Help ICS battery disaster

[jaypeecee]

Hi bfksc,

Yesterday evening, I did a factory reset on my tab. I have not installed any additional apps. When I went to bed, the battery was showing 53% charged plus the following:

Screen 83%
Android System 9%
Android OS 5%
Phone 3%

This morning, the figures are:

Battery 44%

Screen 43%
Android System 7%
Android OS 19%
Phone 25%
Cell Standby 5%
Device Idle 3%

So, there appears to be a problem already. Device idle for just 3% of the time. Why has the screen used 43% when it was off? And, phone shows 25%. I can't make sense of these figures. Over to you.

JPC

 

[jaypeecee]

Hi bfksc,

I monitored my battery last night using the stock battery option in Settings. No additional apps installed over and beyond those that came supplied with the tab itself. Battery capacity fell by 13% over 10 hours. Not what we were hoping to see. So, it doesn't look as if my battery drain problem is caused by a rogue app after all.

My latest line of pursuit is related to Fast Dormancy. Would you happen to know if your carrier has FD enabled? Also, at what rate does battery capacity fall on your SGT 10.1 when display, WiFi, mobile data, GPS and bluetooth are all off? We often talk in non-quantitative terms but I need to be able to compare my device with other identical devices. Thus, we need to talk numbers.

Hoping you can help.

JPC

 

[Deleted User]

Hi bfksc,
Yesterday evening, I did a factory reset on my tab. I have not installed any additional apps. When I went to bed, the battery was showing 53% charged plus the following:

Screen 83%
Android System 9%
Android OS 5%
Phone 3%

This morning, the figures are:

Battery 44%

Screen 43%
Android System 7%
Android OS 19%
Phone 25%
Cell Standby 5%
Device Idle 3%

So, there appears to be a problem already. Device idle for just 3% of the time. Why has the screen used 43% when it was off? And, phone shows 25%. I can't make sense of these figures. Over to you.
JPC

Something is definitely different...mine does not show Phone % at all. Never has. I see Cell Standby % as the Tab has a cell modem that is used as needed and goes into standby. It's often the second user of battery, the first being the screen, which I would consider normal.

In your stats above, the screen used 43%, but that's overall usage compared to the others, so going from 83 to 43% overnight sounds typical and not unusual. The concern is 'phone %'...we need to find out why your Tab does that.

Right after you do a reset, the Tab will use a bit more battery than daily typical usage as the Android OS will attempt to find updates, backups, etc., so it'll use more initially. Perhaps after it settles down in a day or so, the phone % will drop off, so keep an eye on it and see what happens.

As a comparison, my Tab only uses about 5% battery per day when unused. I often don't use it on long weekends, and this past Sunday and today I didn't touch it at all, and it dropped from 76% late Saturday to 68% Monday after noon. That's 8% in about 36 hours unused.

You mentioned Fast Dormancy...I believe it's enabled on Rogers and works properly as I see both my phone and Tab dropping from H+ to 3G within 7 seconds and no issues with battery life. Perhaps your carrier has not implemented it properly?

Also, what is your cellular signal strength at home or work or wherever you use it most? The weaker the signal, the more battery will be used even when idle.

 

[jaypeecee]

Something is definitely different...mine does not show Phone % at all. Never has. I see Cell Standby % as the Tab has a cell modem that is used as needed and goes into standby. It's often the second user of battery, the first being the screen, which I would consider normal.

In your stats above, the screen used 43%, but that's overall usage compared to the others, so going from 83 to 43% overnight sounds typical and not unusual. The concern is 'phone %'...we need to find out why your Tab does that.

Right after you do a reset, the Tab will use a bit more battery than daily typical usage as the Android OS will attempt to find updates, backups, etc., so it'll use more initially. Perhaps after it settles down in a day or so, the phone % will drop off, so keep an eye on it and see what happens.

As a comparison, my Tab only uses about 5% battery per day when unused. I often don't use it on long weekends, and this past Sunday and today I didn't touch it at all, and it dropped from 76% late Saturday to 68% Monday after noon. That's 8% in about 36 hours unused.

You mentioned Fast Dormancy...I believe it's enabled on Rogers and works properly as I see both my phone and Tab dropping from H+ to 3G within 7 seconds and no issues with battery life. Perhaps your carrier has not implemented it properly?

