[Help][50% SOLVED] LTE = random heavy battery drain aka "plummet"

[jeffreii]

I've been experiencing this same problem fairly infrequently. But for me it's not the LTE.
In my case I've traced the problem to the Samsung Push Service. I've had my battery go from over 50% charge down to 5% in a matter of hours while that service is running.

How can I be sure? Well first, I looked at the battery meter for the sharp drop, just to confirm that I've lost charge rapidly in the last few hours.
Second, I checked my running apps in the app manager and looked at the times that each app has been running. If the phone has been sitting idle, most of the apps will have been running for hours or even days depending on when it was last rebooted. But in the instances where my battery has plummetted like this I'll find that the Samsung Push Service has been running for only a matter of a few hours.

In the most recent instance - just this evening - all apps on my phone have been running anywhere between 15 hours and 38 hours. The one exception to this: Samsung Push Service started up only a mere 2.5 hours ago. And in that 2.5 hours my battery has gone from 50% charge to 5% charge.

I've poked around to see if there's a way to disable the service. You can stop the service manually, of course. But other users have reported that even if you uninstall the service, it will get reinstalled automatically if you run certain applications. There doesn't seem to be any surefire way to disable or remove it.

Sounds like you have a different issue. I have had Samsung Push Service disabled for months.

 

[smooth4lyfe]

LTE is the BIGGEST thing that makes my phone battery drop
There was a forum on here that someone posted a custom APN to put on the phone to turn off LTE...I'm trying that now to see if it works

 

[jeffreii]

LTE is the BIGGEST thing that makes my phone battery drop
There was a forum on here that someone posted a custom APN to put on the phone to turn off LTE...I'm trying that now to see if it works

I'm not blaming LTE for the bad battery life - my battery life with LTE on vs. LTE off, during normal situations, is very similar. I just think there's some bug with the network switching that disabling LTE prevents from happening.

 

[KreepyKen]

Just so everyone is clear, this is not a case of "bad battery life." This is a distinct process occurring on the phone that suddenly causes a rapid increase in battery drain.

I got my phone on July 7, but only started getting this plummet issue about a month ago...shortly BEFORE the last OTA. I've been watching it and trying to figure out what the hell is causing it. I think I'm close. I get this problem at work, and only at work. Never at home. I connect to wifi in both places. The only difference is that I work in an LTE area and live in an HSPA+ area.

EVERY time I've had the plummet, the following three things were true:

1. Connected to Wifi
2. In an LTE area
3. App updates were available in the Google Play Store

Several times when it happened, I checked the Google Play store and there were no updates available...but then upon rebooting the phone, updates appeared immediately. So EVERY time this has happened, there were updates available. Sometimes my phone couldn't see them...but they were there.

LTE is the only real difference for me. But it shouldn't matter whether or not LTE is present or not if I'm on wifi (LTE/HSPA should get turned off when on wifi). So why does it happen in an LTE area but not an HSPA area???? Also, when the plummet happens, the main battery drain is listed as Cell Standby (in the native battery monitor) ... which is called Phone Radio in GSam Battery Monitor. Why would the phone radio suddenly need more battery power if wifi is on the whole time? It doesn't make sense.

So here is what I believe is happening: I think that when the phone is alerted to Google Play app updates available, it causes some conflict with the software that controls the radios. I think the phone can't resolve whether it's supposed to be using wifi or LTE. If it can't decide which to use, it might explain why I need to sometimes reboot in order to see the available updates.

To put it as concisely as possible: I think the Google Play alert process causes some Samsung LTE radio process to crash, confusing the phone on which radio to use and it just sits there and spins, draining battery until a reboot.

Does anyone know of a way to see the phone's logs that tell what specific processes started/ended at what specific times? I'm not talking about just the main ones listed in the app manager, I'm looking for a complete log with timestamps. Can we get that without rooting?

 

[ilifecomputer]

I'm glad you posted this. Not sure how threads about random battery drain always turn into battery saving discussions. Still hoping this is fixed ASAP.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[KreepyKen]

I'm glad you posted this. Not sure how threads about random battery drain always turn into battery saving discussions. Still hoping this is fixed ASAP.

No problem. All it takes is one person to comment after reading only a portion of the original post and people go flying off on a tangent. I hope it gets figured out, too. Strangely, it hasn't happened the last two days. One day last week it happened twice in one day. So the problem doesn't present itself every time updates are available in the Play store. It's random. It's driving me crazy.

 

[jeffreii]

No problem. All it takes is one person to comment after reading only a portion of the original post and people go flying off on a tangent. I hope it gets figured out, too. Strangely, it hasn't happened the last two days. One day last week it happened twice in one day. So the problem doesn't present itself every time updates are available in the Play store. It's random. It's driving me crazy.

Thanks - you are right that most people replying to this thread just have a "battery issue" and not the same behavior I have been describing. It's pretty frustrating.

