Nexus 5 Battery Drain >20% Overnight

[Bront]

I had Wifi drain my battery yesterday. Had to reboot, and that fixed the issue (it then downloaded about 6 app updates, so I think it was stuck trying to DL them somehow). Once i fixed that, the phone drained 2 % the rest of the day (8 hours).

 

[lets_go_android]

I've been keeping an eye on my battery usage since I replied and subscribed to this thread a few weeks ago. One thing I noticed this morning has me curious.

I charged my phone to 100% a little more than 13 hours ago. Over the last 13 hours I'm only down to 83%, which isn't bad to me as I did use it a bit before I went to bed last night. What I found strange was that the process using the most battery was Wifi at 23%. Details showed it had been running for all of 13+ hours. The thing is when I checked my phone I did not have Wifi on. In fact I have not used Wifi in a few days. Where would this amount of Wifi usage come from?

Check in your wifi settings (Settings > WiFi > Advanced) if you have "Scanning always available" set. That uses wifi to help in determining your location, even if you have wifi turned off.

 

[pbc]

So received my shiny new Nexus 5 yesterday (via RMA due to my battery issues). I decided not to setup Google Now on it. Ensured screen brightness was down at the 20% or so mark. Switched GPS location thingy to "battery optimized", turned off scanning always available on Wifi. Then proceeded to simply install my email accounts (about 5 of them), and NO other apps. No Facebook which I never use, no LinkedIn which I always use, no Twitter which I sometimes use, no BeWeather which I used to use as a widget, no Sportsnet which I used to use as a widget, no games, nada. Well, that's not true, I did install Evernote. I also left Bluetooth on and Wifi on (since Google actually recommends leaving Wifi on to "Save" batter power).

Process took about an hour or so, drained the battery to around 40%. Charged it to 80% or so before leaving to go home. By the time I went to sleep at 10pm it was at 54%. Woke up around 5am, checked the phone, it was at 36%. Got up a short while after that, checked a few email (received about 20 over night, most of which were deleted).

By the time I drove in to work at 7am, I was at 28%.

Biggest consumer was "Google Play Services", though I think this is because it was updating several apps for that hour before I charged it to 80%?

My favorite part of this whole mess of a phone is that one of Google's recommendations is to "put the phone in airplane mode" when either I'm not expecting to use it or when the signal appears low. Brilliant idea Google. Maybe I can start to anticipate when I'll receive phone calls and emails, or tweets, or linkedIn messages, and only turn on the phone at that point in time.

I'm starting to wonder if at this point it is an issue with the Bell network in Toronto and how the Nexus 5 interacts with it?

Edit: BTW, I also cycled the power before going to sleep. Just in case.

 

[crxssi]

So received my shiny new Nexus 5 yesterday

As you may know, new Lithium batteries require several full power cycles before they achieve their maximum life.

 

[pbc]

Btw, looking at the battery stats this morning it appears Google Play Services is always up at North of 50% usage, even though I didn't use it yesterday. Clicking on it shows the keep awake function operating for over a day, while data usage going back and forth is negligible.

 

[crxssi]

Btw, looking at the battery stats this morning it appears Google Play Services is always up at North of 50% usage, even though I didn't use it yesterday.

You don't really "use" Play Services, other apps use it (pretty much all the Google stuff- books, magazines, music, videos, store, games, +, etc.)

 

[srkmagnus]

Btw, looking at the battery stats this morning it appears Google Play Services is always up at North of 50% usage, even though I didn't use it yesterday. Clicking on it shows the keep awake function operating for over a day, while data usage going back and forth is negligible.

Reboot and see if that clears the issue with that service. Hopefully it does.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[pbc]

I power off typically before I go to sleep, admittedly I find it ridiculous that I'd have to do this. Last night I forgot to, but did ensure that I swiped off any open apps in the multi task window which is what Google reccos in their battery saving tips. Went to bed with 30%,woke up this morn and the phone turned off because it was dead. Gave it a bit of juice and sure enough, Google play was once again at the top of the list of app usage.

Second phone in a row, same issues. Just unacceptable for a $450 phone. This reminds me of BlackBerry' issues when you'd have memory leakage and have to cycle the power to get it back. Except in this case it is a daily event.

 

[pbc]

You don't really "use" Play Services, other apps use it (pretty much all the Google stuff- books, magazines, music, videos, store, games, +, etc.)

Fwiw, I don't use any of the Google stuff except for the Gmail app, and whatever else might have to be running in the background.

 

[crxssi]

Fwiw, I don't use any of the Google stuff except for the Gmail app, and whatever else might have to be running in the background.

Exactly. If you have ANY apps installed (of course you do) then you are going to use Play Services. Store will check at least every day for updates, if nothing else. And that will use Play Services.

