Why won't my battery charge to 100 - drains even while on charger?

[stocktiki]

Battery won't charge to 100% - drains even while on charger

Hoping someone can share their expertise on a curious matter.

THE EQUIPMENT: Lumia 810 running WP 8.1 Developer's Preview. T-Mobile branded (but unlocked)

THE ISSUE: Battery will not charge to 100% while plugged in. The battery icon shows the "plug" charging icon, but still drains and will only charge to about 77%. Interestingly, will charge to 100% when charged over USB connected to a PC.

WHAT'S BEEN TRIED: Bought a new battery. Tried soft reset. Tried different charger and cable. Tried different outlet. Still won't charge to 100%. Checked battery saver for any tasks running in background that are consuming battery. None are - but disabled IE for background running anyway.

Any suggestions? Thank you!

 

[gpobernardo]

Re: Battery won't charge to 100% - drains even while on charger

Have you tried changing the region of your phone (involves a restart)?

In one of my observations, I would have 100% in US region, then say I change to some other region (let's say Philippines), then the phone restarts. After restarting, the phone would show me I've got 73% battery charge. But then I return my region to US (another restart), and my battery % is back up to 96%. This happened back when my L1020 was in Cyan and now (recently) that it is in Denim.

Not sure what's going on, but it could be related to how the system interprets data from auxiliaries and that the interpretation is based on some saved form of calibration - it's the only thing I can think of why simply changing regions does that, since a battery can not charge itself just by restarting.

 

[stocktiki]

Re: Battery won't charge to 100% - drains even while on charger

Thank you for the excellent suggestion. Tried changing the region code - restarting - changing back to US - and restarting again - but the issue remains. Bummer.

Trying a hard reset now....

 

[rideboarder]

Re: Battery won't charge to 100% - drains even while on charger

The only suggestion I have is to simply use your phone until it runs out of battery and shuts off...then plug it in until it's fully charged. Don't ask me why, but it has helped me in the past when the battery percentage was being weird.

 

[Sreejith K S]

Re: Battery won't charge to 100% - drains even while on charger

Those who are facing battery drain issue may try the following steps.

1. Go to Settings > Privacy > Feedback & diagnostics
2. Change 'Windows should ask for my feedback' to 'Once a week'
3. Send your device data to Microsoft to 'Basic'

With the above change, my cell's battery seems to be acting normal. Not sure if this was just a coincidence, but worth trying.

 

[stocktiki]

Re: Battery won't charge to 100% - drains even while on charger

Thanks. Will try Setting>Privacy>Feedback and see if that helps.
A hard reset, unfortunately, didn't fix the problem.

 

[Sreejith K S]

Re: Battery won't charge to 100% - drains even while on charger

Thanks. Will try Setting>Privacy>Feedback and see if that helps.
A hard reset, unfortunately, didn't fix the problem.

In my case, it was 'Search' that was taking more than 50% of the resources (more on background) which means there is something running even when the phone is idle. First I suspected Cortana but disabling it didn't help.

 

[stocktiki]

Re: Battery won't charge to 100% - drains even while on charger

Phone has gone from bad to ugly. All I get now is the flashing red battery icon. Can't tell what's wrong.

 

[gpobernardo]

Re: Battery won't charge to 100% - drains even while on charger

The only suggestion I have is to simply use your phone until it runs out of battery and shuts off...then plug it in until it's fully charged. Don't ask me why, but it has helped me in the past when the battery percentage was being weird.

This method in fact forces the re-calibration of the battery circuitry, but it also damages the battery (Li-ion) such that it incrementally loses a portion of its workable energy capacity... which could be the reason why the battery circuitry had to be re-calibrated.

Those who are facing battery drain issue may try the following steps.

1. Go to Settings > Privacy > Feedback & diagnostics
2. Change 'Windows should ask for my feedback' to 'Once a week'
3. Send your device data to Microsoft to 'Basic'

With the above change, my cell's battery seems to be acting normal. Not sure if this was just a coincidence, but worth trying.

Where is this? What device are you referring to? There seems to be no "Privacy" under my Windows Phone 8.1 settings page.

Phone has gone from bad to ugly. All I get now is the flashing red battery icon. Can't tell what's wrong.

Have you tried leaving your phone charging for at least 30 minutes? If yes, then the problem is most likely a dying, if not already dead, battery - something which only a battery replacement will resolve.

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

Re: Battery won't charge to 100% - drains even while on charger

It could still be charging cable. My 1520 did the same thing and I went and bout a 2.1amp charger, thinking it was gonna do better than the 1.5amp Nokia charger that was provided. Nope, it lost juice as i was using the phone. Use provided cables?