Database Users

[Guide]Optimizing your battery. (A guide for all of us)

"please read any comments as some are useful"
Before you start doing this make sure you have time on your hands.
Follow it step by step...
Read the entire set of steps and comments first.
Do not deviate.
If you are having issue's with it not charging fully. "70% to 90% and no further." then begin at step 7
If you have Xrecovery installed wipe battery stats first to reset the battery cache to the defaults.
This post will not talk about apps or any odd mods.
It's here to clear up on how to properly optimize the battery in your phone.
The battery has a cache file used to set the top and bottom battery level.
Today i am gona teach you how to set it correctly using nothing more than your phone and charger.
While doing this it will also properly "cycle" the cells.
This leads to the final part of my guide.
Damaged batteries.
If your life on the battery when using only airplane mode.
Is very bad.
Then you should be careful.
1. Check for any swelling or deformation on the battery.
2. Battery gets very warm while charging on standby in airplane mode.
If found Discontinue guide and replace with new battery.
And calibrate again from step 1.
-Enjoy
1. Charge your phone fully to 100%
2. Plug out your charger & switch off your phone.
3. Remove the battery and plug in the charger.
4. Re-insert your battery
This is sets the top end battery parameter to a higher state allowing for further charging.
Should read 88% now.
5. Keep a eye on your phone as it charges!!!
Remove the back plate and feel if it's getting hot "it should not be a issue"
6. Repeat steps 1 to 5
Repeat this no more than 2 to 5 times till the battery will not charge further
A few extra may be required...
The battery may get stuck at 70% to 99% "most of the time 88%"
The cells have now reached full potential
IF in the case that it keeps charging after the 4th time your battery is fully optimized Enjoy, Continue with step 7
7. Let your phone run down it's battery
Don't use the phone aggressively
Leave it till it switches itself off
Now it has marked the very lowest point of the cell in the cache
8. Don't leave the battery empty, begin charging as soon as possible.
If your phone does not switch on right away.. relax.
Just leave it on charge for about a hour "will switch itself on"
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 a few times.
You will notice each time that the battery may charge just slightly bellow 100%
Getting closer to 100% each time
10.Soon it will read 100%
It has now marked the top charged point for the cells
If step 7&8 does not bring the battery to 100% use the battery calibration app from the market.
Don't rush.. take it calm and easy.
Enjoy your properly set, fully optimized battery.
If you are planning on flashing a new rom you can copy "data/system/batterystats.bin"
And copy it back once you are done flashing.
This way you don't lose the optimization.
The battery does have over current protection it should be just fine.
Still be careful.
This knowledge is based on direct experience building electronic projects for over 23years that require rechargeable cells and the nightmares i had with a bad x10 chipset..
REMEMBER THAT I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOUR PHONE BLOWS UP ETC.
:- final edit 2011/9/12 -:- 3:09PM
Added extra on damaged cells.
Found a few more mistakes and required details... edited.
Added a line for Xrecovery users. <<< removed this.. it's crap.
Thank you xcxa23 for showing me where the battery stats file is.
LET me MAKE this 100% CLEAR... wiping stats = nothing
This guide cycle's your battery, by correctly setting the upper and lower parameters of the cell.

[GUIDE] X10 Battery Calibration arent this the same? if you wanted to do it manually, u can go to data/sytem and delete the batterystats.bin file. but of cos u had to wait till 100% before u delete the file

nice one OmegaRED^....

ahaks..i already read it somewhere at Development Section..but never try it..

xcxa23 said:
[GUIDE] X10 Battery Calibration arent this the same? if you wanted to do it manually, u can go to data/sytem and delete the batterystats.bin file. but of cos u had to wait till 100% before u delete the file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a full cycle.
He missed the discharging cycle.
And a few other details.

xcxa23 said:
[GUIDE] X10 Battery Calibration arent this the same? if you wanted to do it manually, u can go to data/sytem and delete the batterystats.bin file. but of cos u had to wait till 100% before u delete the file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah it's the same but this one is ultimate lol

You may have noticed i take the time to explain exactly why you do something.
making this look less like voodoo and more like science.
Wooo... made alot of edits to this.

Same thing here...
wrong post
sorry for the inconvenience....is there a way to remove my own posts?

OmegaRED^ said:
Not a full cycle.
He missed the discharging cycle.
And a few other details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it was necessary to create a whole new thread instead of lets say, PM'ing me so that I can add the missing information? Either way, this really works to improve the battery life, and the more people know about this, the better. Going to thank you anyway.

ooidort said:
So it was necessary to create a whole new thread instead of lets say, PM'ing me so that I can add the missing information? Either way, this really works to improve the battery life, and the more people know about this, the better. Going to thank you anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh.. sorry dude.
Really did not mean to steal your thunder or anything.
If you want i can have the mods delete this and you can add anything you need from here.

