Battery Drain Ridiculous Epic 4G

[Sprintguy1376]

So I've had my Epic 4G for about 3 weeks now, coming from a Palm Pre (How I miss that WebOS....) and it's been a pretty smooth switch. The 4G in Boston is BLAZING fast. But since I've gotten this phone, the battery will just drain while SITTING there.

I noticed this before really going into any settings or anything like that.. but even after rigorously searching posts, googling, and doing everything a good poster should do before creating a thread.. Nothing.

-I've downloaded juice defender.. it hasn't done much.
-I disable the DRM service, and even use startup auditor to kill it anytime it starts
-I rooted and underclock the processor when the screen is off
- I turn on airplane mode for at least a minute every time the phone turns on
-I disabled all sync services (Which hurts....)
-I only have 2 widgets that auto-update and I set them to hourly.
-I kill all apps when I finish with my phone for the day (before sleeping)
-All the obvious disabling 4G..GPS..Wi-Fi.. etc etc.

Yet I'll go to sleep with 98% battery.. and wake up 8 hours later with something like 27% battery. I don't really know where else to go with this.. Am I missing something ridiculously obvious?

I'm visibly upset about this.

I never thought switching from a Palm Pre would result in WORSE battery life

Any other suggestions and help?

 

[murso74]

sounds like something is wrong with your phone. i left my phone sitting for 12 hours and only lost about 9% and that doing less then you do.

 

[durhamite]

I have been fighting with battery life on my Epic since I had it. Sometimes I get awesome battery (20 hrs) other times I will only get like 6. What I did was went down to the minimum. No widgets running and nothing updating when I went to bed to see what happens and the one time I got 20 hours was when I did this. If you do a wipe and flash of your ROM before going to bed and don't install any apps and you are still getting rapid battery drain, you should take your phone back.

 

[ragnarokx]

You should try a factory reset and start from scratch. If you don't notice an improvement, perhaps your phone just shipped with a bad battery. If you're taking all those battery-saving measures you should at least get a day or so out of the phone. Good battery life is possible - I'm on 19hrs with 60% left on light use (albeit with a custom ROM and kernel).

 

[Sprintguy1376]

Blahh... Sounds like factory reset is the way to go...

Well then 2 things..

-Should I titanium backup to get all my apps back, or leave those out in case one of them is the reason my battery sucks.

-And 2.. Would installing a custom ROM start me from scratch, effectively doing a factory reset but with a dif ROM? I was planning on flashing soon anyway, just wanted to get this problem out of the way.

I REALLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYY Don't wanna return this phone... Getting the invisible shield on this thing was SUCH A PAIN. I don't want to experience that again. Free replacement or not.

 

[ragnarokx]

You could do that - just wipe your phone using ClockworkMod Recovery and install a custom ROM. Titanium Backup is a good idea, but I would hold off on restoring everything with it until you use your phone for a bit after it is wiped to feel out the battery life.

 

[Sprintguy1376]

Thanks a lot! I'll definitely try it. Coming over from PreCentral forums is pretty seamless. You guys are just as helpful. Thanks!

 

[sacwoo]

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=811030

I am using the Phoenix kernel and this Battery calibration did wonders for me. No matter what rom or kernel you choose I would try this. Once I did this my phone went from 6-8 hrs of battery to 12-16 hrs of battery.

-----CALIBRATE YOUR BATTERY!!! This kernel is very different from stock, you may get poor battery life if you're switching to Phoenix from stock. To do so: After flashing Phoenix, charge to 100%. Go into Clockwork Recovery, go to Advanced, and hit Wipe Battery Stats. Reboot, then fully drain the battery 100% -> 0%. Charge it back up to 100% while turned on, and you should be calibrated. -----

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

This has been the case with both of my Epics I've had. The second day I had this one, I got like nearly 2 days of battery life on one charge. From that day on I've only gotten around 10 hours (and its only gotten worse). I wonder if the Facebook update still has that battery drain from when I had the Hero (had Facebook version 1.3.2 and uninstalled the update). I'll report back after tomorrow with whether I get better battery life. I have also made sure I've disabled automatic updates for widgets and such to make sure nothin is syncing in the
background.

