Help Massive battery drain / hot phone

James Blonde · Aug 17, 2014

I'm on EE with a stock Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 on Android 4.4.2.

Something odd has happened to my phone in the last 48-72 hours. I'm suddenly getting massive battery drain (100%- battery warning in less than 3 hours) but only if I have a cell signal. I'm not generally using the phone. No issues at all on Wifi only or flight mode, or when I appear to have no signal (circle with cross through - although there is a signal, the phone just needs a reboot).

I thought battery, and had to recharge 3 times yesterday, but when I stuck it on flight mode last night, the massive drain stopped. When I took it off flight mode this morning it clearly didn't pick up a signal and lost virtually no battery for most of the day, until I noticed the lack of signal, rebooted, and it picked up signal again.

When I do have a signal and the phone is draining, it's also getting very hot - not quite crotch-pot cooking hot, but I'm noticing it through my pocket. Heat stops with no signal.

Cell Standby (25%) and Android System (19%) appear to be the 2 items top of the battery list by a long way.

I've searched and found many complaints about battery drain over 12 hours, but not 3! Any suggestions??

KevvieMetal · Aug 19, 2014

I'm on Sprint and I've suddenly had the same issue over the last few days. Blazing hot, and battery draining within hours. I turned off mobile data at my house since I have wifi here, and the heat seems to be going away. I'm backing up in anticipation of having to attempt a reset, but I hope someone has some sort of idea as to what's going on. This is not good. 3 hour battery life is ludicrous.

James Blonde · Aug 20, 2014

after the massive drain over the weekend, my phone been OK on Monday and Tuesday this week - back to normal battery drain (lasting from 8am - around 10pm with mobile data, wifi and bluetooth switched on) but the drain has again returned today.

I hadn't tried switching only Mobile Data off, rather than going to Flight Mode, so I'll see if that makes a difference, meaning I can still (potentially at least) use the phone!

EDIT: Nope, still a massive drain with mobile data switched off, so back on to Flight Mode with Wifi switched on.

Canesfan · Aug 20, 2014

On a separate thread, I posted that I had this happen when the phone was on airplane mode. It corrected itself subsequent to that and only happened to a more mild extent once since. With the original episode the heat generated was first degree burn territory intensity.

AT&T 1337 model.

Muilisx · Aug 20, 2014

I've never had a battery issue with all the Android devices I've ever owned. When I receive a new phone with a new battery, I charge it fully, and then I let it fully drain and die before fully charging it again. I do the 2nd charge with the phone off. I usually do this cycle 2-3 times before charging and disconnecting the charger at random times. This usually helps your battery a ton giving it the best life and charge possible in the future.

James Blonde · Aug 20, 2014

Don't think this is a battery issue for me, otherwise I would have thought it would be happening all the time. Also had the phone for over a year, so a new battery charging cycle won't help me...

Muilisx · Aug 20, 2014

James Blonde said:
Don't think this is a battery issue for me, otherwise I would have thought it would be happening all the time.

Not necessarily, a bad cycle from the start could be the issue but you just didn't have the symptoms right away until it caught up with you.

James Blonde said:
So a new battery charging cycle won't help me...

Not 100% true. Have you ever tried replacing the battery with a OEM replacement? If not, they're cheap enough on ebay and they're indeed OEM. Try that for a few bucks, cycle the new battery a few times, and then see if it changes. A new battery will feel like it's dying fast until you cycle it a few times, and then you'll notice a major improvement.

New Samsung Battery B600BU 2600mAh for Galaxy s IV S4 I9500 M919 I337 I545 | eBay

MMMH2O · Aug 22, 2014

Had the fast battery drain this morning. Lost it in about 3 hours. Looked at what was using the battery (Settings --> More --> Battery). It is a known Android bug named mm-qcamera-daemon. I could not even recharge the battery. Restarted the phone and it is charging now.

lvirden · Aug 23, 2014

Bought my s4 phone Jan 1 2014. Battery life shorter and shorter. Phone does get pretty hot. Loses 1% a minute if wifi turned on.
Has problems connecting to wifi In certain locations even though shows strong signal.
Very frustrating.
Over these 8 months I have used it until battery had 0 charge a number of times.
Do I have to give up and get a new battery? And would battery cause wifi connect issues?

