Battery drain but I don't know why... Please help!

[MDak280]

Hello! I have a very apparent battery problem. I didn't notice it at first but after about 4 days, I know it hasn't gotten better. My 920 is international, running on T-Mobile's network (no data). I've done almost everything I can think of:

Bluetooth off
NFC off
Data off (highest set to 2G, though. Should I change that?)
WiFi on
Location off
Sensitivity set to normal
Brightness low
Connect to xBox Live/music off
Autoupload to Skydrive off
All apps blocked from running in the background

I don't think it's any apps causing the drain, because my battery drains constantly no matter what I'm doing. Browsing the WPCentral app causes the battery to drop 1% every 10 minutes or so. I haven't tested the idle drain but I know that with light usage the battery drains more quickly than it should.

I think my CPU has a problem. It's always warm no matter what I'm doing. It never gets too hot to touch but it's always warm. Is this something Nokia can fix through an update? And if not, do you think Nokia will replace it? I'm doubting they will replace it, since I'm in the US and I have an international 920 but I will try emailing them. I'm also considering flashing Portico to my phone, seeing if that will help. But my product code isn't available yet. Does anyone have any suggestions? Or is my battery Just a dud? Thanks.

 

[Axefield]

Do you know if your battery is really finished when the device shuts down? I found out that my 920 still had 35% of battery left after it had shut down and before it shut down battery did seem to be finished. I think I have to try and calibrate the battery 2-3 times.

 

[jdhooghe]

Give us some numbers. 1% every 10min for the WP app is normal. We can't help you if you don't supply the data

 

[MDak280]

I have let my battery drain completely once. However, when I tried to power it back on to see if the battery really was gone, it actually wasn't. The battery said 0% remaining but I could still use the phone. In fear of damaging the battery, I plugged it into the charger and let it fully recharge. The full drain and then full charge didn't help, though. Maybe I should try another full drain/charge? But I heard that it's bad for Li batteries to be completely drained...

As for specific numbers, I just got back from a new years party 10 minutes ago. When I got out of the car I was at 50%. Now I'm at 45%. All I did was come into the WPCentral app and start typing this post. Is that normal? If so, I guess I don't have a problem but I don't think it's normal.

 

[kclub]

I went from draining 40% at night(8 hours of stand by) to now I can use it for more than 2 days with moderate use
Here what I did to improve my batter:
1. Turn wifi off when it's not in use>(because it will keep on searching wifi signal)
2. Do a soft reset
3. Charge it over night.

 

[MDak280]

Hmm. I will definitely try turning off wifi when I'm not using it. However, I think I'm misunderstanding what a a soft reset is. I've been powering off the device then turning it back on. Is that a soft reset?

 

[Axefield]

Hmm. I will definitely try turning off wifi when I'm not using it. However, I think I'm misunderstanding what a a soft reset is. I've been powering off the device then turning it back on. Is that a soft reset?

I don't think wifi will cause that much of draining. If you don't have 4G plan you should turn 3G to be the fastest from the mobile network settings. I hope you know what I mean

 

[Axefield]

I read from the other thread that you use wireless chargers. I have read from finnish forums that people have had strange battery behavior when using only wireless charger. So you should also charge with the wall charger every now and then. Maybe run the calibration with wall charger

 

[MDak280]

I don't have a data plan at all, I have data turned off in the settings. However, there's another setting that asks for the highest data connection, which I have set to 2G. Should I change that to 3G? I don't think that would change anything, though, since I don't have a data plan, just a call/unlimited texting plan.

I don't exclusively use wireless charging, I used the wall charger as well. But I do use the wireless charger. Maybe I should try to stay away from the wireless charger for a few days and see if that makes a difference.

 

[kclub]

Hmm. I will definitely try turning off wifi when I'm not using it. However, I think I'm misunderstanding what a a soft reset is. I've been powering off the device then turning it back on. Is that a soft reset?

Soft reset is to hold the Volume Down and Power buttons down until it restarts, here is a guide:
How to: Hard Reset the Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820

And here is Nokia's answer to extend battery life:
Nokia Lumia 920 User Guide - Extend battery life - Nokia - USA
Troubleshooting - How can I prolong my battery life on my Nokia Lumia? - Nokia - USA

And I would say definitely try to charge it over night, because I really think the battery meter is not accurate witch means 100% is not actual 100%.

 

[MDak280]

Ok, I'll soft reset and charge it over night with the wall charger, thanks.

One thing I might have to add. Since my 920 is international, and it came with an international charger, the shipper provided a European to US plug converter. So I plug the original charger into the converter, which then goes into the wall. Do you think maybe the converter has anything to do with this? Or, maybe since I'm using a European charger in the US, since I think there's a difference in the voltage we use here and they use there? Or am I just overthinking things?

