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Author Topic: Android battery suddenly dropping...  (Read 1456 times)

Offline Village Taphouse

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Android battery suddenly dropping...
« on: October 09, 2015, 10:09:42 am »
I have a 1-year old Samsung Galaxy S5.  I am *NOT* one of these people who use their phone constantly.  There have been days where I'm looking at my phone at 8pm and I still have 88% battery life or something.  Meanwhile all the Apple iPhone users in my house are at 5%.  Lately my battery is draining much quicker.  I rebooted the phone but it's still doing it.  This morning I took it off the charger and it was 100%.  I left the phone on my desk and barely touched it over the next 2 hours.  When I picked it up, it was at 62%.  I looked at what was using the battery for 30 seconds and it was at 59%.  Is this an OS issue (4.4.2) or is 1 year about how long it takes for a battery to go toes up?  I would happily just replace the battery but I don't want to stab in the dark.  Anyone well-versed in this?  Thanks.
Ken from Chicago. 
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Offline ultravista

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Re: Android battery suddenly dropping...
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2015, 10:47:28 am »
Have you pulled the battery recently? With my Note 4, I pull it once a month. Think of it as a cold boot for your phone. I may not solve this issue but it is good practice.

You may also want to update to the latest OS.

Offline Phil_M

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Re: Android battery suddenly dropping...
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2015, 11:00:20 am »
I'm not sure I'm understanding your problem correctly, but if the phone is showing 88% charge when you know it to be about to die, try this. Let the phone run completely dead, then let it sit that way overnight. In the morning, plug it into the charger, and leave it on the charger for an hour or two after it hits 100%.

Many lithium/ion batteries have a computer that controls/monitors the battery, and it can get out of whack to the actual battery condition. I've noticed this is even more common when the device typically sits plugged in at full charge for long periods of time. Running the battery to full zero then to complete charge normally gets the computer back on track.
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Offline duboman

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Re: Android battery suddenly dropping...
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2015, 11:25:53 am »
Have you checked various apps and processes running in the background? I find that after some apps update I need to change default settings, etc to make sure they aren't needlessly running as well as other things operating in the back ground. Also searching constantly for WiFi or location based services suck your battery life.

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Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Android battery suddenly dropping...
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2015, 12:41:31 pm »
Letting the battery run down entirely and pulling and replacing are both good strategies if you have battery issues. I've had my S3 for two years now with the same battery so I doubt you need a new battery already.

Is your phone trying to download updates to apps or the OS? Sometimes that will burn down my battery in a hurry.

If it only happens at home then it may be an issue with your phone trying to find a connection to a tower. I don't really understand why but sometimes that can cause the phone to run the antennas constantly. I believe the solution is to download a new tower map from the provider.
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Offline Village Taphouse

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Re: Android battery suddenly dropping...
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2015, 12:46:52 pm »
Okay, sorry for any confusion.  My reference to "88%" was that for a long time I would unplug my phone from the charger in the morning and at 8pm my battery would still have 88% life left on it.  But within the past 2 weeks or so (and without me using my phone any more than usual) by 8pm my battery might be at 30%, 20%, etc.  I have rebooted and also taken the battery out of the phone.  The battery has been running down to between 10 and 15% the past 2 weeks so I have been running it pretty low but it doesn't seem to help.  I also noticed that Facebook and my XM Radio app were running (which is weird because I use them infrequently) and I "force-stopped" them both.  I also called over to the Battery Plus store and they had a Samsung Galaxy S5 replacement (made by Duracell) for $39 so I went and picked one up thinking that an extra battery will always be a plus if I keep one charged all the time.  The guy there said that 1 year is a common timeframe for phone batteries to start shivering their timbers.  Hey, at least Android users can replace their batteries as opposed to getting a new device.  :)  Thanks gang.
Ken from Chicago. 
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Offline Stevie

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Re: Android battery suddenly dropping...
« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2015, 01:27:17 pm »
+1 for letting it run all the way down and charging it back. The key is to let it die on its own and then let it charge to 100% without unplugging it. I do this once a month or so. When my phone gets out of whack, it will sit at 20% for a long time, then drop to 10% normally just to sit again.

Offline Village Taphouse

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Re: Android battery suddenly dropping...
« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2015, 02:42:51 pm »
+1 for letting it run all the way down and charging it back. The key is to let it die on its own and then let it charge to 100% without unplugging it. I do this once a month or so. When my phone gets out of whack, it will sit at 20% for a long time, then drop to 10% normally just to sit again.
My guess is that my phone has actually "died" from zero battery 2 or 3 times in the past 2-3 weeks.  Then I put it on the charger and leave it until the morning.  That did not seem to help because as late as this morning it went from 100% to 62% in about 2 hours with practically NO use.
Ken from Chicago. 
A day without beer is like... just kidding, I have no idea.

Offline Stevie

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Re: Android battery suddenly dropping...
« Reply #8 on: October 09, 2015, 03:24:02 pm »
Check some of your apps. Something might be using data in the background. I had a GS5 for work up until two weeks ago. It would drop 30-40% overnight if left unplugged. I think it was due to the corporate software bundle. Now I have an iPhone 6 and I charge it every few days depending on the number of conference calls.

Good news is batteries are cheap. Be sure to buy a solid brand, but you don't need to go OEM necessarily.

Offline Village Taphouse

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Re: Android battery suddenly dropping...
« Reply #9 on: October 09, 2015, 03:45:35 pm »
Check some of your apps. Something might be using data in the background. I had a GS5 for work up until two weeks ago. It would drop 30-40% overnight if left unplugged. I think it was due to the corporate software bundle. Now I have an iPhone 6 and I charge it every few days depending on the number of conference calls.

Good news is batteries are cheap. Be sure to buy a solid brand, but you don't need to go OEM necessarily.
Thanks for that.  I did happen to have a bunch of updates recently although that seems to happen a lot.  Not sure why FB and Sirius/XM were both running but my guess is that an update was done and they're set to automatically start in the settings which I need to look into.  Cheers & thanks again to all.
Ken from Chicago. 
A day without beer is like... just kidding, I have no idea.

Offline Slowbrew

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Re: Android battery suddenly dropping...
« Reply #10 on: October 14, 2015, 05:31:48 am »
An old example but along the same lines.  I had a Droid Maxx that had amazing battery life until I got the last System OS update Verizon supplied for that model.  Overnight my phone went from being able to go 3 days without recharging to needing to be charged every night to almost make it through a day.

Most new phones are coming out with integrated batteries that cannot be replaced by the user.  I don't understand why manufacturers are doing this.

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Offline erockrph

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Re: Android battery suddenly dropping...
« Reply #11 on: October 14, 2015, 11:30:19 pm »
An old example but along the same lines.  I had a Droid Maxx that had amazing battery life until I got the last System OS update Verizon supplied for that model.  Overnight my phone went from being able to go 3 days without recharging to needing to be charged every night to almost make it through a day.

Most new phones are coming out with integrated batteries that cannot be replaced by the user.  I don't understand why manufacturers are doing this.

Paul
My Maxx has been having battery and charging issues since the spring, too. Sometimes I'll connect a charger and it won't charge until I reboot. I'm hoping I can hold out until the Turbo 2 comes out, otherwise I'll be getting a Turbo as soon as I'm up for a new phone in a few more weeks.
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