OmegaRED^ said:
Oh.. sorry dude.
Really did not mean to steal your thunder or anything.
If you want i can have the mods delete this and you can add anything you need from here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, no it's fine. Yours is more comprehensive than mine, plus you seem to know what you're talking about so I have no problem with this.

ooidort said:
Haha, no it's fine. Yours is more comprehensive than mine, plus you seem to know what you're talking about so I have no problem with this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm thanking you. cuz you are such a good sport.

OmegaRED^ said:
I'm thanking you. cuz you are such a good sport.
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Click to collapse
mmmh, i like the feeling in here!

Performed as said in the OP along with a full discharge and recharge and I'm getting a lot more use out of my phone now. Use it a lot for listening to music so the battery drained quickly but not any more.

tomgus1 said:
Performed as said in the OP along with a full discharge and recharge and I'm getting a lot more use out of my phone now. Use it a lot for listening to music so the battery drained quickly but not any more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to be of help.

OmegaRED^ said:
Glad to be of help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will post more later once I've spent some more time with it and put my phone under more processing.

does it work with costum kernel? or it doesn't matter? i'm having some nasty battery problems..7% down it 30 minutes

Ipy219 said:
does it work with costum kernel? or it doesn't matter? i'm having some nasty battery problems..7% down it 30 minutes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope.. it does not matter.
This is not a hack or a trick.
It's simple li-ion battery science.
If it still has problems then your battery is already optimized and your problem is completely different.
This 7% in heavy usage or light usage or standby?

Ipy219 said:
does it work with costum kernel? or it doesn't matter? i'm having some nasty battery problems..7% down it 30 minutes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's because u wiped battery stats on the low battery charge and didn't make a battery calibration. I had the same problem until the calibrating using another method (for me is easier, but this topic shows another way, which can probable be very effective )

Thx OP, although it was stated in another thread like noticed
Someone on XDA also done an Android app, Battery Calibration, easying the process of battery calibration/wiping.
I don't use it for calibration, just to get battery health in mV (even if you can grab it from Android System Info, Android Assistant, etc).
Still using the good ol' method of xrecovery

Don't wipe battery stats

http://www.sdx-developers.com/sdx/the-truth-behind-battery-re-calibration/

So it seems like your battery isn’t lasting very long. You search the Forum at SDX Developers and hear about this thing called “Battery Re-Calibration” and how its supposed to be great for increasing your battery life. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but the guides for “Battery Calibration” lead you through some steps that actually do more harm than good!
And here’s the reason why:
The batteries in your mobile forms are high-capacity lithium-ion batteries. This kind of battery technology cannot be simply reset and “re-calibrated.” When you follow the steps to recalibrate your battery and delete the batterystats.bin file from your phone, you are getting rid of more than what you think… Stored inside that batterystats.bin file, your phone keeps detailed logs of the capacity of your battery and uses it on how it can be utilized more efficiently. By deleting this file, it basically wipes the phone’s memory on what the battery can really do. This actually does damage to your battery by using up valuable charging cycles, all while giving a fraction of battery life and performance.
Now, you might be saying uh-oh, I’ve already re-calibrated my battery! What do I do?!
Well here’s your answer. Use your phone like normal. Yes, your battery and phone wont perform as good as it can for a while, but after a few days, you will notice that it starts doing better and better. Give it time, its trying to rebuild all those logs that you just deleted
I hope this helps and clears up this argument once and for all!

Figured as much...
I've always had horrible life after deleting battery stats.
- Ron

What happens to the stats and how they are used if I use multiple batteries?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

I would've thought that after flashing a new rom, this would be better, cuz then the phone wouldn't think it has less power than it has

nebrando said:
What happens to the stats and how they are used if I use multiple batteries?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm wondering the same thing. I usually have a spare battery and swap them out
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

nebrando said:
What happens to the stats and how they are used if I use multiple batteries?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Smarter batteries expose information (ie: serial number) to the device they power. Then again smarter batteries also store the charge history/life experience/charge cycle logs on the battery themselves. No clue what our batteries are capable of.

xboxfanj said:
I would've thought that after flashing a new rom, this would be better, cuz then the phone wouldn't think it has less power than it has
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Considering the fact that flashing often overwrites all system files (depending on what you're flashing), and an Odin flash completely overwrites *almost* everything (device programming is retained, you'll notice that you do
NOT need to redo the cellular network setup each time), out stands to reason that that file may get deleted through several other processes in addition to wiping the stats. So I would say that this isn't as bad as the OP makes it sound.
And if you experience any sort of file corruption, the battery stats file could be affected; I don't care who you ask, no data is far better than bad data any day of the week
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

My rule of thumb was to wipe stats when ever I had a kernel change. From what iv read around xda, performing a wipe was to let your phone adjust to the new software and reteach its self how to use the battery. I never see any harm in it besides crappy battery life the frst couple of days.
Sent from my epic

sprkat85 said:
My rule of thumb was to wipe stats when ever I had a kernel change. From what iv read around xda, performing a wipe was to let your phone adjust to the new software and reteach its self how to use the battery. I never see any harm in it besides crappy battery life the frst couple of days.
Sent from my epic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're essentially correct, the existing stats are based on the system configuration in place when the stats were recorded, so the data may not be as helpful as intended after changing components of the operating system such as the kernel.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

styles420 said:
You're essentially correct, the existing stats are based on the system configuration in place when the stats were recorded, so the data may not be as helpful as intended after changing components of the operating system such as the kernel.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where can I find info on what data fields are in batterystats.bin?

