Database Users

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.
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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).
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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?

Battery Level Issue - Fix Suggestion

I don't know if my suggestion is wrong or if I'm a total n00b or what the deal is, but what is up with the battery level issues on this phone? It goes from 100% down to 80% in like a matter of minutes even with no usage, it then drops steadily down to 50%, then it drops suddenly to 15%, then goes down to 10%, then 5%, then 1%. How can it be so hard to calculate a battery level?
Now I bet someone is going to come in here and bash my idea, and I apologise in advance if I look like a moron, but shouldn't the calculation for the battery level be something along the lines of:
((Current Voltage - Minimum Voltage) / (Maximum Voltage - Minimum Voltage)) * 100 = Current Battery Percent
If that would work (even if only a little better than the current method), can someone PLEASE write at least a widget or something that displays the actual battery level, not this inaccurate level that Samsung claims it to be, and if possible modify whatever it is that calculates it and replace it with said formula?
I tried this formula on my phone using a simple calculator (using 4.1V as my max and 3.5V as my minimum and a battery level widget to display the current voltage) and it seemed to work fine for me and it was a lot more accurate. I just wish it could be automated.

I think that's a common issue on Galaxy 3. Sometimes it's accurate, sometimes not.
I unplug it, after half an hour it's at 80%, then drops by 10% down to 50% and after that suddenly to 5%. Then I turn it off and on again and it returns to 50% or 60%.
But as I said, sometimes it's accurate, but I don't know what causes it.
I've tried some battery widgets, but they all display the same information.

That was a common issue that happens more frequently when you flash your phone without a full charged battery, when that happens i try to wait until the batery ends and wait 2 o 3 hours and charge the phone while its off until it shows full charge

Racoen said:
I think that's a common issue on Galaxy 3. Sometimes it's accurate, sometimes not.
I unplug it, after half an hour it's at 80%, then drops by 10% down to 50% and after that suddenly to 5%. Then I turn it off and on again and it returns to 50% or 60%.
But as I said, sometimes it's accurate, but I don't know what causes it.
I've tried some battery widgets, but they all display the same information.
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Yes, its the same with my G3.. But it always was like that, with eclair and now with froyo.

These are the files that regulate it (its in c, but you my be able to understand some parts of it without it).
They didnt calculate it like that, but used an if..else if ...else method. and with fixed values of multiples of ten (except for lower battery).
I dunno how to compile from the sources, when I do I'll change it and send it to KARMA.
Also, sometimes when its low it doesnt show it correctly. Try rebooting if you suspect that.

I've noticed that last 20-30% stays for almoust 10h, but first 80% only 1 day.

If it was only the faulty display of the percentage I normally wouldnt even care. There are many widgets that display the actual battery voltage which gives a much better indication of the actual SOC.
BUT: what really gets on my nerves is, that when the calculated battery level drops below some 10%, the G3 reduces the display brightness, doesnt let me use the camera, doesnt let me start my music app... even if the battery voltage is still at 3.7-3.8V.
The problem seems to be (correct me if i am wrong), that the G3 calculates the battery level with the minimum of the measured voltage in that discharge cycle. So if I use some app which consumes more power, or if I have many active downloads or whatever, the voltage of the battery can sag for a short time, which also causes the calculated battery level to drop. When the phone is idle again the battery voltage goes back up, but the percentage is stuck (in worst case at a very low level).
Since a reboot seems to make the phone re-evaluate the actual SOC, the question is, if there is an app (or if someone can make an app) that forces the phone to re-evaluate the SOC without rebooting (and so also reactivates camera etc.). Even better if the firmware was modified in a way, that the algorithm for determining the battery level uses a filtered value of the battery voltage so that a short term voltage sag does not affect the calculated battery level.

Battery Indicator says "Overvoltage" ?

