Battery suddenly died

[TheOldFart]

My wife got her Maxx last week and the battery life has been terrific. She doesn't use the phone much, so after 3 days the battery was still at 49%. She had used it for an hour or 2 reading the news while out having coffee. She was reading the news on the phone this morning and all of a sudden got a low battery message that it was at 15%. When she turned it on less than an hour ago it was at 49%. I looked at it and it was at 11% by the time I got around the table and I watched it drop 1% every second until I shut it off at 3%. When I plugged the charger in it showed the battery at 0%. I'm wondering what could be the problem. Perhaps the battery has shorted. I'm charging it now and will see how it behaves after it's charged.

 

[Einsteindks]

If you just used the phone fresh out of the box, without charging at all, then this could well have happened. It sounds like the battery has not learned about itself enough, and was falsely reporting its capacity. Charge it to full, let it run down normally to about 15 percent, then charge it to full again, and you should be good to go.

fat-fingered and Maxx-ed out.

 

[TheOldFart]

It was turned on at BB to set it up. I then turned it off until we got home and fully charged it before turning it on again. The battery showed 60% just before it was turned off at BB. It's currently off and charging. I told my wife to use it to read the news and web surf at home instead of using her tablet for a few cycles to see how it behaves. I'll make sure that she discharges to less than 15% each cycle for a few cycles. Hopefully it's just a calibration problem and not a battery failing. It seems to be charging normally right now.

 

[doogald]

I agree that it sounds like a calibration problem. I'd start worrying if you see weird battery behavior after a few charge cycles.

 

[TheOldFart]

I took it off the charger at 100%, turned it on and BatteryLife reported the charge at 100% and 4304 mV. The voltage seems a bit high to me, as I've read on various sites that the maximum charge voltage for Li-Ion batteries should be 4.2 V for long life. It was charging while we were out, so it probably sat on the charger at 100% for a couple of hours before we got home. I'll have to see what BatteryLife reports for my One the next time I charge it.

 

[TheOldFart]

My wife doesn't use her phone much, so it's taking a while to run through battery cycles. I charged it to 100% 5 days ago and it's now at 23%, with no big sudden drops. However, the battery percentage does jump around a bit, like 28%, 27, 28, 27, 29, 28, 26, 27, 26, 25, etc. Neither my One nor our Galaxy tablets do this. Even her 2 year old Galaxy Player doesn't do this. They all just go down in steady 1% increments. Perhaps a couple of charge cycles will correct this, but she's worried that it might be a phone or battery problem. I did a search and have found that people have reported much more variation with different phones. It's just that her Maxx is the only Android device that we have that doesn't do a steady decline.

Here's an example:
View attachment 67724View attachment 67725

The jumping up and down also makes the Weekly Battery Usage chart report a much greater than actual percentage daily drop.

 

[doogald]

I think the battery increment jumping by a percent up every once in a while is normal on this phone. I don't see it much, but I did see it yesterday when I drained it to below 50% for the first time in weeks (I actually went two full days without charging overnight for the first time since I bought the phone in August.)

My theory is that battery percentage is just an estimate based on voltage levels, etc., reported by the battery pack, and that the results can by mis-estimated by a percent or two occasionally.

It may be the that app you are using is using its own way to estimate battery usage. What do the charts look like in settings->battery?

 

[TheOldFart]

The chart in Settings>Battery look the same.

View attachment 67740

The widget that provided the other charts is Battery Monitor Widget.

 

[Einsteindks]

I'd say you have an app running in the background, which has a varied activity schedule on its own.

fat-fingered and Maxx-ed out.

 

[jackiescivic]

I get the battery jumping around occasionally as well, but nowhere near as much as posted.

I thought maybe it had something to do with the X8 processor.

Sent from my Droid Maxx

 

[TheOldFart]

I just discovered something. In my Battery Monitor Widget chart, notice how the battery level variations follow the battery voltage variations. These same variations show up in the Android Settings battery level chart. Now, it's normal for the battery voltage to vary up and down depending on the power being used due to CPU power, auto screen brightness changes, etc. I just compared the chart for the Maxx to one of our Galaxy tablets. The tablet has the same voltage variations, but these don't show corresponding variations on the battery percentage chart. The % goes down, but never goes back up when the voltage goes back up. Neither my One nor the Galaxy tablets show battery % increases, even though the voltage varies. Only the Maxx does. It appears that the Maxx battery % calculation is based on battery voltage. I don't know what else it would be based on. I'm thinking that the other devices work the same, but the calculation doesn't permit the % to increase once it has decreased.

