Help My god, what happened to my battery life today?

[JohnJSal]

For the past few days I've been able to get about 36 hours of unplugged time (with about 2 hours of solid use) from my Evo. Last night I charged it and this morning I unplugged it, used it for literally about 5 minutes, let it sit idle for 3 hours, and when I checked the battery life it was at 63%!

I have done exactly the same routine on other days, and after that amount of time (with only minutes of use) the battery is still in the 90% range. What could possibly have happened today?

I checked the running programs and running services. Nothing really seemed all that out of the ordinary (except maybe stuff like Shazam and Soundhound?). I just couldn't believe it dropped 40% in a few hours, with no use. It hasn't been doing that at all for the past few weeks.

In fact, I seemed to have been noticing that even after several hours of idleness, the big drop in the 90s wasn't even happening that much. But today, my god...

 

[akazabam]

It could be that something was/is holding a wake lock. Install spare parts from the market, plug your phone in for a minute, unplug your phone, then let your phone sit for maybe an hour (don't turn it off or anything, just make sure the screen turns off (phone goes to sleep). Open spare parts, go to battery history, click the top dropdown, select partial wake usage. Verify that the second drop down says "Since last unplugged". You should see a descending list of applications that have held wake locks, starting with the most time. If you see anything holding wake locks for more than a few minutes (or even the whole hour), you can see what was causing it.

 

[JohnJSal]

It could be that something was/is holding a wake lock. Install spare parts from the market, plug your phone in for a minute, unplug your phone, then let your phone sit for maybe an hour (don't turn it off or anything, just make sure the screen turns off (phone goes to sleep). Open spare parts, go to battery history, click the top dropdown, select partial wake usage. Verify that the second drop down says "Since last unplugged". You should see a descending list of applications that have held wake locks, starting with the most time. If you see anything holding wake locks for more than a few minutes (or even the whole hour), you can see what was causing it.

Thank you. Is this any different than checking the "Phone Idle" entry in my battery use list? That said 2h51m, and the total unplugged time was 2h58m, which seems to suggest it really was asleep for all but 7 minutes (or are asleep and idle different things?).

 

[akazabam]

Thank you. Is this any different than checking the "Phone Idle" entry in my battery use list? That said 2h51m, and the total unplugged time was 2h58m, which seems to suggest it really was asleep for all but 7 minutes (or are asleep and idle different things?).

Sort of. Those stats basically mean the percentage of the battery that was used while the phone was in that state. The time might mean something, but a better thing to look at is total awake time under settings -> about -> battery. If that is very low (since you know you didn't use the phone much), then it's not a wake lock issue. I still suggest you take a look at spare parts, anyway.

 

[JohnJSal]

Sort of. Those stats basically mean the percentage of the battery that was used while the phone was in that state. The time might mean something, but a better thing to look at is total awake time under settings -> about -> battery. If that is very low (since you know you didn't use the phone much), then it's not a wake lock issue. I still suggest you take a look at spare parts, anyway.

Well, my awake time says 68 hours, but that doesn't really help since it doesn't seem to show the last previous amount of awake time, just the total time since the last reset, correct?

I'll check out the app anyway. But does it hurt to force stop things in the Running Services lists? I might try to do that with Shazam, Soundhound, and apps like that.

 

[akazabam]

Well, my awake time says 68 hours, but that doesn't really help since it doesn't seem to show the last previous amount of awake time, just the total time since the last reset, correct?

I'll check out the app anyway. But does it hurt to force stop things in the Running Services lists? I might try to do that with Shazam, Soundhound, and apps like that.

Yeah, you would have to reboot your phone for awake time to really be useful, which is why you'll want to use spare parts. It doesn't really hurt to force stop things, but it doesn't always help, either. More than likely, they will just start themselves back up again, later. Spare parts will tell you if they are even using any cpu time at all anyway. They probably aren't if you aren't actively using them.

 

[Mr. Ed]

wow..I had the exact same thing happen last night.

I took phone off charger, 91%
tried deleting a file from the phone, set phone down.
7 minutes or so later 63%

When I hooked the phone up to a computer I noticed the file I had tried to delete was still there, however within the folders on the phone it was not.

My best guess was that something was hanging up when trying to delete on the phone.

rebooted the phone and all has been fine since

 

[akazabam]

wow..I had the exact same thing happen last night.

