Database Users

Battery being drained (heating up while in standby)

Hi All,
Wondering if any of you have this problem with your trinity. I usually power off the screen and keep in the pouch. It tends to heat up alot on plastic and the battery drains extremely fast as if the screen is on.
But in reality i haven't switched anything on (GPS/Data Connection/Wifi/Bluetooth).
Anyone know whats going on?
By the way my ROM is 1.23.707.6, Radio 1.35.00.11, TRIN100.

Are you sure you haven't turned on a GPS app by mistake- GPSInfo etc?
Can you check Settings/Memory/Running programs and see if anything is listed when the battery drain occurs. GPSInfo doesn't close by itself so if running, it will keep the GPS awake, and drain the battery. Have you tried putting it into 'Flight Mode' to see if that fixes it?
When you power off the screen, are you using the power switch ( top right side?)
Are you in a marginal 3G region? If so, the device will constantly search for a 3G signal and switch from GPRS to 3G many times. 3G drains the battery quckly anyway, but the constant signal searching drains it quicker. To test that, go to Phone/Settings/Band and switch the upper box from Auto to GSM.

Hi NeilM,
Thanks for your reply. Yes I am using the power switch and there are no programs in the memory. I just switched teh Band according to your recommendation but I set it to WMCDA instead. Seems to get me stuck on "3G" while with GSM I can only get "E" - Edge/GPRS. Also I set the GSM/UMTS band to UMTS (2100+800).
I am charging it now so I will check it out tomorrow to see if it makes a difference.
Thanks.

WMCDA is 3G only, so setting to that will result in no signal if you are out of 3G coverage. Setting to GSM will mean you can't connect to 3G, but will still continue to get G or E, which consume much less power.
The GSM/UMTS band can be left to Auto.
If you find that the 3G switching is part of the problem, using a small program called Bandswitch will allow easy switching between the services; better still, it's free!

You may want to open up your case and check your battery. There may be a short on the connectors somewhere which is causing a massive drain. Tell tale signs will be burn marks on the battery.

I've checked the battery seems to be fine. But I decided I will send it in for warranty and got a replacement. Just charging the new one. Will see if it helps tomorrow.

By the way I looked in the WM6 threads and found this:-
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=1263211&highlight=battery+drains#post1263211

I have the same problem occasonaly. Think its the band issue because I had it in a concert where my signal strength was not good

yeap i can verify that now. My battery power is normal now. The tool Comm Mgr Pro is also useful to switch between 3G and 2G when I require it. I get Edge when I am 2G. While this helps, but probably won't be able to receive 3G video calls when I am on Edge.
Also I don't know why this never happen to my Hermes (O2 Trion which I bricked). One difference i noticed my the hermes is that the band only changes from G>U, Didn't have the switching from G>E>3G>H. Maybe its the new software i saw mentioned a couple of times in the forum.

Real world battery test - unbelievably good

Hi, I have been decorating my small bathroom today and I have had my N1 sat on a shelf busily streaming music from last.fm over a wifi connection.
I had the volume up full and was listening for a good 7 hours. The battery was at 95% when I started listening and I expected the phone to shut down by mid afternoon but it didn't.
At about 6.30pm I finished decorating (for the day!) and looked at the battery guage. It showed 64%. I couldn't believe it!
Battery use is shown as 26% cell standby (good 3G connection all day), phone idle 23%, mediaserver 2%, and wifi was just 10%.
I always thought wifi was a battery drainer but apparently not on the N1

i get steady drain when indoors @ the office where i only get Edge no 3G. Is the battery drain as bad when searching for 3G as it is searching for a signal in general?
aj

To my knowledge the screen uses the most battery (other than voice calling). So if you were not using either of them it should last you a long time.

andythefan said:
To my knowledge the screen uses the most battery (other than voice calling). So if you were not using either of them it should last you a long time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea the brightness of the screen is to blame for most rapid battery drains.

