Battery wifi issues

[AZgl1500]

It is normal for WiFi radio to scan for other channels even while it is locked onto the channel it is using.

You should have selected just the one channel you want and had it connect to that channel. If you do not ask it to connect, it should only be aware other channels are "out there".

Battery Doctor does not consume a large amount of power.
I am beginning to believe you are more concerned with "percentage of use" versus actual battery power left. I have had BD installed on my phone since launch day, and I guarantee you it is the smallest user of battery percentage on the phone. If you will use BD and turn off DATA, WIFI, SYNC, BLUETOOTH while you are home and not using the phone, it will easily go days w/o using up a lot of battery. I get 5 days under that condition with only very light phone/text message use. The stuff I mentioned is all turned OFF. I did that as a test to see how far out the battery would go w/o using Low Power Mode. My normal use though is 2 days between charges. But I do have a Qi wireless charger in the phone and often just lay it on the charger pad. Especially so when I go to bed.

Here is a screenshot of my phone's WiFi settings. It is locked onto a single WiFi channel in my home. Indeed it is the only channel available in our area as I live on a large acreage.

I watched and counted the seconds and about every 5 seconds it pops up the "Scanning" message. Totally normal and does not consume power. It is just the WiFi receiver listening to what is around in the area.

 

[S5_GJH]

Mine was doing this.

Go into wifi settings and untick the always allow scanning box.

You'll then see it's only on when u turn it on.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[AZgl1500]

Mine was doing this.

Go into wifi settings and untick the always allow scanning box.

You'll then see it's only on when u turn it on.

Posted via Android Central App

That option is not on all S5 phones, sure isn't on a Verizon phone.

 

[PsychDoc]

That option is not on all S5 phones, sure isn't on a Verizon phone.

I have a Vz phone. It's there in the wifi settings under wifi > advanced > always allow scanning.

 

[AZgl1500]

I have a Vz phone. It's there in the wifi settings under wifi > advanced > always allow scanning.

That is NOT the same thing.... as the screenshot shows, I have it turned OFF and the WiFi receiver still scans every 5 seconds.
That is for Google Apps to turn ON WiFi even if it is OFF, and I will not allow Google to control my phone period.

.

 

[Almeuit]

AZ is right guys. The always allow scanning is for Google services and isn't for the normal wifi.

When you have wifi on it's normal for it to keep scanning even once connected. All my devices have done this. I'm not sure if it does it in the background but if you bring up the wifi menu it does... That's because it's trying to show you what's around and it can only do that by scanning. Even if connected it can still show you others because sometimes your phone could connect to one network when you'd rather have another in the same area.

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

 

[RionDunn]

AZ is right guys. The always allow scanning is for Google services and isn't for the normal wifi.

When you have wifi on it's normal for it to keep scanning even once connected. All my devices have done this. I'm not sure if it does it in the background but if you bring up the wifi menu it does... That's because it's trying to show you what's around and it can only do that by scanning. Even if connected it can still show you others because sometimes your phone could connect to one network when you'd rather have another in the same area.

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

So I think I'm looking to deep into this then. Based off or discussion further up the thread, what do you think could be the issue of the battery drain?

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

 

[AZgl1500]

So I think I'm looking to deep into this then. Based off or discussion further up the thread, what do you think could be the issue of the battery drain?

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

Did you ever install Battery Doctor and use its' Switcher widget to control WIFI and DATA?

I also keep Background DATA turned OFF.

My battery use is so small as to not even be a consideration.

I turn on Data if it is needed when I am away from the house. Other than that, it stays off 95% of the time.

I get 2 or 3 days use on every charge w/o even trying hard and I still use my phone heavily when away from the house.

But, when I get home, and pick up the phone, the WiFi gets turned ON and stays that way until I go to bed. Then all traffic is turned OFF when it goes on the Qi charger pad.

Every work day, I pick the phone up from the charger pad at 0500 and don't need it until lunch time. It is nearly always at 98% at 1100 hrs and I burn through a lot of DATA then.

Come evening time and the battery is still at 60%+ by the time I get home around 5 PM.

Then the WiFi gets turned ON and the DATA is turned OFF. The rest of the evening with me playing around with it a lot, it still have 50% or more battery by bed time at 10 PM...

I always leave SYNC turned OFF unless I am using the Play Store, it won't work w/o Sync.

All of the junk apps have been turned off, S Health, Amazon, etc...

I also make it a point to Close Down everything when I am not using an app. Those apps running in the background will chew up a lot of power.

Battery Doctor's Switcher widget gets a lot of use for me. I control when and IF the phone has access to the outside world, and I clear out all apps and activity every time I lay the phone down.

 

[RionDunn]

Did you ever install Battery Doctor and use its' Switcher widget to control WIFI and DATA?

I also keep Background DATA turned OFF.

My battery use is so small as to not even be a consideration.

I turn on Data if it is needed when I am away from the house. Other than that, it stays off 95% of the time.

I get 2 or 3 days use on every charge w/o even trying hard and I still use my phone heavily when away from the house.

But, when I get home, and pick up the phone, the WiFi gets turned ON and stays that way until I go to bed. Then all traffic is turned OFF when it goes on the Qi charger pad.

Every work day, I pick the phone up from the charger pad at 0500 and don't need it until lunch time. It is nearly always at 98% at 1100 hrs and I burn through a lot of DATA then.

Come evening time and the battery is still at 60%+ by the time I get home around 5 PM.

Then the WiFi gets turned ON and the DATA is turned OFF. The rest of the evening with me playing around with it a lot, it still have 50% or more battery by bed time at 10 PM...

I always leave SYNC turned OFF unless I am using the Play Store, it won't work w/o Sync.

All of the junk apps have been turned off, S Health, Amazon, etc...

I also make it a point to Close Down everything when I am not using an app. Those apps running in the background will chew up a lot of power.

Battery Doctor's Switcher widget gets a lot of use for me. I control when and IF the phone has access to the outside world, and I clear out all apps and activity every time I lay the phone down.

I'm sure this has something to do with my wifi router. This is the only time my battery drains quicker than usual. I've tested the handset on other wifi networks and is fine. I have been using my cellular connection at home and the battery is fine. It's just when I connect to wifi. Thanks for the info, but I shouldn't have to have an app turn of certain settings in my phone when I get home. I realize this will extend the battery life, but I'm more than happy with the original battery life on the S5. It's just this wifi battery drain is driving me nuts, is getting to the point that is bugging me more that I can't figure out how to fix it hahaha.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[AZgl1500]

On your home WiFi, click on it and tell the S5 to "forget it"

Then reconnect and enter the password again.
That should make everything sync back up again.

If you still have a high battery drain issue, I would change the SSID on your WiFi router and change the Channel it is using. Get it off of Channel 11, move it to something between 1 and 6.

Try that, and report back.