thunderbolt charge issue

[tiki240]

Well I have the big battery. And recently this issue has arisen. Awhen I plug the phone in, it will start charging. Then at random, ill check on it and the battery level is going in reverse
.. aka discharging. Phone still indicates its charging, but the battery sure enough loses charge ... Anyone know what's going on with my phone?

 

[rcpa]

I've seen this. When I use the Battery Monitor Widget to graph the current draw, I can see a half-hour charge/discharge cycle that occurs once the battery is fully charged. What I see is that the current will jump to +300 mA and then slowly reduce to about +30 mA. This takes about 15 minutes and is a nice pretty curve. At that point, it will flip and discharge at about -120 mA for 15 minutes. Then it'll jump back to +300 mA and start charging again. I figure that this is just how the charger works to keep the battery conditioned.

However, depending upon when I disconnect the charger, the Battery Monitor Widget will show a battery level between 95% and 100%. For instance, if I disconnect the charger when it's still in the charge portion of the cycle, the phone stays at 100%, or maybe drops to 99%. However, if I disconnect the charger near the end of the discharge portion of the cycle, the battery level will immediately drop to as low as 95%.

 

[FrankXS]

I've seen this. When I use the Battery Monitor Widget to graph the current draw, I can see a half-hour charge/discharge cycle that occurs once the battery is fully charged. What I see is that the current will jump to +300 mA and then slowly reduce to about +30 mA. This takes about 15 minutes and is a nice pretty curve. At that point, it will flip and discharge at about -120 mA for 15 minutes. Then it'll jump back to +300 mA and start charging again. I figure that this is just how the charger works to keep the battery conditioned.

However, depending upon when I disconnect the charger, the Battery Monitor Widget will show a battery level between 95% and 100%. For instance, if I disconnect the charger when it's still in the charge portion of the cycle, the phone stays at 100%, or maybe drops to 99%. However, if I disconnect the charger near the end of the discharge portion of the cycle, the battery level will immediately drop to as low as 95%.

Great description. Especially for those of us who as of yet have not messed with any battery widgets. Very enlightening. Sounds like what most of us call a "trickle charge". Also explains the "OMG! I just disconnected from power and my battery is already down to 95 percent!" stuff.

-Frank

 

[rcpa]

Once the battery is fully charged, the current graph looks something like the attached image, where each cycle is approximately 30 minutes.

 

[tiki240]

Sounds like what I'm experiencing
. Only I'm stuck at 74% then it drops to 71%. Maybe the phone forgot how much battery lifethe big battery holds?

 

[rcpa]

There are instructions floating around about how to "calibrating the battery". People describe it as giving you more battery life, but I imagine what it really does calibrate the battery level meter so that it knows what 100% really is.

 

[paulmike3]

Well I have the big battery. And recently this issue has arisen. Awhen I plug the phone in, it will start charging. Then at random, ill check on it and the battery level is going in reverse
.. aka discharging. Phone still indicates its charging, but the battery sure enough loses charge ... Anyone know what's going on with my phone?

What charger are you using? If it's not 1A, you may be using more power than the charger is providing. USB cables to a PC are very low (100-150 mA) and OEM Blackberry wall chargers are like 300 mA. That's 1/10th to 1/3rd what your OEM charger is pulling. It takes alot longer to charge with rates that low, and depending on what you have running on your device, it might not even pull enough to positively charge your device.

 

[Charmed Juan]

I saw this and wondered if my battery widget was taking readings every so often. the reading on the widget may say 75%, but that was say 15 minutes ago, so when I plug in the charger, and the widget updates it may say 70%.