I've found that forcing 2G when indoors is the best way to go (unless you still generally have solid 3G).
If you are in a solid 3G area, then just force 3G...
This gives you a much more stable network connection and means the phone doesn't have to work as hard, switching between EDGE and HSDPA.

gsvnet said:
I've found that forcing 2G when indoors is the best way to go (unless you still generally have solid 3G).
If you are in a solid 3G area, then just force 3G...
This gives you a much more stable network connection and means the phone doesn't have two work as hard, switching between EDGE and HSDPA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how do you force a 2G connection?
aj
edit: network settings. got it.

ghostrida said:
how do you force a 2G connection?
aj
edit: network settings. got it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to settings > wireless & networks > mobile networks and select only use 2g networks.
Edit: Nvm you ninja edited on me lol

gadgetgaz said:
I always thought wifi was a battery drainer but apparently not on the N1
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Click to collapse
FWIW, the specs on the Google page list 6.5 hours browsing the web on Wifi vs. 5 hours for 3G so it is at least better than 3G.
Also, streaming FM probably runs the Wifi in bursts with some buffering rather than continuously, wouldn't it?

Also, streaming FM probably runs the Wifi in bursts with some buffering rather than continuously, wouldn't it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure you're right but the wifi radio is switched on all the time even if it just accessed data in bursts.

gadgetgaz said:
I'm sure you're right but the wifi radio is switched on all the time even if it just accessed data in bursts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it supports the WMM extension along with the router then it can request some low power support for maintaining the signal which drastically reduces the power needed when not actually sending/receiving data. It was created for things like WMA (which this phone doesn't have), but can be used more generally.

Last time I checked the screen display only used 4% at about half brightness ( maybe I'm wrong but I checked with bettercut shortcut )

ghostrida said:
i get steady drain when indoors @ the office where i only get Edge no 3G. Is the battery drain as bad when searching for 3G as it is searching for a signal in general?
aj
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your phone uses a lot of battery when searching for signal. Enabling Edge only should make that stop. My phone fluctuates at work because I'm in a big building so I just connect to the wifi and leave it.

I too am extremely satisfied with the battery life, for as fast as the phone is I wouldn't expect so much. I'm amazed, seeing it with such a small battery, this phone sips power.

just as a note, have had the 2800mah battery now for the recommended 5 full charges...phone has been on for 3 days now and is at 40%...crazy

nmeofdst8 said:
just as a note, have had the 2800mah battery now for the recommended 5 full charges...phone has been on for 3 days now and is at 40%...crazy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice! How does the extended back affect your use?

wow, just 31% after 7 hours!!
I lose 10% just getting to work (1 hour) with very limited usage and edge only.

britoso said:
wow, just 31% after 7 hours!!
I lose 10% just getting to work (1 hour) with very limited usage and edge only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bouncing between edge and 3g drains the battery also.

Roaming Consumes more Battery?

So where I work I am roaming most of the time, so the TWS goes up the sky, and the battery down to hell, is this normal? running Fresh 2.1

Yes, unfortunately it is normal I have a pretty weak signal in my house, so my battery only lasts about a day if I'm inside all day. Since the weather is getting nicer though, that will change

Basically the phone is searching for the "home" network, thus using more battery.
When I travel to my brothers house (no sprint coverage) I would switch it to roaming only network (on my Diamond), thus it saved the battery a lot as it wasn't searching for the home network.

linkinx64 said:
So where I work I am roaming most of the time, so the TWS goes up the sky, and the battery down to hell, is this normal? running Fresh 2.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simply put, yes. Sprint phones look for two signals at the same time, a roaming and the home (Sprint) signal. When your roaming, the phone is constantly trying to get back on Sprint's network. So a way to combat this is to turn your phone to either home only, or roam only.
If you need more help on this issue let me know I know my way phones.

low signal = horrid battery life!

at work today i guess i had a bad signal and i noticed i lost over 20% in less than 8 hours. whats the cause of this and is there a fix? i also notice the phone runs like **** on a low signal, very sluggish even when overclocked.

More power is bein pumped into the radio to keep the signal strong(er). Airplane mode is your friend. As for being slow, I don't know why but I also experience slowness in low-signal areas.

abcdfv said:
More power is bein pumped into the radio to keep the signal strong(er). Airplane mode is your friend. As for being slow, I don't know why but I also experience slowness in low-signal areas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
must be an android thing because i never had this happen with winmo or my palm pre.

