ROMs and battery life

[adampalooza]

I'm new to the whole rooting and modding process but I seem to have competently done just that. I flashed crossbreed+Franco kernel and running apex launcher. It's fantastic but battery life has been pretty awful. I actually got a better battery life from stock. Am I doing something wrong or maybe not doing something right? As I type this my battery has dropped 2%. Any information you can give this noob would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

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[syndicate0017]

How long have you had this kernel running? You really can't judge battery life unless you've had it running for 48+ hours. If it hasn't improved within the 48 hours, try running the battery all the way down and charging with the phone off until it is full. If battery life still hasn't improved, try a new kernel. Each phone reacts differently to each kernel. Franco's never played nice with the battery on mine either, though some have had great success with it.

 

[adampalooza]

Also, is this normal? I've barely added any apps. Nothing I haven't had before at least and don't recall it looking like this

View attachment 48756

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[cupfulloflol]

Figuring out where battery draining problems lie with ROMs and kernels, even the stock ones, requires some investigation. Unfortunately there is no simple answer as to why you are getting poor battery life.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asksven.betterbatterystats <-- BBS or https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsamlabs.bbm <-- BABM can help you see what is draining your battery, apps, radios, wakelocks...etc BBS is on XDA's forums if you don't want to donate.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bvalosek.cpuspy <-- that app can help you see if your kernel will enter deep sleep.

Once you figure out some of the problematic apps, you can then you figure out what to do about said apps. If you don't use them, and they aren't necessary, freezing, disabling, or uninstalling the problem apps may be a good option. If it is something you use, perhaps look into why the app is doing what it is doing, and trying to change that. Like is the app syncing quite often?

Side note, I noticed at least one of the Crossbreed ROMs had SDM.apk included in the ROM (it was the only one I got around to trying). This app was found to be a source of battery drain for some folks on some other ROMs, and it really serves no purpose on a rooted and ROMed device.

Another thing is to possibly tinker with the kernel, perhaps changing the governor to a slower governor if you can tolerate it. Maybe try ondemand instead of interactive sort of thing, or conservative if it is offered (I am not currently running a Franco kernel to remember what governors he offers). Maybe even use hotplug, or a variation of it if your kernel allows for it. Hotplugging can possibly cause some problems, while in my experiences it has been quite stable, I just felt I should mention that. Another thing to consider is lowering the voltages a bit. In theory the lower the voltage, the better the battery life. But if you go too low for your device, problems can occur, and you may end up losing battery life. Whatever you do, just make sure you don't check the set at boot options until you are sure your setup is stable.

I am sure there are many other things I haven't thought of, those are generally the first things I do once into a ROM though.