Still having charging issues with 4.2.2 - Nexus 7 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I'm really frustrated because i really used to love the n7 so much I was an early adopter and bought another one after I dropped my first and then went on to buy my girlfriend one. But after being plagued with this issue and stuck on 4.1 its just not the same anymore since I cant flash custom roms all day :/
I've been having a charging issue with android 4.2.1 since it came out (both stock and all the roms I tried) but I noticed that whenever I reverted to 4.1.2 the issue went away completely. So I've been waiting for 4.2.2 to come out for a while now to see if it fixed the issue and after flashing the update tonight it seems to have the same problem.
I've tried searching for months now and haven't found any answers.
So this is the issue with both 4.2.1 and 4.2.2:
The battery charges at an insanely slow pace to the point that it ruins the tablet completely. I'll plug it in over night for 8+ hours and it will not gain more then 40% battery life in that time.
Its to the point that when I was just using it right now on the charger with brightness turned all the way down and nothing on other then sync and WiFi that light web browsing for 10 mins caused it to discharge a percent after being plugged in for 19 minutes.
Notes:
Its a c70 16gb
I tried 3 different stock N7 chargers with stock cables as well as trying them with other cables.
I'm not plugged into any kind of extension cords and I've tried multiple wall sockets at different locations.
My girlfriends nexus 7 32g charges fine on 4.2.1 and I have not updated her to 4.2.2 to test yet.
I haven't checked the battery connection because like I said whenever I revert to stock 4.1.2 or any 4.1.2 rom it charges in 4 hours flat or 6 hours with heavy usage while charging.
So anyone have any ideas? If not I guess I have to rma.

Do both, yours and your girlfriend's devices take that long to charge?

sl4y3r88 said:
Do both, yours and your girlfriend's devices take that long to charge?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope her nexus 7 charges fine. ( a little slower on 4.2 then 4.1 but nothing like mine)

Her nexus does have issues with turning on sometimes on 4.2.1 like a lot of other users but its nothing holding the power button for 10 seconds doesn't fix.

It also just noticed it seems to discharge at an extremely fast pace. (still on 4.2.2)
It just dropped from 55% to 51% in the time I've typed these responses with brightness all the way down.

So anyone want to try and help me figure this out before I send it in friday? I called it in to Google play device support to try and report the software bug and they said its the first they heard of it and they would pass it on but I felt like the rep didnt want to help as I bought it from a third party. I'm willing to do any tests suggested and hop between software versions to try and figure out this bug.

Why do you think it is a "software bug" when millions of people running the "same software" don't experience the same behavior?
I realize that software can exhibit data-dependent behaviors, and thus exhibit low occurrence rates... but there is no "software" involved in charging the battery.
Do you think a booted Linux kernel is needed to charge a battery? How would the battery get charged when the device is turned off in that case? C'mon!
Send it back and tell them the battery (or charge contoller CIRCUIT) is defective.
If it's out of warranty, PAY them to replace it.

bftb0 said:
Why do you think it is a "software bug" when millions of people running the "same software" don't experience the same behavior?
I realize that software can exhibit data-dependent behaviors, and thus exhibit low occurrence rates... but there is no "software" involved in charging the battery.
Do you think a booted Linux kernel is needed to charge a battery? How would the battery get charged when the device is turned off in that case? C'mon!
Send it back and tell them the battery (or charge contoller CIRCUIT) is defective.
If it's out of warranty, PAY them to replace it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then how do you explain that if right now I flash back to 4.1.2 it will work fine? If you want I'll provide screenshots.
I just flashed back to 4.1.2 this morning and it worked perfectly. Just now I flashed codefires 4.2.2 build and the problems back.
Please explain how that is hardware related.

I may of jumped the gun assuming it was a charging issue. It seems like it might be a battery drain issue. Here's a couple screenshots from a fresh install of codefirex 4.2.2 build.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app

All I was trying to say is that when the OS is booted, at most all it does is monitor battery voltage and current - it doesn't get actively involved in control of charging circuitry.
At most this historical data can be used to *predict* when the battery will run out of juice, and this number is what is shown to the user as a % charge number. Hopefully that allows the prediction to be sort of correct as the battery ages and it's characteristics change.
This "calibration data" is only used for prediction - it does absolutely nothing to alter the rate at which current is drawn from the battery by the motherboard, nor for attempting to alter the behavior of a battery charge controller.
Li-Ion and Li-Polymer batteries are indeed complicated enough that they should not be charged by extremely simple circuits if a long operating lifetime is desired. For this purpose though, monolithic battery charge controllers chips are used - they do not need any assistance of a micro-controller or advanced CPU running a modern OS. That's why they are able to charge batteries rapidly and appropriately when the motherboard is in a "powered down" state.
Relative to a big multi-core CPU chip, which might have hundreds of millions of transistors, battery charge controllers are extremely small circuits - they are sold by the billions and cost in the ballpark of one to several pennies. They don't need the support of a CPU or even a microcontroller to operate correctly.
Good luck with your tab; I hope you enjoy it.

