LG G4 mAh not adding up

[snunicycler]

Good afternoon everyone!
My LG G4 has been experiencing large battery drain for several years that I have been trying to track down the culprit. I’ve posted about it before, but have not been able to figure it out. This time I’m posting again with more info hoping to finally nail it down.

My battery was at 35% when I started looking at this, brightness is at 50%, Screen on Time is 38m 57s. I have a standard 3000mAh battery (technically this one is 3rd party I bought from Best Buy in December but the original behaves exactly the same way, if not worse). Based on the comments I’ve read in other threads, the 35% battery life remaining means that I have used 1,950 mAh (3000*.65). However, when I look at my Battery Use Details I see the following figures:

Screen – 18% – 98mAh
Voice Calls – 12% – 65 mAh
Google Play – 8% – 45mAh
Android OS – 8% – 42 mAh
Cell Standby – 7% – 41 mAh
Chrome – 5% – 26 mAh
Words with Friends – 4% – 22 mAh
Phone Idle – 3% – 19 mAh
Instagram – 3% – 18 mAh
Android System – 3% – 17 mAh

when I add everything up, it looks like my phone has actually only used 393 mAh (not 1,950). If this is correct, my battery life should be at 87% instead of 35%.

What else can I try? Replacing the battery had no effect in December and LG is out of stock anyway.

Info: Android 6.0, VS986, 2BA, Not rooted

 

[Rukbat]

There's something missing from there - and you won't find it - the usage by the kernel. That's the operating system. Linux. It takes battery to run too. And all the other little things that Android ran, to use their processes for the apps you ran. (You used the phone - the modem uses some current when you do that. You used Google Play - so one of the radios [wifi or cellular data] was running. Etc.)

 

[snunicycler]

So are you saying that the kernel is responsible for the 1,557 mAh that are unaccounted for?
And using that 65% of my battery in 3 hrs (8-11 am) with only with 39 minutes of screen on time is normal?

Edit: thanks for the quick response too, I do appreciate it.

 

[snunicycler]

Anyone? If the kernel truly does eat up 15 times more battery than the screen does, I guess there's not much I can do about it. I just feel like thats probably not the answer. I lose 10% of my battery every 10 minutes when I'm using it, doesn't that seem excessive?

 

[Mooncatt]

The kernel and various hardware components (processor, memory, storage chips, radios, etc.) are likely making up the majority of that excess. Also keep in mind that phone is rather old and no batteries are likely in production for it. Chances are that any battery, even a new one, is going to be old. That new battery from Best Buy could've been sitting on the warehouse shelf for a couple years, and that kind of time with no attention can easily degrade a battery and reduce its capacity. So instead of 3,000mAh capacity, you may only have 2,500mAh capacity (it's also common for fresh batteries to not have their full advertised capacity).

The battery stats page is useful for some things, but it's only one part of a bigger picture of your battery life.

 

[snunicycler]

Alright thanks, I ordered a new battery directly from LG. they were sold out a few months ago but I just checked and they have some more now so I'm hoping they are new, we'll see.

I know the phone is old, but my Motorola razor maxx (3 years older) lasts much longer than this (about 2 days with intermittent use compared to at most 4hrs with almost no use). I use it mainly as a music player now so it's not a great comparison but I'm thinking about bringing it back into rotation if I can't get this phone working properly.

 

[Mooncatt]

Good luck and I'd like to know how the new battery works. I'm surprised it came back in stock, which could mean a fresh made battery. My V20 needs a new battery but was worried those would be old stock from LG too.

 

[Rukbat]

It wpouldn't necessarily mean a fresh battery. The vendor could have had some cells still left on the shelf all this time, and put them together when LG ordered them. (That's why using a different battery for each model phone is such a bad idea for us - and a good idea for the manufacturer. If you can't get a fresh battery for an old, working fine, phone, you have to get a new phone. Which you'll have to replace again, for the same reason.)