I had eliminated the Google Play conflict when troubleshooting earlier but I'll take a look at it again...for example, if you constantly check for updates and keep your apps updated, will the plummet occur? Is it just when Google Play finds updates in the background that a problem occurs? If the plummet happens and there are no updates available, even after reboot, it debunks the whole thing.

 

[dfb8085]

Well I have the plummet problem also. I started at 530am and it's now noon and I am down to 45%. All I have done was put it in my pocket drive to work lay it on. Y desk and send about 5 text msg this morning. Now I'm praying I make it home because I am in a rental and don't have my charge cord. Is anybody working on this problem or even admit there is a problem.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Android Central Forums

 

[dfb8085]

I've been experiencing this same problem fairly infrequently. But for me it's not the LTE.
In my case I've traced the problem to the Samsung Push Service. I've had my battery go from over 50% charge down to 5% in a matter of hours while that service is running.

How can I be sure? Well first, I looked at the battery meter for the sharp drop, just to confirm that I've lost charge rapidly in the last few hours.
Second, I checked my running apps in the app manager and looked at the times that each app has been running. If the phone has been sitting idle, most of the apps will have been running for hours or even days depending on when it was last rebooted. But in the instances where my battery has plummetted like this I'll find that the Samsung Push Service has been running for only a matter of a few hours.

In the most recent instance - just this evening - all apps on my phone have been running anywhere between 15 hours and 38 hours. The one exception to this: Samsung Push Service started up only a mere 2.5 hours ago. And in that 2.5 hours my battery has gone from 50% charge to 5% charge.

I've poked around to see if there's a way to disable the service. You can stop the service manually, of course. But other users have reported that even if you uninstall the service, it will get reinstalled automatically if you run certain applications. There doesn't seem to be any surefire way to disable or remove it.

what is this samsung push service? i don't see it under my list of apps running or other wise

 

[dfb8085]

Anyone who can help diagnose the cause of this would be my hero. Please read carefully the evidence I already have.

Scenario:
Battery life is great for awhile and then suddenly it will start plummeting for no good reason. It will continue to do so, even if the screen is off and the phone is unused with all tasks closed. It will not stop dropping fast unless I reboot it. Then battery life returns to normal/excellent..a day or so later it starts dropping fast again.

Things I've tried:
-Factory reset - reinstall only most common apps
-Exchanged the device at AT&T - same result
-Monitored with GSAM (Badass) Battery Monitor and Better Battery Stats. No culprit found.

Important notes:
-As per attached screenshot*, I have tested ways to stop the drain without a reboot. Turning off wifi does nothing. Turning off mobile data does nothing. Turning off the radio (airplane mode) is the only way to stop it - but once I turn airplane mode off, it continues to drop quickly. Only a reboot is a working temporary fix.
-The phone itself is reporting the "cell standby" as the major culprit. I am not sure if this is inflated due to the known bug in reporting that data.
-There is something quirky with the "mobile network signal" bar - I am in Miami where signal is strong almost everywhere. The steep decline occurs even at my apartment where I always have 4 or 5 bars of LTE signal. I am almost never in any area where there is no signal, despite what the line indicates.

Attached screenshots:
1 & 2) good battery life followed by a sudden and steep decline
3) the subsequent "test" listed in note # 1 above with the resulting plateau achieved by turning on airplane mode with the drop continuing when airplane mode was disabled
4 & 5) I then charged the device to full overnight and unplugged it in the morning. I let it sit unused for about 2 hours and the battery dropped 25%.
6 & 7) these screenshots are from normal excellent battery life scenario where the "plummeting" battery did not occur

Thank you so much for any help.

I don't understand why mine will go along days or weeks and be fine. I never turn my phone off. i just charge it at night and put it in my pocket for the day. Then all of a sudden I will look t my phone during the day and low and behold the battery is almost dead in 5-6 hours. I got 12 hours today and the battery icon was yellow and yelling for a charge. My usage doesn't vary from day to day as I am not a heavy user

 

[KreepyKen]

Here's a shot of my screen illustrating this particular problem. You can see that it was chugging along burning about 3% an hour for the first three hours. Then it started to freefall, burning about 15% an hour for a couple hours. At that point, I noticed it and rebooted the phone, after which it's burning between 2% and 3% an hour again.

This is the plummet, folks. As you can see, something is occurring that starts chewing battery. It's not a gradual "must be LTE" thing. It's an obvious and inexplicable error going on.

 

[anon(832122)]

what is this samsung push service? i don't see it under my list of apps running or other wise

It's a bloatware app that I believe enables Samsung's chaton message app. It cannot be removed but can be force stopped (will likely restart immediately) or can be disabled.

 

[Skunkape60]

Here's a shot of my screen illustrating this particular problem. You can see that it was chugging along burning about 3% an hour for the first three hours. Then it started to freefall, burning about 15% an hour for a couple hours. At that point, I noticed it and rebooted the phone, after which it's burning between 2% and 3% an hour again.