bftb0 said:
All I was trying to say is that when the OS is booted, at most all it does is monitor battery voltage and current - it doesn't get actively involved in control of charging circuitry.
At most this historical data can be used to *predict* when the battery will run out of juice, and this number is what is shown to the user as a % charge number. Hopefully that allows the prediction to be sort of correct as the battery ages and it's characteristics change.
This "calibration data" is only used for prediction - it does absolutely nothing to alter the rate at which current is drawn from the battery by the motherboard, nor for attempting to alter the behavior of a battery charge controller.
Li-Ion and Li-Polymer batteries are indeed complicated enough that they should not be charged by extremely simple circuits if a long operating lifetime is desired. For this purpose though, monolithic battery charge controllers chips are used - they do not need any assistance of a micro-controller or advanced CPU running a modern OS. That's why they are able to charge batteries rapidly and appropriately when the motherboard is in a "powered down" state.
Relative to a big multi-core CPU chip, which might have hundreds of millions of transistors, battery charge controllers are extremely small circuits - they are sold by the billions and cost in the ballpark of one to several pennies. They don't need the support of a CPU or even a microcontroller to operate correctly.
Good luck with your tab; I hope you enjoy it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for taking the time to write out this detailed explanation. I read it over a couple times and that all makes a lot of sense and now I have a little better understanding of how things work charging wise.
But I still can't wrap my head around how the problem DISAPPEARS COMPLETELY on any 4.1 based build...
I'm not trying to contradict you in anyway it seems like you are way more knowledgeable then me on the subject.
It just doesn't make any sense and I was hoping you could make more of it for me.
Maybe it isn't the charging but a battery drain issue something on 4.2 based builds is draining more current then the charger can dish out.
But while i was doing research I read that chargers up the current they dish out if the device is in use. Is that correct?
I've looked into the media server bug but as I just did a fresh install of stock 4.2.1 and haven't changed or added anything to the file structure that wasn't included in the factory image, I also went through and turned off the keyboard press sound and all other sounds like explained in some of the threads I have read. I also read that the problem is supposed to be fixed in 4.2.2. I also haven't installed any apps from the market.
I guess all I'm looking for is the answer to this question:
Could there really be a hardware related problem of any sort (not just charging and battery problems but anything) that causes problems with 4.2 based builds specifically but doesn't cause problems with 4.1?
If the answer is yes then I don't have to feel bad about sending it in but if its software based issues I'll be upset that I wasn't able to fix it and gave up.

Have you let the battery drain all the way or do you just plug it in at a certain point? if not let it get to the point were it will turn itself off. if the battery with the cross in it stays for more than it would take for 1% to drain then it just might be your battery stats file. even if its not let it drain and then charge it while its off. you can check the battery by pushing the power button quick. i know i have had this problem with other devices that were fixed by doing this. and my N7 did it last night were i updated and plugged it in, it was at 60% and when i woke up it was at 46%.

projectzro said:
Have you let the battery drain all the way or do you just plug it in at a certain point? if not let it get to the point were it will turn itself off. if the battery with the cross in it stays for more than it would take for 1% to drain then it just might be your battery stats file. even if its not let it drain and then charge it while its off. you can check the battery by pushing the power button quick. i know i have had this problem with other devices that were fixed by doing this. and my N7 did it last night were i updated and plugged it in, it was at 60% and when i woke up it was at 46%.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll give this a try right now then post results, the battery is already pretty low so It shouldn't take very long. Thanks for the response.

projectzro said:
Have you let the battery drain all the way or do you just plug it in at a certain point? if not let it get to the point were it will turn itself off. if the battery with the cross in it stays for more than it would take for 1% to drain then it just might be your battery stats file. even if its not let it drain and then charge it while its off. you can check the battery by pushing the power button quick. i know i have had this problem with other devices that were fixed by doing this. and my N7 did it last night were i updated and plugged it in, it was at 60% and when i woke up it was at 46%.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I let it run dry and am getting some weird behavior...
The dead battery symbol did not pop at all. It actually booted played the low battery sound half way through the nexus logo loaded into the OS and immediately was greeted by the battery to low logo powering down message and then it returned off. It did this cycle all the way through three times in a row before holding the power button did nothing. I let it sit for a minute before trying again and I got another boot out of it all the way to the OS again. But I've yet to be greeted by the battery with the cross symbol. Holding the power button will do the cycle described above or do nothing at all.

krisserapin said:
But while i was doing research I read that chargers up the current they dish out if the device is in use. Is that correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the 120v->5v converter certainly can be providing more current @5v because the device is active, but that's only because the motherboard is drawing current in parallel with the battery charging circuit. It doesn't mean the battery charge rate is higher.
krisserapin said:
Could there really be a hardware related problem of any sort (not just charging and battery problems but anything) that causes problems with 4.2 based builds specifically but doesn't cause problems with 4.1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suppose so.
I would do a few things to determine whether that is a reasonable hypotheses, though.
1) See how fast the battery charges with the tablet turned off. Should be close to 40%/hour for a new battery. You know there is no "software" running with the tablet turned off, so if you don't see some reasonable number here (say > 20%/hr) then a bad battery or charge controller circuit in the tab are the most likely culprits. Also, if the temperature rise of the tablet while doing this seems higher than the gf's unit, that would implicate the battery, not the charging circuit.
2) There's software, and then there's software. (Preinstalled vs. User installed) Run the battery down a ways, and then observe the battery charging rate with the device on but screen off (sleeping), but on a stock 4.2 install with ZERO user apps installed. Then, install/restore all your favorite apps, reboot, maybe use a couple of your fave apps, and repeat the same charge rate trial (screen off/sleeping). Are there large differences between the two cases? If so, that would implicate one of your apps in causing either lots of additional compute operations or preventing entry into the LP0 state (perhaps because of wakelocks?)
The thing is, the N7 battery is rated at 4325 mAh; that is sort of the same thing as 4.325 amps of current for 1 hour. (Voltage range of roughly 4v to 3.5v).
So, if a "good battery" can be charged in 2.5hrs, that is sort of like stuffing 1.73 amps into the battery for that time (1.73 x 2.5 = 4.325 A-h or 4325 mA-h). That's pretty near to the max capacity of the AC charger (2A)
Now, some users have reported discharging their tabs in 4 hours under heavy continuous use; that would be about 1.08 amps for 4 hours.
Since the wall charger is rated to produce 2A, this suggests that very heavy usage simultaneous with charging would indeed cause battery charging to slow down significantly - let's suppose it drops from 1.73a to 0.65a. Now it takes the battery 6.6hrs to charge ... but that is still just over 15%/hr ... with the tab in active use.
But that's not what you were noticing - you were seeing much worse charge rates than this when the tablet was supposed to be more or less idle!
Finally I should point out that I previously mentioned that the % charge number is a prediction, not a measurement! If for some reason this number were screwed up, then the "charge rate" observations could be completely screwed up. (Think of this as being analogous to trying to partially fill a gas tank in a car or estimate fuel mileage with a broken gas gauge) The only way to be sure that you are not falling victim to something like this is to record battery voltages - the 100% level should be up around 4v, and the 10% values down around 3.5v.
You can observe this value at /sys/devices/platform/tegra-i2c.4/i2c-4/4-0055/power_supply/battery/voltage_now
(note value is reported in uV)
Whew - long post. It doesn't directly answer your question about "why was 4.1 so different?" - but gives you an idea about why I was skeptical when you saw charging rates as low as you did.
I dunno, maybe the % charge prediction value numbers are screwy on your tab for some strange reason in 4.2, perhaps because of a minor hardware difference. I can't rule it out - I once saw a bug expression in a hardware/software combination that required three independent conditions (from three separate vendors!) to have precise configurations before the bug would show itself.
I hope this post gives you some ideas to try; it certainly doesn't give a solution.
Good luck - if you feel like spending more time investigating, go for it; just don't let the clock run out on the warranty period if you have one left.