Here's the shot from the Galaxy tablet:

View attachment 67776

P.S. How do I embed images in the test instead of just the link?

 

[mountainbikermark]

From the screen shot it looks like you've got a BUNCH of syncs going on with low signal strength by looking at the notification bar at the top. That could be the battery killer. Why your voltage, percentage and battery temperature are rising on their own without being charged I have no idea. If it was just voltage and percentage I'd say it's a calibration error but the temperature baffles me.

Support Our Troops!!!
<><
I'm an "s pen aholic" Noteate

 

[TheOldFart]

Actually, the battery temperature makes sense to me. I'm thinking that the battery is being heated by the electronics components heating up. Notice that the battery temperature rises when the voltage and battery percentage are dropping relatively rapidly. The electronics are heating up because the device is being used and this heat conducts to the battery. In addition, the battery is heating because it is being used. The battery heats up anytime it is charging or discharging more than it does when idle. It's the same with percentage and voltage. They drop anytime the device is being used and discharging. Screen off and little CPU usage = lower temp and lower voltage and percentage change. Screen on and more CPU usage = higher temp and greater voltage and percentage change.

Edit: As far as the battery life on the Maxx, it is great. The original problem if the percentage rapidly falling from 50% down to near 0% was after a long usage time. This has not happened after charging back up to 100%. The 2nd rundown was smooth until a fairly quick drop from 14% to 8%. I expect that this will smooth out more now that it's had a 3rd charge.

 

[FoxKat]

Remaining battery charge percentage measurement is definitely biased towards voltage since there is no known way to easily measure how much current is still contained in a Lithium Ion battery (at least not without incredibly sophisticated laboratory equipment) - but instead only how much is being consumed at any given time based on the load and how much has been consumed over time cumulatively. Voltage on the other hand can be used as a relatively accurate indicator of charge levels by iterative solution based on two targets...the fully charged static voltage level (open circuit), and the fully discharged static voltage level (open circuit), or less accurately using closed (or loaded), circuit voltages at the same points. It's that difference which can be used, in combination with an algorithm based on the rated capacity (for a new battery), or the actual diminished capacity (for an older battery), to determine approximately where in the charged to discharged range the battery sits at any one time.

Unfortunately that is only a rough guess since the voltage drop or difference between fully charged and what is dictated as discharged is a very small number (4.2 versus 3 for instance). Trying to measure those slight differences over many hours can result in lots of error. So the manufacturers try to use a combination of what's being consumed over time, coupled with known minimum and maximum values and using constant voltage readings to moderate or supplement these measurements. But a big part of that is knowing most accurately what "full" looks like (voltage), and what "empty" looks like (voltage again). Without a revisit of those minimum and maximum levels on an infrequent basis, things can start to stray off-course and eventually the estimated charge levels can be very far from the actual ones, resulting in the apparent sudden loss of charge you experienced. Unfortunately that's not all...battery power that is consumed faster will waste energy in the form of heat, so a battery that's used quickly will give off less cumulative total usable current from full to empty than one that is drawn on slowly.

In your case, the phone had not seen both a full charge (powered off), and a full discharge immediately subsequent to each other in so long it lost track of what either of them looked like (voltages), and so it was guessing along the way based on cumulative consumption and dynamic voltage readings...a recipe for failure. Once the voltages reached a level that were far lower than the estimated charge levels it would expect during discharge using the old and outdated values from the last "full" and "empty" level indications, it quickly started dropping the charge level indication to "catch up", eventually leading to a full collapse and potential deep-discharge. If the battery is discharged too low (voltages much lower than 3V), the battery can actually shut down completely and become unable to take a charge at all.

So the still bigger question is, how does one accurately measure remaining current (% of remaining charge), in a battery while it is being charged and used at varying levels of load (use)? Likewise, while charging the battery's voltages can fluctuate due to the phone consuming power at varying rates during the charge cycle and this can "fool" the charger into thinking the battery has reached full charge prematurely thereby stopping the charge at less than maximum capacity. This then results in a voltage used to indicate "full" which is lower than the true "full" voltage level, and then estimates of charge level using two variables that are wrong, and so the result will obviously be wrong as well. This is why it's recommended to do the full charge to 100% with the phone powered off every so often (2-3 months), followed by using it till it displays the "Connect your charger" indication on the screen, and then charging again to 100% with power off to set those high and low "flags" accurately for future reference in the meter's estimations. So it's very important that you re-train your battery's meter to what are the accurate full and empty levels, so it can more accurately estimate what the remaining charge is at any given time.