Considering the fact that I always get substantially better battery life when I flash a new ROM, and then wipe battery info, vs flashing a new rom and never wiping, I think this post isn't necessarily accurate.
If I flash a new rom, and DON'T wipe battery, I'm always disappointed with the battery life for several days before I remember to charge all the way and wipe stats. I've never had a situation where I get poor life by doing the standard flash+wipe combo. I can see the downside of doing a full-on calibration (bump charging several times, then wiping, for no reason) but my personal experience disagrees with the overall post.

You don't just wipe battery stats and call it a day. You charge your phone to 100%, wipe battery stats, and then run the phone down to nothing. So now the ONLY information stored in the battery stats file should be the absolute full charge of the battery from 100% until the phone literally turns off because of low voltage. How is that not more efficient?

muyoso said:
You don't just wipe battery stats and call it a day. You charge your phone to 100%, wipe battery stats, and then run the phone down to nothing. So now the ONLY information stored in the battery stats file should be the absolute full charge of the battery from 100% until the phone literally turns off because of low voltage. How is that not more efficient?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because as far as I can tell it's just conjecture... Don't get me wrong, not saying anyone hasn't observed what they think they have but this sounds simple to solve to me if two questions are answered:
1) What data is stored in batterystats.bin (correct filename?)
2) How does the Android OS use this data file related to charging/displayed remaining/etc
These are answerable questions but I haven't seen them answered (not searching hard). Until they are we can all assume whatever we want based on our observations but what we see often has little to do with fact.

From what I've read in the OP, it's exactly why I wipe the stats. Yes they will have to figure themselves out but just as they do when I wipe my Market cache to avoid force closes. Bad files are bad files and if people want to clear and rebuild them, it certainly doesn't make it a bad process.

muyoso said:
You don't just wipe battery stats and call it a day. You charge your phone to 100%, wipe battery stats, and then run the phone down to nothing. So now the ONLY information stored in the battery stats file should be the absolute full charge of the battery from 100% until the phone literally turns off because of low voltage. How is that not more efficient?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everytime I wipe battery stats, it always starts reading my battery % wrong. One sec it'll say I'm at 90%, the next at 92. The only fix is to flash a new ROM.

machx0r said:
Because as far as I can tell it's just conjecture... Don't get me wrong, not saying anyone hasn't observed what they think they have but this sounds simple to solve to me if two questions are answered:
1) What data is stored in batterystats.bin (correct filename?)
2) How does the Android OS use this data file related to charging/displayed remaining/etc
These are answerable questions but I haven't seen them answered (not searching hard). Until they are we can all assume whatever we want based on our observations but what we see often has little to do with fact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you install a sound system, tune it perfectly for the acoustics in your living room, and then expect that same tuning to work just as well in any other room in your house?
When you change to a new room and/or kernel, you completely change the environment in which the battery is operating. It makes no sense whatsoever to assume that the battery would run better with data that is irrelevant to the current setup than it would with a clean slate
Edit: another point to consider - the battery had to start at a clean slate when it was manufactured - is the OP suggesting that this is bad for the battery? What sense would that make?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

styles420 said:
Would you install a sound system, tune it perfectly for the acoustics in your living room, and then expect that same tuning to work just as well in any other room in your house?
When you change to a new room and/or kernel, you completely change the environment in which the battery is operating. It makes no sense whatsoever to assume that the battery would run better with data that is irrelevant to the current setup than it would with a clean slate
Edit: another point to consider - the battery had to start at a clean slate when it was manufactured - is the OP suggesting that this is bad for the battery? What sense would that make?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me, I get what you are saying and follow the logic. It makes sense to me an personally I calibrate my battery when it starts feeling wonky. Do the same on my laptop that definitely reports serial, charge cycles, etc.
My only point was that until someone takes the time to figure out what is really going on here then arguing that one strategy is better than the other is not very useful.
Consider your sound system example... Perhaps there is an issue in the with the calibration logic of your receiver that causes the settings for your living room to provide better sound quality in your bedroom (against the results of the calibration you did there).
All I'm getting at is I wish I understood what was really going on here so I could make an objective decision rather than a subjective one.

