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So I've got my dock and transformer, and its been a couple days.
I found yesterday that the dock didn't really last as long as I thought it would. It seemed halfway through the day the dock stopped charging the transformer, even though both were fully charged the night before. Half the time the dock was used with the transformer, and the other half it sat on the side while I read ebooks or whatever.
When I wasnt using it, I didnt have the flip-part that the transformer sits into pushed down into a "closed" position, if you get my meaning. It was sitting up, as if open, but not docked.
Do you think the battery was discharging while its open?
you're on to something...
The same thing just happened to me. I fully charged my dock last night, then unplugged and left it with the hinge in the open position. I came back today, locked in the tablet and went out to run errands. i'm looking at my battery life percentages drop and the light indicator on the side of the dock is blinking red. unless the dock was discharging while the hinge was left on docking position...
Well Ive been leaving my dock closed today, and it seems to be holding the charge. So I think Im right.
This is a quote from anandtech.
original link (Page 4 Dock Issues)
http://www.anandtech.com/print/4277
From anandtech, by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/21/2011
There's also an issue with power consumption. The dock doesn't exactly have an on/off switch, so even when not in use it'll eat up power as it waits to see if you've docked an Eee Pad to it. ASUS expects to address this with a future firmware update for the dock next month. The update will put the unit into an ultra low power state when docked if the tablet is in standby, and power down completely when not attached to the tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the transformer powered off the whole day with the dock attached. I came back from work to find the dock battery light blinking orange signalling low battery. I'll have to do more tests,but it seems the dock was discharging even when the tablet was powered down.
This will be very annoying if you can't leave it docked.
Also wish there was a battery meter to show the actual battery %. I will not be happy running the battery downto less than 10% before the light comes on
i had an external hd attached to m dock. after unmounting the drive and removing the tf, the dock was still feeding power to the hd.
on a previous test, my phone would not charge via the dock while the tf was not connected. i didn't see if it continued the charge after removing the tf at that time.
cky2000 said:
This is a quote from anandtech.
original link (Page 4 Dock Issues)
http://www.anandtech.com/print/4277
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What he said. I doubt it has anything to do with the position of the hinge. The dock has active electronics in it that - for lack of a more detailed description - does something when the TF is connected, and apparently has an active 'standby' mode, which unfortunately consumes some power from it's battery.
just FYI
Dock update is in testing to a few users on here. Should resolve disconnect issues, and add battery gauge for the dock as well.
Hopefully this addresses the power discharging issue as well. Haven't heard anyone comment on it yet however.
I don't know if i am wrong, but i was lead to believe when the tablet is connected to the keyboard dock. the tablet will use the battery on the keyboard before the tablet. but when i open my tablet i notice the tablet battery is lower than the keyboard battery. is there a setting i can change to make it use the dock first?
I'm having this same issue.
Upon receiving the dock I tested it out and when connected, it worked fine; two battery icons appear on the bottom-right, with the arrows in between flashing to indicate it is transferring charge from the dock to the tablet. After charging the dock to full and connecting it to the tablet, the arrows are not flashing and the tablet battery continues to drain as if the dock was not plugged in.
All other dock features work fine (typing, trackpad, usb...). The dock also says it was at 100%. Currently the dock is at 98% while the tablet is at 71% (and dropping).
I'm wondering if there is perhaps a threshold that the tablet has to reach before the dock decides to transfer charge to it?
Yes there is a threshold and your just above it , its 70%.
There's another post that I can't find at the moment that describes how it works. Apparently the tablet will run down to 70%, at which point the dock will charge it back to 100%, then the process will repeat until the dock runs out.
This is a change from the original Transformer+dock, where the dock would run down all the way to keep the tablet charged. Maybe it's something to do with battery conditioning. After all, if the dock constantly runs to 0% charge, that's a full cycle. Maybe ASUS intends for the dock and tablet to both be charged mid-cycle, which is better for each battery long-term.
