Why is my battery draining so quickly?

[Jezza819]

How do you get to that history details screen shown above with the graphs on it?

 

[GSDer]

Welcome to the forums!

How do you get to that history details screen shown above with the graphs on it?

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[Jezza819]

Ok got it. Thanks. What do I need to be looking for on that chart?

 

[GSDer]

It depends:

- what color is the Mobile network signal line? If there are black areas (no signal), that's not a good thing; if it's a dingy yellow that means it's a poor signal - ideally you want it a dark green (as shown)
- what about the Awake line? If it's on more frequently than the Screen on line that's not good.
- is the Wi-Fi line on (blue) and when it shouldn't be (because you turned it off)?
- same goes for the GPS line (not shown)

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[dakebusi]

Same problem with battery drain here with my S3 mini!

A full charge used to last for almost a day (20-24 hours). Sine a few days ago it lasts 6-7 hours!

I haven't changed my usage habits at all, so I suspect there is some app or service draining the battery. I've read many posts about Google Services being one possible cause of the draining, and people suggesting switching off most of Google's services (sync, location, Google now…). However, if I switch all these services off, I have almost no use for my phone, so it's not an option. Besides, I've been using all Google services before and had a good battery performance.

I've installed GSam and Wake Lock Detector to try to see what's going on, but honestly I don't see what is causing the problem.

I attach a few screenshots with the details of battery use.

Any help will be much appreciated since it's being very annoying!

Moreover, the charging time from almost 0% to 100% is less than 2 hours, with the phone on, which is maybe a bit too fast, isn't it?

Also, how can one tell whether the problem is an app or service draining the battery or simply a battery that doesn't work well anymore (though I bought my S3 mini just a year ago, so I'd expect a longer battery life).

 

[GSDer]

Three things stood out:
1. You had a marginal cellular signal for much of the time
2. Screen brightness was at full pretty much the whole time the screen was on
3 "something" held the phone awake for one out of those 6 hours

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[dakebusi]

GSDer, thanks for your comments. Some follow-up:

Three things stood out:
1. You had a marginal cellular signal for much of the time

That's due to the great coverage by Three. I was at home most of the time, and even though I'm just a few feet away from the window, the signal is really bad... sometimes not getting any signal at all!! Does this particularly affect the battery?

2. Screen brightness was at full pretty much the whole time the screen was on

Right, I tend to set the brightness at full, basically because I barely use the screen. I've always done that and I didn't get the battery drained so quickly.

3 "something" held the phone awake for one out of those 6 hours

From this hour the phone was awake, almost 50 minutes where with the screen on. I guess that counts as being awake as well, doesn't it? If so, the issue is what happened with the other 10-15 minutes. Could this be the cause of the drain? Or is it normal that over 6 hours some background services awake the phone for 10-15 minutes?

 

[GSDer]

I was at home most of the time, and even though I'm just a few feet away from the window, the signal is really bad... sometimes not getting any signal at all!! Does this particularly affect the battery?

Yes, the worse the signal, the more power the phone uses to try to maintain a connection. You may want to contact your carrier about getting a Network Extender - that can help boost a lousy cellular or Mobile data signal.

Right, I tend to set the brightness at full, basically because I barely use the screen. I've always done that and I didn't get the battery drained so quickly.

Ok - just be aware that the screen is the biggest consumer of battery life (next to the radios) so if you have the screen on alot you should reduce the brightness to save the battery (mine is set to minimum unless I'm outside).

From this hour the phone was awake, almost 50 minutes where with the screen on. I guess that counts as being awake as well, doesn't it?

Not necessarily. You didn't include the History details

which would normally show that overlap.

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[Jezza819]

GSDer can you take a look at these screenshots.

First is a couple of shots from the middle of the day when you told me how to look for the history screen


Second is two shots after a full charge and wi-fi was turned off


For the last 6 weeks or so I've had to have the phone in power saving mode to keep the battery level where it was at normal setting before. Do you see anything that could cause this high battery usage.

 

[dakebusi]

Well, I've disabled Google Now and "Use wireless networks" and a full charged has lasted for 22 hours!

However, I still don't know why it was draining the battery, since I used to have both things on and still got a decent battery life.

 

[GSDer]

Do you see anything that could cause this high battery usage.

I do not. In the first case it looked like the phone was in Airplane mode most of the time (I didn't see any cellular signal except at the very end).
The second data set seemed to have the same limitation, and was too short besides - you want to let it discharge to around 30% to see anything meaningful.

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[Jezza819]

I do not. In the first case it looked like the phone was in Airplane mode most of the time (I didn't see any cellular signal except at the very end).
The second data set seemed to have the same limitation, and was too short besides - you want to let it discharge to around 30% to see anything meaningful.

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Ok I'll probably let it run down sometime this weekend since I'll be home and try again.

 

[Jezza819]

Here are two recent screenshots with the battery at 23%

 

[GSDer]

Here are two recent screenshots with the battery at 23%

Um, we're not going to learn very much about your smartphone if you don't use it as a smartphone. Over two days on a single charge; looks like most of it spent in Airplane mode; no Screen On time to speak of - there's nothing to comment on.

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[Jezza819]

Um, we're not going to learn very much about your smartphone if you don't use it as a smartphone. Over two days on a single charge; looks like most of it spent in Airplane mode; no Screen On time to speak of - there's nothing to comment on.

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Airplane mode is never on. If I take it off of power saver mode then it increases my battery usage by about roughly 50% or so. It didn't do that until about 6 weeks or so ago and there were no updates and I didn't load any new apps. I was just wondering if there was something obvious that could have been the cause. But Airplane mode is always off.

 

[GSDer]

Well, I don't know what it's doing while it's in Power saving mode, but for the majority of the time shown in the History details screen you had no cellular signal (the black portions of the line).

Additionally, over two+ days the screen used only three percent (a miniscule amount) - for all intents and purposes the screen was never on.

There's just nothing I can provide you any input on.

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[Jezza819]

Well, I don't know what it's doing while it's in Power saving mode, but for the majority of the time shown in the History details screen you had no cellular signal (the black portions of the line).

Additionally, over two+ days the screen used only three percent (a miniscule amount) - for all intents and purposes the screen was never on.

There's just nothing I can provide you any input on.

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I think I'm just going to turn off power saving mode and ride it out since I only have 6 months left with it anyway. But I do have one final question. Since you're saying that I didn't have any signal for a long period of time, does that mean that I couldn't have made or received calls during that period? And thanks again for the analysis.

 

[GSDer]

Since you're saying that I didn't have any signal for a long period of time, does that mean that I couldn't have made or received calls during that period?

That's what it means to me - no signal = no calls. If your phone appeared to be working normally then I have no idea what Power Saving mode was doing.

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[Jezza819]

That's what it means to me - no signal = no calls. If your phone appeared to be working normally then I have no idea what Power Saving mode was doing.

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I'm not a heavy phone user in general. I might get to 200 minutes a month on a very rare occasion. Most of the time it's right around 100 or so. But I've never turned the phone on where that signal strength graph wasn't full or it said "no signal" and I've never had anyone contact me saying they had been trying for some time but couldn't get me. So it is quite strange that the Mobile Network Signal thing is almost always completely dark. I'll have to ask Verizon about that.

 

[GSDer]

Try it yourself - put the phone in Airplane mode for an hour, then take a look at the History details screen.

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