What causes inconsistant battery life?

[jdd77]

By the time I got home from work last night and before I plugged in the charger, the battery was at 78% @15h,38m. This is with my average use (a phone call, couple texts, light web browsing, etc..). This morning, since unplugging from charger, its at 96% @20m. What would cause stoic battery life one day, and the next day (with no change in settings or usage), it seems poor?

 

[Mikey D_PhD]

By the time I got home from work last night and before I plugged in the charger, the battery was at 78% @15h,38m. This is with my average use (a phone call, couple texts, light web browsing, etc..). This morning, since unplugging from charger, its at 96% @20m. What would cause stoic battery life one day, and the next day (with no change in settings or usage), it seems poor?

What you are seeing is typical from what I have noticed about my phone and have seen in others. The most likely cause is that that the battery wasn't truly at 100% when you took it off the charger. I'll explain - when you charge the phone to 100% the charge then cuts off until the battery reaches a certain level of discharge (92 - 95%) then it will charge back up. This is happening even though the green LED is on and the phone shows 100%. You most likely took the phone off the charger before it charged back up to 100%.

 

[KJ78]

Are you experiencing the data connection drop as myself and others are? Searching for a signal really eats up the battery.

 

[jdd77]

What you are seeing is typical from what I have noticed about my phone and have seen in others. The most likely cause is that that the battery wasn't truly at 100% when you took it off the charger. I'll explain - when you charge the phone to 100% the charge then cuts off until the battery reaches a certain level of discharge (92 - 95%) then it will charge back up. This is happening even though the green LED is on and the phone shows 100%. You most likely took the phone off the charger before it charged back up to 100%.

I've read about that.. but my post is about how battery life is not consistent day to day, regardless of the same charging habits, usage, and settings.

 

[jdd77]

Are you experiencing the data connection drop as myself and others are? Searching for a signal really eats up the battery.

Yes, but much less than this past summer.

 

[xs11e]

Re: What causes inconsistent battery life?

There are a lot of possibilities and the most obvious is that you don't have the same usage, where the phone is physically located had a lot to do with it, if you go to an area with a weak signal the phone can use a lot of battery searching. Another possibility is the battery itself, maybe it's getting old or it just may be a flaky battery. I bought 2 new Rezound batteries for my Thunderbolt and one of them gives me much longer battery life than the other, all batteries are NOT created equal!

 

[natehoy]

By the time I got home from work last night and before I plugged in the charger, the battery was at 78% @15h,38m. This is with my average use (a phone call, couple texts, light web browsing, etc..). This morning, since unplugging from charger, its at 96% @20m. What would cause stoic battery life one day, and the next day (with no change in settings or usage), it seems poor?

The first 5-10% of battery discharge is going to be very inconsistent due to the nature of charging and the way phones display charge levels.

A charging cycle brings the phone battery to 100% nominal charge, then allows the battery to discharge a little, then brings it back up to 100% nominal. The phone itself is programmed to tell you that the battery is at 100% when it is anywhere within the "range" of this charge-discharge cycle.

So let's say you have a battery capable of storing 100 units of power. The charge cycle will initially bring the battery up to the full 100 units, then allow it to drop to, say, 90 units, then trickle charge it back to 100 units. It will repeat this cycle until you take it off the charger. But the phone manufacturer doesn't want you thinking that the battery is not fully charged when it's taken off the charger, so they make anything over 85 units of power read "100%" on the charge-o-meter.

If you take the phone off the charger the instant it stopped actually charging, you will have 100 units of power and your phone will read 100% charge. You'll have to expend 15 units of power before it goes to 99%.

If you take the phone off the charger the instant before it was going to start charging again, you will have 90 units of power and the phone will read 100% charge. You'll have to expend 5 units of power before it reads 99%.

The way to "fix" this is to "bump charge" the battery if you absolutely need 100% nominal charge before leaving the house. When the phone reads 100% and the light is green, unplug it and plug it back in a few seconds later to "restart" the charge cycle. Once the light turns green again, you should be near 100% nominal charge.

 

[jdd77]

Re: What causes inconsistent battery life?

There are a lot of possibilities and the most obvious is that you don't have the same usage, where the phone is physically located had a lot to do with it, if you go to an area with a weak signal the phone can use a lot of battery searching. Another possibility is the battery itself, maybe it's getting old or it just may be a flaky battery. I bought 2 new Rezound batteries for my Thunderbolt and one of them gives me much longer battery life than the other, all batteries are NOT created equal!

I'm also using the Rezound battery. Funny thing is, for the first couple weeks I noticed a definite 20% increase in battery life. But for the past couple weeks, life seems like the stock battery again. (not that there was a major difference between the two to begin with). I'm thinking about ordering another Rezound battery anyway.

 

[jdd77]

The first 5-10% of battery discharge is going to be very inconsistent due to the nature of charging and the way phones display charge levels.