 

[Axefield]

I don't have a data plan at all, I have data turned off in the settings. However, there's another setting that asks for the highest data connection, which I have set to 2G. Should I change that to 3G? I don't think that would change anything, though, since I don't have a data plan, just a call/unlimited texting plan.

I don't exclusively use wireless charging, I used the wall charger as well. But I do use the wireless charger. Maybe I should try to stay away from the wireless charger for a few days and see if that makes a difference.

I think changing the highest data connection from 2g to 3g wont really change anything as you have data turned off. But maybe you should tru to calibrate the battery using only wall charger for while now.

Ok, I'll soft reset and charge it over night with the wall charger, thanks.

One thing I might have to add. Since my 920 is international, and it came with an international charger, the shipper provided a European to US plug converter. So I plug the original charger into the converter, which then goes into the wall. Do you think maybe the converter has anything to do with this? Or, maybe since I'm using a European charger in the US, since I think there's a difference in the voltage we use here and they use there? Or am I just overthinking things?

I dont think that the converter is causing problems, but you could try to get charging plug with correct output specs.

 

[MDak280]

Yeah, I'll calibrate with the wall charger.

Also, something weird just happened. I performed a soft reset. Before the reset, my battery was at 41%. Now, it's down to 29%. I'll just drain the battery and let it charge overnight, see if anything changes.

 

[kclub]

Yeah, I'll calibrate with the wall charger.

Also, something weird just happened. I performed a soft reset. Before the reset, my battery was at 41%. Now, it's down to 29%. I'll just drain the battery and let it charge overnight, see if anything changes.

I think it drained a bit when I performed my soft reset as well. I didn't think too much about it though. Good luck! Hope your battery life will be improved!

 

[Kooosh]

I don't think it's any apps causing the drain, because my battery drains constantly no matter what I'm doing. Browsing the WPCentral app causes the battery to drop 1% every 10 minutes or so. I haven't tested the idle drain but I know that with light usage the battery drains more quickly than it should.

If you have your screen on doing NOTHING for 10 minutes straight (regardless of brightness) and you're only losing 1%, that's GREAT imo.

Like you, I was maybe expecting more. I generally lose 1%/hour completely idle while sleeping, then around 2-3%/hour during the day if I'm hitting the power button often to check the lock or start screen. Beyond that, I count on losing a bare minimum of 10% charge for every 30 minutes of actual (screen on, doing whatever) use.

Do the soft reset and a couple full discharge cycles. It's sound advice. I think your battery is probably normal.

Also, you should be able to find a standard 110V micro-USB wall connector pretty easily. I have at least 3 from various devices. Ask a friend. Good luck

 

[MDak280]

Ok, so I've done the sr and the full charge. I'll see how the battery does and let you guys know! Right now with the WPC app open, my phone would usually have gotten a little warm but the temperature is actually normal. Good sign?

 

[nitrocs]

One thing I've been experimenting with is resetting the phone before taking it off the charger (after a full charge). I believe there is still a post-portico issue with battery charge calibration/reporting and doing this seems to reset the unit properly. All I do is before I take it off the (wireless) charger, I'll shutdown the phone. WP8 auto reboots and Im good to go....Im on day 3 of doing this and have noticed positive results thus far

 

[Kooosh]

@MDak280: If you want to exercise your battery some more, a few of us have been doing some benchmarking of our battery performance. I'm not entirely convinced of its usefulness at this point, but if you want to participate: http://forums.windowscentral.com/nokia-lumia-920/208093-920-battery-survey-experiment.html

@nitrocs: That's not a bad idea at all. I'm going to give that a try.

 

[MDak280]

Great news, my battery seems to have improved significantly! The sr seems to have done it. I will also try what nitrocs suggested to see if my battery will further improve.

Koosh, I will definitely try that and see if my results match with the majority. Maybe later tonight.

 

[Bkr11]

So my wife started having really bad battery life a few days back. Not sure whether related to her wireless charger, but the issues seemed to start after she got it. I'll try some of the suggestions here. FWIW, here are the series of textsI got today after she took it off the charger at 100% this morning at 6:15 am.
8:22 - Did about 5 minutes of facebook and a text to you - down to 83%
9:01 - 76%
10:15 - 59%
3:09 - 15%
3:56 - 4%...I only have 20 mins left [battery saver msg I presume]. Barely used today.

I sure hope these suggestions work (the soft reset most importantly), because wifi/bt/nfc are off and Nokia Drive is disabled.

Portico on AT&T.