machx0r said:
Trust me, I get what you are saying and follow the logic. It makes sense to me an personally I calibrate my battery when it starts feeling wonky. Do the same on my laptop that definitely reports serial, charge cycles, etc.
My only point was that until someone takes the time to figure out what is really going on here then arguing that one strategy is better than the other is not very useful.
Consider your sound system example... Perhaps there is an issue in the with the calibration logic of your receiver that causes the settings for your living room to provide better sound quality in your bedroom (against the results of the calibration you did there).
All I'm getting at is I wish I understood what was really going on here so I could make an objective decision rather than a subjective one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get your desire for objectivism and I share it, but this ties back to the simple fact that most hacking communities are filled with superstitious habits fuelled by anecdotal evidence and users who get extremely defensive if someone comes along and raises questions about currently accepted conclusions. Sure, these are devices operating on fundamental instructions and every single tiny behavior is governed by code and measured capabilities...
But if you want to see an analysis of that file, you'll have 100x more luck figuring it out on your own than you'd ever have changing the minds of people who sprinkle pixie dust, spin in a circle, rub their earlobes, and clap twice before every flash.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

josidhe said:
I get your desire for objectivism and I share it, but this ties back to the simple fact that most hacking communities are filled with superstitious habits fuelled by anecdotal evidence and users who get extremely defensive if someone comes along and raises questions about currently accepted conclusions. Sure, these are devices operating on fundamental instructions and every single tiny behavior is governed by code and measured capabilities...
But if you want to see an analysis of that file, you'll have 100x more luck figuring it out on your own than you'd ever have changing the minds of people who sprinkle pixie dust, spin in a circle, rub their earlobes, and clap twice before every flash.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I concur!
Need analytics/metrics, controlled test environments, hard facts from vendor specs to replicable results. Too many variants and factors involved from avg. 2yr life span of a battery to coronals chicken tweaks. All just theories until proven otherwise.

I am the OP, but I just copy-pasted the article so people know that it may not be a good thing to do, because I had never heard of anything bad about it.

Wiping Battery Stats Doesn't Fix or Increase Battery Life.

Yup, I said it. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Well, deleting the .bin file does do something...it resets the battery stats. Wanna know what else resets the stats?? Charging your phone to 100%. So, whatever benefit you saw from deleting the .bin was a placebo effect. Don't get me wrong, deleting it won't hurt anything. But it doesn't help anything either, and it certainly doesn't calibrate your battery. The only thing that file contains are stats, such as:
1. info about wakelocks
2. info about partial wakelocks
3. info about screen on time
4. info about screen brightness
I'm tempted to get into how lithium ion cells work, but that is a boring subject. I will say that li-ion cells don't have a memory to them, so there really isn't a "calibration" process. I will say that if you have piss poor battery life, you should consider the following:
1. An application/process that isn't allowing the phone to sleep correctly (keeping this general)
2. Any SamSprint firmware or derivative thereof
3. Knock it off with the overclocking. If you wanna screw with frequency tables and voltages, or let someone else do it and flash their kernel, be my guest. But don't ***** about your battery life if you do
4. YOUR BATTERY!!!!
Wanna know how I fixed the ****ty battery life on my girlfriend's Epic? I bought her a new battery I nice new shiny Epic Touch 4g battery with 20% more capacity and BAM, 2 days of battery life easily instead of 4-5 hours.
Seriously though, so many things affect not only battery life, but battery lifespan e.g. age (many users have had this phone for 1.5 years), # of charge/discharge cycles, excessive heat or cold (I bet a lot of people keep their phone in their pocket or a purse, huh?), etc. And while there may be quality control standards in the battery manufacturing process, not all batteries are equal and it's very possible that a battery was well below its stated capacity even when it was brand new.
Anyway, I'm tired and I need a coffee. I'm interested to hear others chime in and add to the discussion. Flame on! jk
Ryan

Crap! This was supposed to go in general... Mods, please move

This is what I've been saying all along. You put a battery in. You charge it. End of story.
All these people wasting literally hours upon hours on "calibrating" their battery are tools who should not be members of a development forum.
http://www.androidcentral.com/wiping-battery-stats-doesnt-improve-battery-life-says-google-engineer

zeppelin481 said:
Crap! This was supposed to go in general... Mods, please move
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol was gonna say, the only flaming you should get for this is for being in the wrong section!

Specialksg1 said:
lol was gonna say, the only flaming you should get for this is for being in the wrong section!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was a total accident. I had a thread I was writing and the session expired. Lost the whole thing. Rewrote and didn't pay attention to the section. I expect to be flamed for it

zeppelin481 said:
Crap! This was supposed to go in general... Mods, please move
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe if you drank your coffee you wouldn't make noob mistakes!

I saw you asked to be moved to general, that was my first question as well

Many people will argue that wiping battery stats is actually WORSE for battery life while using the same battery. After cycling perhaps. I think switching batteries requires a stat wipe though.

ksmullins88 said:
maybe if you drank your coffee you wouldn't make noob mistakes!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're probably right. And I technically had 2 cups today, just not my usual gallon! I hope a mod moves it soon because I feel like a huge tool now...

zeppelin481 said:
You're probably right. And I technically had 2 cups today, just not my usual gallon! I hope a mod moves it soon because I feel like a huge tool now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol! Hey at least it wasn't a completely idiotic thread like some of the people post in developement so you get at least 1 point for that... on topic... completely agree anybody that sees better battery life after Calibrating their battery just didn't use their phone as much after doing so... now maybe everybody will quit telling the people with bad battery life to calibrate and it will fix their issues...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