Thanks for the quick replies! So glad it isn't a bug but a feature
question regarding that. if the dock is flat, does that mean it can no longer be used to input into the tablet?
lancer3397 said:
question regarding that. if the dock is flat, does that mean it can no longer be used to input into the tablet?
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Click to collapse
Nope. It'll continue working, it'll just be drawing power from the tablet rather than feeding it.
I think that the 70-90% is kind of awkward and highly overuses the tablet inner lipo charge cycles.
Imho Asus should make a utility that alows the user to decide wheter:
The tablet runs from the dock battery with no charge of inner battery
The tablet is being charged from the dock up to 90% as it is reasonable for charge process
The tablet runs on it's own battery without recharge from the dock even though the dock has some juice left.
Any other scheme proposals are welcome .
Above should however vastly improve the quality of our batteries.
At least an option to disable the charge from dock to tablet is imho a must have
ankhazam said:
I think that the 70-90% is kind of awkward and highly overuses the tablet inner lipo charge cycles.
Imho Asus should make a utility that alows the user to decide wheter:
The tablet runs from the dock battery with no charge of inner battery
The tablet is being charged from the dock up to 90% as it is reasonable for charge process
The tablet runs on it's own battery without recharge from the dock even though the dock has some juice left.
Any other scheme proposals are welcome .
Above should however vastly improve the quality of our batteries.
At least an option to disable the charge from dock to tablet is imho a must have
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
could be possible via kernel mods... but you are right, i kinda dislike the current method too.
It's stupid that once I disconnect 2 fully charged modules the tablet battery gets few extra charges from the dock.
That way I cannot treat the dock as a backup battery for running or recharge for when I it is really needed.
Someone please stick this thread and make another offensive on Asus.
It would be sad to root/void the warranty just to get such a must have when it should be done on stock.
agree in 100%
Could someone explain what is the current 'charge policy'?
As as owner of the original Transformer and the headaches it came with the dock discharging charging the tablet all the time and dealing with a dock battery that had issues being registered as charged or recharging (I RMA'd and others had the same issues as well), I love, love, love the way the new charging method is.
With that said, I think choices are good and having ASUS provide a way to let you use it how you want would be nice.
jyan_osu said:
As as owner of the original Transformer and the headaches it came with the dock discharging charging the tablet all the time and dealing with a dock battery that had issues being registered as charged or recharging (I RMA'd and others had the same issues as well), I love, love, love the way the new charging method is.
With that said, I think choices are good and having ASUS provide a way to let you use it how you want would be nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is the new charging method?
kristovaher said:
What is the new charging method?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instead of always charging from the dock, when docked in it only starts charging the tablet when the tablet gets to around 70% or so.. then it charges the tablet up to around 90% and then runs off the tablet and the cycle continues. So both the tablet and the dock discharge X amount at a time.
Hm, can see both sides to the argument, depends on whether you look at the dock as a battery booster or just to aid the tablet.
A utility would be a good idea to let the user choose, just have an option in the 'ASUS Customised Settings' menu.
jyan_osu said:
Instead of always charging from the dock, when docked in it only starts charging the tablet when the tablet gets to around 70% or so.. then it charges the tablet up to around 90% and then runs off the tablet and the cycle continues. So both the tablet and the dock discharge X amount at a time.
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Click to collapse
Does this mean that when tablet is docked, it sometimes uses tablets own battery and -not- dock battery even when dock battery is charged!? What is the point in that?
I thought that the dock gets discharged first before tablet touches its own battery.
kristovaher said:
Does this mean that when tablet is docket, it sometimes uses tablets own battery and -not- dock battery even when dock battery is charged!? What is the point in that?
I thought that the dock gets discharged first before tablet touches its own battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The point maybe to address the issue with the dock in the original design where it did discharge first and causes some issues. It's still using the dock battery when docked, just a different method from how the first one was. You'll still get 16 hours or whatever out if you use both together.