A charging cycle brings the phone battery to 100% nominal charge, then allows the battery to discharge a little, then brings it back up to 100% nominal. The phone itself is programmed to tell you that the battery is at 100% when it is anywhere within the "range" of this charge-discharge cycle.

So let's say you have a battery capable of storing 100 units of power. The charge cycle will initially bring the battery up to the full 100 units, then allow it to drop to, say, 90 units, then trickle charge it back to 100 units. It will repeat this cycle until you take it off the charger. But the phone manufacturer doesn't want you thinking that the battery is not fully charged when it's taken off the charger, so they make anything over 85 units of power read "100%" on the charge-o-meter.

If you take the phone off the charger the instant it stopped actually charging, you will have 100 units of power and your phone will read 100% charge. You'll have to expend 15 units of power before it goes to 99%.

If you take the phone off the charger the instant before it was going to start charging again, you will have 90 units of power and the phone will read 100% charge. You'll have to expend 5 units of power before it reads 99%.

The way to "fix" this is to "bump charge" the battery if you absolutely need 100% nominal charge before leaving the house. When the phone reads 100% and the light is green, unplug it and plug it back in a few seconds later to "restart" the charge cycle. Once the light turns green again, you should be near 100% nominal charge.

Makes a lot more sense now..and thanks for the "bump" tip. Wish one day they make phones where you can't accidentally charge it wrong lol.

 

[viper31573]

here is my screwy battery story from last nite. battery is at about 30% when phone freezes. i pull battery, put it back in and boot up to battery at 20%. i plug it into charge. about an hr later, i look and see teh light flickering between orange and green. so while its still plugged in, i turn it on and see the battery is completely dead, and the status is "battery discharging". i pull the plug and phone shuts off because battery is dead. i pull battery again and put it back in, now the battery has 17% on it, from not having enough juice to stay on, to 17% lol. the phone then charged normal from that point

 

[natehoy]

Well, keep in mind that the "bump" trick is really not something you want to do daily, for several reasons.

First, you are putting more wear-and-tear on your USB port by unplugging it and plugging it back in.

Second, it really doesn't buy you all that much extra battery life. The phone is cycling up and down through maybe ten percent, if that, of nominal charge.

Third, it actually increases wear-and-tear on your battery. The reason your phone cycles up and down on charge is because keeping a battery at 100% charge causes damage to the cells. Very small amounts each time, but it adds up.

And, of course, finally - it's a hassle, and the charging indicator doesn't always tell you when the phone is fully charged anyway.

Your best bet is to just charge the phone up when you can, and use it until it's convenient to charge it up again. Battery management is best left to the phone's internal software, written by people who know the battery. Trying to second-guess it will most frequently be counterproductive, and when you do get battery gains it'll be a lot more effort than it's worth.

If your battery can't get you through the day, replace it with a new one. If a new one can't get you through the day, get an extended one. If an extended one can't get you through the day, carry more batteries.

Save the "bumping" for when you really need to extend that one charge - for example when leaving for an extended trip where you know power is unavailable.

And truly "bumping" the charge means your phone needs to be turned off. The bootloader's charge algorithm is usually less sophisticated and will tend to want to charge the battery more fully. You can unplug and re-plug it a few times while turned off and you'll get a small incremental gain in charge each time (with a corresponding incremental gain in damage to the battery).

 

[jdd77]

Well, keep in mind that the "bump" trick is really not something you want to do daily, for several reasons.

First, you are putting more wear-and-tear on your USB port by unplugging it and plugging it back in.

Second, it really doesn't buy you all that much extra battery life. The phone is cycling up and down through maybe ten percent, if that, of nominal charge.

Third, it actually increases wear-and-tear on your battery. The reason your phone cycles up and down on charge is because keeping a battery at 100% charge causes damage to the cells. Very small amounts each time, but it adds up.

And, of course, finally - it's a hassle, and the charging indicator doesn't always tell you when the phone is fully charged anyway.

Your best bet is to just charge the phone up when you can, and use it until it's convenient to charge it up again. Battery management is best left to the phone's internal software, written by people who know the battery. Trying to second-guess it will most frequently be counterproductive, and when you do get battery gains it'll be a lot more effort than it's worth.

If your battery can't get you through the day, replace it with a new one. If a new one can't get you through the day, get an extended one. an extended one can't get you through the day, carry more batteries.

Save the "bumping" for when you really need to extend that one charge - for example when leaving for an extended trip where you know power is unavailable.

And truly "bumping" the charge means your phone needs to be turned off. The bootloader's charge algorithm is usually less sophisticated and will tend to want to charge the battery more fully. You can unplug and re-plug it a few times while turned off and you'll get a small incremental gain in charge each time (with a corresponding incremental gain in damage to the battery).

Well that's a lot to think about for the average consumer! Lol. Agreed, more trouble than its worth. Here's just an update for the sake of this thread: Today the battery was at 96%@4h,46m. As a pose to 96%@20m a couple days ago. I guess today I unplugged the phone at just the right time! It's almost like a video game lol.