Extended Battery Calibration Issues

[droid100]

Hi all,

I got an extended battery two days ago and have not been able to get my phone to accurately display the current charge. Yesterday, it went from 100pct to 80pct charge in 20 minutes and then kept dropping from there. I read that you should do a full discharge so it can begin to accurately recognize the new battery stats and so I did that. It fell to 5pct charge at like 2pm yesterday and didn't actually die until 730pm which tells me the calibration is just off. It gave me 11 hours of heavy usage which I am very pleased with.

I charged it over night and this morning it displayed the 20pct drop in charge over the first 20 minutes off the charger again... how can i calibrate this new battery?

I have the OEM 1950mAH extended...

Thanks!

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[Fr33dom]

You got it mostly right, did you leave it off while charging?

At this point, just give it a couple days to adjust.

 

[droid100]

No, unfortunately, I can't have my phone off for that long because I am on-call at work...

The other thing I noticed is that I plugged it in after it died and it very quickly hit 100% charge. I was skeptical so I kept it plugged in but had to change the wall outlet it was plugged into and the charge displayed dropped to 50% and it kept charging after that.

It's now displaying a 30% remaining charge and it's been a little over two hours off the charger...

This is pretty annoying. There should be a way to clear the battery statistics without a need for being rooted...

Thanks for the feedback...

 

[pistacio]

I did read that you personally need your phone on at all times but, I tried something similar from a method I used on my droid1. Charge to 100, power phone off, remove battery, plug it in without battery ( leave phone off , it will show a "?" inside a battery graphic. Then insert battery and let it charge with phone off.

It showed the ?, then 5%, then jumped to 60 quickly and continued charging to 100 after some time.

I do have the extended and get 18 hrs average with moderate to heavy use.

Also, no percentage spikes like you described.



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[NoBloatware]

No need to shut it off to charge. After you ran it down did you charge it all the way up nonstop without unplugging? If yes, then I suspect bad battery.

 

[droid100]

No need to shut it off to charge. After you ran it down did you charge it all the way up nonstop without unplugging? If yes, then I suspect bad battery.

I ran it down again yesterday and shut it off to charge overnight. I woke up this morning and it read 100% charged but started doing the same thing (-20% in the first 20mins). It's holding a charge because I get a good 13hours of use out from it but the red light is blinking and it reads 5% charge all day long. FACK... this is incredibly annoying and there doesn't seem to be anything that can be done to get it to read properly. Could this really be a bad battery when it's holding a solid charge?

There has to be a better way to calibrate a new battery...

 

[NoBloatware]

I ran it down again yesterday and shut it off to charge overnight. I woke up this morning and it read 100% charged but started doing the same thing (-20% in the first 20mins). It's holding a charge because I get a good 13hours of use out from it but the red light is blinking and it reads 5% charge all day long. FACK... this is incredibly annoying and there doesn't seem to be anything that can be done to get it to read properly. Could this really be a bad battery when it's holding a solid charge?

There has to be a better way to calibrate a new battery...

It is not necessary to shut it off. You may be able to find an app that will clear your battery stats but this is what I do once every 2 months:
1) run phone until it shuts down because battery has run out of juice
2) charge phone non-stop to 100%. You can turn the phone on--no big deal. I always do because I'm on call.

I have the extended battery too and the only time I ever experienced the problem that you're talking about is before the recent OTA update. The change log of the update included a fix for this problem. Do you have the most recent OS installed? Are you using a battery monitor app/widget from the market? I would say uninstall that if you do.

So if you have the most recent OS, you aren't using a 3rd party battery monitor app, and you've calibrated as I've indicated then I have 2 thoughts:

1) bad battery or bad phone battery monitoring hardware

2) something odd happening with software. Perhaps you have some crazy app/widget/live wallpaper installed that goes nuts. Perhaps Google or some other sync is stuck/corrupt. After you unplug and you see this drop, what app is listed as using the power? Uninstall automatic task killers, antivirus, un-needed widgets, live wallpapers, and apps that run on boot for no good reason. One sure way to determine if something you've installed is causing the problem is to boot into safe mode after you've charged to 100%. If the problem is still there then you know that you need a new battery or phone. If the problem is gone then you need to look at your apps. You can try clearing gmail/google calendar/any app that syncs' data/cache. Clear system cache partition. Try uninstalling or disabling any apps/widgets/live wallpapers that you've installed that run at boot. Maybe settle on a factory reset and check for the problem. Slowly reconfigure your phone to see if the problem returns.

 

[droid100]

Yes, I've gone through all those steps. It is still showing the same behavior this morning...

I put the phone in safe mode but it was still showing that the phone was discharging very rapidly. At this point it has to be a bad battery... I've charged/discharged it in every way possible... I give up...

Its going to be a hassle to get an exchange since I bought it on amazon so I might just go back to the original battery and scrap this one...

Thanks for the help...
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[TyrannoTaurus]

If you root your phone, there is an app called Battery Calibration that will wipe your battery stats. That's what I used when I upgraded to the OEM extended battery and I get incredible life out of it. I wasn't experiencing quite the level of problem that you are though. I would say give that a shot before just throwing your money away. Rooting is extremely easy to do with Pete's 1-Click.

 

[droid100]

I read that you could clear the battery statistics if you rooted but I would rather not. The phone has been so great that I don't want to tinker with it like I did the v1 droid I had... aside from this issue the phone has been pretty close to flawless...

I switched back to my old battery and that one displays the charge correctly... im guessing there's something software related that's wrong because the extended battery has noticeably more life. I just wish I knew how to get it to display the charge correctly...

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[eomalley411]

I read that you could clear the battery statistics if you rooted but I would rather not. The phone has been so great that I don't want to tinker with it like I did the v1 droid I had... aside from this issue the phone has been pretty close to flawless...

I switched back to my old battery and that one displays the charge correctly... im guessing there's something software related that's wrong because the extended battery has noticeably more life. I just wish I knew how to get it to display the charge correctly...

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I had a very similar problem with my first extended battery. It would say 100%, then 50% after a very short time with little to no usage. I swapped with the original and issue went away. So I just went and got a new battery from VZW store (exchanged the old one) and never looked back.

My advice: exchange your battery at a verizon store.

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[NoBloatware]

My advice: exchange your battery at a verizon store.

Unfortunately, he didn't get it through Verizon. This brings up a good point, though. I would never get a battery for my Droid 3 from anyone but Verizon/Motorola. Some people have luck going through other channels but I've seen many people have bad luck that way. I know it costs more, but I use my phone all the time and I'm willing to spend extra for something as important as the battery.

 

[droid100]

Unfortunately, he didn't get it through Verizon. This brings up a good point, though. I would never get a battery for my Droid 3 from anyone but Verizon/Motorola. Some people have luck going through other channels but I've seen many people have bad luck that way. I know it costs more, but I use my phone all the time and I'm willing to spend extra for something as important as the battery.

Yeah, I bought it on Amazon... I filed a claim with them but have already chalked it up as a loss... I'm back on my old battery for now...

Thanks for all the feedback...

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[Jerminator617]

Try one of the battery callibration apps off of the market if your rooted
I got my extended battery off of amazon as well and once I used the app it has been working great

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[sweenbeen]

I received my extended battery from verizon wireless. I'm having the same issue as the OP. When using the phone the battery drains and then when I turn it off and back on again the battery shows more life than what it did before I turned it off... I am not rooted yet So I have not calibrated it. My concern is that I got a battery with problems.

I have gone through a full cycle of full juice and fully drained. Suggestions? Should I got to the store and see what they have to say?

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