I just installed the Circular Battery Indicator from this forum:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8639993
And it works fine, although when I check the program it says "Overvoltage / 35C / 3.825V"
What this overvoltage means?
Thank you.
EDIT: Reboot made it. No more "Overvoltage", instead of that it is "Good Health".
BUT after charging it reads Overvoltage again.

i think the voltage when we use（discharge） or when we charge is different, and the latter will be higher, thus when we just finished transferring files from PC(charged little), the voltage in that moment is higher than nomal using, and the "Overvoltage" came and remained as a sign. however, it does hardly any harm to the phone.
it's just my personal opinion, and enjoy your x5

Yes, it went back to normal after reboot. Now my phone was charging via charger over night and the voltage goes to 4.2V when charging (as it reads in battery too) and when stopped the charging it stayed on the ~4.2. Now after little use and battery state as 90%, it is on 4V.. Still "Overvoltage".
The voltage remains on the software and It seems to take time before it turns back to normal after charging.

It has to do with the Volts that the battery supplies... If the battery is fully charged (or charging) it says Overvoltage (also up to a % ). I have mine at 80% and it supplies with 4V atm (it has the "good" label right now). I think that with our kind of battery it is recommended not to let the battery fall bellow ~12%

AceDroidX said:
It has to do with the Volts that the battery supplies... If the battery is fully charged (or charging) it says Overvoltage (also up to a % ). I have mine at 80% and it supplies with 4V atm (it has the "good" label right now). I think that with our kind of battery it is recommended not to let the battery fall bellow ~12%
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why 12%??first time that i hear this.

I think that at this point it goes below 3,7 V
Not a big issue anyway.

[Guide]Using the Advanced Charging Controller (ACC) Magisk Module with Pixel 3a/XL