bftb0 said:
Well, the 120v->5v converter certainly can be providing more current @5v because the device is active, but that's only because the motherboard is drawing current in parallel with the battery charging circuit. It doesn't mean the battery charge rate is higher.
I suppose so.
I would do a few things to determine whether that is a reasonable hypotheses, though.
1) See how fast the battery charges with the tablet turned off. Should be close to 40%/hour for a new battery. You know there is no "software" running with the tablet turned off, so if you don't see some reasonable number here (say > 20%/hr) then a bad battery or charge controller circuit in the tab are the most likely culprits. Also, if the temperature rise of the tablet while doing this seems higher than the gf's unit, that would implicate the battery, not the charging circuit.
2) There's software, and then there's software. (Preinstalled vs. User installed) Run the battery down a ways, and then observe the battery charging rate with the device on but screen off (sleeping), but on a stock 4.2 install with ZERO user apps installed. Then, install/restore all your favorite apps, reboot, maybe use a couple of your fave apps, and repeat the same charge rate trial (screen off/sleeping). Are there large differences between the two cases? If so, that would implicate one of your apps in causing either lots of additional compute operations or preventing entry into the LP0 state (perhaps because of wakelocks?)
The thing is, the N7 battery is rated at 4325 mAh; that is sort of the same thing as 4.325 amps of current for 1 hour. (Voltage range of roughly 4v to 3.5v).
So, if a "good battery" can be charged in 2.5hrs, that is sort of like stuffing 1.73 amps into the battery for that time (1.73 x 2.5 = 4.325 A-h or 4325 mA-h). That's pretty near to the max capacity of the AC charger (2A)
Now, some users have reported discharging their tabs in 4 hours under heavy continuous use; that would be about 1.08 amps for 4 hours.
Since the wall charger is rated to produce 2A, this suggests that very heavy usage simultaneous with charging would indeed cause battery charging to slow down significantly - let's suppose it drops from 1.73a to 0.65a. Now it takes the battery 6.6hrs to charge ... but that is still just over 15%/hr ... with the tab in active use.
But that's not what you were noticing - you were seeing much worse charge rates than this when the tablet was supposed to be more or less idle!
Finally I should point out that I previously mentioned that the % charge number is a prediction, not a measurement! If for some reason this number were screwed up, then the "charge rate" observations could be completely screwed up. (Think of this as being analogous to trying to partially fill a gas tank in a car or estimate fuel mileage with a broken gas gauge) The only way to be sure that you are not falling victim to something like this is to record battery voltages - the 100% level should be up around 4v, and the 10% values down around 3.5v.
You can observe this value at /sys/devices/platform/tegra-i2c.4/i2c-4/4-0055/power_supply/battery/voltage_now
(note value is reported in uV)
Whew - long post. It doesn't directly answer your question about "why was 4.1 so different?" - but gives you an idea about why I was skeptical when you saw charging rates as low as you did.
I dunno, maybe the % charge prediction value numbers are screwy on your tab for some strange reason in 4.2, perhaps because of a minor hardware difference. I can't rule it out - I once saw a bug expression in a hardware/software combination that required three independent conditions (from three separate vendors!) to have precise configurations before the bug would show itself.
I hope this post gives you some ideas to try; it certainly doesn't give a solution.
Good luck - if you feel like spending more time investigating, go for it; just don't let the clock run out on the warranty period if you have one left.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow thank you so much for the help. I'll play around with this tonight and see what happens. If I can't figure it out by the morning I think I'll be able to RMA it without feeling like I just rolled over and let my n7 get the best of me.

So after charging it on stock 4.2.1 with the power completely off it only charged 3% in a little over a hour and voltages read 3.6. I'm gonna leave it on the charger over night turned on starting from 3% with only two extra battery monitoring apps installed and report back in the morning with screenshots of the results. After that ill probably revert to 4.1.2 drain the battery fully, charge it off for an hour report the values then let it charge fully with the battery apps on for reference take a few more screenshots then lock the bootloader install the ota and ship it off to good old ASUS since it sounds like its hardware from whats been explained.

FWIW, I drained my N7 last night (LOL, typing novels into XDA threads) - when I finished I was at 6% charge - that was 3.66v. In the morning @ 100%, the battery voltage was 4.1-something.
Sounds to me like you've definitely got a hardware problem.
Good luck with the RMA.

Canyou help me?
Since I flashed 4.2.2 my 240V-USB charger only cahrges thes battery about 5% in one hour.
Before (with 4.2.1) It was definitely faster. It charged more tha 5% per hour (maybe 20-25%).
I double checked the plug in the socket. checked the correct fit of the USB cable on the docking station.
Everything fits tight. No wiggle.
It must be software related, since it started after flashing the OTA zip from 4.2.1 to 4.2.2

Polarfuchs said:
Canyou help me?
Since I flashed 4.2.2 my 240V-USB charger only cahrges thes battery about 5% in one hour.
Before (with 4.2.1) It was definitely faster. It charged more tha 5% per hour (maybe 20-25%).
I double checked the plug in the socket. checked the correct fit of the USB cable on the docking station.
Everything fits tight. No wiggle.
It must be software related, since it started after flashing the OTA zip from 4.2.1 to 4.2.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From a partially charged state, say below 50%, turn the device off, (NOT sleeping, but powered OFF) and put it on the charger for one hour.
It should charge at around 30-40%/hr.
As I pointed out above, how is it possible that software would be affecting the charging with the device turned OFF?
I believe you are seeing exactly what you report; my best guess is that a hardware problem occurred just about coincidentally with your upgrade. Just coincidence - not causation.
You also should inspect the battery voltage (see above for path in /sys) in case something crazy is happening with the %charge *prediction* (it is not a measurement) - because the total charging range is from about 3.65v-4.15v, a normal charge rate should be roughly 150 to 200 mV/hr
good luck