Turn off 'Background Syncing' in Accounts & Sync settings. That will greatly improve both your battery life and phone slowness in low-signal areas. I have terrible signal in my work building too (would almost completely drain my battery in an 8-hour day), and ever since I started turning off Background Sync while at work, my phone only drops to around 50% in a work day.
I really think it's more the syncing that sucks the battery down in low-signal areas, not the radio having to broadcast stronger.

I have bad signal strength at my house. I also have a Airave to make up for this however since it does not provide 3g my battery will drop like mad when I am home.
The fix for this in my case is to turn off my mobile network when I get home that way I can still receive calls and texts but it basically tells the phone to quit looking for 3g signal and sticks to just the basics.
I then use my wifi while at home to get on the market or have my gmail and other apps sync with the phone.
Hope that helps you out and you find a solution that works for you.

I noticed MUCH moreso on CM6 vs. Fresh 2.3.3 what a significantly negative impact having background data enabled in a low signal area can have on the phone. My workplace is a consistently terrible cell area and since switching to CM6, I have been not only plagued with terrible battery life (like 10-15% per hour with minimal usage!), but the phone was running like absolute poo.
Today I checked to be sure and to my surprise, background data WAS enabled! I promptly turned that off and the phone returned to it's former CM6 glory and battery life returned to non-workplace goodness.

I have a bad signal at work, so I force it to roaming. It saves my battery and my phone is more reliable. Just be careful not to use too many minutes or too much data.

MrGreg said:
I have a bad signal at work, so I force it to roaming. It saves my battery and my phone is more reliable. Just be careful not to use too many minutes or too much data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you set it to roam? Is this a setting or is there a code i can type in whenever I want it to only look to roam, then another when i want it to go back to regular, or even if i only want it to look for 1X or only look for 3G? One of the client sites i regularly travel to has great roaming 1X speeds once i can get it to switch to that but it must also have a weak roaming 3g tower somewhere because its always on 3g with one to zero bars.
I'm on Fresh though i'm apparently going to have to look into CM6 in the near future. I love this place.
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App

ncadden said:
How do you set it to roam? Is this a setting or is there a code i can type in whenever I want it to only look to roam, then another when i want it to go back to regular, or even if i only want it to look for 1X or only look for 3G? One of the client sites i regularly travel to has great roaming 1X speeds once i can get it to switch to that but it must also have a weak roaming 3g tower somewhere because its always on 3g with one to zero bars.
I'm on Fresh though i'm apparently going to have to look into CM6 in the near future. I love this place.
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have a few options...
1. You are running Fresh on your Hero? Use the modded phone.apk from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=745092
2. Use the PRL hack...you'll have to search for it, although I think the link is in the thread that I linked above
3. Download the app "Roam Control". Disclaimer, I am the dev, and yes it costs money.
4. Flash CM6.

Just recently stumbled upon an app called shutupbattery saver
It automatically kills your data when signal is low. You tell it what signal strength turns it off. Does wonders
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App

markus_del_marko said:
must be an android thing because i never had this happen with winmo or my palm pre.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No..not really. I had several TP2 windoze phones since May of this year and went back to my Hero. The battery life on the RC1 build when you follow what has been said here,will give you way more life than any of the phones I have ever had.I was lucky to see 4 hours of life even with little usage with the TP2's. While my CDMA Hero does drop to 80% with everything turned on in 7 hours,it slows down considerably after that. Just with mild web crawling and 20 minutes of talk time it took well over 60 hours to drain completely last weekend after resetting the battery stats on mine with everything turned off. I actually had to use it non stop for 4 hours to drain the thing so it would shut off and be drained. Any phone I have ever owned has always done better after letting them drain completely and then charging them to 100% a few times. We have 4 of them in our home,and mine last longer than any of the others..the other 3 are stock 2.1.6 roms.
Mac

Why are people complaining about losing a measly, small 20 percent of battery in 8 hours? I'd understand if it was 35 percent or more, but seriously? you're complaining becuase your battery can last 40 hours? Wow...
CM6 RC1 with collin_ph battery tweak rules the world.