Here we go...
Wiping battery stats has NOTHING to do with battery 'life'. It does however effect time from a full charge if charged from the epic itself.
What the file that is removed does it tell android what the battery level is for logging and status info. When something changes like the battery strength (age) or life change from the rom/kernel/tweaks then you need to delete that file or else it will assume the older setup is used as a norm. Android uses the data to tell the battery to stop charging at a level of 95ish% and also to power down at 5ish%. If these values are incorrect the phone won't keep a charge as log or power off earlier.

zeppelin481 said:
You're probably right. And I technically had 2 cups today, just not my usual gallon! I hope a mod moves it soon because I feel like a huge tool now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lmao, I hope they leave it in here just because
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

marcusant said:
Here we go...
Wiping battery stats has NOTHING to do with battery 'life'. It does however effect time from a full charge if charged from the epic itself.
What the file that is removed does it tell android what the battery level is for logging and status info. When something changes like the battery strength (age) or life change from the rom/kernel/tweaks then you need to delete that file or else it will assume the older setup is used as a norm. Android uses the data to tell the battery to stop charging at a level of 95ish% and also to power down at 5ish%. If these values are incorrect the phone won't keep a charge as log or power off earlier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But this is right... sometimes if you don't clear your battery stats your phone still thinks you have, for example, say 75%, when you really have something less, like 50%. Thus when you charge it, it will think its charging to 100 from 75 rather than from 50. Leaving you 25% less battery or whatever and your phone will seem like its dying faster. Only because you haven't "fully" charged the battery. So in some cases, calibrating the battery by removing the file is neccessary.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Moved......NooB

marcusant said:
Here we go...
Wiping battery stats has NOTHING to do with battery 'life'. It does however effect time from a full charge if charged from the epic itself.
What the file that is removed does it tell android what the battery level is for logging and status info. When something changes like the battery strength (age) or life change from the rom/kernel/tweaks then you need to delete that file or else it will assume the older setup is used as a norm. Android uses the data to tell the battery to stop charging at a level of 95ish% and also to power down at 5ish%. If these values are incorrect the phone won't keep a charge as log or power off earlier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. End of story, wiping does help in certain cases.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

Next time someone complains about battery life I'm gonna tell em to order an epic touch battery, its really the only way
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

Battery stats do nothing... I never charge my battery. I swap out with charged batteries. You can NOT make your power on time longer with battery stats!!! I've proved that with swapper batteries versus charging and wiping stats... It's a myth only because there is a file which tracks status. That file is rewritten to and reset everytime I swap batteries.
IT'S A MYTH!!!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

troyolson92 said:
Battery stats do nothing... I never charge my battery. I swap out with charged batteries. You can NOT make your power on time longer with battery stats!!! I've proved that with swapper batteries versus charging and wiping stats... It's a myth only because there is a file which tracks status. That file is rewritten to and reset everytime I swap batteries.
IT'S A MYTH!!!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. The battery stats contain nothing about your battery percentage. Those who think that are misinformed.

I thought the percentage is directly related to the voltage left on the battery. So how could any stats affect that?

xopher.hunter said:
Next time someone complains about battery life I'm gonna tell em to order an epic touch battery, its really the only way
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look out! Here comes the Peanut Gallery! But seriously, my point was that most people don't stop and think for even a second that their battery might be the problem. If you have a 2 year old battery that you've put through the ringer and it you are getting ****ty battery life, you should quit being a cheap ass and buy a new battery. The Epic Touch battery is $18 on Amazon and a 20% increase in capacity. Kind of a no brainer. Unless you're a cheap ass. Or slow. Or you think that wiping a binary file will magically fix it. Or you're a cheap ass.

Battery Calibration?

I am kind of amazed with what I am seeing, and am wondering if someone on XDA can help me understand this. So I was running CM7.x on my MT4G for over an year, and this past weekend I switched to CoreDroid because I wanted to try out Sense.
I had a bad feeling about the battery usage because the ROM was "heavier" than CM7.x in terms of UI, Graphics (of course because of Sense 3.5). I went ahead and installed the ROM anyways.
Within a couple of hours, I went from being fully charged to 5% battery....it was draining faster than anything I have seen before. I read CoreDroid release notes and they had mentioned about this severely fast battery drain.
Based on their recommendation, I fully charged the phone once battery level reached 5%. This time, my battery lasted about 17-18 hours, and again I fully charged it when it reached 5%.
Now after the second recharge, its been about 24 hours and I am at 97% battery. I didn't believe CoreDroid release notes that battery life will become better after couple of recharges; I thought it was a bunch of bull to get people to install their ROM.
I am glad to say I was wrong Can someone please explain this battery calibration deal to me?

