Erratic battery remaining bug

[Schizms]

I have had my droid for about two months and i love it.

However, i have gotten a strange bug twice, that i know of, about a month apart.

The battery will go from being fully charged down to 5% instantly. The red notification light will come on and it seems like the battery is dead. The first time this happened, i just took out the battery and put it back in, and it went back up to 80% and was completely fine after that. The phone was not plugged in at the time.

The second time was just a few moments ago. My phone was plugged in and i looked over and it had the red notification light, so i turned on the display and sure enough, it was at 5%. I unplugged the usb and plugged it back in and in a few second the battery indicator went to 60% then 100% fully charged. Even the light next to the usb went on, so the phone thought it needed charged (went out after saying fully charged).

This isnt a major bug and it barely happens, but since i use my phone as my alarm clock, I dont want it turning off in the middle of the night, because it "thinks" the battery is low.

Just wanted to see if this was happening to anyone else, or if anyone had any insight on the problem. My phone is rooted after applying OTA 2.0.1, nothing more. Also i use the "batteryLife" app and widget.

Thanks

 

[Martin030908]

Found a similar thread that might help you out.
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/pending-submissions-questions/1351-battery-life.html

 

[Schizms]

Thanks for the link and quick reply.

I looked through that thread a while ago and it didnt seem like the subject was the same issue i am having. I am not having an issue of battery life, my battery life is great.

The problem is that the battery is still at 100%, it just shows its at 5%. After the phone showed 5% i took the battery out for a few seconds and put the same one back in, the phone showed 100%.

Like i said before, the phone went from 100% to 5% instantly... not in a matter of minutes, but from 100% to 5% with no steps in between.

One of the responses in that thread did mention something about apps not compatible with 2.0 that would power cycle the phone, but my phone does not turn off and back on...just shows very low battery.

 

[Istus]

I have also experienced this issue. Only once for me however. Freaked me out thinking I fried my battery somehow. I simply plugged mine in and unplugged it. The battery level returned to the correct value.

 

[huzier]

happened to me for the 2nd time two days ago. I powered down & back up, after that all was good. ????????

 

[srothkin]

I had it happen to me once about a week ago (I've had the Droid since November). It actually gave me a long vibrate and when I turned it on it gave me a low battery warning in the notification bar. When I plugged it in it jumped immediately to 80%. Hasn't happened again yet.

 

[Syndroid]

I have had it happen three times (twice unplugged, once after having been on charge all night) and a friend of mine has had it happen twice. All returned to a normal readout after cycling the Droid off.

An interesting note: My BatteryLife App (curvefish) gives the 5% figure, but the displayed battery voltage is correct. For example, 100% charged is 4180 mV (or so - I don't remember the exact figure.) I had the 5% warning while my Droid was still plugged in, but the voltage was still 4180 mV. When I got up this morning, I had the 5% warning with 3865 mV showing. Cycling the Droid off gives me 70% and still 3865 mV. So, it seems that the % charge remaining is coming from the Android OS, rather than the app calculating it directly.

 

[oxidiser]

I also have had this bug happen to me several times now (maybe 4 or 5). For me it only seems to happen when it's on the charger. I'll notice about the time it should be fully charged, the red LED will come on and the OS will say it's at 5%.

First time it happened I plugged it back in for a while (thinking maybe my power strip was off or something) and when I came back it was fine.

After the first time I realized it was a bug and now I just power down the phone and turn it right back on, but it's irritating when it happens.

 

[Syndroid]

I haven't had it happen since my last post, and haven't seen many other complaints, so it must be highly erratic. However, I did discovered that my Droid had turned itself off last Thursday, about 10 minutes after I had briefly used it. It acted completely dead. Even r&r the battery didn't help. After about 3 or 4 more minutes, I was able to turn it on, and it hasn't given me trouble since. Very strange.

 

[srothkin]

I also have had this bug happen to me several times now (maybe 4 or 5). For me it only seems to happen when it's on the charger. I'll notice about the time it should be fully charged, the red LED will come on and the OS will say it's at 5%.

First time it happened I plugged it back in for a while (thinking maybe my power strip was off or something) and when I came back it was fine.

After the first time I realized it was a bug and now I just power down the phone and turn it right back on, but it's irritating when it happens.

I also had this happen once (first thing in the morning after it was charging overnight). I unplugged it and it immediately went from 5% to 100%. I plugged it back in and it stayed at 100%.

 

[hairdewx]

This happened to both my friend and I while watching the Super Bowl on Sunday. From almost full our battery indicators went red and said 5% remaining. Plugging in the phones to a charger immediately brought the charge back up to 80%, and unplugging it right away the charge stayed at 80% and acted normal again.

 

[Syndroid]

And now it has happened to me again. Yesterday, with 20% charge remaining, I plugged it in to my computer at work (without mounting the USB) but left it plugged in most of the day. It was fine until bedtime, when I noticed it giving me the blinking red LED that I only had 5% charge remaining ... yet the battery voltage was over 4! Turning the Droid off and then immediately back on resulted in the same battery reading, but 90% charge indication. This morning, I still get 4.047V and 90%.

 

[rlb]

This happened t my fiancees Droid last week. We were getting ready in the AM and she picked up her phone that had been charging all night. The red LED was flashng and battery was at 5%. I pulled the battery and all was fine afterwards. Doesn't seem like anything is actually wrong, just an annoying bug.

 

[Schizms]

Well this hasnt happened to me since I originally posted. I have added and deleted multiple apps(i dont remember which ones specifically).
Atleast I know its not just mine. This problem could just be rare and it might happen to more people but it fixes itself before they even notice.
Who knows... maybe it does it to me every night, but something happens to make it go back to normal, or maybe it just stopped happening.

I will let you guys know if this happens again.

 

[Olderslower]

For what it's worth i have had the same thing happen probably 5 or 6 times. If I shut down and then turn droid back on the battery goes back to showing full charge. weird...