Related

Recalibrate WM6 For Mugen 3000 mA Battery

I have recently purchased a Mugen 3000 mA battery. I am thrilled with the extended battery life after fully charging and discharging it three times as recommended by the manufacturer. What I find annoying is that WM6 no longer gives accurate information regarding remaining battery strength. If I run the battery down to 2%, remove the battery and restart WM6 says 37%. At 2% I can repeat and WM6 still says 37%. After running down to 2% a third time and repeating WM6 says around 10%. After that it varies a bit but you get the picture.
What I would like to know is if one of you geniuses out there has discovered a registry edit, hack or 3rd party software that will provide accurate battery info so I don't have to be distracted by having my battery say 2% for hours on end or repeatedly remove and restart.
BTW, BatteryStatus Ver. 1.04.200 beta2 build 0173 reports the same incorrect info and so does SPB Mobile Shell 1.5 Home Tab.
Thanks in advance for your informed guidance. OK, that is laying it on a bit thick but I always highly recommend this site to anyone I know interested in really learning how to take full advantage of that little computer in their pocket.
Take a search on XDA for Ariel monitor maybe it solves your problem.
Thanks for the suggestion. It is a nice little program but it suffers from the same problem. I suspect I need to find a way to change the mA capacity WM6 bases it's battery calculations. I don't know if that can be done with a registry edit or if there is a third party battery monitor that has an option to change the battery capacity for calculation of percentage remaining or better yet auto detects the actual battery capacity. Ideally it would be able to both accurately read remaining percentage and make reasonably accurate time remaining estimates based on current and historical battery drain data.
It is like driving a car with a broken gas gage. Sure, you can use the odometer to estimate how much gas you have left but you are always worried your estimate is off and you will be left stranded without a phone ... oops crossed metaphors.
How do the rest of the users with extended batteries handle this irritating situation?
Bump. I can't believe i'm the only one with this problem.
I know this problem also i will wait with buying a high capacy battery until i find such a hack
The Kaiser uses a smartbattery. The battery capacity is based on the information that a small processor inside the battery tells the phone's main processor. There are several things that could be the problem:
1. The small processor in the 3rd party battery is programmed with the old specs for the standard battery. The is nothing you could do about this.
2. The small processor needs to be calibrated. You would do this as follows; set your phone to never turn off no matter how low the battery got. Now, run the phone down until the thing dies from lack of power. Then charge it all the way up. This should fix that issue. I don't recomend doing it many times, because it is not good for Lion batteries to be fully discharged too often.
This is a very valid issue which I have faced many times when using a 3rd party extended battery with other phones.
Not sure how to solve it though, although I have the 3000mah on order myself.
I think the battery reading is given by the battery itself, and most of these 3rd party manufacturers don't really care to put a smart processor in the battery (to reduce costs/make it smaller/etc).
I have the exact same issue and although it is a nuisance, I have found a workaround to keep using the phone. Simply physically removing the battery and replacing it will increase your remaining battery power substantially. I normally wait till the first low battery reminder to do this. Also, how do I set the phone to never turn off no matter how low the battery gets? This would also be fine with me.
utbiglall said:
I have the exact same issue and although it is a nuisance, I have found a workaround to keep using the phone. Simply physically removing the battery and replacing it will increase your remaining battery power substantially. I normally wait till the first low battery reminder to do this. Also, how do I set the phone to never turn off no matter how low the battery gets? This would also be fine with me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't run into this issue until I reflashed my ROM to one with W6.1. Then, rather than get 12-13 hrs with my 3amp battery, I'd get 6. I used my original battery, but when I put the 3amp back in, I still had 47% left.
It's the ROM, and until there's a fix, it would be a pain to pull and replace the battery just to work around. I've done this several times recently when I'm on battery power, but I'd rather not.
Anybody heard of any other fixes, outside monitor, or do we wait until we get a Windows Mobile 6.1 fix?
Still no luck?
Hello,
Has anyone been able to find a solution for this. I am ordering the extended battery today. I will try to fully discharge it and then recharge it as was suggested and report back.
I emailed Mugen. We went back and forth with them trying to troubleshoot whether it's the battery or OS. They were clueless, but did offer an RMA to replace the battery. I pay the postage. Not sure if I'll send it back if it's the OS. I pull and replace the battery right now. It's a real pain, and I hate opening the case so much, but it's the only way I can get an accurate read.
PhoenixAG said:
This is a very valid issue which I have faced many times when using a 3rd party extended battery with other phones.
Not sure how to solve it though, although I have the 3000mah on order myself.
I think the battery reading is given by the battery itself, and most of these 3rd party manufacturers don't really care to put a smart processor in the battery (to reduce costs/make it smaller/etc).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The processor is required for these types of lithium ion batteries because it regulates the charging of the battery. If it didn't the battery would not charge properly, or maybe not even charge at all.
There is no solution for now, people from other forums tries to patch battdrvr.dll.
But two things may help a little:
1.You may completely disable battery monitoring
HKLM\Drivers\BuiltIn\Battery rename or remove string battdrvr.dll
But you lost monitoring completely.
2. change HKLM\Drivers\BuiltIn\Battery\Order change value from 15 (in my case) to 0. - After this battery lasts longer until power off.
There is not complete hardware or software solution for this problem. We need to wait.
Low Battery warning:
By default, a PPC will sound a warning sound when the battery is running low (10%, fixed value), but there's no way to disable or change the notification. To enable this, so that it is visible in the "Sounds & Notifications" control panel, set:
HKCU\ControlPanel\Notifications\{A877D663-239C-47a7-9304-0D347F580408}\Default = "Low battery warning" (REGSZ string, no quotes)
Anybody have any updates on this? I have noticed this more on WM6.1, but it was still an issue on WM6. I just find this so annoying!
Is there any radio that can fix this? I noiced that this battery reading issue only occurs when the Phone Signal is on. When off, it never happens to me. Or it seems. So it has something to do with the radio.
bump, anyone got a solution?
this is very interesting, i bought the seidio 3200 battery i am having the same problems. i just tired the
change HKLM\Drivers\BuiltIn\Battery\Order change value from 15 (in my case) to 0
i am going to see how that works out throughout the day
Tried It
I am having same issue, reset the registry key to "0" and ran for a full day, no change, still incorrect reading. I have a 2700 Mah battery and the charge indicater is completely wrong on it. I have cycled the battery as per reccoemndations, but still get wrong power remaining readings. Can remove the battery and resets itselft to a more correct reading.
I am out of ideas, guess we need someone from HTC to chime in with a hardware fix.
MWS
ms0529 said:
I am having same issue, reset the registry key to "0" and ran for a full day, no change, still incorrect reading. I have a 2700 Mah battery and the charge indicater is completely wrong on it. I have cycled the battery as per reccoemndations, but still get wrong power remaining readings. Can remove the battery and resets itselft to a more correct reading.
I am out of ideas, guess we need someone from HTC to chime in with a hardware fix.
MWS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have tried it too and it still does the same thing. i would still need to pull the battery and restart the device for the batt meter to get a more accurate reading. i could do it about 3 times before the battery dies completely.
is there this problem with all extended batteries or just with the larger ones?
the reason I ask is that I've got a $17 credit at Amazon and was thinking of grabbing a 1600mah battery, it's only like $22 with ship so I'll only pay a few bucks for it really...
I wanted to get the larger one but it's fat and won't fit standard carrying case, but the 1600 is slim and will fit in place a regular battery

