Lumia battery drain - I think I've cracked it

[Lysander666]

Now I know there have been many thread about this, God knows I've tried scouring the internet for reasons why the Lumia battery drain is so intense. I've tried disabling loads of background apps and all that jazz, but still the drain was terrible. If I left the house with an 100% battery, by lunchtime I was below 50%.

However, I do believe [touch wood] that I've worked out what the main culprits are for battery drain.

Now, in addition to disabling background apps [obvious] there are two main culprits.

4G. As many people know this spends a lot of time scanning for 4G networks and can really kill battery life, so just switch it to 3G unless you really need 4G. Also, switch off roaming.

Secondly, and this is where most people don't see it - switch off wifi BUT go into the advanced settings as well and uncheck all the boxes. This is very important.

This is working very well for me today. I charged my phone to full last night and this morning woke up to a 98% battery, as it should be. Also, I'm at work and it's gone midday now, and in spite of hammering the CPU on the train on the way to work, my phone is still at 85% battery. This time yesterday it was around 50%.

I'll provide some graphs later. Maybe many people here already know these tricks but this should be useful to newer people with Lumias.

 

[WorzelGummage]

I generally leave 3G switched off until I need to use it but leave WiFi on all the time when at home and enjoy great battery life. If I do accidentally leave 3G on, my battery will drop quite quickly but leaving WiFi on doesn't trouble my battery that much.

 

[Rafael Baudelaire]

My battery lie a lot, always when put in charger and get 100% i use the soft reset to her no to lie, at the end of day with 18 hours last charger (moderate use) get 67% (WIFI only, no game, only sms and music), in 1 day with 55% (moderate use), when her lie, with 18 hours in 20% (some use) at the end of day

 

[infinidim]

I had such a battery drain on my Lumia 820 that it had to go in for repair. It also had an issue with the screen as well.

 

[how1ard]

To say that you have cracked this issue when all before have failed is a HUGE call. If this doesn't work you'll be hearing about it.

 

[ammarmalik2011]

Every now and then someone comes up and claims he's figured out this problem.

 

[WanderingTraveler]

Every now and then someone comes up and claims he's figured out this problem.

Unfortunately, this is quite true. I, for one, hang on to my original assumption that the WP battery meter is just flawed.
I'm just waiting for the day OEMs stop whining about thin phones are better and start putting 4000+ mAh batteries in phones. If you don't want to spend hundreds of hours trying to optimize software for better battery life, just put a massive battery in it.
As long as people keep believing thinner is better, this'll never happen. (Sighs do loud, every OEM is bound to hear it)

 

[X0LARIUM]

Can't we just live with the fact that the 820 has a lower-capacity battery? Both my dad's and wife's 720 live for two day..you read tha right, TWO FREAKING DAYs, without a charge (on moderate use of course).

 

[chandu1382]

Can't we just live with the fact that the 820 has a lower-capacity battery? Both my dad's and wife's 720 live for two day..you read tha right, TWO FREAKING DAYs, without a charge (on moderate use of course).

I have a doubt, silly may be, can we use the 720's battery with the 820? if the 720's battery is slimmer we can use a folded sheet of paper for support. But would the device support the higher capacity battery because i think the battery's output is the same as that of 820. All electronics work at the same Voltage right?

 

[budney]

I have a doubt, silly may be, can we use the 720's battery with the 820? if the 720's battery is slimmer we can use a folded sheet of paper for support. But would the device support the higher capacity battery because i think the battery's output is the same as that of 820. All electronics work at the same Voltage right?

The 720 doesn't have a removable battery like the 820. IMHO it's not only the battery size, but the LTE, and SAMOLED screen too that cause the significant battery drain. The 820 would need a 3000+ mAh to rival the 720's battery.

 

[zack251]

I think Whatsapp is a huge battery drainer. Without it the phone can last more than a day. I hope the developer can fix this problem.

 

[X0LARIUM]

^ whoa! Are u serious? I didn't know that...

 

[Burger14045]

I'll try. Thankyou

 

[hombreee]

WhatsApp big update will be in few days.

 

[hombreee]

I think Whatsapp is a huge battery drainer. Without it the phone can last more than a day. I hope the developer can fix this problem.

WhatsApp big update will be in few days.

 

[falconrap]

The reason why there are so many posts on the battery drain issue, on any of the Lumia range, is because the problem isn't the same for all people. In some rare cases, the phone itself can be defective and have high battery drain. But the real "reasons" come in two flavors: 1) an app or service running in the background is using the radio a lot (see Whatsapp) and/or 2) the individual frequently goes through poor coverage areas where the phone has to constantly handshake with towers and boost power to keep a signal. By far, these 2 items cause the overwhelming majority of battery drain issues (other than just constantly using the phone, of course).

I have an 822 and leave LTE and WiFi on all day long. When I don't have a background app or service going rogue on me, and I'm not in the "dead zone" at work where I barely get a bar and LTE, my phone drains at about 2-3% per hour, more than enough for all day and beyond. As soon as I hit work in that area, it spikes to 10-12% per hour. Huge difference between a day and a half and 8-10 hours.

 

[boxa72]

Mugen have a 3600mAh battery if u don't mind a tank for a phone lol

 

[starwarsclark]

Charged to 100% last night, unplugged when I went to bed, phone went from 100% to 68% overnight, with no-one touching it. Phone is on WiFi and fetches email every 2 hours.
How does it lose 32% overnight when it is "idle"?

 

[infinidim]

Charged to 100% last night, unplugged when I went to bed, phone went from 100% to 68% overnight, with no-one touching it. Phone is on WiFi and fetches email every 2 hours.
How does it lose 32% overnight when it is "idle"?

You will get a little loss with the sync of your settings, checking for updates etc. back to Microsoft. Then you will get some loss from just using the WiFi and it checking to see whether it's still connected etc. You will also get loss from the e-mail app checking every two hours as well.

Well those are my thoughts anyway.

 

[barriesimpson]

I uninstalled Whatsapp and problem solved. Let's see if the coming update solves the problem....

Cheers,

Barrie