Horrible battery/charging issues

[MrHaViK]

Refer to my post above, i pretty much solved my problem. Also, i've known for a while that not all chargers are created equal, but i didnt realize how much different. Most of my problems with slow charging occurred on no-name brand chargers, i finally got a new verizon car charger and it charges really fast no matter what i have running. So if you're using some charger you got at a gas station for $5, it might be time to upgrade.

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[Grimsin]

Im not using a generic cable. I'm using the cable that was packaged with the phone. My problem has more to do with the phone being plugged to the computer.

[MrHaViK]

That would be a problem, a usb port doesn't put out the same amount as a wall outlet by a long shot.

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[Grimsin]

Although a wall socket does put out more power the difference as far as what ends up going up the cable to the phone is not that big from wall socket to USB port. The USB is less true, it should not be the difference though. The Droid 4 uses more power then it gets when it is tethered to the computer, which is a joke. I can plug my HTC Thunderbolt into the computer with everything running and run the internet tether and still be getting a bit more power then its using.

[MrHaViK]

All i know is this, i had the same exact problem as you when i first posted about it. I havent done any extensive tests to find out what the exact cause was but altogether it worked. With 4g, gps and navigation running, and all bloatware active, my usb cable or cheap car charger would not charge but actually discharge slowly. The verizon charger would charge it, but very slowly(about 1% every 5-10 min) I used titanium to freeze all uneccessary apps(as per the safe to freeze list for droid 4) and switched off 4g. Now any charger i use will charge, but the verizon charger does it fast(1% per minute roughly)

So we can go back and fourth about what's what, but this worked for me and i am now totally happy with my battery life. Hope it helps for you.

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[jigawatt]

the standard wall wart puts out supposedly 800mAh, whereas the USB port on your computer should be around 500mAh

[SylenThunder]

Admittedly, I've only had my Droid 4 since Friday, so I'm not an expert by any means. I have noticed that yeah, it can't charge on USB, but I pretty much expected that, my BlackBerry never did either. I was a bit surprised at how fast the battery drains sometimes, but doesn't others. I went for a day and a half with average use without any issues, but yesterday it only lasted about 8 hours. Today I had the worst experience, It took just a little over two hours to take the battery from 95% charge to 15%. Now, I admit, I did forget to shut down a couple of apps like Google Maps and Skype, but it's not like I had a lot of stuff running. I discovered it because I went to reach for something in my pocket and I noticed that the phone was HOT. Well not searing, but it was probably sitting around 100-110 degrees. (guesstimate as I didn't have a method for actually reading the temp in a client's house, if it does it at home I'll take a measurement.) I also noticed that the phone was in 3G. I know it drains the battery when it swaps back and forth between 3G and 4G, and I'm wondering if it was this more than it might have been the apps running. I'll have to spend a couple weeks playing around with the network settings to figure it out.

Now I just need to Root my phone so I can track it more and "fix" some of the battery drain issues.

[MrHaViK]

If it was getting that hot, something must have been actively running, not just idling in the background. More than likely, it was just a random bug that kept something in a processing loop and it probably won't happen often. If your phone is running hot however, it is most definitely draining the battery quickly.

If you do notice this happening often, go to manage apps and set the auto-shutoff for the apps that you use a lot like google maps to ensure that they stop using the cpu when you arent using your phone.

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[hendricks026]

I haven't paid much attention to the forums as of late, but I must say I'm very surprised to see that the D4's battery is 'an established issue'. I've had mine since shortly after they were released and haven't had any issue with the battery. I won't deny that I've had quite a few instances of the phone dying, but the large majority of those were due to my stupidity/laziness to not plug in the phone, or just extensive use. I would estimate my average charge to last 12-16 hours. I am running Juice Defender which, imho, is an AWESOME app. It says its been roughly doubling battery life, with no obvious performance losses. What kind of battery life have you guys been getting?

I know your issue has been solved, but just a heads up from personally experience: when it comes to having an issue on your phone, it is waay easier to get VZW's tech support phone line to replace the phone than it is going in store. I replaced my D1 4 times via the tech support after claiming 'microphone dropout issues during a call', which usually was the case. But it was usually replaced with very few questions asked.

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[SylenThunder]

It just got hot that once, so yeah, i'm thinking I probably left Google Maps up and running so not only was my phone off swapping between 3G and 4G, but it was also sitting there polling the GPS unit and so forth.

In regards to hendrik's post, that is correct. Most Verizon company stores will not do exchanges. They say it's because they don't have an ample quantity of phones in stock to support it. It's even harder if you're at one of the privately owned Verizon stores.
Now off to research rooting my phone.