what i do to save my battery i change the settings on my advance task killer Menu>settings>Auto kill level(crazy)then also change Auto kill frequency(when screen off) and that really seems to help me

You could also look in to JuiceDefender. It shuts off 3g when screen is locked, turns it back on for either 1 min every 15 mins or 2 mins every 30 to sync.

jerry43812 said:
Why are people complaining about losing a measly, small 20 percent of battery in 8 hours? I'd understand if it was 35 percent or more, but seriously? you're complaining becuase your battery can last 40 hours? Wow...
CM6 RC1 with collin_ph battery tweak rules the world.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not everyone runs the froyo rom. at least i won't until a sense port comes out. and yes when the phone has a low signal it runs like absolute ****.

I'm having this problem also on CM6. Unplugged my phone this morning, full charge. Went to the gym at 11:30 and worked out for an hour and a half. There is no signal in my gym. The phone was completely dead when I got back to my desk. So basically the 80% battery drained in 1.5 hours (assuming I lost 20% between 7am and 11:30 when I went to the gym) It was not nearly this bad on the stock ROM. I just insggtalled collin_ph but I doubt that will help in this scenario. I might just have to remember to put it in airplane mode before going to the gym.
My bigger worry is when I'm out riding my road bike in the country. If I'm in the middle of nowhere, the battery will drain FAST... and thats the place I'll likely need to call someone in an emergency.

In my opinion there are key steps to insure a good battery life I perform this process every time I turn my phone on for daily use
First in settings/wireless/mobile networks I turn off data also roam and I change the signal to home only then in account and sync I turn off automatic sync and back ground data also i make sure that wireless is off as well then I turn my attention to applications and I clear data and force close any running program I'm not using for example gmail e mail browser Google search blue tooth I only force close apks that I know wont affect the system and how it runs also I should mention that this is done after I had calibrated my battery also I in spare parts I choose to make my end button put my phone to sleep these two steps are only done once now back to the process I run the over clock widget with dead3nce 9/14 stable kernel but also with every stable release he has put out I set the feq to 710 Max and 710 min and diff feq when screen off with 384 Max and 245 min this setup gives me high performance and long battery life I get 14 plus hrs with heavy use before ill hit 50% so u can imagine with moderate use will b or even standby time so I basically kill my phone if I'm not using it its in what I think is its lowest power state that I can get it at but its still on and ready so wen Im ready to use it I activate it and turn on what I need when I'm done I kill it again short of turning it off just thought I put this out in case it helps also I'm running cm6 rc1 and the 8/22 nightly I switch back and forth because of themes but the process is the same and so are my results so hope this helps good luck
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App

It's 3G. Turn off your Mobile data when you going to be in an area with a bad signal for a long time.
As someone else said the collin_ph battery tweak works wonders too.

Battey drain due to radio?

Hey, I am trying to figure out why my battery drain is so high. Part of it is the display (trying to work on that too) but I see that my "phone signal" is quite bad. I have a feeling that this is draining my battery.
I have attached my battery stats. Do they look normal. And does the phone signal look normal or below normal. I think it is worth noting that I almost always have 4 bars of signal so I am not sure whats going on. I use my phone in Canada on the fido/rogers network (i believe it is the same as At&t in the states). Is there another radio I can flash or something if this is not normal (which will still work with my phone/network)?
Thanks a lot

Reports are that using 3G a lot drains the battery immensly.
Try switching to use 2G only and see how that affects your battery life.
Greetz

frutelaken said:
Reports are that using 3G a lot drains the battery immensly.
Try switching to use 2G only and see how that affects your battery life.
Greetz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont think it is worth it to pay $30 a month to use 2g networks. I will try to turn off the 3g radio when on wifi though. And maybe only turn on 3g when i need it. As for the phone signal bar. Is it the same or worse than what you guys are getting?

asb123 said:
I dont think it is worth it to pay $30 a month to use 2g networks. I will try to turn off the 3g radio when on wifi though. And maybe only turn on 3g when i need it. As for the phone signal bar. Is it the same or worse than what you guys are getting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It already works this way. Wifi is going to be your best bet to lessen drain if available (both in standby and when using data - just make sure you have the sleep policy set to never).
If you have poor signal you are going to murder your battery - no way around it. The radio will boost power (Gain is adjusted automatically) in an attempt to get a better signal - and constantly search for a better one. So if you are bouncing between no service and 1 bar or even with just a weak 1 bar signal you are going to see atrocious battery life. There's not much you can do there except potentially switch to SIP in those times if you use a SIP provider.
If you are sitting with 4 bars then you should be seeing decidedly better battery life. What is the actual time the display was on in that screenshot?