Oh boy... This is a highly controversial topic. Here we go.
Basically there are people who swear by it and people who say it does nothing. That its all in your head.
Even this lady at google who helped create Android says it does nothing.
https://plus.google.com/105051985738280261832/posts/FV3LVtdVxPT
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

estallings15 said:
Oh boy... This is a highly controversial topic. Here we go.
Basically there are people who swear by it and people who say it does nothing. That its all in your head.
Even this lady at google who helped create Android says it does nothing.
https://plus.google.com/105051985738280261832/posts/FV3LVtdVxPT
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best link ever; most informative.
- I think everyone loves Dianne now.
- Someone has a flying car already ...
- In the middle of the most intellectual and technical discussion of battery usage that I have seen, someone asks what is the best facebook app - brilliant!
So...
1. Battery stats are calculated differently per phone and OS version.
2. Battery stats reporting is definitely not %100 accurate.
3. Battery percentage is calculated differently per phone and OS version.
4. Battery percentage reporting is definitely not %100 accurate.
5. On some phones, you can override battery charging limitations by 'bumping'.
6. 'Bumping' is not recommended as can shorten your battery life.
They actually did not cover the OP situation where you let that battery go below 5%, although I am always guilty of skim reading. Still, extremely informative and explains a lot of previously posted battery phenomena.

estallings15 said:
Oh boy... This is a highly controversial topic. Here we go.
Basically there are people who swear by it and people who say it does nothing. That its all in your head.
Even this lady at google who helped create Android says it does nothing.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, that made up for intense reading - thanks a lot.
It can't be something in my head for sure, If the difference was say a couple of hours I probably would have agreed with "the lady at Google" But I went from 2-3 hours to 24+ hours, so yes it's not in my head
Thanks again for your feedback.

Homerbsharp said:
Best link ever; most informative.
- I think everyone loves Dianne now.
- Someone has a flying car already ...
- In the middle of the most intellectual and technical discussion of battery usage that I have seen, someone asks what is the best facebook app - brilliant!
So...
1. Battery stats are calculated differently per phone and OS version.
2. Battery stats reporting is definitely not %100 accurate.
3. Battery percentage is calculated differently per phone and OS version.
4. Battery percentage reporting is definitely not %100 accurate.
5. On some phones, you can override battery charging limitations by 'bumping'.
6. 'Bumping' is not recommended as can shorten your battery life.
They actually did not cover the OP situation where you let that battery go below 5%, although I am always guilty of skim reading. Still, extremely informative and explains a lot of previously posted battery phenomena.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol....yea that FB app question was pretty brilliant I'll try to get in touch with CoreDroid folks, and see if they can answer my question.
I mean it does work, it's almost like a miracle to me.

I know. I just can't figure out WHY. Its been really bothering me.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

Jessooca said:
Which battery calibration app are you using?
Sent from my HTC Glacier using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
None, I am just surprised to see improved battery life after couple of 'full-drain, full-charge" operations.
BTW, care to suggest a good battery calibration app? Much appreciated.

well, the best battery calibration app Ive used is Battery Calibration by NeMa, but now after reading this thread it seems that they dont really do anything

ajrulez said:
None, I am just surprised to see improved battery life after couple of 'full-drain, full-charge" operations.
BTW, care to suggest a good battery calibration app? Much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The drain-charge cycles is just a way to calibrate the battery- takes more time to "forget" the old stats, so people either use an app or manually delete the battery statistics so one can start accumulating fresh statistics.
After a few days you get your statistics right, from then on the battery indicator will be more or less accurate.
Battery drainage has nothing to do, really, with how many times you'll calibrate or drain/ charge or whatever. It has to do with how much you use screen on, Wifi, BT, gps, partial wakelocks, apps syncing etc. In other words- use your phone and be assured battery is going to drain. Leave it alone, let it sleep- battery will last a couple of days...
Sent from my HTC Glacier using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk

just to clarify, and sorry for butting in, but there is no such thing as "calibrating your battery"... this has been debunked by many people who understand android's Linux kernel and even an android engineer at Google.
the batterystats.bin file is simply that, a bin. it does nothing more than collect dumped statistics of what exactly has been using your battery, how long, how much power those processes used, etc. it has absolutely nothing to do with your phone's ability to display correct information about how much juice you have left - that function is within the Linux kernel which monitors, and controls power throughout the device.
ask yourself this... ever flashed a ROM with say 50% power left on a charge? what happens after your first boot? does your phone suddenly have no idea how much charge is left? no. it doesn't. because the new kernel you just flashed with your ROM is picking up right where you left off.
wiping battery stats is useless. period. it.does absolutely nothing to better battery life. that is fact. that is your phone. that is your Linux platform and straight truth in how it works.
and since it is stored in the data directory, every time you flash a ROM and wipe data, you are wiping the battery stats... so why do you boot up and do it again... I know... good question.
Sent from EVO 3D using XDA premium

aznprodgy said:
well, the best battery calibration app Ive used is , but now after reading this thread it seems that they dont really do anything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hehe, yes I doubt if these battery calibration do anything.
estallings15 posted a very informative link in 2nd or 3rd post (of this thread)....all these battery calibration apps simply delete the battery stats file at least thats what one from NeMA does anyways