Either way, it's not getting to a point on the tablet where it's going leave you with like an hour left to play with should you undock it.. mid 70s seem to be the lowest it will go so if you do go all day with it docked and in use, the dock battery will get to 0 and the tablet will be around 90
yes there could be a time where you take it off the dock at 75 with some juice left in the dock.
Just to me it's a lot better coming from the original Transformer.
I can understand some folks who would rather just use dock's power first and then the tablet. But again, as an owner of both and seeing how both work, for me this is a better way
If the dock has no battery but the tab has loads, and you plug the dock in... would it work? If no, then I can see why it doesn't discharge first, if it does then there really isn't any point.
kevinm2k said:
If the dock has no battery but the tab has loads, and you plug the dock in... would it work? If no, then I can see why it doesn't discharge first, if it does then there really isn't any point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it works fine. Had this issue on the original one all the time.
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
Hey guys,
My dock has been acting kind of weird lately (see my thread in the Q/A section if you're curious - dock battery showed as 0% even when charging). What I'm wondering now is how others are doing with battery life in terms of the dock recharging the prime.
When I first got the tablet + dock, I used to be able to recharge the prime 2-3 times when the tab dropped to 70%. That would usually drain my dock battery all the way.
Fast forward to today and the past two weeks...My prime just finished recharging my tab up to about 90%, while it was being used to annotate lecture notes with some mild browsing and emailing in the background, the dock dropped to about 60%. This is what's concerning to me...It seems to be taking double the battery from the dock to recharge it to about the same, or less than, what it did before on the dock.
My use today has been pretty constant. I recharged both to 100% last night, and when I opened it up today at 12:30 pm, the tab was at 96% and the dock at 98%. Since then, my dock dropped to 88% while the tab drained in the same time to about 70%. It then started to charge my tablet to about 90% but the dock dropped to 34% where it is now. I have been using this constantly for the past 3.5 hours.
Here are my concerns, which I hope you guys can help me address:
Is this normal battery drain for 3.5 hours of moderate-heavy use?
Is this drain software related? It seems to have been fine way back on .11 (I'm on .15 now)
Is my dock battery shot? (ie should I RMA it)
Does the dock battery drain EVEN MORE if it's recharging the tablet while you're typing notes, etc on it?
Does a USB peripheral (ie wireless mouse) increase battery drain SIGNIFICANTLY?
I would attach a battery screenshot, but my settings battery menu doesn't have it tracked since it's docked.
I'm hoping this is a meaningful and useful thread so please try to avoid stating something obvious lol
Thanks guys
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium HD app
What performance modes, brightnesses are you using? Can you give us more info about what would be draining the battery?
It's quite possible your prime could be using a percent of the dock for every percent it receives, making it seem like your dock isn't working well, when in actuality it could be your tablet.
.15 was a battery killer for me, since I put virtuous on my prime and underclocked the cpu as the battery gets lower, it's fixed my battery life.
ickkii said:
What performance modes, brightnesses are you using? Can you give us more info about what would be draining the battery?
It's quite possible your prime could be using a percent of the dock for every percent it receives, making it seem like your dock isn't working well, when in actuality it could be your tablet.
.15 was a battery killer for me, since I put virtuous on my prime and underclocked the cpu as the battery gets lower, it's fixed my battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry - forgot to include that. I'm on the normal regular mode with auto brightness. With SetCPU, I had it on On Demand up until this afternoon around when I wrote this post. Then I switched it to interactive.
And as for your second point, I agree that it's possible that's what's happening, but because I'm using it for hours on end, I'm not quite sure if that's what's happening, part of why I started this thread.
Have other people seen improvements from .15 to Virtuous?
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium HD app
Another question, along the same line.....If the tablet's battery is low, the dock is fully charged, and unplugged, will the juice in the battery partially charge the tablet, so that I can remove it from the dock and use it separately until I get to a charging station? Or will the tablet ONLY run off of the dock's battery?