I use 3G and its fine. What radio are you using?
the choices are: JK8, KB1, KB3, KD1
you can find them on the dev forums

asb123 said:
Hey, I am trying to figure out why my battery drain is so high. Part of it is the display (trying to work on that too) but I see that my "phone signal" is quite bad. I have a feeling that this is draining my battery.
I have attached my battery stats. Do they look normal. And does the phone signal look normal or below normal. I think it is worth noting that I almost always have 4 bars of signal so I am not sure whats going on. I use my phone in Canada on the fido/rogers network (i believe it is the same as At&t in the states). Is there another radio I can flash or something if this is not normal (which will still work with my phone/network)?
Thanks a lot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that looks pretty normal for that kind of usage. id say that you were a moderately heavy to heavy user.

krohnjw said:
It already works this way. Wifi is going to be your best bet to lessen drain if available (both in standby and when using data - just make sure you have the sleep policy set to never).
If you have poor signal you are going to murder your battery - no way around it. The radio will boost power (Gain is adjusted automatically) in an attempt to get a better signal - and constantly search for a better one. So if you are bouncing between no service and 1 bar or even with just a weak 1 bar signal you are going to see atrocious battery life. There's not much you can do there except potentially switch to SIP in those times if you use a SIP provider.
If you are sitting with 4 bars then you should be seeing decidedly better battery life. What is the actual time the display was on in that screenshot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I usually have about 3-4 bars. The time on for the display was probably just over 2 hours (judging from what it is now).
zephiK said:
I use 3G and its fine. What radio are you using?
the choices are: JK8, KB1, KB3, KD1
you can find them on the dev forums
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have KD1, how does that stack up?
also, I am using netarchy bfs kernel if that matters.

simms22 said:
that looks pretty normal for that kind of usage. id say that you were a moderately heavy to heavy user.
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Click to collapse
I agree. you're a pretty heavy user So far different radio doesn't drain battery, but only the difference of data connection speed cap.

window7 said:
I agree. you're a pretty heavy user So far different radio doesn't drain battery, but only the difference of data connection speed cap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I do love android (been tinkering around since the g1). I do realize that I am a heavier user than the average person but it might also be that I recently got this phone so I am using it more.
Aside from that, does everything else seem normal?

"Android System" should not be taking such a high %. It should be about 1-2%.
There is (was?) a bug that causes high cpu usage (and shows as Android System) when wifi is on, but not connected to a network.
Another thing I can think of and is something I've experienced, is that sometimes you get an IP address from the mobile network that has a lot of noise, that is, it's an address someone has likely used p2p programs with and there are lots of connection retries. You can see it because the green arrows don't stay dark for more than a couple of seconds, and it kills your battery quite fast. Reconnecting to get a different IP address is the only solution...
Also, bluetooth may be a factor...

spamlucal said:
"Android System" should not be taking such a high %. It should be about 1-2%.
There is (was?) a bug that causes high cpu usage (and shows as Android System) when wifi is on, but not connected to a network.
Another thing I can think of and is something I've experienced, is that sometimes you get an IP address from the mobile network that has a lot of noise, that is, it's an address someone has likely used p2p programs with and there are lots of connection retries. You can see it because the green arrows don't stay dark for more than a couple of seconds, and it kills your battery quite fast. Reconnecting to get a different IP address is the only solution...
Also, bluetooth may be a factor...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blutooth is always off unless I need to use it (which is rare). I am not sure how to make my mobile network connect to a different IP adresse, would turning it on and off do the trick?

Being in area where there is low/no signal also causes my battery drain to increase by a lot! Which sucks cos where i live i get either 1 or no bars of signal.