Battery draining when at my parent's home (Motorola, 3G, iPhone)
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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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This is a question about a Motorola Droid Ultra.
I am in the Seattle area, ans 3-4 times a year I go to my parent home and spend the weekend doing things around the place. When I am there, the battery drains at the rate of about 10% in 1/2 hour. They are in an area with weak service, between Sequim and Port Angeles WA. I'm wondering if this is due to the phone trying to do updates, GPS location and other things and having problems getting connected. There are never any error messages, and I can make calls, do texts and emails from there but with only 1-2 bars depending on where I am on their 5 acres. What can I shut off or disable temporarily to get the battery to last longer other than turning it off and just checking every couple of hours?
Is that happening at your parents or at your home as well?
It got worse after the upgrade to KitKat? Maybe you're still running apps not optimized for KitKat?
GPS! Don't turn it on until you really need it.
Check your phone for apps that are running for no reason. Turn them off.
Have your phone in sleep mode when you sleep.
Have your phone updated. Keep it cool. Turn off notifications, and keep on only those you need. Turn off auto updates/re-installs. Get picky about which apps "earn the privilege" of being reinstalled, too.
Dim the brightness. Dynamic wallpapers eat lots of juice too, and fancy icons. Turn the scanning off, unless you have a reason why you would want it to be scanning for networks even when you're not using Wi-Fi, for location purposes...
Close apps/folders after use. Turn off your phone (the proper way) at least every other day, power cycle and turn on again.
You will see how much longer your battery will last.
Check your battery stats and phone settings to see what app is using the most battery
If nothing helps - back up your phone and do factory reset. Install only few most important apps, and observe your phone battery usage for 2-3 days.
If you are on 3g when in on their property then it's probably constantly trying to find a 4g signal.
My older Droid Bionic was the same way. Once I lost a 4g signal battery usage went up dramatically.
12-15-2014, 11:51 AM
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n/a posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by elnina
Is that happening at your parents or at your home as well?
It got worse after the upgrade to KitKat? Maybe you're still running apps not optimized for KitKat?
GPS! Don't turn it on until you really need it.
Check your phone for apps that are running for no reason. Turn them off.
Have your phone in sleep mode when you sleep.
Have your phone updated. Keep it cool. Turn off notifications, and keep on only those you need. Turn off auto updates/re-installs. Get picky about which apps "earn the privilege" of being reinstalled, too.
Dim the brightness. Dynamic wallpapers eat lots of juice too, and fancy icons. Turn the scanning off, unless you have a reason why you would want it to be scanning for networks even when you're not using Wi-Fi, for location purposes...
Close apps/folders after use. Turn off your phone (the proper way) at least every other day, power cycle and turn on again.
You will see how much longer your battery will last.
Check your battery stats and phone settings to see what app is using the most battery
If nothing helps - back up your phone and do factory reset. Install only few most important apps, and observe your phone battery usage for 2-3 days.
Exactly none of which has anything to do with the OPs question.
When the signal is poor, the cell phone's transmission power gets ramped up, killing your battery life. It's really that simple.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skunk Workz
If you are on 3g when in on their property then it's probably constantly trying to find a 4g signal.
My older Droid Bionic was the same way. Once I lost a 4g signal battery usage went up dramatically.
Ohhh.. Reasonable advice that indicates you actually read the OP!
Yes. If you're stuck on 3G, the phone keeps searching. Disable it to stop that from happening.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,580 posts, read 81,186,228 times
Reputation: 57818
Quote:
Originally Posted by JasonF
Exactly none of which has anything to do with the OPs question.
When the signal is poor, the cell phone's transmission power gets ramped up, killing your battery life. It's really that simple.
Ohhh.. Reasonable advice that indicates you actually read the OP!
Yes. If you're stuck on 3G, the phone keeps searching. Disable it to stop that from happening.
Thanks for the replies.
That's probably it, I have never gotten the 4g icon there. It does not do this at home and I always shut it off completely at night there. I guess if you look at where they live it's not surprising that they don't have 4g service.
Exactly none of which has anything to do with the OPs question.
When the signal is poor, the cell phone's transmission power gets ramped up, killing your battery life. It's really that simple.
Ohhh.. Reasonable advice that indicates you actually read the OP!
Yes. If you're stuck on 3G, the phone keeps searching. Disable it to stop that from happening.
All cellphones drain the battery if any of the following happens:
a. Roaming in a place where there is no cell service
b. Wi-Fi trying to connect. Lets say that the OP's parents have a password protected network, in this case the OP's cellphone continues over and over trying to connect to the network
c. The 3G/4G thing as told by some of you above
d. GPS active, or Bluetooth, or SIRI on the iPhone
e. Location services (all apps that check your location)
If you want to save battery power, turn off all services you don't need at the moment. On the iPhone just put it on Airplane mode, or turn it off. I am certain that the same applies to Android phones and tablets. My previous phone (a dumb phone), would discharge the battery within 30 minutes when riding an ATV trail where there is no cell service of any kind. What I did was to turn it off since I could not use it, and then turn it on to make a call when arriving to a ridge-top where there was cell service. Elnina is correct.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,580 posts, read 81,186,228 times
Reputation: 57818
I'm satisfied that my problem is the 3G/4G thing, there is no 4G service there. They also have no wi-fi. I have been unable to find an app that allows me to eliminate 4G temporarily, they all seem to only shut off data completely, and the Driod Ultra doesn't have that feature. If someone knows of a compatible app let me know, otherwise I'll just go Airplane mode when there and check back every so often.
I'm satisfied that my problem is the 3G/4G thing, there is no 4G service there. They also have no wi-fi. I have been unable to find an app that allows me to eliminate 4G temporarily, they all seem to only shut off data completely, and the Driod Ultra doesn't have that feature. If someone knows of a compatible app let me know, otherwise I'll just go Airplane mode when there and check back every so often.
Radio Switcher
Alternatively you can just do that without the app by:
Go to settings
tethering & networks
mobile networks
preferred network mode (select WCDMA only).
Once you leave put it back on auto.
Menus vary from build to build, which is annoying but that's generally what you're looking for.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,580 posts, read 81,186,228 times
Reputation: 57818
Quote:
Originally Posted by Malloric
Radio Switcher
Alternatively you can just do that without the app by:
Go to settings
tethering & networks
mobile networks
preferred network mode (select WCDMA only).
Once you leave put it back on auto.
Menus vary from build to build, which is annoying but that's generally what you're looking for.
I found it, similar not exactly the same, but will try it next time I'm up there in a couple of weeks.
Thanks!
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