Thanks,
Bob......impatiently waiting for my champagne dock to come
robertg9 said:
Another question, along the same line.....If the tablet's battery is low, the dock is fully charged, and unplugged, will the juice in the battery partially charge the tablet, so that I can remove it from the dock and use it separately until I get to a charging station? Or will the tablet ONLY run off of the dock's battery?
Thanks,
Bob......impatiently waiting for my champagne dock to come
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, the dock charges the dock when it's plugged into the tablet.
I really don't like the dock charging the tablet when it has reached <70%. Because of this a full dock can be drained completely in a single night. I would rather be able to change this thresshold or just to be able to disable charging in standby.
Now I often undock my prime just to keep the docks charge: very frustating!
I emailed Asus and they replied pretty quick:
Dear Sir,
I am begining to hear more cases like this and I'm sure android is looking into a solution regarding this issue. Unfortunately I do not know when a next firmware will be released to address the issue at this time.
Regards,
B2B
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good news because it is software related and therefore can be fixed But we have to wait.... or...... can we fix this ourselves with just root-access? Or is it possible to build something in a custom ROM? Changing the thresshold to eg 5% would be great.
I replied again and asked for more info about the status of this bug/wish/feature. If I know more I'll update this post.
I'm sorry to kill the hopes here, but it is very unlikely.
They said that "I'm sure android is looking into a solution regarding this issue."
Android is looking into a solution? Android is an OS. And Google would not look into this, since they don't deal with this, this docking routine is entirely ASUS-made. Only one who can fix it is Asus, not Google or Android. And they said 'I am sure', which is an opinion, not a statement. The person does not know what they are talking about.
Secondly, why don't you like the way it works? Dock should be depleted before the tablet is. I would rather have an empty dock than an empty tablet with a charged dock.
And the reason dock begins charging is because it saves battery life in the long run while maintaining tablet with optimal amount of battery life as long as possible.
kristovaher said:
Secondly, why don't you like the way it works? Dock should be depleted before the tablet is. I would rather have an empty dock than an empty tablet with a charged dock.
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Click to collapse
Totally agree. It was actually something I was impressed with that the setup ensures that the tablet always has optimal charge so that at any time you can undock and be fairly confident that the tablet has as much juice as possible.
Really, I would not want it any other way....
Let me explain my main reason.
Status in the evening:
- dock 100%
- tablet 60%
Status in the morning:
- dock 0%
- tablet 92% (the dock never charge to 100%)
The dock is now completely drained while tablet was idle. Now I have only 92% for a working day.
What I would like:
Status in the morning:
- dock 100%
- tablet 56% (only few % off in standby)
Now I still have 56% + a full dock to work with.
And more importantly: I can have my tablet much longer in standby
I just would like to be able to change the thresshold. Standby time should be exacly the same as when I disconnect the dock. At least it should be optional.
pvdwaal said:
Let me explain my main reason.
Status in the evening:
- dock 100%
- tablet 60%
Status in the morning:
- dock 0%
- tablet 92% (the dock never charge to 100%)
The dock is now completely drained while tablet was idle. Now I have only 92% for a working day.
What I would like:
Status in the morning:
- dock 100%
- tablet 56% (only few % off in standby)
Now I still have 56% + a full dock to work with.
And more importantly: I can have my tablet much longer in standby
I just would like to be able to change the thresshold. Standby time should be exacly the same as when I disconnect the dock. At least it should be optional.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just dont dock the tablet at night ... wait till the morning and your dock will replenish the tab through the day.
The best bit is that the dock still works even though its internal battery has depleted.
I NEVER charge just the tablet, instead i either just charge the dock and let the dock then charge the tab through the day, or charge both over night then have 100% on both in the morning.
As the meerkats say ... Simples !
Danny-B- said:
Just dont dock the tablet at night ... wait till the morning and your dock will replenish the tab through the day.
The best bit is that the dock still works even though its internal battery has depleted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One question: WHY should you undock?....answer....to keep dock battery like you say.
Come on, you have to admit that it's plain stupid that we have to remember to undock the prime in order to keep dock battery during standby. Undocking is just a workaround.
