Battery Drain Spike

[Pastorhss]

I've had my Galaxy S7 edge for about 10 months, and with the usual tweaks, battery drain has never been a problem. It usually drains at about 3 to 3.5% an hour, and with a lot of use maybe 4%. I always go through a full day and can have up to 30+% to spare at end of day. But ever since yesterday, It's been draining at anywhere from 7 - 11% or more an hour. I'm at 28% at 6:00pm, and it was on the fast charger for about an hour earlier.

I heard about some issues with FB and Messenger these past few days, but they do not seem to be the problem. I uninstalled Messenger. Recent Battery Usage (Settings) shows Screen 26, Android System 22, Voice calls 15, Android OS 12, Facebook 6.

Anybody have any suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Who884l5]

Did you try restarting the phone or clearing chache partition? Battery stats would also help.

 

[B. Diddy]

I agree, seeing some battery stat screenshots would help. Charge up to 100%, then let it drain to 20-30% with normal usage, without charging in between. Then show us:

1. The main Settings>Battery screen.
2. The fullscreen battery graph screen (which shows Awake time and Cell Signal Strength).
3. The Screen category (to see total Screen On time).
4. The Cell Standby category, if present (to see Time Without Signal).


You might have to install a 3rd party battery monitor, like GSam Battery Monitor, to get the Cell Signal Strength graph.

 

[Pastorhss]

I agree, seeing some battery stat screenshots would help. Charge up to 100%, then let it drain to 20-30% with normal usage, without charging in between. Then show us:

1. The main Settings>Battery screen.
2. The fullscreen battery graph screen (which shows Awake time and Cell Signal Strength).
3. The Screen category (to see total Screen On time).
4. The Cell Standby category, if present (to see Time Without Signal).


You might have to install a 3rd party battery monitor, like GSam Battery Monitor, to get the Cell Signal Strength graph.

Thanks Who and B. Diddy... I will take these steps and get back to you asap. Of all my many devices, my phone is the most important. I need to address and solve this. God bless you.

 

[spinachie]

My wi-fi has been using 51% of my battery today. Very strange. On 66%.

 

[IAmSixNine]

Do you use WiFi? I had a bug on mine (also confirmed on another forum as well as Note 4) that had to do with the WiFi quick toggle and location settings. Basically on mine if Privacy and Safety > Location > Improved accuracy > WiFi Scanning was set to ON my unit would toggle WiFI on and off very quickly and caused my unit to heat up and drain the battery bad. I only noticed it when i tried to turn On WiFi with the quick drop down menu. It would go Blue then Gray quickly and repeatedly. I then verified an issue with it by going into Settings > WiFi and saw it turning on and off very quickly and it kept repeating its self on and off. This is with the location WiFi enabled. By turning that OFF my WiFi returned back to normal.

 

[Pastorhss]

Do you use WiFi? I had a bug on mine (also confirmed on another forum as well as Note 4) that had to do with the WiFi quick toggle and location settings. Basically on mine if Privacy and Safety > Location > Improved accuracy > WiFi Scanning was set to ON my unit would toggle WiFI on and off very quickly and caused my unit to heat up and drain the battery bad. I only noticed it when i tried to turn On WiFi with the quick drop down menu. It would go Blue then Gray quickly and repeatedly. I then verified an issue with it by going into Settings > WiFi and saw it turning on and off very quickly and it kept repeating its self on and off. This is with the location WiFi enabled. By turning that OFF my WiFi returned back to normal.

Thanks Iamsix - I'll check into it.Will report findings when I finish testing as per B. Diddy.

 

[Pastorhss]

I agree, seeing some battery stat screenshots would help. Charge up to 100%, then let it drain to 20-30% with normal usage, without charging in between. Then show us:

1. The main Settings>Battery screen.
2. The fullscreen battery graph screen (which shows Awake time and Cell Signal Strength).
3. The Screen category (to see total Screen On time).
4. The Cell Standby category, if present (to see Time Without Signal).


You might have to install a 3rd party battery monitor, like GSam Battery Monitor, to get the Cell Signal Strength graph.

Hello B. Diddy, others. Thanks to all for your help. After having the battery drain issue the other day, I have monitored the phone for the past two days on an almost hour-to-hour basis. It has been my regular use. The battery drain issue seems to have stabilized a bit after I let the battery drain almost to zero a couple of nights ago and then had a full overnight charge. For two days, as per B. Diddy, I have not charged during the day.