 

[crxssi]

I power off typically before I go to sleep, admittedly I find it ridiculous that I'd have to do this. Last night I forgot to, but did ensure that I swiped off any open apps in the multi task window which is what Google reccos in their battery saving tips. Went to bed with 30%,woke up this morn and the phone turned off because it was dead. Gave it a bit of juice and sure enough

They do make this thing called a charger. You can actually plug in the phone in your bedroom, and it will be at 100% charge in the morning.

Google play was once again at the top of the list of app usage. Second phone in a row, same issues. Just unacceptable for a $450 phone. This reminds me of BlackBerry' issues when you'd have memory leakage and have to cycle the power to get it back. Except in this case it is a daily event.

I had the same issue appear once, I think, on the N5. Had similar issues on the N10 too. Not sure what triggers it, but I do wish Google would get this straight.

 

[Bront]

I've been keeping an eye on my battery usage since I replied and subscribed to this thread a few weeks ago. One thing I noticed this morning has me curious.

I charged my phone to 100% a little more than 13 hours ago. Over the last 13 hours I'm only down to 83%, which isn't bad to me as I did use it a bit before I went to bed last night. What I found strange was that the process using the most battery was Wifi at 23%. Details showed it had been running for all of 13+ hours. The thing is when I checked my phone I did not have Wifi on. In fact I have not used Wifi in a few days. Where would this amount of Wifi usage come from?

When Wifi was on, it may have downloaded some updates. I had wifi drain my battery once because it got stuck in some sort of update download limbo, and a reboot of my phone had it immediately download all the updates and then stop. So try checking Play Store for updates, and make sure you're not stuck mid-install on another store.

 

[apb18]

Re: Nexus 5 Battery Drain >20% Overnight

My battery has been draining pretty badly, I only have the phone about a week. As far as I can see the screen is draining most of it, I've managed to get it down to 65% but I'm just wondering I'd this is normal?

 

[clevin]

You need to provide more information, maybe a screen shot of battery usage.

@T-Mobile GN3

 

[clevin]

I also left Bluetooth on and Wifi on (since Google actually recommends leaving Wifi on to "Save" batter power).

Here is your problem, you actually believed that.

Wifi on is only saving battery when you have a network connected, and when you are using it.

When phone is idle, wifi on only encourages Google's background process to eat up your battery. Turn off all data when not in use, heck, turn off background sync altogether.

@T-Mobile GN3

 

[pbc]

They do make this thing called a charger. You can actually plug in the phone in your bedroom, and it will be at 100% charge in the morning.

Pretty sure that isn't the point of the thread. You are right though, if I could keep a charger on me where ever I go this wouldn't be an issue. I'm not sure expecting your phone to last the night while you're not using it is an unacceptable ask though for a smart phone these days.

In any event, and a one day trend so far, I am actually getting great battery life this past day, better than anything I've had so far. Notice Google Play is not a user...

Nevermore, was going to post the battery usage pic but can't figure out how to do that in mobile mode on this site right now.

Batter is at 78% with 20 hours of very light and usage (including the last 9 or so being overnight) .

Hopefully that keeps up.

 

[Niall Stack]

Yet another member of Club OBD. Last night the phone was at 92% charge. This morning it was at 38%.

I've just called Google, who are sending me a replacement phone. They say it'll arrive in 7-10 days.
Once I've reinstalled everything I'll post my findings.

Hi, When you say you contacted Google, what number did you contact them on.... I guess the majority of the users on this forum are from the States, I however bought this phone from the UK and and based in Ireland... And are all your phones SIM FREE or registered to a network?

Thanks in advance, Niall

 

[Bront]

Re: Nexus 5 Battery Drain >20% Overnight

My battery has been draining pretty badly, I only have the phone about a week. As far as I can see the screen is draining most of it, I've managed to get it down to 65% but I'm just wondering I'd this is normal?

A screenshot of battery usage and the screen usage specific screen would be good (Power + Volume Down at the same time)

Make sure you have auto-brightness turned on, or have the brightness turned down in general. Otherwise it will suck your battery. Also, make sure you turn off the screen when you don't need it, and set the timeout for something short but functional for you.

 

[crxssi]

Re: Nexus 5 Battery Drain >20% Overnight

Make sure you have auto-brightness turned on, or have the brightness turned down in general. Otherwise it will suck your battery. Also, make sure you turn off the screen when you don't need it, and set the timeout for something short but functional for you.

My biggest beef with Android screen brightness is that they stupidly don't have ANY bias control. When you put it in auto, it is ALWAYS too bright to me. I would love to be able to turn it down 20% from what it wants to use. But I certainly don't want to have to mess with manual brightness controls all the time.

 

[JohnnyBroccoli]

Power Toggles app lets you set 3 different brightness levels easily accessible from the pull down notification menu. I have one at 25% for use the majority of the time, one at 55% for when I'm out in the sun, and the other at 100% for when I want to show off my screen (almost never use that one).