While I've had many Android phones, this is the first phone that I decided to use a battery charging controller to regulate how my battery is charged. I just wanted to share my journey with others and encourage others to try this out if you are not already.
Although there are several different battery charging controllers out there (and more than one named "ACC" which makes it even more confusing) I decided to use the Advanced Charging Controller module developed by VR25. I choose this module because I felt it provided the most customization.
Step 1 - Installation
Installing the module is easy. It is listed in the Magisk repository. Simply browse the available modules and find the one titled, "Advanced Charging Controller (acc) created by VR25 @ XDA-developers". There are several ACC modules, so make sure you install the one by VR25 to follow this thread.
Magisk will flash the module and start it automatically. You don't even need to reboot, although it is the only way to clear the Magisk notification that the module will be started at the next reboot.
Step 2 - Changing the Charging Switch Setting
I found that the default charging switch setting (auto) does not work reliably with our phones. Therefore I would suggest changing it using the commands below. Personally I have choose option 2 (battery/charge_disable 0 1) but I listed all the options with the quirks that I have found with each one.
Step 2.1 - open your preferred command line app - I use Terminal Emulator.
Step 2.2 - type "su" and hit enter to gain root
Step 2.3 - type "acc -s s" and hit enter - this is the command that allows us to select another charging switch
Step 2.4 - type what number of the charging switch you want to use.
Here are the available charging switches and the issues I have found with them:
1) Automatic - this switch tries to cycle through the available switches until if find one that "works".
- Passes the ACC switch test (type "acc -t"): Yes
- Charges and discharges according to the cooldownratio: No - I found that the phone would charge anytime it was plugged in and below the Pause threshold. It did not seem to wait until the battery level was below the Resume threshold.
- Works with battery idle mode (the phone will pull power from the AC power and not the battery when the battery reaches the Pause threshold): Yes
- Begins charging when phone reaches Resume threshold: Yes
- Charging "chime" and battery icons correctly reflect if the phone is charging or discharging: ???
- Suffers from wakelock issues when phone is plugged in but not charging: It does have a "overheat_mitigation" wakelock when on the battery idle mode, but because the phone is not using the battery power, it doesn't effect battery life and therefore I don't concern myself with this issue.
- Other issues:​
2) battery/charge_disable 0 1 :
- Passes the ACC switch test (type "acc -t"): Yes
- Charges and discharges according to the cooldownratio: Yes
- Works with battery idle mode (the phone will pull power from the AC power and not the battery when the battery reaches the Pause threshold): Yes
- Begins charging when phone reaches Resume threshold: Yes
- Charging "chime" and battery icons correctly reflect if the phone is charging or discharging: ???
- Suffers from wakelock issues when phone is plugged in but not charging: It does have a "overheat_mitigation" wakelock when on the battery idle mode, but because the phone is not using the battery power, it doesn't effect battery life and therefore I don't concern myself with this issue.
- Other issues:​3) battery/input_suspend 0 1:
- Passes the ACC switch test (type "acc -t"): Yes
- Charges and discharges according to the cooldownratio: Yes
- Works with battery idle mode (the phone will pull power from the AC power and not the battery when the battery reaches the Pause threshold): No - phone begins discharging from battery when Pause threshold is reached but the phone is still plugged in
- Begins charging when phone reaches Resume threshold: Yes
- Charging "chime" and battery icons correctly reflect if the phone is charging or discharging: No - may show charging icon when phone is really discharging, especially during cooldownratio times and the chime doesn't always ring when charging resumes.
- Suffers from wakelock issues when phone is plugged in but not charging: No
- Other issues: The phone seems to follow the cooldown charge/discharge times even before reaching the cooldown threshold. I find the phone pausing for 10 seconds (my cool down ratio) when the batter level might be a 50% - long before the 60% cooldown threshold I have set in the config file.​4) dc/input_suspend 0 1:
- Passes the ACC switch test (type "acc -t"): NO, so this switch doesn't work with ACC
- Charges and discharges according to the cooldownratio:
- Starts discharging when the phone reaches the Pause threshold:
- Begins charging when phone reaches Resume threshold:
- Charging "chime" and battery icons correctly reflect if the phone is charging or discharging:
- Suffers from wakelock issues when phone is plugged in but not charging:
- Other issues:​5) battery/charge_control_limit 0 1:
- Passes the ACC switch test (type "acc -t"): NO, so this switch doesn't work with ACC
- Charges and discharges according to the cooldownratio:
- Starts discharging when the phone reaches the Pause threshold:
- Begins charging when phone reaches Resume threshold:
- Charging "chime" and battery icons correctly reflect if the phone is charging or discharging:
- Suffers from wakelock issues when phone is plugged in but not charging:
- Other issues:​
Step 3 - Configuration
You can configure the ACC controller using a couple of different methods. You can do everything using command lines, you can use the beta ACC app (see note below), or you can edit a config file that ACC creates when it is installed. Personally I found that editing the config file was the quickest and easiest method to make general changes.
The ACC config file is found at /storage/emulated/0/acc The file is named "config.txt" You can open the file with a text editor. I personally use the app Root Explorer. I long click on the file name, and then press the three dot button in the upper right hand corner. Choose "Open in Text Editor" and the config file will open and allow changes to be made. Saving the file will automatically push the changes to ACC, you do not need to reboot or restart the ACC daemon for changes to take effect.
I won't go into a lot of detail about all of the different configuration options here as the developer's xda thread is the best place to get that type of information. But I will talk about the most basic setting - the "capacity" setting. It is the second setting listed in the config file and it should look something like "capacity=0, 60, 70-80". Here is a break down of what those numbers mean:
- The First Number (0): is battery level were the phone will shut off. The default setting of 0 means the phone will turn off when the battery level hits 0. Personally I don't want my battery completely draining, so I have it set at 5.
- The Second Number (60): is the battery level where the module starts it's "cool down" functionality. Cool down (listed as coolDownRatio in the config file) is where the phone will stop charging briefly and then restart charging. The default "cool down" setting is coolDownRatio=50/10 which means the phone will charge for 50 seconds, and then stop charging for 10 seconds before charging again for 50 seconds, etc, etc, etc. This is designed to keep the battery temps low. A battery with a charge level less than this number (60 in this example) will charge without pausing, but when the battery level gets to this number or above, the phone will charge and pause based on the coolDownRatio.
- The Third Number (70): is the "resume" value. If the phone's battery level is below this resume value, the phone will charge. If the battery level is at or above this resume value, the phone will not charge even while plugged in.
- The Fourth Number (80): is the "pause" value. This is the battery level where the phone will stop charging and should not charge above this value.​
The default settings are set this way because research has shown that a phone's battery will last the longest with the least amount of battery capacity loss if it is charged to a max of 80% of the battery's capacity, and allowed to discharge just a small amount (10%) before being charged again. I realize this goes against the old "wives tale" that our phone's batteries have a very limited number of charges and it is best to limit the number of charges by only charging the phone when it gets to a low level. This is not true in actual battery performance however and if you charge like this, you are actually decreasing your battery's life expectancy and performance.
Obviously the default settings may not be the best setting for you. The default settings are probably only practical for a device that is plugged in 100% of the time. Personally I have changed my capacity setting to capacity=5, 60, 70-90. This means my phone will turn off when the battery level reaches 5% (something it has never dropped to yet), it is charged to a max of 90% and will discharge to 70% before charging again, and the cooldown charging cycling starts when the battery is 60% or higher. Obviously I'm not on my charger all the time, so it is very common for my battery to drop below 70%. However, if the battery is below 70% and I have a charger at my disposal, I am going to charge the phone back to 90% rather than let it the battery levels continue to fall.
Final Notes and Misc Thoughts
There are lots of other options and commands you can use in ACC. Feel free to share any changes you like to make, or post if you are having problems getting the module to work as expected on the 3a. I hope this helps some people feel give the module a try.
There is an ACC app that is available now that allows you to control some of the settings from a nice GUI. I personally did not like using it as I found it would overwrite settings in the config file that I was not intending to be changed.
There is an ACC telegram group if you want to join and have direct communication with the developer and others.
Thanks to @jellopuddingstick for educating me on what the battery idle mode does and why it is beneficial to have it working!

