Wrong Battery Percentage Indication

[Iamnishanta]

First of all, I am sorry to post it here as my device runs Android 5.1. I am desperate for a solution.

My battery is really performing weird since a month.
Battery percentage drops suddenly when I turn on my phone after sleep.

Suppose, I turn off my phone at 80% and I turn it back on after an hour, the battery will suddenly drop to 76% and it will remain at that percentage for 30-40 mins.
This problem occurs even during airplane mode or when the phone is switched off.
I have tried
• discharging to 0% and charging to 100%
• factory reset from settings 4 times
• battery calibration app
But nothing seems to work

And the best thing is that my battery usage is more or less still the same as it was a year ago. I am getting 10 hour Screen On Time on average.

There's no problem with my network strength...and I don't even think that "Phone Idle" is using battery, even though it looks like it, and GSam proves that. It is just that the battery % reading can create trouble as there may be an incident where the first 50% may last longer and the remaining 50% doesn't.

Here's my battery stats, from stock and gsam.View attachment 286251

 

[Laura Knotek]

Welcome to Android Central.

What phone do you have? How long have you had this phone? It might be that your battery is in need of replacement, especially since you mentioned that the phone is running Lollipop, which is an older version of Android.

 

[Iamnishanta]

Welcome to Android Central.

What phone do you have? How long have you had this phone? It might be that your battery is in need of replacement, especially since you mentioned that the phone is running Lollipop, which is an older version of Android.

• Micromax Q392 (A Local Indian Brand).
• Been using these phone since 2 years.
•I don't think I need a replacement because I'm getting the same battery performance I got 2 years ago..10 Hours SoT on average. My problem is the wrong battery stats, like phone Idle and sudden drops, even though it Ultimately doesn't affect my battery usage.

See the graph, it suddenly drops when I turn it on and then that particular 'percentage' lasts a lot long, which compensates for the % lost... Meaning that my battery performance is more or less the same... What concerns me is the battery percentage indicator.

 

[Iamnishanta]

Inconsistent Battery Percentage Reading

First of all, I am sorry to post it here as my device runs Android 5.1. I am desperate for a solution.

My battery is really performing weird since a month. Battery percentage drops suddenly when I turn on my phone after sleep.

Suppose, I turn off my phone at 80% and I turn it back on after an hour, the battery will suddenly drop to 76% and it will remain at that percentage for 30-40 mins.
This problem occurs even during airplane mode or when the phone is switched off.
I have tried
• discharging to 0% and charging to 100%
• factory reset from settings 4 times
• battery calibration app
But nothing seems to work

And the best thing is that my battery usage is more or less still the same as it was a year ago. I am getting 10 hour Screen On Time on average.

There's no problem with my network strength...and I don't even think that "Phone Idle" is using battery, even though it looks like it, and GSam proves that.

It is just that the battery % reading can create trouble as there may be an incident where the first 80% may last longer and the remaining 20% doesn't.

Here's my battery stats, from Stock and GSam.

 

[Rukbat]

Re: Inconsistent Battery Percentage Reading

First, you're probably on the wrong carrier - 11% for phone idle is a bit high. A carrier with better signal strength where you have your phone turned on (home, work, school) would save you some battery.

Second, and I can only guess without actually having the phone, is that the battery has started throwing dendrites (see Lithium Battery Dendrite links if you're really interested). If it's throwing tiny dendrites, they'll drop the voltage like that, but burn up in a few microseconds, so they won't drop it to 0. I'd just put up with it until (and if) it ever gets so bad that you want to replace the battery. It could last another 3 years with care, it could start dropping to 0 in a week - there's no way to predict it. (Don't charge it past 80% and try to charge it when it drops to 40%, and you might want to throw the phone out before the battery really needs replacement. You can set alarms in GSam for 81% high and 39% low. That makes it easy.)

 

[Iamnishanta]

Re: Inconsistent Battery Percentage Reading

First, you're probably on the wrong carrier - 11% for phone idle is a bit high. A carrier with better signal strength where you have your phone turned on (home, work, school) would save you some battery.

Second, and I can only guess without actually having the phone, is that the battery has started throwing dendrites (see Lithium Battery Dendrite links if you're really interested). If it's throwing tiny dendrites, they'll drop the voltage like that, but burn up in a few microseconds, so they won't drop it to 0. I'd just put up with it until (and if) it ever gets so bad that you want to replace the battery. It could last another 3 years with care, it could start dropping to 0 in a week - there's no way to predict it. (Don't charge it past 80% and try to charge it when it drops to 40%, and you might want to throw the phone out before the battery really needs replacement. You can set alarms in GSam for 81% high and 39% low. That makes it easy.)

1st: Phone Idle data is wrong, Carrier network is strong as hell. I tried using the phone without a SIM card, and Phone Idle still used 20-30%.

2nd: I have no problem with my battery, the battery still lasts just as long as it did 2 years ago, it is just that the percentage data that bothers me.

 

[B. Diddy]

I merged two similar threads and moved them to the General Help forum (since one was originally posted in the Marshmallow forum, the other in the Oreo forum, even though the phone is running Lollipop).

You may want to try reinstalling the stock firmware, in case the current copy has become corrupt. I found a couple of sites:

https://firmwarefile.com/micromax-q392
https://www.gogorapid.com/flash-stock-rom-on-micromax-q392/

 

[Iamnishanta]

I merged two similar threads and moved them to the General Help forum (since one was originally posted in the Marshmallow forum, the other in the Oreo forum, even though the phone is running Lollipop).

You may want to try reinstalling the stock firmware, in case the current copy has become corrupt. I found a couple of sites:

https://firmwarefile.com/micromax-q392
https://www.gogorapid.com/flash-stock-rom-on-micromax-q392/

What is the meaning of flash? I have absolutely no idea about root, flash etc etc.

 

[B. Diddy]

It means reinstalling the system software. I don't have any direct experience myself, so all I can do is point you to the instructions. From what I can tell, it doesn't require rooting (which is the process of gaining superuser access to the phone, typically voiding the warranty).