Can't believe noboby understands this "problem" like I do and finds a simple setting to be able to control the threshold not needed.
Whether the dock charges the tablet whilst in standby or whilst turned on you are still going to get the same battery life so why put off the recharging of the tablet?
I see what you mean but, as I said, seeing as you still get the same battery life what does it matter if the tablet is charged when you pick it up or whilst in use?
I like how that the dock keeps the tablet above 70%. Currently my dock is at 35% and my tablet 77% and the dock is NOT charging the tablet. Depending on use I get a day or two out of a single charge of both but I tend to do alot of browsing which, along with the wifi, tends to eat through the batteries quite quickly. I don't feel that putting off the recharge will extend it's life any further. I always make sure the wifi/bluetooth etc are off when in standby so that as little power as possible is used during standby anyway.
I get your point but I still think the way it is at the moment is the best solution. Everything else they could add would need manual handling to be usefull...
But I guess that would be over the top for most people. Well they could maybe add a menu where u can lock/unlock charging from the dock...
ps. I'm just now really happy how it works, was working with only the tablet today... 50% battery, then I put it back in my backpack and now it's charged up again, ready for my travel home where I usually use the tablet only...
pvdwaal said:
Let me explain my main reason.
Status in the evening:
- dock 100%
- tablet 60%
Status in the morning:
- dock 0%
- tablet 92% (the dock never charge to 100%)
The dock is now completely drained while tablet was idle. Now I have only 92% for a working day.
What I would like:
Status in the morning:
- dock 100%
- tablet 56% (only few % off in standby)
Now I still have 56% + a full dock to work with.
And more importantly: I can have my tablet much longer in standby
I just would like to be able to change the thresshold. Standby time should be exacly the same as when I disconnect the dock. At least it should be optional.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I'm not following you here, in particular the underlined sentence. It sounds like maybe you are claiming you will get more battery life overall if the dock did not charge the tablet while in stand by? Unless there is some bug or something that I am not aware of, I don't see how you are going to get more battery life from this. You essentially are just delaying when the tablet gets charged by the dock, which has more disadvantages. I would think you would always want the dock to charge the tablet once the tablet gets below the 70%, regardless of whether or not it is in standby. This way the next time you pick up your tablet if you decide you want to leave your keyboard dock at home or something the tablet will still be charged up as much as possible from the dock.
Furthermore, your title claims that there may be a 'fix' for this in a future SW release, but honestly I don't see a problem here that needs fixed. The dock is doing what it is supposed to do, transfer its battery life to the tablet once the tablet goes below a certain threshold. Maybe I am just not understanding the issue and what exactly you are going to gain by being able to prevent the dock from charging the tablet in certain scenarios.
From what I can gather you essentially are wanting one of two things:
1) Allow the user to set the threshold at which the battery transfer will begin (i.e. you could set the threshold really low to effectively prevent the dock from charging the tablet while in standby)
2) Allow the user to disable the battery transfer all together if the tablet is in standby
Both of which I can maybe see as being valid feature requests, but it sounds like what you have described is that this is some type of bug that needs 'fixed', which I would have to disagree with.
My question is how do you drain that much juice in "standby" overnight. I lose maybe 1-2%???
pvdwaal said:
Changing the thresshold to eg 5% would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? So then if you randomly decide to undock your tab, you could possibly only have 5% battery. That would be annoying. If what you are saying is that the battery drains faster when it is docked, then that is what needs to be fixed. That way you still have a mostly full dock and a full tablet. Here is the way I see it.
If you have a full tab and empty dock ---> Prime can be used docked or undocked
If you have a full dock and empty tab ---> Prime can only be used docked until dock charges it
Fix the drain not the threshold. That way you have options.
/my2cents
I vote for changing the threshold! Or at the very least be able to control the threshold.
Also I just have to comment on the person who said 'I'd rather have an empty dock and a full tablet' u serious? I would rather have an empty tablet and a fully charged Dock! That way I can charge the tablet.... duh?