 

[shaundizzle]

[KERNEL] Phoenix v1.49 (10/27/2010) - xda-developers

I am using the Phoenix kernel and this Battery calibration did wonders for me. No matter what rom or kernel you choose I would try this. Once I did this my phone went from 6-8 hrs of battery to 12-16 hrs of battery.

-----CALIBRATE YOUR BATTERY!!! This kernel is very different from stock, you may get poor battery life if you're switching to Phoenix from stock. To do so: After flashing Phoenix, charge to 100%. Go into Clockwork Recovery, go to Advanced, and hit Wipe Battery Stats. Reboot, then fully drain the battery 100% -> 0%. Charge it back up to 100% while turned on, and you should be calibrated. -----

this is what i was going to suggest, and willl make a difference.

 

[shaundizzle]

After clibrating my battery yesterday, last night I was at 100% for over an hour. However I did not use it much ezxept for a few txts and to look at weather and time

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

 

[Sprintguy1376]

Update:

So I restored my phone completely to stock using the sticky in the ROM section(Not gonna lie.. that Odin Program scared me).

I then calibrated the battery and just let the phone sit overnight

I forgot to disable the DRM service, and forgot the airplane mode trick, but the drain was still SIGNIFICANTLY better.

Went down from 96% to 92% in about 6 hours. Guessing that'll be better when I remove the DRM service and do airplane mode trick.

Guess now it's time to reinstall a couple apps and see which were the culprits.

 

[ragnarokx]

Awesome! Now you can start enjoying your phone

Sent by a little green robot

 

[Ajbent86]

Update:

So I restored my phone completely to stock using the sticky in the ROM section(Not gonna lie.. that Odin Program scared me).

I then calibrated the battery and just let the phone sit overnight

I forgot to disable the DRM service, and forgot the airplane mode trick, but the drain was still SIGNIFICANTLY better.

Went down from 96% to 92% in about 6 hours. Guessing that'll be better when I remove the DRM service and do airplane mode trick.

Guess now it's time to reinstall a couple apps and see which were the culprits.

How do you calibrate the battery from stock? Eariler in this thread they said you had to flash a different kernel.

 

[kristv]

Don't forget to use wi-fi if you're at home! This makes a HUGE difference in battery life! My battery dies quickly while on 3G. The difference is night and day, really.

 

[shaundizzle]

How do you calibrate the battery from stock? Eariler in this thread they said you had to flash a different kernel.

to recalibrate your battery,

all you need to do is charge your phone to 100% reboot into clockwork recovery, go to advanced>wipe battery stats> ok.

let your phone die, go to 0% battery. recharge to 100% your calibrated.

theres no need to install a different kernel. but your supposed to recalibrate after you flash a new kernel

 

[shaundizzle]

How do you calibrate the battery from stock? Eariler in this thread they said you had to flash a different kernel.

and also i just read through the thread.
AND NOBODY SAID YOU NEED TO FLASH A DIFFERENT KERNEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ragnarokx]

Whoa - let's take it down a notch shaundizzle. This stuff can be confusing the first time you're exposed to it. No need for all those caps and exclamation points.

 

[shaundizzle]

sorry im drunk haha i wasnt trying to be mean i just type funny


and how come i have to be censored? are people that sensitivie now adays.
i was raised with a little more unsusceptible, especially if its a forum. its not like im calling anyone names or anything.




Oh and im at 16 hours with 28%

 

[ragnarokx]

sorry im drunk haha i wasnt trying to be mean i just type funny


and how come i have to be censored? are people that sensitivie now adays.
i was raised with a little more unsusceptible, especially if its a forum. its not like im calling anyone names or anything.




Oh and im at 16 hours with 28%

It's not about censorship, just about following forum rules - one of them being "Respect others". Your opinion is always welcome, we just ask you express it in a civil manner. I don't doubt you have the best intentions, but tone is very hard to express in typed form and having a sentence with all caps and exclamation points can send the wrong message.