Battery questions

[LoydroidX]

I always plug the phone to the wall charger every night before I go to bed, so every morning I have a 100% charge.  (By the way...I'm using "Battery Left" to monitor battery info, which I like because it reports status in 1% increments rather than 10% on stock.)  When I got to work today (only about two hours after unplugging the phone), the charge dropped to 75%.  All I did was about 10 minutes checking email.  The rest of that time, the phone sat untouched on the dresser or the car seat.  Any idea why there would be a 25% drop with only about 10 minutes of use?

Every time I check "Battery Manager", Display appears to be the biggest drain (always around 50%).  I have the display set on Automatic, and timeout is set for 30 seconds - but I usually use the power button to turn off the display.  Any idea why "Display" is the greatest drain on the battery, and how can I lower this percentage?  The other items which are big drainers are "Browser", "Cell Standby" and "Phone Idle" - usually around 10% each.  What is "Cell Standby" and "Phone Idle" and is there anything I can do to lower the percentage of battery drain?  (Also, when I use the browser, do I need to 'back out' all the way to the Google screen, or can I just use the 'hard' Home key?  Would using the home key keep the browser running and thereby increase battery drain?)

At work, it's rare that I'm able to sit at my desk for any length of time, so when I plug the phone into the wall charger, I may have to leave the office in 15 or 30 minutes or so.  I unplug the phone to take it with me.  Does this frequent "charge on / charge off" for short periods of time have a negative effect on the battery?

This afternoon, however, work was not as hectic, so I was able to sit at my desk for a while.  For the first time, I turned on Pandora - and thought I had the phone plugged in.  Before I turned on Pandora, I had about 67% charge.  More than an hour later, I realized that I had not been charging the phone.  However, I still had 62% charge!  (Confirmed by the stock battery manager which indicated 60%).  Why would only about 10 minutes of use this morning drop the charge 25%, but over an hour of continual use drop the charge only 5%? 

Sorry...didn't realize there would be so many questions. 

[gerio]

Wooo, Loyd, that WAS fast....

I'm kinda thinking that you need either a new battery or maybe a new charger. Or both. 

Are you using the same battery charger everywhere you go? If so, that could make the charger suspect.

If you have chargers stashed in strategic places (like I do. I know, that's sick!), then the charger(s) is/are eliminated from the equation.

At this point (and re-reading your post), there's something I think you should try. Someone may think that this is a bad idea because of the nature of lithium batteries, so speak up if you know better. Let the battery run all the way down. Then without turning on the phone, let it charge on the home charger for several hours. I know that in some computers (and I can't keep up with how al of the technological advances change the habits that we learn when dealing with our gadgets, so this notion may be out of date), this procedure will supposedly reset the battery meters. So it might help you with the metering on your phone, which I find a little suspect. And other than the purpose of this "meter reset", it is a rather bad idea to let the battery run all the way down on a regular basis. I try to have mine on the charger when it gets down to 30%.

As for the charging on again and off again, I don't know if that is detrimental on a long-term basis or not. Hopefully, someone will chime in to confirm or correct this statement.

Hope this helps, 

Geri O

[LoydroidX]

Thanks Geri -

I bought an OEM wall charger and car charger online a couple weeks ago.  I use this wall charger in the bedroom.  At work and at home here in the den, I use the charger that came with the phone. 

Like you, I usually charge when the battery gets to 30%.  I might try the complete drain idea - unless I find out otherwise. 

If I do keep the Droid X (which I really want to do) I might invest in the extended battery (and cover). 

Thanks again!

[crb79]

Sounds like your battery might not be holding a true 100% charge.  Does your battery app show what your voltage is @ fully charged?  Just to give you an idea, mine shows 90% charge with 4.19v and right now it's at 3.94v and 70%.

The plug-in & unplug game shouldn't cause any issues with your battery.  The only real dangers are to let it completely deplete between charges.

For usage I'm showing 14h 43min since unplugged, 52% Voice Calls (about 1 1/2 hours of talk-time) display 17% Phone idle 14% and so on.  I've checked about 20 txts and sent out 20 or so, and read about 15 emails all of which were under 100 words or so.

I've been using Performance mode since I purchased this phone on the day of release.  And I always have my GPS radio turned on.

As for the Display settings, It's set to 1min time out, auto brightness, all animations.  

As for battery saving, I use Advanced Task Killer, set to Crazy and every time the screen turns off.  I also do not use Live wallpapers.  I did notice live wallpapers drag down my battery like crazy.

Do you play any games on your phone?  Most games disable your phone's auto brightness and sleep ability.  This could account for your battery loss.  

[crb79]

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LoydroidX wrote:

Thanks Geri -

I bought an OEM wall charger and car charger online a couple weeks ago.  I use this wall charger in the bedroom.  At work and at home here in the den, I use the charger that came with the phone. 