cobraboy85 said:
just to clarify, and sorry for butting in, but there is no such thing as "calibrating your battery"... this has been debunked by many people who understand android's Linux kernel and even an android engineer at Google.
the batterystats.bin file is simply that, a bin. it does nothing more than collect dumped statistics of what exactly has been using your battery, how long, how much power those processes used, etc. it has absolutely nothing to do with your phone's ability to display correct information about how much juice you have left - that function is within the Linux kernel which monitors, and controls power throughout the device.
ask yourself this... ever flashed a ROM with say 50% power left on a charge? what happens after your first boot? does your phone suddenly have no idea how much charge is left? no. it doesn't. because the new kernel you just flashed with your ROM is picking up right where you left off.
wiping battery stats is useless. period. it.does absolutely nothing to better battery life. that is fact. that is your phone. that is your Linux platform and straight truth in how it works.
and since it is stored in the data directory, every time you flash a ROM and wipe data, you are wiping the battery stats... so why do you boot up and do it again... I know... good question.
Sent from EVO 3D using XDA premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, agree with your comments 100%. After reading the link posted by estallings15 earlier in this thread, the myth of battery calibration was busted

I agree with most that Battery Calibration is a joke, and doesn't mean anything. However, batteries in many devices (not just our Cell Phones) seem to benefit from proper discharge/full charge cycles. In fact, it's usually recommended in things like electric RC cars that you completely run down the battery as far as you can go (realistically of course!) prior to charging; also to prolong battery life. I always notice at least slightly longer use times if I don't always pop the thing on a charger at 75%. But go with what works for ya, and of course some roms DO drain faster than others. And less screen haha

How to Optimize battery drain?

Hello,
I use Tytung's ICS 4.0.4 for my T-Mobile HTC HD2 (NAND), I've been using this ROM for months.
As such there is no problem with functioning of the ROM.
But my battery drains at a very fast rate. With 6hrs of use it drains to 20% at lowest brightness and no major applications running (2 applications in background at most).
Data enabled (2G).
What to do? Please help!!
Sent from my T-Mobile HTC HD2 using XDA Premium.

Can you download CurrentWidget from the Play store and give a value in mA? If you mean 6hrs without any usage then that's pretty poor. Try turning on airplane mode to determine whether it's an app or one of your connections that's causing the problem.
In currentwidget, the values should be approximately 4mA drain in standby with any connections enabled and 2mA in standby in airplane mode. Screen on drain varies a lot more.

OK, thanks. will revert back soon.

With screen OFF, networks ON, 2g enabled....drain is 6mA.
With screen OFF, airplane mode ...drain is 5mA.
Sent from my T-Mobile HTC HD2 using XDA Premium.

That's high but shouldn't be causing a drain of 20% in 6 hours. It's probably just draining a lot when you're using the phone, and there's not much you can do other than turning the brightness down which you've done already.

try wiping battery stats through recovery...fully charge your battery then wipe stats and let your battery to get fully discharge before you connect it to a charger for about a week...My battery never lasted more than a half day before doing this...now it lasts more than a day...Hope this works

Okz.. will try this..hope this works.
Sent from my T-Mobile HTC HD2 using XDA Premium.

eliaskammas said:
try wiping battery stats through recovery...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if this myth will ever die..
Google engineer Dianne Hackberry has talked about several myths about the Android operating system, including wiping battery stats.
The reasoning behind that piece of advice was something like this: If you, at some point, did not charge your Android device fully (for example, only to 80%), it would supposedly remember that battery level as “fully charged” – in this case, you’d only ever get to use 80% of your battery, which is of course less than optimal. So, if you wipe the battery stats, usually done in ClockWord Mod Recovery, the device would “forget” the previous level, here 80%, and instead charge to the full 100% once again, thereby re-calibrating the battery. Or, as Hackborn puts it in more technical terms:
The battery indicator in the status/notification bar is a reflection of the batterystats.bin file in the data/system/ directory.
However, as she explains, that’s not the case. Because those battery stats, stored in the batterystats.bin file, are only used to maintain information about what is using the battery when not recharging. That is, it essentially holds the information displayed in the Settings > Battery screen. Nothing more, nothing less. Thus:
It has no impact on the current battery level shown to you.
It has no impact on your battery life.
What’s more, you’ve probably noticed that the battery usage data is reset once you recharge your device anyway. From this you can correctly deduce that the battery stats are wiped as well – every time your device is recharged. More or less every day. If there was any effect, you would’ve noticed it without going into recovery and doing that stuff. Typical placebo, eh?
---
I’m as confused as a baby in a topless bar...

^Whenever someone asks 'how do I reduce my battery drain', ten people immediately jump in with 'CALIBRATE!!11oneeleven!'. No hate directed at whoever posted that advice here, I understand how easy it is to be misinformed (as I was about using SetCPU ), I just think that rumours like this are too easily presented as facts.