Battery does not charge properly when D2 is off

Hi,
I noticed the following problem on my Diamond 2:
If I turn off the phone for night charge it never shows green in the morning.
The only way to see that amazing green light is to charge the phone whent it is turned on.
Of course I applied the latest hotfix - no use for the off mode charging. And of course I wrote to htc - will not waste your time repeating their suggestions.
And I am not happy with my phone battery life - it hardly endures one working day - lets say - 10 hours...
ROM - Official, yet.
orlean said:
Hi,
I noticed the following problem on my Diamond 2:
If I turn off the phone for night charge it never shows green in the morning.
The only way to see that amazing green light is to charge the phone whent it is turned on.
Of course I applied the latest hotfix - no use for the off mode charging. And of course I wrote to htc - will not waste your time repeating their suggestions.
And I am not happy with my phone battery life - it hardly endures one working day - lets say - 10 hours...
ROM - Official, yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never turn my phone off so the green light problem never arises. However I will check and see if occurs.
As for battery life, you will need to give it a few weeks of use before you see maximum battery life.
Make sure you don't continually discharge the battery (better still keep it charging whenever you can) and you should see improvement over time.
Unlocking and replaceing the ROM can also have a significant effect on battery performance as does the Radio version in use. That's going to need some work on your part but the improvements are there to be had.
Some apps that are in common use are also power hungry and can cause a significant drain on power.
And if you install your apps to mem card then again that uses more power than installs to phone storage memory.
You can also turn off any unused background apps and processes.
Only turn on Bluetooth and WiFi when needed.
All these things help.
Personally I carry a spare standard battery with me at all times and strangely since I bought it I haven't needed to us it. The placebo battery effect?
Thanks for the answer.
About the battery usage conseption:
You suggest that I plug my phone each time when possible?
I thought that as the battery has XX recharges according to the specifications it is not good to charge each time whenever you got AC or USB access
I started to follow your recommendation anyway.
For example however - my laptop is never (when possible) with battery in it. I use the battery only when necessary, becasue in the user manual is written that has 300 cycles of recharging. And I always wait until completely discharged before charging. That is how I began treating the Dimond, too.
orlean said:
Thanks for the answer.
About the battery usage conseption:
You suggest that I plug my phone each time when possible?
I thought that as the battery has XX recharges according to the specifications it is not good to charge each time whenever you got AC or USB access
I started to follow your recommendation anyway.
For example however - my laptop is never (when possible) with battery in it. I use the battery only when necessary, becasue in the user manual is written that has 300 cycles of recharging. And I always wait until completely discharged before charging. That is how I began treating the Dimond, too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With Lithium Ion batteries the "quoted" numbers of "rechage" is is an approximate equivalent to give some idea of life expectacy.
It's a hangover from the old NiCad battery days and is not really very helpful when applied to Lithium Ion usage.
The most important aspect of LIon is it's ability to hold it's voltge at max current for longer than other technology. It does this best when well charged and maintained at near max as possible as often as possible. The downside is it's life expectancy which does deteriorate over time.
If you require max daily useage then max charging whenever possible will give you this and you will have to accept that the battery will at some point loose it's charge retaining capabilities and will have to be replaced.
For most of us that's the most important thing.
This is not a battery issue, I believe that this is a software one.
I noticed this morning, having left my phone on charge, and 'off', all night, that the indicator light was still red. When I switched on the phone, it showed only 80% charged.
Having seen this before, I carried out a soft reset, the battery indicator then showed fully charged.
So the battery is charging fully, but the battery charge indicator is showing less than that.