I took phone off charger, 91%
tried deleting a file from the phone, set phone down.
7 minutes or so later 63%

When I hooked the phone up to a computer I noticed the file I had tried to delete was still there, however within the folders on the phone it was not.

My best guess was that something was hanging up when trying to delete on the phone.

rebooted the phone and all has been fine since

I know with estrongs, you will have an ongoing notification until a file is deleted. What did you use to delete it?

 

[JohnJSal]

wow..I had the exact same thing happen last night.

I took phone off charger, 91%
tried deleting a file from the phone, set phone down.
7 minutes or so later 63%

When I hooked the phone up to a computer I noticed the file I had tried to delete was still there, however within the folders on the phone it was not.

My best guess was that something was hanging up when trying to delete on the phone.

rebooted the phone and all has been fine since

Yeah, I'm thinking this is sort of a one-off thing, but I didn't do anything weird last night or this morning (like install a new app, or try to transfer files, or anything like that) so it seems to be happening out of the blue.

 

[shantytownbrown]

I have been having this sudden battery drain for the past 5 or 6 days, I will take the Spare Parts avice and try to report back if i find anything..i did download a bunch of stuff from the market recently and i bet it is one of those apps..

shanty

 

[shantytownbrown]

SpareParts seems to be telling me that a News/opinion website app I had was keeping things open, also Handcent messanger was also running open. The battery drop was most noticible since getting handcent, I will try with stock messanger for a while and uninstall the news app and run spare parts again, and see how my battery behaves.

I also uninstalled a bunch of other apps i wasnt using.

we'll see if i get back my decent battery life again.

 

[Mr. Ed]

I know with estrongs, you will have an ongoing notification until a file is deleted. What did you use to delete it?

estrongs....and had no notification


handcent did this once on mine but I had checkmarked screen on for incoming message and had received a message in the middle of the night. simply fixed that setting, and removed the pop ups option and it never happened again.

 

[shantytownbrown]

handcent did this once on mine but I had checkmarked screen on for incoming message and had received a message in the middle of the night. simply fixed that setting, and removed the pop ups option and it never happened again.

maybe i will try reloading Handcent and try these settings and see, as i did like handcent way better than stock...

still not superb battery today (compared w a few weeks ago...) but better than the past few days for sure

 

[JohnJSal]

still not superb battery today (compared w a few weeks ago...) but better than the past few days for sure

Same here. Better than yesterday, but after about the same amount of non-use, it was down to 70%.

 

[JohnJSal]

Sort of. Those stats basically mean the percentage of the battery that was used while the phone was in that state. The time might mean something, but a better thing to look at is total awake time under settings -> about -> battery. If that is very low (since you know you didn't use the phone much), then it's not a wake lock issue. I still suggest you take a look at spare parts, anyway.

Ok, I'm doing some experiments. The first was to note the Awake time last night before plugging in my phone and leaving it in sleep mode all night. It was exactly 2h. I unplugged it this morning and checked and it was 2h12m. Is that normal for it to go up at all overnight while it's supposed to be sleeping?

[My next test is to see if the Awake time increases over the next few hours, or at least increases more than my actual usage. I'm going to try not to use it though. Over the course of yesterday, the Awake time seemed to be an hour more than my actual usage.

Finally, after these two things (assuming something appears wrong), I will install Spare Parts and get to the heart of it.]

 

[akazabam]

Ok, I'm doing some experiments. The first was to note the Awake time last night before plugging in my phone and leaving it in sleep mode all night. It was exactly 2h. I unplugged it this morning and checked and it was 2h12m. Is that normal for it to go up at all overnight while it's supposed to be sleeping?

[My next test is to see if the Awake time increases over the next few hours, or at least increases more than my actual usage. I'm going to try not to use it though. Over the course of yesterday, the Awake time seemed to be an hour more than my actual usage.

Finally, after these two things (assuming something appears wrong), I will install Spare Parts and get to the heart of it.]

12 minutes over night doesn't sound unreasonable, depending on what was keeping it awake. How much did the battery drain during that time?. It's hard to say if an hour over the course of a day is normal without knowing what was keeping it awake. You can use spare parts to gather these totals as well (and they'll be a little more accurate). You can basically compare the total amount of time the phone has been awake (including you using it and it holding wake locks) with the total time the screen was on. This, of course, is only accurate if you didn't use the phone for anything that would specifically keep the phone awake with the screen off (like listening to music or something).

