm not sure what is going on maybe I should just get another one

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Android Central Forums

 

[jeffreii]

Re: Exchanging mine tomorrow - battery plummeting randomly!

Is that how long you've had your phone off the charger? I because I'm lucky to even get 8 hours on mine. I I'm not sure what is going on maybe I should just get another one

3 days is the uptime of the device - as in since last reboot.

1 day, 8+ hours is the amount of time since I charged it...and I still had 21% battery left. That was a low use scenario, though, while I was visiting my girlfriend's parents. It was plenty to make it through two-ish days of use without charging overnight.

With my first phone I'd probably have woken up with it having died overnight when the battery plummeted so I'm very happy with the results.

You should try and figure out what's using up your battery - there are battery threads where you can post screenshots of your battery screens and try and get help figuring it out. I particularly like GSAM Battery Monitor, a free app, that will let you narrow down exactly what is causing your battery drain.

 

[Vengeful]

I'm having this same issue, it's random and has happened 5 times to me since phone has been released. Twice in last 5 days and I cannot seem to find out why unless it's the radio. Nothing else seems to be running in background according to the battery monitor. I will try gsam battery monitor today.

My phone will go from 100% to dead by morning when not even being used. I even cleared cache apps running in memory before going to sleep to see if that would help but nope. The graph shows the phone barely awake during.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Jowlah]

Re: Exchanging mine tomorrow - battery plummeting randomly!

Here's another tip. If you really don't need it, turn off the Location Services option on your phone. Settings>scroll down to Personal> press Location Services. Then uncheck the boxes. My first couple of days with the Location Services checked on, I was lucky to get 9 hours out of the phone. After I uncheck them, I get between 22hrs and over a day+. The phone is always pinging off of the Google/Verizon/AT&T/Sprint GPS Tower trying to update widgets or apps that use the L.S. I hope that helps, too.