But that aside, I have THE solution for all these problems, turn the machine OFF and voila!
But I never turn mine of neither so I understand
But the standby mode should be changed so less juice is drained from the dock.
Cheers!!!
pvdwaal said:
Let me explain my main reason.
Status in the evening:
- dock 100%
- tablet 60%
Status in the morning:
- dock 0%
- tablet 92% (the dock never charge to 100%)
The dock is now completely drained while tablet was idle. Now I have only 92% for a working day.
What I would like:
Status in the morning:
- dock 100%
- tablet 56% (only few % off in standby)
Now I still have 56% + a full dock to work with.
And more importantly: I can have my tablet much longer in standby
I just would like to be able to change the thresshold. Standby time should be exacly the same as when I disconnect the dock. At least it should be optional.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So the problem here is that you think that a 1% drain on the dock should result in a 1% charge in the tablet, which is absolutely incorrect. The battery in the dock is smaller than the battery in the tablet, so it takes 2-3% drain from the dock to get a 1% charge on the tablet.
With that said, my tablet battery drains faster on standby while docked than undocked, but if I understand you correctly that isn't what you are talking about
Check and make sure under developer in settings you dont have keep awake/screen on while charging checked. Toggling that got rid of my drain
NeoMagus said:
Check and make sure under developer in settings you dont have keep awake/screen on while charging checked. Toggling that got rid of my drain
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I think some people use this setting without realizing that since the dock is constantly charging the tablet when it hits the 70% mark, the screen could be active even when you're not needing it to be.
Anyway, I don't experience any abnormal drain. I don't last as long as I used to back on .11, but I also keep my WiFi and Sync on all the time now and still pull through 3-4 days a charge.
Johnny0906 said:
I vote for changing the threshold! Or at the very least be able to control the threshold.
Also I just have to comment on the person who said 'I'd rather have an empty dock and a full tablet' u serious? I would rather have an empty tablet and a fully charged Dock! That way I can charge the tablet.... duh?
But that aside, I have THE solution for all these problems, turn the machine OFF and voila!
But I never turn mine of neither so I understand
But the standby mode should be changed so less juice is drained from the dock.
Cheers!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok from the way I read that you are saying you would like more juice on the dock than the tablet. If I read that correctly (being as you only quoted the first part meaning the second part would be your words as I read it) then I would have to ask what you're smoking and where can I get some. Who would rather have juice on the dock and not the tab? Juice on the tab is good for any use, juice on the dock is good only docked. Also the dock's battery as you know is smaller so juice on that won't last as long as the same % on the tablet. If you were actually trying to quote the whole sentence then disregard and I completely agree duh to whomever posted that (I didn't see that line just a paraphrase in previous posts).
Ops issue is definately not normal. the dock provides the ability to charge approximately 60 percent of the tablet. The only way that the op could get such battery loss would be if he had a battery drain issue. The dock should stay at about 50 percent when the tab has 92 so I think the bigger problem is the battery drain.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
That's what I mentioned a couple pages back, how is he draining 50% of anything dock or tab? He should only be draining about 2%-5% max from one or the other.
neo1738 said:
Ok from the way I read that you are saying you would like more juice on the dock than the tablet. If I read that correctly (being as you only quoted the first part meaning the second part would be your words as I read it) then I would have to ask what you're smoking and where can I get some. Who would rather have juice on the dock and not the tab? Juice on the tab is good for any use, juice on the dock is good only docked. Also the dock's battery as you know is smaller so juice on that won't last as long as the same % on the tablet. If you were actually trying to quote the whole sentence then disregard and I completely agree duh to whomever posted that (I didn't see that line just a paraphrase in previous posts).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well im really sorry i just ran out yesterday, and yes I would rather have the dock charged so I can in a sense re-charge when the tablets battery is low.
neo1738 said:
My question is how do you drain that much juice in "standby" overnight. I lose maybe 1-2%???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I would like to know why so much drain at night? Thats almost 50% of your battery!!!!!