 

[JohnJSal]

12 minutes over night doesn't sound unreasonable, depending on what was keeping it awake. How much did the battery drain during that time?. It's hard to say if an hour over the course of a day is normal without knowing what was keeping it awake. You can use spare parts to gather these totals as well (and they'll be a little more accurate). You can basically compare the total amount of time the phone has been awake (including you using it and it holding wake locks) with the total time the screen was on. This, of course, is only accurate if you didn't use the phone for anything that would specifically keep the phone awake with the screen off (like listening to music or something).

Yeah, that's basically how I've done it. It's better today. I've even been on 4G and it's not down in the 60s yet like the other day.

The battery didn't drain last night because it was plugged in.

 

[akazabam]

Yeah, that's basically how I've done it. It's better today. I've even been on 4G and it's not down in the 60s yet like the other day.

The battery didn't drain last night because it was plugged in.

haha, I guess I should have re-read your post there where you said you plugged it in. Try leaving it overnight without plugging it in, and see how much the battery drains.

 

[JohnJSal]

haha, I guess I should have re-read your post there where you said you plugged it in. Try leaving it overnight without plugging it in, and see how much the battery drains.

I'll give it a try. Usually it doesn't drain more than a few %s.

 

[bossyrn]

I have had really bad battery drain the last few days, too. I charge my phone at night, so I'm usually around 100% when I leave my house. An hour later, when I get to work, I put it on airplane mode because I keep it in my locker. Usually, I have minimal battery drain when I turn off airplane mode about 8 hours later, but the last 2 days, it has been on yellow. What is up?!?! I haven't changed any settings at all. It drained bad over the weekend too with regular use, mainly phone calls and texting - not even anything big.

 

[akazabam]

I have had really bad battery drain the last few days, too. I charge my phone at night, so I'm usually around 100% when I leave my house. An hour later, when I get to work, I put it on airplane mode because I keep it in my locker. Usually, I have minimal battery drain when I turn off airplane mode about 8 hours later, but the last 2 days, it has been on yellow. What is up?!?! I haven't changed any settings at all. It drained bad over the weekend too with regular use, mainly phone calls and texting - not even anything big.

Did you check with spare parts as mentioned in the rest of this thread?

 

[nitro444]

I Recently Purchased 2 2000 Mhha Batteries and its what i have been using but i noticed that my phone still drains pretty quick... with the stock battery i could listen to Pandora all Day and at the end of the day i would have 20% still... With the 2000 mha Battery 3 hours before i finish my day i have to plug it in.. on iddle for 3 hours "Idle" texting once in a while... i would be at 70% easy.... im reading what you guys are saying and i just downloaded Spare Parts Along with an App called Battery Monitor. Im charging the phone now, Tomorow i will record Accurate Readings and then See what the problem is so i can post it here.

 

[Deleted User]

Hey all. I've been having similar problems recently. Seems like all of a sudden my phone needs to be plugged in to recharge twice a day. Last night I recharged and unplugged about 530p, and this morning it was dying again. I talked for about 5 minutes, and played a game for about 20. Before this, I would have wi-fi running all day, texting on and off, talking on and off, checking facebook, etc., and would get a full 16 hours or better. I have downloaded a bunch of things lately and have been looking at settings to see if one of them is the culprit, with no luck.

So, reading this thread, following instructions like a good newbie, I downloaded Spare Parts and here's what I got:

Battery Info:
Time since boot: 12:12:36 (my last recharge was with the phone turned off)
Battery Level 8 (this was right before I plugged it in to recharge)
Scale 100
Health good

Partial wake usage:
Partial Wake Lock--Android OS--8 mins (not a hog there)

Usage Stats (top two, sorted by time):
HTC Sense 6 1641741ms (about 27 minutes)
Internet 3 1641741ms
(why are these stats in milliseconds?) (And, I see here that I probably wrote down the wrong number for the internet usage. what are the chances that it would be exactly the same as the Sense usage?)

Okay, so looking at all this, I don't see any one app causing the drainage. I'm thinking of taking my phone back to the Sprint store to see what their recommendations are, but I loath the idea of not having a phone for a few days if they want to send it back. What do you folks think?

Thanks--d