16 replies to this topic

[xwatchmanx]

Does anyone else notice any randomly incorrect battery display, or random instant battery discharge?

On every build of CM7 I've had, there's been a bug where occasionally if I reboot (usually if the system is acting up, not working correctly, overheating, etc), I'll see that the battery has dropped dramatically (as much as 60%-70%) from what it was before. Id est, today I rebooted my phone, and my battery dropped from 85% to a whoppingly low 14% upon reboot.

This seems to be a combination of incorrect display of the battery and an instant battery discharge, because it takes much LONGER than it typically would for the battery display to drop from 14% (it displays 14%, but lasts about as long as if it had 30%), plus the battery level occasionally climbs to as much as 10%-15% higher than it was in the course of an hour or two (id est, 14%-27%) before starting to drop again. But at the same time, lasting as long as it typically would on 30% doesn't really explain HOW the battery unexplainably instantly lost 50% or more of its charge in a reboot.

In the end, it seems the only way to "fix" this is to either completely discharge or recharge the battery. Is anyone else having this issue? Do you think it's CM7 related, or an issue with my battery that coincidentally occurred when I started using CM7?

PS: up until the point before the reboot that makes the battery lose charge, it seems to be reading correctly: I've been using it semi- moderately in an environment with poor sprint reception for about 3 hours today, and it was down to 80% before the reboot, so there doesn't seem to be any issue there.

[Adam Forrest]

I have seen it display lower then i actually had like it said i had 30% but i was really at 60 but it was random how i found out so i dont know how many times it has done that i used my phone all day got down to about 30 and i shut it off turned it back on and plugged it in came back 10 mins latter it was at 70% charge im also useing aftermarket batter 3500mah

[xwatchmanx]

Hm... alright. For me, it doesn't matter how many times I reboot, wipe dalvic, etc: It stays messed up until it's either fully charged, or runs out of battery.

I also turned it off to charge it and test if maybe the battery animation would reflect a different or "more accurate" reading, but it displayed the exact same reading.

[jamie3d]

From what I understand, Lithium Ion/Lithium Polymer batteries actually don't know what their charge level is until they are almost out of juice. That's why the battery drain seems so quick when you get down to the lower percentages (I'm told).

So the thing you see where it's messed up after a reboot or a Nandroid restore/backup is pretty normal. I'm told that these phones sort of calibrate themselves when they are fully charged and discharged and then guesstimate in between based on load and time.

If your battery feels really inaccurate, I've read on XDA that you can reset the battery calibration In the clockwork recovery menu and then plug your phone in and let it fully charge. Then let it fully drain (until it tells you to plug it in). Then charge again and use normally.

[ll Acer ll]

*sigh* Alright this isn't a ROM specific issue, it's a battery misreading upon reboot.

How to fix: Just take out the battery for 5 minutes (longer you wait, the more of a chance it'll be closer to its original %).
It's happened many times to me before. You don't need to do anything special.

[xwatchmanx]

jamie3d, on 17 February 2012 - 04:22 AM, said:

From what I understand, Lithium Ion/Lithium Polymer batteries actually I've read on XDA that you can reset the battery calibration In the clockwork recovery menu and then plug your phone in and let it fully charge. Then let it fully drain (until it tells you to plug it in). Then charge again and use normally.

Thanks, but I've read a lot since then that resetting your battery calibration and the like is actually SERIOUSLY BAD for your battery, and doesn't help much at all.

ll Acer ll, on 17 February 2012 - 04:50 AM, said:

*sigh* Alright this isn't a ROM specific issue, it's a battery misreading upon reboot. How to fix: Just take out the battery for 5 minutes (longer you wait, the more of a chance it'll be closer to its original %). It's happened many times to me before. You don't need to do anything special.

You sure about that? Because I've definitely never had that happen to me on any ROM before, and I've tried quite a few. But thanks for your tip: I'll try it out next time it happens. I just wish there was a more permanent fix.

[jamie3d]

xwatchmanx, on 17 February 2012 - 05:18 AM, said:

Thanks, but I've read a lot since then that resetting your battery calibration and the like is actually SERIOUSLY BAD for your battery, and doesn't help much at all.


You sure about that? Because I've definitely never had that happen to me on any ROM before, and I've tried quite a few. But thanks for your tip: I'll try it out next time it happens. I just wish there was a more permanent fix.

The only things you really have to worry about with these batteries are overheating and overcharging. I'm pretty sure the phone's charging circuitry will take care of both of those things or the batteries would literally explode if you over charged them. I haven't read what you have, but it's probably better to be safe than sorry and not reset it in that case.

And just for reference, I have had this happen to me with an ACS 2.2 ROM, so it's probably not a Cyanogen issue.

[xwatchmanx]

jamie3d, on 17 February 2012 - 05:32 AM, said:

The only things you really have to worry about with these batteries are overheating and overcharging. I'm pretty sure the phone's charging circuitry will take care of both of those things or the batteries would literally explode if you over charged them. I haven't read what you have, but it's probably better to be safe than sorry and not reset it in that case.

And just for reference, I have had this happen to me with an ACS 2.2 ROM, so it's probably not a Cyanogen issue.

