Unexplained battery drain

[curious_george]

My phone uses up all it's battery in less than 10 hours when I am outside.

- I have a strong cell phone signal when outside.

- I also installed GSAM battery app and wakelock detector and don't see anything unusual. The usage for the Phone radio and phone is minimal when I am outside under the GSAM battery app.

- I noticed that 2 hours of screen usage uses about 50% of the battery. Is this usual? I have auto-brightness and power saver mode on.

- Purchased a new battery as well

- Not doing anything data intensive such as listening to pandora or youtube for example

My phone barely lasts through the late afternoon and I have to keep on swapping batteries to make the phone last the entire day.

Android version: 4.3
Baseband: I545VRUEMK2
Kernel: 3.4.0

Would appreciate any suggestions on trying to figure and fix this.

Thanks

 

[dezymond]

Do you have location services turned on?

Honestly I'm kinda on the same boat and I got just about every battery saving tip at work. I get like 1.5-2hrs of screen on time til I'm just under 50%.

I got 4.4.2 Stock ROM that I flashed to. It's not the official update and it runs a custom kernel, but still.

 

[curious_george]

Don't have location services turned on. Any other ideas what could be causing this?


I have noticed a few anomolies:
- If I listen to music on the device (mp3 - not streaming), using the Samsung or Amazon player - it uses up more than 15% battery every hour. This is very surprising especially because the screen is off
- Is the screen usage (50% for 2 hours) normal?

Is there anything else I can try to pinpoint the cause of the drain or reduce the drain?

Could it be a battery metering issue?

Thanks

 

[Jonny Kansas]

The screen depletes your battery to 50% after 2 hours, or the screen percentage of battery used is 50%? (Does it say 50% right in line with Screen?)

I'm running a fully stock s4, android 4.4.2 and with screen on time of 1 hr 20 min, I'm sitting at 59% battery left.

This is a tricky one to get your head around, because the percentage by each individual item is the percent of the percent of the battery that's been used, if that makes sense. Ie, I'm at 58%, so 42% has been used. Of that 42%, 26% of that was the screen. So, this percentage is going to vary depending on what other apps you use and how much battery they consume.

What you should do is keep an eye on those percentages for other apps, as it seems you have been. It's hard to pinpoint a rogue app or anything using more battery unless you kinda had an idea of where they sit on that battery screen to begin with during your normal day's use. For me, I'd know something was up if Facebook used more than around 4-6%, because that's what it usually is for me.

I have noticed Google Play services has been up there higher than usual lately, but I have location services on and that falls in there.

With all of that, that probably doesn't help you that much, I have noticed my battery seems to drain quicker lately too, but I've also taking up gaming more on my phone than I had been previously, so I'm pretty sure it's my own fault, though I feel like when I use my battery pack case it seems to not hold as much charge for a couple of days after. That could be in my head.

I'd say you're on the right track by monitoring it, but I'm not sure doing so will give you the answer you seek if you weren't monitoring it before you noticed it draining faster.

 

[dezymond]

Sounds like your battery drain is "normal", considering both I and Jonny Kansas are experiencing roughly the same thing.

Considering you're outside too, screen brightness plays a major role in battery drain as I'm sure you know already. The s4 outdoors can be a bit difficult to see even at max brightness setting.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Sounds like your battery drain is "normal", considering both I and Jonny Kansas are experiencing roughly the same thing.

Considering you're outside too, screen brightness plays a major role in battery drain as I'm sure you know already. The s4 outdoors can be a bit difficult to see even at max brightness setting.

Good point. Auto brightness is your friend indoors, but it's very likely cranking it up even though power saver dims it some.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[curious_george]

The screen depletes your battery to 50% after 2 hours, or the screen percentage of battery used is 50%? (Does it say 50% right in line with Screen?)

I'm running a fully stock s4, android 4.4.2 and with screen on time of 1 hr 20 min, I'm sitting at 59% battery left.

This is a tricky one to get your head around, because the percentage by each individual item is the percent of the percent of the battery that's been used, if that makes sense. Ie, I'm at 58%, so 42% has been used. Of that 42%, 26% of that was the screen. So, this percentage is going to vary depending on what other apps you use and how much battery they consume.