Advanced battery management

Hi,
I wonder if we could have advanced battery charging management on Android in order to minimize wear. The basic idea is to avoid micro-cycles, i.e. don't start charging every time the power supply is plugged in. I find myself plugging in my Nexus several times a day, so I get several charge cycles every day. Instead, the Nexus should draw its power over USB, but not start charging.
The thinkpad_smapi module implements this for IBM/Lenovo laptops. There are two thresholds, start_charge_thresh and stop_charge_thresh. Setting the start threshold to e.g. 40 will not start charging unless the remaining capacity is below 40 %, and stop_charge_thresh will probably (I don't use it) stop charging early. I use a start threshold of 25 % on my Thinkpad, so I always have at least around 1 hour left, which is enough for me. I understand if people want a full battery all the time and rather buy a new battery every now and then. However, my first Thinkpad battery died after 1.5 years (~500 cycles). The second battery is 2 years old and still charges to 77 % of the original capacity (50 Wh of 64 Wh), so this simple measure has a significant effect.
There's a lot to know about LiPo/LiIon-batteries, way more than I know, but the bottom line is that keeping the battery between 40 % and 95 % minimizes chemical wear.
Maybe someone came across battery-related stuff while digging through the kernel sources and can comment on this. Charging is probably not handled in the kernel, but in the radio or by a dedicated circuit, but maybe there's an interface exposed to the kernel that can be used to set those threshold values. That's how it's done on Thinkpads.
Some changes to how charge management (which is done in the kernel in the ds2784_battery driver) is handled in full and near-full situations are under way. Look for them in the .32-test1 kernel sources in the near future. We're not planning on being quite as aggressive as you propose (wait until 40% to begin charging, etc), but reducing discharge/recharge cycling once the battery is full is planned.
swetland said:
Some changes to how charge management (which is done in the kernel in the ds2784_battery driver) is handled in full and near-full situations are under way. Look for them in the .32-test1 kernel sources in the near future. We're not planning on being quite as aggressive as you propose (wait until 40% to begin charging, etc), but reducing discharge/recharge cycling once the battery is full is planned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i found some unusual battery behavior on the nexus one. i'll charge to 100% when on. then ill delete the batterystats.bin and power off. when off, the light is still orange. takes about a full 5 minutes later then turns green. when i do this and power on, with heavy usage it stays on 100% for 15-35 min, then slowly drops. but without doing this, it just slowly drops from 100%.
100% is not quite the same as fully charged (yes this is a little confusing). If you yank power immediately upon hitting 100% you will typically have a less full battery than if you let it sit until it stops charging. The "power off charge mode" doesn't indicate 100% with the green light -- it indicates "charge complete".
The battery log at /d/battery_log gives a bit more detail as to what's going on (as well as the chatter from the battery driver in the dmesg log).
swetland said:
100% is not quite the same as fully charged (yes this is a little confusing). If you yank power immediately upon hitting 100% you will typically have a less full battery than if you let it sit until it stops charging. The "power off charge mode" doesn't indicate 100% with the green light -- it indicates "charge complete".
The battery log at /d/battery_log gives a bit more detail as to what's going on (as well as the chatter from the battery driver in the dmesg log).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the response! i learned something new today
I've used the Battery University to guide me on Li-Ion batteries:
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-12.htm
(scroll down on either page to see some guidelines).
The first page says that multiple partial recharges are healthier for the battery than fewer deeper discharge/recharges due to less heat buildup. Personally I have never fretted about just plugging in my Macbooks or phones whenever I wanted and the batteries have all lasted quite well.
I also use a slightly weaker charger for my G1 and N1 than the supplied chargers (500 to 700mA Blackberry chargers) and they don't get as hot when I charge them, yet charge to full capacity quickly enough for my needs. The second page recommends a 0.5C charge current (1C == 1400mAmps, 0.5C == 700mAmps) for better life.
I've been playing w the 32 test kernel and looks like this commit has implemented the battery management.
I've now noticed that if the battery level is higher than 90%, plugging in the charger will not charge the phone. Once the battery drops below 90, the battery will start getting charged.
http://r.android.com/#change,13342
is this .32 kernel going to be released as an OTA soon? or is it still in dev stages?
*push*
1.8 years later...
Is it finally implemented in Gingerbread? Are there any mods that provide a frontend to that settings?

[Q] Battery Drain

I´ve just come back from a two month expedition on Borneo. But when i got back to civilization and turned on my trusty N1 I quickly realized that my battery performance has dropped significantly. Before I usually had one day of heavy use (including Wifi, 3G, tethering and GPS usage), but now I only have about 7 hours standby with everything except GSM turned off. Which renders the phone useless for my (normal) use. The phone actually consumes so much power that the battery level drops while charging. The only way to charge it up is to turn the phone completely off.
I flashed the RoDrIgUeZsTyLe™ MIUIMOD -ROM before I left for my trip, so I thought maybe that was the problem (some bug i the kernel or something), so i flashed back to CM6 with no success. I have also tried a new battery.
Anyone knows what can be the cause?
All help is deeply appreciated --- I miss my good old N1!
I accidentally placed this in the wrong section - can anybody move it to Q&A?
Try the battery app in my sig to pull your battery values, then post in that thread and one of us can help you see what's happening with your battery.
maybe the charger is the problem?
Just throwing it out there... I've seen it happen for Laptop users...
Try the battery app in my sig to pull your battery values, then post in that thread and one of us can help you see what's happening with your battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Voltage (mV): 4035.84
Current (mA): -464.98
Temp (C): 30.2
Percent: 90
Batt age: 94
Full40(mAh): 1452
Min Chg Curr(mA):80
Min Chg Volt(mV): 4099
Empty Curr (mA):200.0
Empty Volt (mV): 3.426
Capacity(mAh):1273
Aged Capa(mAh): 1393
BTW...I have also tried several different chargers without any success.
Hi,
I had similar problems with my rooted N1 with stock Froyo.
The problem for me was a radio image older than regular. Baseband version should be something _4.06 or higher.
You can check this information in Settings ->About Phone
Sent from my Nexus One
Fulvio Minichini said:
Hi,
I had similar problems with my rooted N1 with stock Froyo.
The problem for me was a radio image older than regular. Baseband version should be something _4.06 or higher.
You can check this information in Settings ->About Phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got 32.41.00.32U_5.08.00.04 so it doesn't seem to be old, but I'll try to update the radio anyway with a custom stock rom from modaco. Will let you guys know if it helps
Update: I'm now back at *****_4.06****. No change
My first thought is: what level of power did you leave your battery with before you went away?
Lithium batteries are permanently damaged if the voltage drops below a certain level. Leakage will mean that any battery left for a while will lose charge.
Therefore, if you leave a battery with close to zero power left for a long time, leakage can mean the charge level drops below the critical minimum level and the cells become damaged.
As such, it is recommended to never store lithium batteries with below 40% charge, and to store them in a cool environment, since leakage is faster at higher temperatures.
Yeah, that was my first thought too, since I forgot to turn it off before I left (the phone was stored in a room with AC at least). However, I have now gotten a new battery and it doesn't help...
I have tried to check if there are any programs that are running in the background that draw unnecessary power, but i cant find any ---at least not with system panel. The cpu-load also seem to be normal.
Anyone got some ideas?
Thats really wierd... The only thing you can do is reflash the radio and flash it to stock. Then use the new battery and charge it overnight - so it overcharges slightly. Let it totally drain till the phone turns off, and repeat a coupla of times. Ignore the levels reported by the phone.
See if it starts to behave normally after that. If not you either have another dud battery or there's something wrong with the charging circuit in your phone.
If you have a friend with an N1, you could try charging your respective batteries in your phones, then swap batteries. See how much time each phone lasts
Thanks for the tip.
I'll try that before I buy a new cellphone.