On Thursday, I monitored 7am (@ 100%) to 10pm (@ 37%) for an average of 4.2% drain p/her.
On Friday, I monitored 5am (@ 100%) to 11pm (@ 16%) for an average of 4.67% drain p/hr.

It still seems to be more than I had been accustomed to, but not the 7 - 10+ p/hr that I had been experiencing a few days ago.

I am attaching some screen shots that I took last night. I hope they help B. Diddy.

Thanks and blessings to all.

 

[B. Diddy]

Thanks for the screenshots! Overall, I'd say your battery life isn't that bad. 4 hrs of screen on time with 27% battery left is pretty decent, and if you were to use it down to 0% (which you shouldn't on a regular basis, by the way, if you want to preserve your battery's overall lifespan), you'd get upwards of 5 hours.

Cell Standby is still somewhat high, and even though the Time Without Signal is 0%, that doesn't mean that weak signal isn't a problem. You often have only 2 bars in your cell signal strength indicator in those screenshots, so I suspect that weak signal is still an issue. GSam Battery Monitor has a graph that shows your cell signal superimposed on the battery level -- can you show us that?

 

[Pastorhss]

Thanks for the screenshots! Overall, I'd say your battery life isn't that bad. 4 hrs of screen on time with 27% battery left is pretty decent, and if you were to use it down to 0% (which you shouldn't on a regular basis, by the way, if you want to preserve your battery's overall lifespan), you'd get upwards of 5 hours.

Cell Standby is still somewhat high, and even though the Time Without Signal is 0%, that doesn't mean that weak signal isn't a problem. You often have only 2 bars in your cell signal strength indicator in those screenshots, so I suspect that weak signal is still an issue. GSam Battery Monitor has a graph that shows your cell signal superimposed on the battery level -- can you show us that?

Thanks for the response and the knowledge, B. Diddy. I hope this is the screenshot you need. Poor signal strength has always been an issue while at home. (I spend a lot of time working out of my office at home.) Three bars are very rare here, and one tiny bar is common.

Let me know what you think.

God bless you.

 

[B. Diddy]

Pretty mediocre-to-poor signal, I'm afraid. I'd say that overall battery life you're having is pretty good in that light. What carrier do you use? Do they offer signal boosters for the home? T-Mobile offers them for free (at least for postpaid customers).

 

[Tsepz_GP]

I totally uninstalled Facebook and Messenger, u sing Swipe Pro with AMOLED Dark theme and Battery is amazing .

Facebook need to sort out their apps ASAP.

 

[Pastorhss]

Pretty mediocre-to-poor signal, I'm afraid. I'd say that overall battery life you're having is pretty good in that light. What carrier do you use? Do they offer signal boosters for the home? T-Mobile offers them for free (at least for postpaid customers).

Thanks, B. Diddy. So, I understand that you think that the signal issue is the probable culprit, but that battery life is not that bad given the signal strength. Phone had 100% at 8am and 35% at 8 pm, but there has been limited use. My carrier is AT&T.

 

[Pastorhss]

I totally uninstalled Facebook and Messenger, u sing Swipe Pro with AMOLED Dark theme and Battery is amazing .

Facebook need to sort out their apps ASAP.

Hey, Tsepz. I heard and read a lot about the FM/Messenger issue this past week. But I also read that it had been corrected by FB. I also read that an uninstall/reinstall should fix it.

By the way, how do you Uninstall FB on Adroid? There is no uninstall option for it. And, is there an alternative for getting FB updates?

Many blessings.

 

[B. Diddy]

Thanks, B. Diddy. So, I understand that you think that the signal issue is the probable culprit, but that battery life is not that bad given the signal strength. Phone had 100% at 8am and 35% at 8 pm, but there has been limited use. My carrier is AT&T.

That's correct. I actually wouldn't call 4 hrs of screen-on time light usage -- that's more like moderate.

If Facebook came preinstalled on your phone, then you can't remove it -- you can only uninstall all updates and probably Disable it as well (in the App Manager, select Facebook, then tap Disable). This prevents it from opening or updating.

 

[Pastorhss]

That's correct. I actually wouldn't call 4 hrs of screen-on time light usage -- that's more like moderate.

If Facebook came preinstalled on your phone, then you can't remove it -- you can only uninstall all updates and probably Disable it as well (in the App Manager, select Facebook, then tap Disable). This prevents it from opening or updating.

Thanks. You've been a great help. I'll keep you posted, if that's ok.