This is the plummet, folks. As you can see, something is occurring that starts chewing battery. It's not a gradual "must be LTE" thing. It's an obvious and inexplicable error going on.

View attachment 41174

Another thing I noticed in you screenshot. During that drop. Your screen was turned off the entire time but your phone was actually still awake +50% of the time. While it may be the Samsung service keeping it from sleeping properly, it may be a combination of things.

 

[KreepyKen]

Another thing I noticed in you screenshot. During that drop. Your screen was turned off the entire time but your phone was actually still awake +50% of the time. While it may be the Samsung service keeping it from sleeping properly, it may be a combination of things.

Yeah, but it looks like that when the plummet isn't happening, too. I have email (three accounts), gmail, twitter, and facebook polling every so often, so that is likely why it's showing a lot of awake time when the screen is off.

 

[jeffreii]

Yeah, but it looks like that when the plummet isn't happening, too. I have email (three accounts), gmail, twitter, and facebook polling every so often, so that is likely why it's showing a lot of awake time when the screen is off.

Definitely looks like the plummet to me - and I agree that the wakeups are happening before, during, and after the plummet so not the problem.

I've argued it's definitely related to LTE - just not in the way most people think. Unless someone can disable LTE and show the plummet continuing (which I have tried several times with no success), it's got to be somehow related...but much more complicated. As we've seen from many posts, the battery life (without plummet) of LTE vs. LTE disabled is very close. This isn't 2011 when any phone with LTE had bad battery life because the radio was not built into the SoC.

 

[Rickoxo]

Thought I was going nuts, but reading this, I'm in the plummet club. Not a check which apps are running and lower my screen brightness power savers club, but I had over 80% battery life, ran app killer and killed everything, put phone to sleep, played tennis for two hours, ate dinner, checked my phone three hours later and was down to 34%.

It didn't do this for the first few weeks I had the phone, it just started this last week. I'm trying the restart right now to see if that helps, but all of this talk about turning off GPS or LTE to help save power is spooky. I didn't sign up to buy a crappy phone that if I nurse it and coddle it, maybe I can get it to slightly work for me. It's not like this is the only phone option. For folks who are off warranty or past their 30 days, I get you might have to try to make it work, but I have time left and am getting ready to return the phone.

 

[intoaction66]

I've had bad battery drain lately too, I got two Samsung account updates in the past week, and since the last one I've noticed pretty bad battery life, but my usage has been about the same. Only difference is that I started using nova prime....and maybe another app or two I've downloaded since then. I also noticed that what has been using the most battery % is android system. Which is pretty strange because the screen and cell radio always has used the most battery % until this started happening. Usually get through 10 hours at work and ill be at 60-70%, now it's at 20-30% after work. I don't know why this just started happening, anyone else have any issues after latest Samsung account updates? Or drain issues with using nova maybe?

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Android Central Forums

 

[Rickoxo]

Saw your picture and thought I'd check mine, what a lame piece of crap this is starting to feel like. I did the restart, charged it up to 100% and this is what I see ...

69% screen? I even went in and lowered the brightness before I realized this wasn't just a generic power drain problem. From 100% it thinks it has 2m 33s on battery?

Again, this is after restart, and after complete charge.

 

[intoaction66]

Right, that 2mins is how long it's been off of the charger. I found that the percentages always seem a little off when your phone has just been charged. The % of screen and cell radio and the Os and everything there is actually a % of the battery that's been used already. So say your at 99% and it's only been a on a few minutes, then 69% or whatever of the screen is a percentage of the battery used already(1% or so). Like I said though they always seem off when only discharging for a little while. I recommend gsam battery monitor for detailed usage, seems to get a little more accurate than the built in battery monitor. You can also set custom, like, times to monitor usage. Like if I've been using my phone for the last half hour straight, you can set it to base the projected usage based on the last half hour you've been using it constantly. Pretty handy app for monitoring and finding battery issues.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Android Central Forums

 

[Almeuit]

Saw your picture and thought I'd check mine, what a lame piece of crap this is starting to feel like. I did the restart, charged it up to 100% and this is what I see ...
View attachment 41723
69% screen? I even went in and lowered the brightness before I realized this wasn't just a generic power drain problem. From 100% it thinks it has 2m 33s on battery?

Again, this is after restart, and after complete charge.

Phones won't completely charge to 100.. It says it is but it's lieing. This would explain the phone thinking it's been off charge for 2 min. Also it says 69 percent on the screen because that is the most drain on the battery in that 2 minutes. Just because it didn't drop a percent doesn't mean it's not using power that the phone can't measure.

EDIT - also you sure you weren't on 2 mins? You downloaded like 5 app updates and they installed.. I can see the phone taking a second after boot to be ready but then to update those apps.. Could be 2 mins.

But back to the 100 percent charge.. Ever have a phone you unplug and it drops to 99 or less in a minute or two? My s2 would drop to 99 as soon as I unplugged. It's just what phones do so I wouldn't freak to much on that small thing

Sent from my Sprint S3 using AC forums