Droid Battery Usage

[bimm3rb0y]

What is taking up the most juice from your Droid's Battery? Mine is the Display at 50% and I have it set to the lowest setting. Any ideas as to preventing massive battery usage???

 

[nickstanley]

Why would you lower the brightness on a screen on such an amazing looking device. Buy a car and extra charger. You'll befine

 

[CardinalFan22]

Yea I have full brightness on my droid and have 7 homescreens all tricked out and battery last me all day just buy a car charger and plug it in while not in use works great for me

 

[htowngtr]

I guess if you're constantly plugging it in then it'll last all day regardless, but I would rather not have to do that either so I leave the settings dialed down. It's annoying to have to purchase batteries, chargers, etc. just to get you through the day.

 

[bimm3rb0y]

I guess if you're constantly plugging it in then it'll last all day regardless, but I would rather not have to do that either so I leave the settings dialed down. It's annoying to have to purchase batteries, chargers, etc. just to get you through the day.

I agree...I have a charger at work, in my car, at home, even a rechargable duracell one for travel. It gets annoying.

 

[messenger13]

Why would you lower the brightness on a screen on such an amazing looking device. Buy a car and extra charger. You'll befine

I have chargers everywhere too, I just don't feel the need to have the brightness setting on anything but all the way DOWN! Unless the sun is shining too much, then I turn up the display. It's almost as if different people like different settings ... huh? Who'd a thunk?

 

[bimm3rb0y]

I mean I don't mind having chargers everywhere (reason being is because I already bought them lol) but I would just like to have to phone use up less battery even for idle and display. I guess thats part of the Droid being an Android phone. I'm still satisfied with the performance though...

 

[GDroid]

I have my screen brightness setting on "auto".

 

[Thoraldus]

Your LiPo batteries will last a LOT longer if you keep them "topped up". Deep discharges will cut their life in half or more. Chargers are cheaper than batteries.

 

[messenger13]

Your LiPo batteries will last a LOT longer if you keep them "topped up". Deep discharges will cut their life in half or more. Chargers are cheaper than batteries.

Not arguing, but VERY curious. Is this a fact?

 

[Thoraldus]

Not arguing, but VERY curious. Is this a fact?

Li-Ion Polymer Batteries

With characteristics similar to a standard Li-ion battery, you can charge and discharge a Li-ion polymer battery in a similar manner. The main difference between the two is that a solid ion conductive polymer replaces the liquid electrolyte used in a standard Li-ion battery, although most polymer batteries also contain an electrolyte paste to lower the internal cell resistance. Eliminating the liquid electrolyte allows the polymer battery to be housed in a foil pouch rather than the heavy metal case required for standard Li-ion batteries. Li-ion polymer batteries are gaining popularity because of their cost-effective manufacturing flexibility, which allows them to be fabricated in many different shapes, including very thin.
All rechargeable batteries wear out, and Li-ion cells are no exception. Battery manufacturers usually consider the end of life for a battery to be when the battery capacity drops to 80% of the rated capacity. However, batteries can still deliver usable power below 80% charge capacity, although they will produce shorter run-times.


The number of charge/discharge cycles is commonly used when referring to battery life, but cycle life and battery life (or service life) can be different. Charging and discharging will eventually reduce the battery's active material and cause other chemistry changes, resulting in increased internal resistance and permanent capacity loss. But permanent capacity loss also occurs even when the battery is not in use. Permanent capacity loss is greatest at elevated temperatures with the battery voltage maintained at 4.2 V (fully charged).


For maximum storage life, batteries should be stored with a 40% charge (3.6 V) at 40

 

[FrayAdjacent]

Well, what you're seeing there under battery usage is how the usage has been divided up.

Say you're at 60% battery remaining. You check Battery Usage, and you see that your screen took up 50%. That's 50% of the 40% of the battery you've used since a full charge, meaning your screen use really only took up 20% of your total battery capacity.

You have to interpret what you're seeing correctly. The screen WILL take up lots of power. Phone calls will take up a lot as well. This is normal. Using auto brightness, or manually setting the brightness down are ways to mitigate this, but you can only reduce usage so much.

 

[FrayAdjacent]

Great info Thoraldus.

One should temper that by noting that LiPo batteries have cycle life expectancies much greater than the old LiIon laptop batteries did. When LiIon batteries became mainstream, they were rated at about 300 charge cycles. This meant you could feasibly exhaust the life of a LiIon battery in a year.

Newer cell technology can have cycle lives of well over 1000 cycles. A123 Systems has a cell rated at 7000 cycles (that's 19 years at one cycle per day!).

So take the info above with a grain of salt. Most people only use a cell phone for about a year, and then upgrade. The battery in our Droids should last that long without much degradation at all. Plus, with the battery being removable and replaceable, it's easy to remedy if battery capacity dwindles.

 

[vr6dubbin]

I actually prefer the screen brightness all the way down.. it's still bright enough for me, while being very subtle at the same time.. my battery usually lasts a VERY long time, even if I use it constantly all day.. I love it!