Surface 3 LTE, Windows 10 15063.138 Battery draining fast!

[Roy Khoh]

I was on build 14393.xxx for quite a while and the Surface 3 LTE (4GB RAM) was running great with it. Long battery life. I mean, those claims of 9+ hours was probably achievable. Connected standby battery usage was very minimal and I could take the tablet to work all day out in the field.

Since updating to 15063.138 on the insider slow ring - I was very puzzled by the firmware driver update dated 8/8/16 ... that is actually older than what I previously had. The worst part is ... the battery drain with this is quite bad.

I left my tablet at home, instead of taking it out on the field. 12 hours later with no usage (just supposedly in sleep mode) the battery drains from 100% down to 44%.

I reluctantly refreshed the installation - and by doing so, removed my ability to go back to the previous Windows 10 (AU) version. Still noticed the battery drain

I thought I was onto a winner yesterday when I went to play golf, and the battery only drained maybe 4% in 6 or 7 hours. The only difference being that the 8/8/16 firmware was installed again after the refreshed installation. However, I think that was because I had closed all the apps before I left for golf, and I disabled "game mode".

When I started using the tablet again, general browsing, skype chat - battery drained quickly again. Estimating maybe only 3 hours of Edge browsing on a full charge.

System - Battery usage tells me that Edge is using most of my battery. However, I tried other apps for half an hour, and noticed it used up quite a fair amount quickly also.

I'm curious if anybody else with a Surface 3 is experiencing similar.
I'd be curious if I'm the only one also

 

[Roy Khoh]

After a mixture of game mode on/off and night light on/off (over the weekend) - I thought I would have them both disabled for today's test.
Unplugged from a full charge this morning.
No apps running.
Let the tablet sleep. No hibernate.
Ran the battery report.
10 hours of Connected standby used up 40% of the battery.

 

[Roy Khoh]

So I tried Game Mode activated and Night Light on auto schedule with sunrise/sunset.
Left for work.
10 hours later, checked the battery report again and 40% of the battery drained during Connected Standby again.

It's obviously something else.

 

[Roy Khoh]

So I downloaded and installed firmware update and drivers for Surface 3 LTE dated September 27, 2016 last night.

Connected standby for 8.5 hours today used up 32% battery.

It's obviously something else.

 

[Roy Khoh]

By contrast, my Dell Venue 8 Pro on the same build (32 bit version) uses 698mWh on connected standby for 11:29:10 hours.
The Surface 3 used 10,203 mWh for 10:45:35 hours on Connected Standby.

 

[Roy Khoh]

Past couple of days, I have let my Surface 3 hibernate after 1 hour of sleep.
I switched it back ... so just sleep (connected standby) only and the excessive battery drain persists (4% per hour just for connected standby).

This might be a bit premature, I've tried disabling Location services off and after 3:47:17 hours of Connected Standby it has only used 2% (479mWh).

This is tremendously better and hopefully similar to the battery usage I was accustomed to back with Anniversary Update. Only difference is not I would have to manually activate Location services when I need it.

Thanks Windows Central and its community, in helping me find this.

 

[Roy Khoh]

Okay.

So I was a bit more confident today to bring my Surface 3 out in the field all day.
Had to turn the mobile data on.
Connected Standby for 2:46:42 hours used 6% (1588 mWh).

However, earlier in the morning I think I had mobile data off and Connected Standby for 4:34:40 hours used 9% (2140 mWh).

So the Location services switched off has helped dramatically, but still not to the level I remembered from Anniversary Update.

 

[Per Bylund]

Yes, I've noticed that the location icon in the tray is almost always showing, so it appears something is trying to use my location at least (as far as I can tell) >90% of the time. So it would make sense that you see great improvement when turning it off.

No idea what causes this, but it is indeed draining my battery. However, unlike you, I have the Surface 3 4GB non-cell version with 15063.138. So my location isn't actual GPS/cell but LAN location discovery.

UPDATE: Found a comment from "Jacob K" in the Feedback Hub stating the following as a possible solution. It didn't make a difference on my machine, but it's worth trying out:

I think I fixed it, by: Cortana > Notebook > Permissions > Location (set to Off) .... wait 10 seconds ... Cortana > Notebook > Permissions > Location (set to On).

So, now the Location Services icon is not shown constantly -- it's now only shown when I launch Cortana, exactly as I'd expect.

 

[Per Bylund]

Yes, I've noticed that the location icon in the tray is almost always showing, so it appears something is trying to use my location at least (as far as I can tell) >90% of the time. So it would make sense that you see great improvement when turning it off.

I think this is an operating system issue rather than an app, but checking battery usage by app (Settings>System>Battery>Battery usage by app) Edge is using a lot of battery despite the fact that it is in the background (only open, not actually used). I've had problems with Edge before, specifically that it uses a lot of power for absolutely no reason.

But I think Edge is just added burden. It's probably the operating system that eats away at the battery.

 

[Roy Khoh]

I've found this elsewhere in these forums
http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...on-services-constantly-w-creators-update.html

and it seems like the "Location services is currently in use" becomes constantly on after using the Action Centre.

If you reboot the system, and not use the Action Centre, you will notice the icon is not in use - as per normal "location" usage etc.

I'll try this out tomorrow out in the field. It will be difficult because I am just so accustomed to using the Action Centre. Swiping in from every direction is just so convenient and easy. One of the best features of Windows 8 ... that Windows 10 removed and slowly brought back :smile:

 

[Roy Khoh]

Maybe if we get more feedback upvotes on this, it might help
https://aka.ms/C9dtrk

 

[Roy Khoh]

Updated to build 15063.250 just now.
Noticed that the "Your location is currently in use" icon is constantly on again after revealing the Action Centre.

I tried avoiding the use of Action Centre last night, and I must have accidently triggered it one time.

So, I'm going to disable Action Centre via registry as per
How to disable Action Center in Windows 10 | Windows Central

 

[Roy Khoh]

There might be something else triggering this "location" constantly on problem.

I have the Action Centre disabled via the registry edit - and I noticed that the "location" icon is behaving normally after boot. However, after sleep and wake, it is constantly on again. I'm experiencing this with 15063.250.

 

[Roy Khoh]

Windows 10 build 15063.332 - the "location" constantly on problem still exists after sleep and wake.
Good thing is, the Action Centre does not trigger the problem anymore.

 

[Roy Khoh]

Apologies. I have to retract my previous statement.
It appears 15063.332 has resolved the constant "location" on problem.

Confirmed working okay on my Surface 3 LTE and also Dell Venue 8 Pro.

I was premature in my testing because the "location" icon was on longer than I expected. It did go away by itself after a while. It might have something to do with my live tiles taking longer to refresh.