NYLimited said:
I wonder if this myth will ever die..
Google engineer Dianne Hackberry has talked about several myths about the Android operating system, including wiping battery stats.
The reasoning behind that piece of advice was something like this: If you, at some point, did not charge your Android device fully (for example, only to 80%), it would supposedly remember that battery level as “fully charged” – in this case, you’d only ever get to use 80% of your battery, which is of course less than optimal. So, if you wipe the battery stats, usually done in ClockWord Mod Recovery, the device would “forget” the previous level, here 80%, and instead charge to the full 100% once again, thereby re-calibrating the battery. Or, as Hackborn puts it in more technical terms:
The battery indicator in the status/notification bar is a reflection of the batterystats.bin file in the data/system/ directory.
However, as she explains, that’s not the case. Because those battery stats, stored in the batterystats.bin file, are only used to maintain information about what is using the battery when not recharging. That is, it essentially holds the information displayed in the Settings > Battery screen. Nothing more, nothing less. Thus:
It has no impact on the current battery level shown to you.
It has no impact on your battery life.
What’s more, you’ve probably noticed that the battery usage data is reset once you recharge your device anyway. From this you can correctly deduce that the battery stats are wiped as well – every time your device is recharged. More or less every day. If there was any effect, you would’ve noticed it without going into recovery and doing that stuff. Typical placebo, eh?
---
I’m as confused as a baby in a topless bar...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL i was just gonna post but ya beat me to it
i will just add the link to the xda news post about it
http://www.xda-developers.com/andro...-battery-stats-does-not-improve-battery-life/

Nigeldg said:
^Whenever someone asks 'how do I reduce my battery drain', ten people immediately jump in with 'CALIBRATE!!11oneeleven!'. No hate directed at whoever posted that advice here, I understand how easy it is to be misinformed (as I was about using SetCPU ), I just think that rumours like this are too easily presented as facts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And I shall not tell you how many times I did erase that bloody file before I too learned the truth. :crying:
Kameirus said:
LOL i was just gonna post but ya beat me to it
i will just add the link to the xda news post about it
http://www.xda-developers.com/andro...-battery-stats-does-not-improve-battery-life/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Want me to go back and erase it for ya? No biggie...

Lol...
When one doesn't know a thing, he can be easily fooled about it.
Anyways ...Learnt something new today... :thumbup:
Thank you everyone.
Sent from my T-Mobile HTC HD2 using XDA Premium.

NYLimited said:
Want me to go back and erase it for ya? No biggie...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LMAO no

sonalikagaur said:
When one doesn't know a thing, he can be easily fooled about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said to Nigeldg in an earlier post:
NYLimited said:
And I shall not tell you how many times I did erase that bloody file before I too learned the truth. :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sonalikagaur said:
Anyways ...Learnt something new today... :thumbup:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And that is all that's important.

to sonalikagaur....
obviously as the guys say don't bother trying my advice
to everyone...
at least now I know not to tell anyone about battery stats again...but now there is a wonder in my head...what made my battery last longer than it did before? I wasn't kidding that it lasts half a day longer than before...obviously battery stats didn't make the job...what did.? :-/

eliaskammas said:
to sonalikagaur....
obviously as the guys say don't bother trying my advice
to everyone...
at least now I know not to tell anyone about battery stats again...but now there is a wonder in my head...what made my battery last longer than it did before? I wasn't kidding that it lasts half a day longer than before...obviously battery stats didn't make the job...what did.? :-/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found out something.... usually I used to keep my 2G ON the whole day...but when I switched my data OFF when not in use...my 6hrs...20% battery remaining changed to 8hrs..n 75% remaining.
That's a huge difference.
Can anyone suggest a good app for this? Switching my data OFF automatically when not in use .!!
Sent from my T-Mobile HTC HD2 using XDA Premium.

I think Juice Defender has this functionality built in.

sonalikagaur said:
I found out something.... usually I used to keep my 2G ON the whole day...but when I switched my data OFF when not in use...my 6hrs...20% battery remaining changed to 8hrs..n 75% remaining.
That's a huge difference.
Can anyone suggest a good app for this? Switching my data OFF automatically when not in use .!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would guess that many so called "battery saver" apps might have it, not really sure.
I don't turn off data when not in use automatically but I do use Tasker to turn it off for several hours while I sleep.

NYLimited said:
I would guess that many so called "battery saver" apps might have it, not really sure.
I don't turn off data when not in use automatically but I do use Tasker to turn it off for several hours while I sleep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah Tasker can do this but it's a paid app. Juice Defender is free and can also do the same thing in this case. I agree that Tasker is awesome but not necessarily for saving battery, more for ease of use.

Nigeldg said:
^Whenever someone asks 'how do I reduce my battery drain', ten people immediately jump in with 'CALIBRATE!!11oneeleven!'. No hate directed at whoever posted that advice here, I understand how easy it is to be misinformed (as I was about using SetCPU ), I just think that rumours like this are too easily presented as facts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could your go into more detail about you're previous misinformation about SetCPU?
Sent from my ZeJstersHD2 using xda premium