Battery Drain after full charge with charger connected on a GB OS image

Seems most of us have not noticed:
GB stops the charger supply on our SGS as soon as the battery is fully charged and then your phone uses BATTERY instead of charger to keep itself on!
If your phone has some apps running which drains the battery fast, your phone will drain the entire battery and will shut down when the battery is dead!
This is very dangerous for the battery to discharge every day because of this bug and Samsung and most of still haven't seems to notice this!
I have tested this several times now and downgrading the Froyo fixes the issue.
This issue occurs even when the phone is sitting idle with minimal battery drain for several hours connected with charger (in such situation the drain is minimal with few percentage like when you disconnect the charger.
Let me know if some of you have different experience as my phone definitely has this issue which doesn't exist if I downgrade to Froyo.
We all can check this behavior:
Charge the phone till it says 100% charged. Use the phone normally or heavily for several minutes (like web browsing). Keep it connected to charger while it says "Charged" 100% for a couple of hours (to ensure that you did not drain the battery beyond charger capacity). You would still get much lesser than 100% charge after removing the charger (try using battery indicator tools which tells exact %age of battery).
This bug exist on all the Gingerbread images I have tried including official and those based on JVP 2.3.4
Read below how lithium ion batteries work best if used around full charge (without over charging - Phone and Battery has protection circuit) during regular use:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
Thanks to "$omator"
Use this software to test your battery: https://market.android.com/details?id=ccc71.bmw
Deeper than 10% charging and discharging cycles unnecessarily will significantly reduce the lifetime of the battery. Hence when phone is plugged, it should charge battery to 100% and power the phone through charger after stopping charging. Samsung usually stop charging around 96% of full capacity of battery to avoid over charging. After disconnecting the batteries once around 96% was achieved, it will restart the charging cycle around 95%. Hence all builds till Froyo reported close to 100% charge level and never less than 95% when disconnected from the charger.
GIST - Batteries should maintain floating charge voltage to avoid depletion and wear unnecessarily while connected to the charger after full charge and phone should run on Charger ONLY. Instead, Samsung goofed up Gingerbread drivers to switch off the charger and run the phone on batteries randomly draining the battery sometimes completely. GB OS thinks phone is running on charger and hence show 100% charge and RAPIDLY drains the battery till it goes dead when batteries go dead (randomly)!
Last screenshot is from Froyo. Attaching more on a later post on how stable it is in Froyo.
EDIT 1st July - More screenshots on how Froyo maintains stable voltage and do not consume battery power (current) in post #57: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=15228263&postcount=57
Screenshot #5 and #6 tells the DROP in battery voltage as soon as the charger is connected (200mV!) which speaks how much the GB OS consumes more when plugged in and STILL discharging!
Got the same problem with jpu. i didnt really realize this problem until this morning, just wondered why i had only about 90% battery in the morning after charging while with froyo i had about >95 in the morning.
today i slept until 10:00 and wow, battery was at 70(!) %.
when i plugged it in yesterday, ive got about 80% left (well, charging the phone every night seems to be a rite for me).
(and yes, im always listening to the sound when plugging the charger in).
so, as far as i can say, phone does not just stop charging at 100%, it also seems to consume much more power than it should. dangerous for battery, when the phone keeps plugged in for t >> t(100%).
This is a known issue of all current gingerbread builds. It will probably be fixed in due time.
and we wait for it
and we wait for it
Glad to hear it's a common issue. I was wondering if my batt/charger was faulty
Anyway, let's hope this gets fixed soon!
I noticed this the other day, hope it is fixed soon!
Yes, this has bugged me for the last month or more. Hence my question here about downgrading to 2.2.1...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1135297
A temporary workaround - turn the phone off. Plug the charger in, then power on. Doing it this way should keep the battery topped-up after it first hits 100% charge - at least it does for me(I think reliably, but I can't remember). But it's a nuisance - especially as I tether for my home internet these days. Machines updating the OS overnight have seen me unplug to have less than 60% charge despite it saying 100% before unplugging, which doesn't last the day.
Unimpressed with Gingerbread on the whole. And Samsung/Kies for not letting me downgrade if the latest update(s) aren't up to much.
Actually I'm running eclair today to compare the battery. Got sick of unplugging it in the morning only to have less than 70% charge.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
I don't appear to have this problem, I put my phone on charge last night at 23:30 as usual, the alarm went off at 07:30, then played a couple of tunes, phone showed 100%. Disconnected charger, went downstairs, checked xda for any news, saw this thread, checked my phone's battery level and it showed 98% after being disconnected from charger for 27 mins. Unless I'm using nav or maps my normal battery drain is 4% per hour in a reasonable signal strength area, so 98% after 30mins is normal for me.
For ref: Galaxy i9000, XEU UK unbranded on XXJVO via keis. no mods.
Thanks for posting this I used my phone's gps yesterday when driving and I only just stumbled across this when I got where I was going, phone still said battery at 100% whilst plugged in but as soon as I turned the engine off and killed the charger my phone died with a dead battery.
Somewhat annoying to say the least, I'm going back to a 2.2.1 Rom tonight I've had loads of problems with all the 2.3 Rom's I've tried mainly lag and battery drain. I never seem to have any free RAM on gingerbread, lucky to get 50Mb on boot
oh well rant over the world can now continue ;-)
goughymachine said:
Actually I'm running eclair today to compare the battery. Got sick of unplugging it in the morning only to have less than 70% charge.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, woke up this morning and unplugged phone. 1.5 hours later and it's on 95% still, with a little usage. Didn't see that on 2.3.4. Using jg4 fully stock, only rooted. I might stick jsd on it today and see how it goes tomorrow. Not many apps back on it though. Surprisingly the phone feels quite fast at the moment. Don't remember eclair being like this. Not seeing much difference between 2.3.4 and it currently.
