Battery

[David Klyne]

Hello Everyone

A new Wildfire owner (as well as being new to Smart/Android phones and the forum) Only had the phone a few days and I suppose I have been playing with it more so I can get used to it. However I am surprised that the device seems to need charging everyday, is this fairly normal? My previous phone was a Nokia 6300 (OK not very sophisticated) but that only needed charging every 3/4 days. I assume this is fairly normal? Have ordered a higher powered battery just in case.

David

 

[lunatic59]

Daily charging is common with any smartphone. It is running so much more that your older Nokia did. There are things you can do to optimize your power use, but you won't see an increase in terms of days, but more like hours.

FYI, Modern Li-Ion batteries do not have a memory and do not need to be conditioned, but Android needs to be taught exactly what a full charge represents so that it can manage power appropriately.

One of the things I recommend all new phone owners to do is to perform a deep power cycle.

Let your phone discharge completely, keep it on until you are warned about low battery and then just let it run out. Most phone will shut down automatically around 5%.

Plug the phone into the original a/c charger, not the usb cable. Let it charge to full uninterrupted.

When the phone says full, unplug the phone from the charge and reboot. Once the phone is completely restarted, plug it back into the charger and shut the phone off. Even if it says fully charged, let it charge for at least one more hour.

Unplug the charger and reboot the phone one more time. Now you should start seeing (possibly significantly) longer charge times.

Without a deep power cycle, it doesn't know the true capacity of the battery. Be advised that you should only need to do this once as regularly deep cycling the battery can harm it. Li-Ion batteries perform better and last longer with incremental charges.

 

[jamesbil]

Mine was like that, it gets better, now it lasts 2 full days with average use.

 

[David Klyne]

Lunatic59

Thanks for the comprehensive reply. I have since purchased a new, higher capacity, battery which seems to be giving a bit more time and following your advice may well last even longer. The only slight problem is that it is quite chunky and it is supplied with a new back panel to accomodate the larger battery. It is now a bit like my waistline, no longer slimline

David

 

[Nowhereman437]

When the phone says full, unplug the phone from the charge and reboot.

When you say reboot do you just mean turn the power off and then back on again or is there more to it than that? Thanks.

 

[lunatic59]

When you say reboot do you just mean turn the power off and then back on again or is there more to it than that? Thanks.

Nope, that 's it. You might want to shut the phone down, take the battery our for a few seconds and then start it up again.

 

[Nowhereman437]

I realised its a second hand phone so it probably won't make much difference now. I'll do it tonight and ic it makes much difference.

 

[CafeKampuchia]

Something else you should try below. It came from HTC though I can't find the original link now to save my life.

1. Charge the phone to 100%.
2. Shut it down, pull the battery for 5 sec. and put the battery back in.
3. DO NOT RESTART THE PHONE.
4. Plug in the USB cable and charge it until the green light comes on.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 one time.
6. Restart the phone and use it normally.

One more thing. Don't worry about erasing batterystats.bin and rebuilding it for better battery performance as that was an internet myth busted by Google.

 

[Nowhereman437]

I've just remembered. I've got a spare battery so I could deep cycle that and see what difference it makes. As I bought the phone 2nd hand I don't know if the battery has been deep cycled.

 

[CafeKampuchia]

I've just remembered. I've got a spare battery so I could deep cycle that and see what difference it makes. As I bought the phone 2nd hand I don't know if the battery has been deep cycled.

Don't forget that deep cycling is good for nicads but bad for lith ion batteries. Don't do it very often.