Muilisx · Aug 23, 2014

Very odd so many of you are having a battery issue. My first S4 didn't have any issues and my replacement S4 doesn't have any issues.

Also, it doesn't hurt to spend $10 on a OEM battery on ebay, cycle it a few times, and see what happens. Just type S4 OEM battery into the ebay search and you'll find a lot for under $10.

James Blonde · Aug 28, 2014

I've insalled a new OEM battery, it's been in a couple of days and it's going through a proper preparation cycle but I'm still getting the same problem - fast drain and excessive heat coming from around the camera area / SIM card area, although that seems intermittent too.

Battery was 100% at 08:00 this morning, it's now 11:15 and it's down to 39%, losing 10% in the last half hour. In fact I've lost 5% in the last 10 minutes since I started writing this (a couple of discussions- I'm not that slow a typist!), so drain seems to be getting worse.

Any suggestions?

MYKEL61 · Aug 28, 2014

Just had the hot phone and quick drain start myself, yesterday.. Been great for over a year and then suddenly I get "phone hot, cooling off" pop up. Today it went from 100% to 39% in an hour playing "Pet Rescue". That has never happened before. Anyone know why all of a sudden people are having these hot and fast drain issues, and more importantly, how to resolve them? I have not added anything new in over 6 months.

lvirden · Aug 28, 2014

So I made a discovery on this in my case.
1. I started turning off the GPS and the WiFi when I knew for certain I was not going to be around a signal.
2. I discovered that for some reason the Bluetooth was turned on, even though I have nothing bluetooth and have not intentionally ever turned it on.
When I got these turned off, my phone was running cooler AND for longer on the battery. Even when I turn on just the Wifi, and ensure the GPS and Bluetooth is turned off, the battery is lasting longer.
I think the accidental bluetooth was causing the biggest drain on my phone's battery.

James Blonde · Aug 28, 2014

My phone has been on charge since around 7pm, it's now 10:30pm and whilst it is charging, any time I switch the screen on, it's discharging faster than it charges. I've now put it back in flight mode to make sure that I've still at least got 1 option for preserving battery life...

So to recap, the problem had been intermittent but seems to have become more persistent. to date the phone has been OK in flight mode, and Wifi in flight mode also doesn't seem to have been a problem. Switching data off did seem to make a difference on some occasions, on others it hasn't. Bluetooth had been on, but was obviously off when flight mode was on, so may also be connected. GPS is always off.

But if the assumption was that this was a battery problem, this shouldn't be happening with a new OEM battery. I've also tried it with a third - known good - battery, with the same effect. It's clearly not the battery.

Any suggestions before I consider trying a factory reset?

Muilisx · Aug 29, 2014

Very odd

lvirden · Sep 2, 2014

Of course, after I posted this, the phone started running hot again after I used it for a while. And even with wifi and gps turned off, the battery started running out faster.

Oh well, I just keep looking for a real answer

jj14x · Sep 2, 2014

lvirden said:
Of course, after I posted this, the phone started running hot again after I used it for a while. And even with wifi and gps turned off, the battery started running out faster.

Oh well, I just keep looking for a real answer

Could you try these steps out?

Charge your phone to 100%
Reboot your phone
If issue persists,
- take screen print of battery usage screen (settings/battery),
- tap on the graph at the top (screen print),
- back to battery usage screen, tap on the top 2-3 entries below the graph - screen print

If problem doesn't return, repeat this (charge/reboot) every day for a week or two to see if problem persists.
If problem returns, share those screen prints.

If you are rooted, please indicate that as well - more troubleshooting can be performed if you are rooted to determine wakelocks.

Help Massive battery drain / hot phone

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