As I use go launcher, having gingerbread is probably less important for me cause I kind of don't use many of the features of it (the launchers etc) anyway.
Geryatrix said:
I don't appear to have this problem, I put my phone on charge last night at 23:30 as usual, the alarm went off at 07:30, then played a couple of tunes, phone showed 100%. Disconnected charger, went downstairs, checked xda for any news, saw this thread, checked my phone's battery level and it showed 98% after being disconnected from charger for 27 mins. Unless I'm using nav or maps my normal battery drain is 4% per hour in a reasonable signal strength area, so 98% after 30mins is normal for me.
For ref: Galaxy i9000, XEU UK unbranded on XXJVO via keis. no mods.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would appreciate if you could test the issue by using the phone heavily after full charge by KEEPING THE CHARGER CONNECTED AFTER FULL CHARGE (preferably playing 3D games or running benchmarks) and disconnect the charger to check the battery level.
Seems most of us are unaware of this issue and some confuse this with the excess battery drain issue after DISCONNECTING the charger.
Thank goodness I found this thread. I had thought there was something wrong with my battery. After unplugging my battery would instantly drop from 100% to 96%, once even 87%. Thinking it was something to do with battery re calibration due to me flashing new roms, i wiped batt stats many times and went through of arduous process of draining and fully charging, but to no avail. Now I will rest easy despite still facing this bug. At least I know I'm not the only one.
yep...i just flashed a couple of days ago from stock 2.2 (KC1) via kies to 2.3.4 (JVP) using ODIN. I have had it charge fully and upon removal of the usb cable, it dropped from 100% to 98%. Since then, I have gone through one full discharge and the subsequent recharge to 100% dropped to 96% upon charger removal. I recall reading about this somewhere suggesting a recalibration was needed, but I was just trying to get it up to 100% and didn't have the time to search forums (i was using a portable usb charger). I disconnected the charger and after reconnection and display of 100%, it would then drop to 97% instead of 96%. A repeat proved fruitless and so I tried to charge it while off. Turning it on after a bit I found that it was brought up to 98%. Repeated process for 99% and FINALLY 100%. Though the final 100% was achieved after a few 100% while off and while on charges. It stayed at 100% for a bit over 30 mins. I will see how subsequent charges behave...
mwshuo said:
Thank goodness I found this thread. I had thought there was something wrong with my battery. After unplugging my battery would instantly drop from 100% to 96%, once even 87%. Thinking it was something to do with battery re calibration due to me flashing new roms, i wiped batt stats many times and went through of arduous process of draining and fully charging, but to no avail. Now I will rest easy despite still facing this bug. At least I know I'm not the only one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a serious bug as it will significantly reduce the battery life due to repeated deeper charge and discharge cycle.
unless i've misunderstood, it seems to me that what will really affect battery life is the battery stats calibration. where it once would charge to 100%, it will now charge to, for example, 96%. Doing a calibration will make that 96% appear to the phone as 100%. From reading, it seems calibration is required for firmware flashes, so the more flashes and calibrations you do, the less battery life you will have since subsequent calibrations are done when the battery reading is less than 100 immediately after an unplug. Following the example above, the next flash could also have the same issue of displaying 100% and then 96% immediately after an unplug. The user would try to calibrate their battery yet again. Now this time, the 96% is of the previous full reading (which was actually 96% but appears as 100% b/c of calibration). So, the after a second calibration, the 100% reading is actually closer to 92.16% of the original pre-flash and pre-calibrated battery (96% of 96% of 100%).
hope that makes sense and someone can confirm, or instead (which i hope), prove me wrong as I would hate to think that what I stated is true since that will GREATLY diminish battery life artificially.
such overcharging (power off + connect charger and so on) is slowly killing battery
and it is not a bug that phone dsiconnects charger when it hits 100% and starts eating batt
anyways read my signature yellow part
$omator said:
such overcharging (power off + connect charger and so on) is slowly killing battery
and it is not a bug that phone dsiconnects charger when it hits 100% and starts eating batt
anyways read my signature yellow part
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but in pre-gingerbread roms the charging started again when below certain value, so it stayed above 90% all the time.
Now you can drain the battery heavily by using it while plugged (and the battery always shows 100%), then unplug and have it jump down to like 60%, or worse, turn off.
The only way to restart the charging is removing and connecting the charger again.
i tkink thyve must decided that such upcharging when almost full shortens battery life
mk_ln said:
yep...i just flashed a couple of days ago from stock 2.2 (KC1) via kies to 2.3.4 (JVP) using ODIN. I have had it charge fully and upon removal of the usb cable, it dropped from 100% to 98%. Since then, I have gone through one full discharge and the subsequent recharge to 100% dropped to 96% upon charger removal. I recall reading about this somewhere suggesting a recalibration was needed, but I was just trying to get it up to 100% and didn't have the time to search forums (i was using a portable usb charger). I disconnected the charger and after reconnection and display of 100%, it would then drop to 97% instead of 96%. A repeat proved fruitless and so I tried to charge it while off. Turning it on after a bit I found that it was brought up to 98%. Repeated process for 99% and FINALLY 100%. Though the final 100% was achieved after a few 100% while off and while on charges. It stayed at 100% for a bit over 30 mins. I will see how subsequent charges behave...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are confusing recalibration and battery drain after full charge
The issue is after full charge, phone disconnects the charger and start draining batteries till it goes dead.
Let me rephrase the issue - batteries start draining immediately after full charge as the phone somehow start using battery INSTEAD of charger ONLY after full charge!
This is a serious bug as the GB drivers switch off the charger (instead of batteries) after full charge when the OPPOSITE has to happen!

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