As for why the meter may show lower remaining charge first (voltages) and then higher values afterwards (spikes in the graph), it is a factor of voltage suppression. If I were to measure at any one time, I may be measuring during or right after a large load period (such as playing a video that's streaming over the internet via cellular towers), and then later I may be measuring during a period where use was very low (such as while at rest). This is where the meter can indicate low levels followed by higher ones. If you read voltage during a period of high consumption due to a large load (high resistance), and then read it again once that load has been removed, the voltages will go from low to higher making it appear like the battery has suddenly and miraculously recharged itself - increased its stored energy. Of course, that's not at all what has happened. Voltage levels are impacted by current draw such that during high consumption or demand (large load), voltage levels will appear lower than during normal load or demand;

When you are drawing little to no current you will get an artificially high voltage (known as open circuit voltage).
When you measure voltages with a load that is an average representation of typical current consumption the voltage reported will be lower (loaded circuit or "Operating" voltage).
When you measure voltage while current is being consumed at an abnormally high rate, the voltages will be artificially lower (load-suppressed voltage).

When under a load, voltages naturally are "pulled down" some, the greater the load, the lower the voltage. Once the load is removed, those voltages will recover some - maybe not back to their pre-load levels but certainly above their loaded ones. To prevent those up and down spikes in the graph, some manufacturers choose to set thresholds at voltages as they're dropping, so as the voltages dip below each whole percentage or fractional voltage, the meter is prevented from displaying any higher readings later (unless actual charging has been detected), thereby preventing this artificial self-charging syndrome.

 

[FoxKat]

I just discovered something. In my Battery Monitor Widget chart, notice how the battery level variations follow the battery voltage variations. These same variations show up in the Android Settings battery level chart. Now, it's normal for the battery voltage to vary up and down depending on the power being used due to CPU power, auto screen brightness changes, etc. I just compared the chart for the Maxx to one of our Galaxy tablets. The tablet has the same voltage variations, but these don't show corresponding variations on the battery percentage chart. The % goes down, but never goes back up when the voltage goes back up. Neither my One nor the Galaxy tablets show battery % increases, even though the voltage varies. Only the Maxx does. It appears that the Maxx battery % calculation is based on battery voltage. I don't know what else it would be based on. I'm thinking that the other devices work the same, but the calculation doesn't permit the % to increase once it has decreased.

Here's the shot from the Galaxy tablet:

View attachment 67776

P.S. How do I embed images in the test instead of just the link?

Actually, the battery temperature makes sense to me. I'm thinking that the battery is being heated by the electronics components heating up. Notice that the battery temperature rises when the voltage and battery percentage are dropping relatively rapidly. The electronics are heating up because the device is being used and this heat conducts to the battery. In addition, the battery is heating because it is being used. The battery heats up anytime it is charging or discharging more than it does when idle. It's the same with percentage and voltage. They drop anytime the device is being used and discharging. Screen off and little CPU usage = lower temp and lower voltage and percentage change. Screen on and more CPU usage = higher temp and greater voltage and percentage change.

Edit: As far as the battery life on the Maxx, it is great. The original problem if the percentage rapidly falling from 50% down to near 0% was after a long usage time. This has not happened after charging back up to 100%. The 2nd rundown was smooth until a fairly quick drop from 14% to 8%. I expect that this will smooth out more now that it's had a 3rd charge.

For some reason embedded images aren't working as they used to (IT SUPPORT??)

Anyway, you are correct, except that the battery heating up isn't due to the components heating up, it's due to increased power consumption BY the components - which is also in turn heating up the components...notice your battery "levels", the battery "temperature" and the "voltages". You can see a direct correlation between the three, where the dips in voltages are directly aligned with the spikes in temperature above, and the drops in level further above follow virtually immediately adjacent. These three corresponding indications are representing short periods or bursts of activity and battery consumption that is higher than normal. As the current draw is higher voltages drop, the resistance from consumption of higher current rates causes the battery to heat up, and with some of the current having been used this leaves less remaining charge so the levels drop accordingly. Once the loads are lifted, the voltages recover and the battery temperature begins to fall back to normal.