LGG7 Poor battery life and charging problems

[Android Central Question]

I just got my New LG G7, as my old one died out on me by refusing to charge. I now got a new one, and I'm noticing the same exact problems early on. It is starting to drain faster than it did originally, and it charges slowly, which were the first things I noticed with my first phone before it finally wouldn't turn on unless it was plugged in and until it finally just stopped charging more than 4% just to be turned on and died.

For some context, I am a very busy student and use my phone for everything. I have an active calendar widget, I have the fitness app running in the background to track my steps and water intake, I leave my phone on at night (plugged in) as an alarm, and I also use it for other tasks such as homework, taking notes, communicating with the esports team I manage on discord (which also runs in the background) and so on.

I am wondering if my lifestyle just isn't suited for the G7, and if it just can't keep up, considering my old G7 died before 1 year of full use. Those are all the things I can think of that I do that can damage and drain the battery, and if I cant use my phone to the fullest potential without risking battery damage, I don't think its the phone for me. This is my second lgg7, as my old one was replaced when it died out, which I will always thank customer support for, but until my contract is up I cant change this phone.

Is there anything I can do to help extend my battery life without having to carry around a battery pack anywhere? Is this normal? And is there another phone I can get in the future that would be able to handle such high demanding tasks? I can't always afford to turn my phone off for a few hours because I need to be in contact with my teammates near constantly during the day, and I manage multiple clubs on my college campus.

 

[mustang7757]

You'll have to look at your battery stats see what's high there , have you tried different charging cables and wall adapters ?

'll leave a Link to register so you can communicate here as a guest account you can only post questions but can't reply.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154

 

[Rukbat]

You allow the battery get down to 4%? You're doing the same thing to this phone that you did to the other one - you're destroying the battery.

Charge the battery to 100%. (If you can't watch it, charge it to 99% then disconnect it. This includes at night - charge it to 100%, disconnect the charger and turn off the screen.) If you leave he charger (it's actually the power supply - the charger is a chip inside the phone) plugged in, the battery gets to 100%, and the charger doesn't shut off, you'll cook the battery to death. The alarm doesn't use any power until it goes off, so you should see only a few % drop in power during the night. (How can the alarm not draw power? You're in school - ask someone to explain Linux's chron function to you. The alarm sets an entry in crontab for the time you set to wake up, then closes. Chron runs it when it's the time in that entry.

When the battery gets down to 50%, maybe 45%, charge it again. At 40%, if the charger isn't plugged in, turn the phone off. See Table 2 at https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

Lithium batteries are not deep discharge batteries. If you want a deep-discharge battery, 3000mAh at 4.2 Volts, the smallest one weighs a few pounds and is larger than the phone. So either carry a charger with you, carry a power bank with you, or get used to turning the phone off when the battery hits 40%. (GSam Battery Monitor makes things easier - you can set an alarm at 99% and 45% for high and low.) (Or you could run Chargie (and spend $23 for the device) if you don't want to root the phone and run Battery Charge Limit.

"I am wondering if my lifestyle just isn't suited for the G7" Your lifestyle isn't suited to cellphones or lithium batteries.

"Is this normal?" Yes.

"is there another phone I can get in the future that would be able to handle such high demanding tasks?" It's not the tasks, it's the fact that you drain the battery lower than a lithium battery can take.

"I can't always afford to turn my phone off for a few hours because I need to be in contact with my teammates near constantly during the day, and I manage multiple clubs on my college campus." Your choice - keep the battery between 50% and 100% or keep destroying batteries.

 

[Alyssa Santiago]

Hello, poster here, I made an account.

This has never happened to me with Samsung phones before, only with my LG. I have never had this problem with any other phone, just the LG line. I know what I am doing isnt good for the battery, I dont want a phone that will last me 5 years, just the standard 2 years until it dies and I get a new one. Im not an ***** and realize my habits arent the best for the phone, hence why I presented the list of everything wrong I do with my battery, but I am wondering why this problem has only presented itself in LG phones and not older phones with worse batteries being used at the same high capacity. I also try not to drain my phone and let it die, I'm not sure where you got that from. My old phone wouldnt CHARGE beyond 4%, that was the issue, and it wouldn't take charges. Old phone is long dead now.

My complaint is that this has never happened with any other phone I had, and I wanted to know the specifics on why, and if there are phones with better batteries out there. I have used older phones with much worse intensity than what I do now, and they never had problems till I hit the 2nd year and my contract was up by then anyways.

 

[mustang7757]

Hello, poster here, I made an account.

This has never happened to me with Samsung phones before, only with my LG. I have never had this problem with any other phone, just the LG line. I know what I am doing isnt good for the battery, I dont want a phone that will last me 5 years, just the standard 2 years until it dies and I get a new one. Im not an ***** and realize my habits arent the best for the phone, hence why I presented the list of everything wrong I do with my battery, but I am wondering why this problem has only presented itself in LG phones and not older phones with worse batteries being used at the same high capacity. I also try not to drain my phone and let it die, I'm not sure where you got that from. My old phone wouldnt CHARGE beyond 4%, that was the issue, and it wouldn't take charges. Old phone is long dead now.

My complaint is that this has never happened with any other phone I had, and I wanted to know the specifics on why, and if there are phones with better batteries out there. I have used older phones with much worse intensity than what I do now, and they never had problems till I hit the 2nd year and my contract was up by then anyways.

Hi Welcome!

Can you show some screenshots of your battery stats ?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Can you give us more detail on your usual charging habits? Do you habitually start charging when the battery hits around 30% or so, or do you typically let it drain a lot lower than that? Rukbat's point is that frequent deep discharges can lead to faster degradation of a battery compared to judicious recharging when the battery hits around 30-40%. You say you try not to drain your phone, but to me, that still leaves the possibility that you might let it drain pretty low on a frequent basis.

Are you using the original charger? Have you also tried using different chargers and cables?

 

[Alyssa Santiago]

I can take a screen shot once I am able to get it out of battery saver mode, as it drains faster than it charges without battery saver on. Today was a super busy day and I used my phone from 5 am till 2 am with small breaks of class in between. Right now, my stats wont show much with battery saver on.

For more context, this phone is less than 2 months old.

Will throw in an update after charging it tonight, but I dont have an alarm clock so it will be left on unfortunately.