Like you, I usually charge when the battery gets to 30%.  I might try the complete drain idea - unless I find out otherwise. 

If I do keep the Droid X (which I really want to do) I might invest in the extended battery (and cover). 

Thanks again!

---

Complete drain is a bad idea.  Today's phones and some batteries have a circuit board in them that will not allow them to be recharged once they get past a certain voltage.  Take my word on that, I've had to rescue MANY batteries that have been allowed to drain completely.

[gerio]

So the notion that completely draining the battery will reset the battery meter is a false notion?

I have let mine fully discharge 3 or 4 times over the 5 months I've had it (not lately). Each time it would take about 10 or 15 minutes of charging before it would power up, which I did not find surprising.
Its not a practice I recommend - at all, now, I guess.

Oh, and I did get the extended battery and I'm very glad I did. But read here for my experiences with the new battery door and phone covers...

http://community.vzw.com/t5/DROID-X-by-Motorola/Be-Careful-What-You-Wish-For/td-p/326024

Geri O

[LoydroidX]

Thanks CRB. Currently I'm at 50% and 3.91v. When it has a good charge, the voltage is at 4 and above. You're at 70% after nearly 15 hours unplugged? My use is similar to yours except I have probably about 35 emails per day and had less than five minutes talk time today.

I rarely play games and don't use live wallpapers.

I've heard that ATK is not necessary and might even cause increased battery use. But apparently it's working well for you, so maybe I'll give it a try.

I appreciate your advice!

[crb79]

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LoydroidX wrote:
Thanks CRB. Currently I'm at 50% and 3.91v. When it has a good charge, the voltage is at 4 and above. You're at 70% after nearly 15 hours unplugged? My use is similar to yours except I have probably about 35 emails per day and had less than five minutes talk time today.

I rarely play games and don't use live wallpapers.

I've heard that ATK is not necessary and might even cause increased battery use. But apparently it's working well for you, so maybe I'll give it a try.

I appreciate your advice!

---

I've heard the same things about ATK, but honestly with the results I'm getting I don't pay it much mind.  There was a time I didn't have the ATK installed for a couple of days and I don't remember a battery life difference, but I do remember the keyboard and some programs being laggy.  

I'm still using the 10% battery display, so my 3.94 could be as low as 61%, our voltages are pretty close so it sounds like your % are at least reading proper voltages.  I make it a practice to not let my phone drop under 60% if I can help it.  The lowest I've ever let it get was 30% and that was because charger wasn't plugged in the wall one night.  It still made it through a whole second day of work, although I have to admit I conserved the heck out of it.

Oh!!!!  I've been using the "Rare Black" backgrounds!  Try those out, I've been using them since a week after I got the phone, this could be the reason I'm getting great battery life.  The app is available free under the Verizon Tab on the marketplace.

[ebfm2526]

Another item that drains your battery life is the display brightness when it IS in use. it really isn't necessary to have it on full bright. I have dimmed mine down quite a bit and use ATK and have found a great improvement in my battery life. However, I hate that verizon installed stuff on the phone such as city id and skype and i can't delete them or make them from stop running ever! 

[LoydroidX]

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crb79 wrote:

I've heard the same things about ATK, but honestly with the results I'm getting I don't pay it much mind.  There was a time I didn't have the ATK installed for a couple of days and I don't remember a battery life difference, but I do remember the keyboard and some programs being laggy.  

I'm still using the 10% battery display, so my 3.94 could be as low as 61%, our voltages are pretty close so it sounds like your % are at least reading proper voltages.  I make it a practice to not let my phone drop under 60% if I can help it.  The lowest I've ever let it get was 30% and that was because charger wasn't plugged in the wall one night.  It still made it through a whole second day of work, although I have to admit I conserved the heck out of it.

Oh!!!!  I've been using the "Rare Black" backgrounds!  Try those out, I've been using them since a week after I got the phone, this could be the reason I'm getting great battery life.  The app is available free under the Verizon Tab on the marketplace.

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Well, I've used ATK all day today (using the settings suggested) but didn't really notice any major difference in battery life.  I didn't have to charge it until about seven hours off the charger - yesterday, I had to charge after about five hours off the charger (and I charge when it gets to about 30 or 40%).  Also had to charge it tonight again.  Voltage seems good...ranging from a bit over 4.0 down to about 3.8.

I've been reading online and apparently Motorola suggests draining the battery completely and charging it completely for two cycles.  I'm still a bit apprehensive about this, so I'm going to do more research.  I've also read differing opinions about dark backgrounds.  Some say that the dark screens make the system work harder for the light to try to penetrate, while others say lighter screens make the system work harder to maintain bright areas.  (I'm currently using a nighttime Christmas scene which is fairly dark with some muted Christmas lights.)

Tomorrow, I'm going to the store where I bought this phone and I hope they can offer some advice too. 

Thanks again, y'all!