Also, what is your cellular signal strength at home or work or wherever you use it most? The weaker the signal, the more battery will be used even when idle.

Hi bfksc,

Many, many thanks for getting back to me.

I find it odd that the screen used 43% overnight - after all, the screen is off throughout this period. How can it be using battery?

If your tab battery drops by a mere 8% in 36 hours when not in use, that's what I would like to see. You are seeing 0.22% per hour but I am seeing almost seven times that figure!

My cellular signal strength at home (where I spend most of my time recently) is excellent as I use a femtocell (Vodafone Sure Signal). It is around the 20 asu mark. I learned yesterday that FD is not (and can't be) enabled on the Sure Signal. My tablet shows H on the rare occasions that I use mobile data at home. Normally, I use WiFi as I don't have an ongoing data plan. I am tempted to use mobile data for a while to see if anything changes.

Thanks again,

JPC

 

[Deleted User]

I find it odd that the screen used 43% overnight - after all, the screen is off throughout this period. How can it be using battery?

It's not using the screen, I think you're misreading the data.

When you unplug the charger, the battery statistics reset and start from zero percent, so if the screen is on and you use the tablet for a while before turning it off and going to sleep, then it will register how much of the total battery usage in that total period was consumed by the screen when you check it the next morning. If you unplug the charger and don't use the tablet at all, then the next morning usage should be minimal since the screen wasn't on during that period.

If your tab battery drops by a mere 8% in 36 hours when not in use, that's what I would like to see. You are seeing 0.22% per hour but I am seeing almost seven times that figure!

Yes that's about right, roughly 5% per day. That's what I really like about my Tab...standby battery life is fantastic on 3G. I never use WiFi since I have a large data plan. But when I have used WiFi, battery life drops considerably, even when the WiFi signal is very strong. My other tablets I had prior to the Samsung used WiFi only and they had standby life of just 24-36 hours with mild usage - I was always topping up the battery.

Now I should note that I rarely let the battery go below 50% as Li-Ion cells last longer and work best when kept topped up rather than run down like older NiMH battery technologies. So if you run the battery down further, say to 15%, then add another 80% to the standby times I quoted above to get closer to "typical usage" stats.

Normally, I use WiFi as I don't have an ongoing data plan. I am tempted to use mobile data for a while to see if anything changes.

That might be the issue...WiFi seems to use a lot more battery than 3G for me.

 

[jaypeecee]

Hi bfksc,

I am very grateful for your detailed reply.

You have raised some interesting points. I will give them due consideration.

This is really dragging out.

JPC

 

[Deleted User]

Hi bfksc,
I am very grateful for your detailed reply.
You have raised some interesting points. I will give them due consideration.
This is really dragging out.
JPC

Dragging out???

Dude, you haven't met me so you don't know what "dragging out" really means...and there's more to it than meets the eye.

Anywho, experiment a bit and see where it goes. Then update the thread...thanks...

 

[jaypeecee]

Dragging out???

Dude, you haven't met me so you don't know what "dragging out" really means...and there's more to it than meets the eye.

Anywho, experiment a bit and see where it goes. Then update the thread...thanks...

The mind boggles!

I will persevere but I have run out of ideas at the moment.

It is interesting to note that almost 2000 people have read this thread to date and 57 have replied. Does this mean that most people are not seeing a battery problem since updating to ICS? Anyone?

JPC

 

[Coach70]

I use an application called Battery Monitor Widget to monitor my battery usage and I noted average usage before I upgraded to ICS and after. I didn't see any noticeable difference. Currently when my Tab is in standby it consumes about 0.67% per hour, or about 16% per day. That's connected to WiFi, GPS turned on and Power Saving options turned off. I imagine that with WiFi turned off or in Airplane mode it would be better, but I've never benchmarked it to see.

 

[Deleted User]

It is interesting to note that almost 2000 people have read this thread to date and 57 have replied. Does this mean that most people are not seeing a battery problem since updating to ICS? Anyone?
JPC

I've noticed that too...so I can only conclude that the vast majority of people don't have any battery issues with ICS.