if you want to extend your batteries life, one of the best ways is to not fast charge it. fast charging not only degrades it a bit faster because of the amount of current, but it also tends to heat the battery up more which makes it degrade even faster too. heat is the main reason i tell people not to use wireless charging.

pbanj said:
if you want to extend your batteries life, one of the best ways is to not fast charge it. fast charging not only degrades it a bit faster because of the amount of current, but it also tends to heat the battery up more which makes it degrade even faster too. heat is the main reason i tell people not to use wireless charging.
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This is why I always use a low current charger unless I absolutely need a quick charge. I have used the Dash charger that came with my OnePlus 5 only about 10 times in 2 years.

As I use my phone more, I realize that none of the charging switches seem to work 100% of the time as expected. I'll continue to do trial and error tests, but please share if you find a switch that works consistently.

sic0048 said:
As I use my phone more, I realize that none of the charging switches seem to work 100% of the time as expected. I'll continue to do trial and error tests, but please share if you find a switch that works consistently.
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I was having issues with ACC not working before installing the apk. I'll report back if I have any issues.
Nice guide BTW.

I've continued to edit my original post to provide as much information about the different charging switches and the issues I see with each one. Hopefully it is easy to understand.
I still find myself defaulting to the 3rd charging switch option and while it can act a little erratic sometimes, it does work normally most of the time.

I'm just curious if anyone has tried the "auto" charging switch in the latest ACC version? According to the release notes, there was some changes made to the auto system as it may not have been working correctly.
I'll try it here in a little while, but thought I would ask.

sic0048 said:
I'm just curious if anyone has tried the "auto" charging switch in the latest ACC version? According to the release notes, there was some changes made to the auto system as it may not have been working correctly.
I'll try it here in a little while, but thought I would ask.
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I've been using the apk auto switch, no issues.

Is this working for anyone:
usb/current_max:500000
I have is set in the app as an On plugged option and It is not working for me.

gargleblarg said:
I've been using the apk auto switch, no issues.
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The phone discharges at the pause threshold and not simply hold the charge at the threshold percentage?
I found the auto setting showed the same tendencies as switch 2 - not discharging below the pause threshold. But I haven't tried it with the new release which specifically mentioned the auto setting bring changed.

sic0048 said:
The phone discharges at the pause threshold and not simply hold the charge at the threshold percentage?
I found the auto setting showed the same tendencies as switch 2 - not discharging below the pause threshold. But I haven't tried it with the new release which specifically mentioned the auto setting bring changed.
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I'm on 2019.6.14-r1 version.
I charged up to 80% and kept it plugged in to see if it would drop or maintain, it dropped. It took forever.
Edit: 8 hours later and it has only dropped to 78%
@creeve4, I can't get the On Plugged options to work either. I tried "./usb/current_max:500000" and "usb/current_max:500000", I tried unplugging/plugging in the charger, resetting the daemon, still no luck. The settings were saved to the config file correctly. No idea.