What you should do is keep an eye on those percentages for other apps, as it seems you have been. It's hard to pinpoint a rogue app or anything using more battery unless you kinda had an idea of where they sit on that battery screen to begin with during your normal day's use. For me, I'd know something was up if Facebook used more than around 4-6%, because that's what it usually is for me.

I have noticed Google Play services has been up there higher than usual lately, but I have location services on and that falls in there.

With all of that, that probably doesn't help you that much, I have noticed my battery seems to drain quicker lately too, but I've also taking up gaming more on my phone than I had been previously, so I'm pretty sure it's my own fault, though I feel like when I use my battery pack case it seems to not hold as much charge for a couple of days after. That could be in my head.

I'd say you're on the right track by monitoring it, but I'm not sure doing so will give you the answer you seek if you weren't monitoring it before you noticed it draining faster.

It's 50% of the full battery - I understand that the % numbers are a % of total battery used.

It implies that 4 hours of screen use (with auto-brightness in an indoor setting and power saving mode) would use up 100% of the battery? Does that seem low for the S4?

 

[KaosMaster]

I would begin by checking the battery usage inside the actual phone battery stats! This may be the hidden issue that occurred before! Go into \Settings\More\Battery\..

Please tell the top 4 items it list inside that app!
Or screenshot and post in here!

I am sorry to say that to resolve this issue is easy if rooted, or completely reprogrammed!
You may want to begin backing up your data to a computer!
I look forward to seeing the problem and assisting the best I can!

 

[curious_george]

The stats inside the battery in Android setting are

- Screen - 46%
- Device idle - 16%
- Android OS - 9%
- Cell standby - 6%

It's in line with GSAM.

- However shouldn't the phone battery support from than 4 hours of screen time? What's your experience with the max screen time implied by your battery stats?

- My phone is rooted. Is there some process causing the display to use up more power than it should be? Anything I should be doing on a rooted phone to fix this?

Thanks

I would begin by checking the battery usage inside the actual phone battery stats! This may be the hidden issue that occurred before! Go into \Settings\More\Battery\..

Please tell the top 4 items it list inside that app!
Or screenshot and post in here!

I am sorry to say that to resolve this issue is easy if rooted, or completely reprogrammed!
You may want to begin backing up your data to a computer!
I look forward to seeing the problem and assisting the best I can!

 

[KaosMaster]

Actually, your Device battery stats are reading properly! I would next either go into \Applications Manager\ALL\ and Turn "OFF" All the apps you do not use. Such as Amazon,Kindle, There are some you cannot turn off. just by disabling the "Bloatware", or uninstalling it will dramatically increase your battery life! Every "APP" you load can use up cycles on your device and cause the battery to drain.

Also, If you charge your phone excessively, aka before the turn shuts off all the way on its own, You are actually reducing your charge cycles and will break you battery more often, despite what some have said, I have proof between me and my friend who charges his phone every time it hits 40%

 

[Jonny Kansas]

I've been on battery for 8hrs 33min. I'm at 77% battery and the screen has used 16% by being on for just less than 40 minutes. Auto-brightness is on.

Don't know if that helps for comparison, but there it is.

 

[curious_george]

Your stat is helpful because it shows that 40min of screen is using 16% x 23% = 3.68%

This would imply that 1 hour of screen time uses up 3.68% x 60/40 =5.52% of the battery.

On my phone, 1 hour of screen time is using up 25% of the TOTAL battery. That seems excessively high.

Any ideas as to what may be causing this?

- I swap out batteries and thought it could be a battery metering issue but I have run the batteries very low and charged to 100%.

The screen is using up a lot more of the battery time per hour of usage than seems to be the norm. None of the apps are draining the battery. Would appreciate your help with this issue - it's made my phone unusable since it barely lasts for a few hours.

I've been on battery for 8hrs 33min. I'm at 77% battery and the screen has used 16% by being on for just less than 40 minutes. Auto-brightness is on.

Don't know if that helps for comparison, but there it is.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

If we're still talking using it outside for a majority of the day with auto brightness, your screen is gonna use more battery. I'll turn auto brightness off in the morning & set my screen brightness to max & use it as normal & see how that impacts the usage.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[curious_george]

Indoors most of the time. For some reason, the screen is drawing more 500% more battery per minute of usage than seems to be the norm.

 

[KaosMaster]

This is my battery usage as of right now