That's good to hear. and btw, you can read about battery recalibration HERE (this is my "home forum" for Android rooting, so trust me, it's a credible article): http://www.sdx-devel...re-calibration/

[jamie3d]

xwatchmanx, on 17 February 2012 - 05:41 AM, said:

That's good to hear. and btw, you can read about battery recalibration HERE (this is my "home forum" for Android rooting, so trust me, it's a credible article): http://www.sdx-devel...re-calibration/

Thanks for sharing the link, I really appreciate it.

[Pvt.JoKeR]

To avoid the incorrect % reading of your battery, don't do reboots, shutdown and power the phone back on.  I've never had it misread the % when doing it that way.  This is a long standing known issue with using rom manager reboot, or even the power menu reboot, or any form of software to reboot the phone.

Edited by Pvt.JoKeR, 17 February 2012 - 06:25 PM.

[xwatchmanx]

Pvt.JoKeR, on 17 February 2012 - 06:24 PM, said:

To avoid the incorrect % reading of your battery, don't do reboots, shutdown and power the phone back on.  I've never had it misread the % when doing it that way.  This is a long standing known issue with using rom manager reboot, or even the power menu reboot, or any form of software to reboot the phone.

Really? Huh... well thanks for enlightening the problem for me! +1

Sent From My Ocarina Using the Song of Time

[Adam Forrest]

did you test this xwatchmanx im going to test this cuz i use reboot almost every time

[xwatchmanx]

Adam Forrest, on 17 February 2012 - 11:10 PM, said:

did you test this xwatchmanx im going to test this cuz i use reboot almost every time

There really is no quick way to "test" it, as it's an off-and-on occurrence... The only way to test is to use power-off only for a while. In a week, I'll report back with how it went.

[Zeinzu]

There's no such thing as calibrating a lithium ion battery. It's impossible. The only reason for charge and discharge several cycles for a new battery is to condition it, not to calibrate it. The text file that clockworkmod deletes holds absolutely nothing except the information collected by the OS about what's been using your battery, which is displayed under settings. Deleting this file can in no way ever, and I mean ever, affect your battery either in a positive or negative way. It does not give you a more accurate readin either. The random discharge on reboot is nothing more than a glitch. It can happen constantly or hardly ever or never on any rom, even stock. I'm not sure the reason why but I have a few theories, none of which I'm going to share till I know for sure. I don't like misleading people. If it drops on reboot, the voltage will balance itself out as the day goes on, or you can plug in your charger and reboot again for a "quick fix". It won't actually affect your "real time" battery life as while the phone sits the percentage will go back up.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

[xwatchmanx]

Thanks Zeinzu... since I'm one of your homeboys, can you PM me those theories? I promise I won't spread of take them without a grain of salt. :-p

[Paul Peavyhouse]

Sorry, but I feel that you guys are talking crazy about this calibration stuff; it seems to me like there is something wrong w/ the ROM.

I am experiencing an almost identical problem on my CM9 Beta0 which I updated to last night.
I recharged to a full battery overnight and this morning was at 100% when I left for work.
I ride the bus and use the phone quite a bit, but I have never come close to using more than 50% battery by the time I get to work.
When I got to work my phone spontaneously rebooted and when it came back up it said I had 8% battery left.

Yesterday I noticed something similar when I was running Alpha5. I had 100% charge when I left work and went to a Dr. appointment. When I left the Dr. an hour later my phone was having a hard time using its data connection, so I rebooted (airplane mode didn't seem to help). When the phone came back up it said I had 19% left.

I have had this Epic w/ 3 batteries (one Sedio extended, two Samsung standard) for 2 years and have never experienced this behavior.
Perhaps all 3 batteries have gone bad, but I am skeptical that I have worn out effectively 4 batteries in 2 years.
I also wouldn't expect the phone to say I have >50% charge one moment, and then reboot to discover it says I have

[xwatchmanx]

Paul Peavyhouse, on 14 March 2012 - 06:34 PM, said:

Sorry, but I feel that you guys are talking crazy about this calibration stuff; it seems to me like there is something wrong w/ the ROM.

I am experiencing an almost identical problem on my CM9 Beta0 which I updated to last night.
I recharged to a full battery overnight and this morning was at 100% when I left for work.
I ride the bus and use the phone quite a bit, but I have never come close to using more than 50% battery by the time I get to work.
When I got to work my phone spontaneously rebooted and when it came back up it said I had 8% battery left.

Yesterday I noticed something similar when I was running Alpha5. I had 100% charge when I left work and went to a Dr. appointment. When I left the Dr. an hour later my phone was having a hard time using its data connection, so I rebooted (airplane mode didn't seem to help). When the phone came back up it said I had 19% left.

I have had this Epic w/ 3 batteries (one Sedio extended, two Samsung standard) for 2 years and have never experienced this behavior.
Perhaps all 3 batteries have gone bad, but I am skeptical that I have worn out effectively 4 batteries in 2 years.
I also wouldn't expect the phone to say I have >50% charge one moment, and then reboot to discover it says I have

You're right, the battery calibration stuff is crazy. It doesn't help at all. And what you're describing sounds exactly what I was dealing with... though weirdly enough, I stopped having the issue a few weeks ago.