 

[jaypeecee]

I use an application called Battery Monitor Widget to monitor my battery usage and I noted average usage before I upgraded to ICS and after. I didn't see any noticeable difference. Currently when my Tab is in standby it consumes about 0.67% per hour, or about 16% per day. That's connected to WiFi, GPS turned on and Power Saving options turned off. I imagine that with WiFi turned off or in Airplane mode it would be better, but I've never benchmarked it to see.

Hi Coach,

Thanks for your feedback.

I also use BMW. Out of interest, do you have the 3G or non-3G version of the SGT 10.1?

I am beginning to wonder if the problem I'm seeing is related to mobile data (I have the 3G version). My suspicion is that most users have the non-3G model. If that is the case and if the problem is related to mobile data, it may explain why only a small number of forum members have reported problems.

We're doing all this work - yet, Samsung seem oblivious to there being a problem at all. Silly state of affairs.

JPC

 

[jaypeecee]

Hi folks,

This forum has got awfully quiet except for people like me who still has a problem with battery drain.

I pursued mobile data a bit further. I switched mobile data on and left my tab unattended for five hours. When I got back to it, battery had fallen by 9%, which works out at 1.8% per hour. I have currently been seeing 1.4% per hour overnight. Looking at Better Battery Stats (BBS) afterwards, I see that l2_hsic no longer appears on the kernel wake lock (KWL) list. Instead, in top three positions are multipdp (2.1%), secril_fd-interface (1.3%) and PowerManagerService (5.2%).

One thing I have noticed whilst I have been looking into this battery drain problem stands out like a sore thumb. And that is - all the reported problems relating to l2_hsic occur on Samsung devices! That must tell a story.

JPC

 

[Coach70]

Hi Coach,

Thanks for your feedback.

I also use BMW. Out of interest, do you have the 3G or non-3G version of the SGT 10.1?

I am beginning to wonder if the problem I'm seeing is related to mobile data (I have the 3G version). My suspicion is that most users have the non-3G model. If that is the case and if the problem is related to mobile data, it may explain why only a small number of forum members have reported problems.

We're doing all this work - yet, Samsung seem oblivious to there being a problem at all. Silly state of affairs.

JPC

Hey Jaypeecee,

I have a non-3G version. I decided to try benchmarking battery drain with the tab in Airplane mode (I couldn't find such a mode, it seems to have disappeared since ICS, so I just turned everything off manually). I got my drain down to about 0.13% per hour, or about 3.1% per day. This seems in line with some of the other posters on here.

- Coach.

 

[jaypeecee]

Hey Jaypeecee,

I have a non-3G version. I decided to try benchmarking battery drain with the tab in Airplane mode (I couldn't find such a mode, it seems to have disappeared since ICS, so I just turned everything off manually). I got my drain down to about 0.13% per hour, or about 3.1% per day. This seems in line with some of the other posters on here.

- Coach.

Hi Coach,

Thanks for the feedback.

Wish I could get drain down to 0.13% per hour on my slab of slate. That would be just over ten times less than I am currently seeing. I'd be happy with that. I really appreciate getting feedback like this - can't do much without actual figures.

I'm at a loss as to what to do next. I've been working on this problem for a couple of weeks at least.

JPC

 

[kays_f]

That is because samsung ended support to the tab in an unstable os. as i do a researcn about this subject it seems that the tab does not go into the "deep sleep" mode. this explanation is consistent with my experience that there is always a little heat at the back of my tab. this problem obviously started after ics upgrade. perhaps flashing a rom from a different country will solve the problem but an unexperienced user like me get afraid about doing that. for example the rom for macedonia seems to be released a few months ago but i get afraid if my tab becomes sim locked when i flash it. otherwise i would try all of the stock roms released for the tab.

are there any informative explanation about flashing? flashing a rom? coming back to the stock rom? downgrading os version etc.? i got bored with this problem but bricking the device fear forces me to learning to live with this annoying situation.

 

[scs77]

Did anyone solve this issue? I have galaxy 10.1 3 g and have the same problem drain abot 2% on standby. This happened before ics update also. I have no sim in but cannot seem to switch off 3g in battery stats it still seems to search for it? also have sent it back to Samsung who tell me my battery is just fine?

WOuld appreciate help.

THanks