gargleblarg said:
I'm on 2019.6.14-r1 version.
I charged up to 80% and kept it plugged in to see if it would drop or maintain, it dropped. It took forever.
Edit: 8 hours later and it has only dropped to 78%
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Interesting. That's unfortunately not what I experience.
I just tried the auto setting and plugged my phone in and it immediately went into what I am calling a "maintenance charge". It was only charging the phone by about 200 mA. I set the charging switch back to #3, unplugged and replugged in the phone and it is charging at about 1200mA which a pretty normal charging current for me.
It's this same roughly 200mA charge that I have seen previously with the auto setting after the phone reaches the set pause threshold - so the phone charges at normal current levels and then drops to the 200mA current after reaching the pause threshold. Admittedly, I did not allow the phone to reach the pause threshold this time (which would take forever at 200mA), but seeing that charging level at all leads me to believe that the auto charging switch is still not working for me (it should either be fully charging or full discharging). I suspect because the phone was above the resume threshold it defaulted to this maintenance charge (thinking the phone shouldn't be fully charged until it dropped below the resume threshold).

sic0048 said:
Interesting. That's unfortunately not what I experience.
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What was the battery level when you plugged it in?

sic0048 said:
Interesting. That's unfortunately not what I experience.
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That is interesting, have you tried updating yet?
I should also mention that I have only changed the percentage to 3% for the phone to shut off, the rest of the options are default.

Is anyone else getting the following message in the acc app after updating to the latest version?

creeve4 said:
Is anyone else getting the following message in the acc app after updating to the latest version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not using the app, so I can't answer your question. I was hoping someone else might chime in if they are using the app.

sic0048 said:
I'm not using the app, so I can't answer your question. I was hoping someone else might chime in if they are using the app.
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I just needed to update to the latest app version. The module was updated before the app.

Did anyone else lose their config settings when updating the ACC module recently? I updated a day or two ago and woke up to my phone at 100% charge. I started troubleshooting and found that the config file was set to all the default settings. This means the charging switch was set to "auto" which has never worked for me and it explains why the module didn't pause the charging at the default pause setting (80%).
The release notes talked about a lot of changes in the config file, but it never mentioned that users would lose their settings and be reset to default. I was just curious if anyone else experienced the same thing or not.

There's a bit of misinformation / misunderstanding going on here, I think. The best control file for our devices is battery/charge_disable. The "maintenance charge" (ACC refers to it as "idle mode") you're referring to is a good thing! This is explained both in the ACC readme [1] and by the developer of Battery Charge Limit [2][3]. The ping-ponging between the upper and lower thresholds is a fallback, it's not the desired mechanism. Hope this clears things up!
[1] "Charging switches that support battery idle mode take precedence", https://github.com/VR-25/acc/blob/master/README.md
[2] https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=76523599&postcount=1834
[3] https://android.stackexchange.com/a/200037

umm, i would be happy if someone give an advice to me the best configuration for the best battery charging cycle, anyone can help me?

Any kernel with Battery Idle Mode/Pass through Charging

Hello!
Some time ago I found inside Advanced Charging Controller this feature called battery idle mode. When the ASUS ROG phone 3 was launched I immediately noticed the pass through charging.
Basically it is the ability to run the phone directly from the charger and stop charging the battery in certain conditions (like when the battery is hot, or it reaches 80 %). On the long run this could mean a big improvement in battery longevity, especially for people that use their phones while charging (overnight charging, in-car navi, gaming, etc.)
Sadly, this feature is kernel dependent. So I am trying to figure out if there is a kernel that supports this feature. I've tried searching around the development area, but there was nothing obvious and I didn't dig through the discussions.
Thanks!

Did you happen to find a kernel with support?

Sadly I haven't.
But I did find a different trick: set ACC to charge with 0 A (or any other very low value) and you'd basically get the same outcome (the battery will stay at the same value). Now I am not sure if this is in fact activating some trickle charging mode (and wearing the battery in the process)...