Related
We all want better battery life, no question, more than processor speed (some of us even underclock), resolution, 3D drivers; pretty much everything takes second place in our hearts to battery life. In response to that demand there are a lot of companies out there selling batteries for our phones either at the same mAh rating of the OEM (the one that came with the phone), a higher mAh rating but the battery's the same dimensions as the OEM and does not require a deeper cover and batteries that are both larger in capacity and physical size -- or so they allege. Usually these batteries are cheaper than the OEM's, mAh for mAh at least. By the way, mAh ratings, or milliamp hours, think of it in terms of the size of a gas tank you installed in your car. The higher the figure, the longer you can use your phone.
Got a Nexus One? Say hello to our sister thread! No wait, just go straight to forum.batteryboss.org right now, forget this thread.
There are battery threads all over XDA but only with vague data so I invested in equipment to rate the batteries myself, under the guidance of electrogeniuses as you can read in this thread, in order to tell you what to expect in addition to giving you figures such as how many amp hours you get on the dollar as maybe a cheap battery with an exaggerated or oddly defined rating is worth getting over an expensive and better one if you're on a budget. Not counting all the man hours that Telek, amit77 and I have put into coming up with the most reliable way to produce data, so far I've spent over $200 on different equipment to get to where we are now. By the way, OEM = made by the people who made the battery that came with your phone. I'm not asking you to donate yet or reimburse me for my troubles, rather I'd like you, the next time you buy a battery I haven't already tested, to mail it to me first so I can run a couple tests after which I will FedEx it to you at my expense. If that interests you, PM me. If you are a battery manufacturer or reseller and you stand by your claims and trust me to run legitimate tests on it that are consistent with every other test I publish in terms of procedure, PM me or post publicly.
The procedure:
I am using the Computerized Battery Analyzer III. The software which is somewhat sophisticated plots out milliamp hours (mAh) burnt over the descent of voltage from 4.14V to 3.5V which we have determined to be the level of voltage in the battery at which point the phone decides to stop charging itself and decides it's time to turn itself off because it's too low on juice. The CBA software plots out data in graphs, PDFs, CSVs, the whole deal. Looks a little like this:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
In order to produce the best real-world information, numbers that are relevant to you and not just to academics, I charge the batteries with the phone as you do until the phone decides the battery is charged which for the Rhodium/Touch Pro2/Tilt 2 is 4.14 volts regardless of capacity rating. I hook the batteries up to the CBA which is plugged into my computer. With the software that came with the CBA I have the CBA test the batteries at 250mA, a current in the neighborhood of what the average user would average were he to do his thing (including having push-mail fired up with the screen on bright, downloading and browsing rss feeds, the occasional call, bubblebreaker etc) without interruption. To get a better idea of what kind of current you're using when doing various things use the attached acbPowerMeter software. I'm not Geraldo Rivera out to get the third party guys that exaggerate their numbers a little bit nor am I here to rewrite Wikipedia's take on capacity calculation industry standards. If you're a manufacturer or a battery company sympathizer and want to break my balls about voltage cutoffs, read this simple explanation which I feel sums up our position well. The point, in short, of all of this is to supply you with information that will help you choose which battery to buy.
Doug Simmons
Test results and other information.
This table is a hotlinked image to data on the mother site of this, batteryboss.org on which the actual links work. Hit refresh if you've been here before in case your browser cached the image of the table.
Updates:
August 7th: First did a dry run then I the AMZER 1800mAh for the EVO. So far it's in first place for being the biggest ripoff on the gallon. First place.
August 5th: Received Carl's AMZER 1800mAh for EVO, doing a dry run discharge now, hopefully get some data for you tomorrow morning.
July 28th: Finished Carl's Seidio 3500mAh for EVO 4G. Seems the Seidios all rate at 81% of their claim.
July 6th: Completed round one of EVO stock (John Doward). Got the coveted Amzer 1800 and a Seidio 3500, both EVO, en route thanks to Carl Willi.
June 12th: Completed first run of a Mugen 3200mAh for the Hero. Both disappointing and unsurprising. Most cost ineffective battery I've tested.
June 11th: Jasper and Dan's batteries on the way back to them. Thanks again. Hey, Mugen 3200 for Hero and EVO 4G stock on their way! Another update, just received that Mugen 3200, charging now.
June 10th: Completed testing for a no name Hero battery and the stock Incredible battery with the EVO 4G stock on its way. Nice. Returning those batteries to my man Dan and my other man Jasper.
June 9th: Seems a seller I linked may be committing fraud. Please read.
June 7th: First test complete of an oversized no name Hero battery, second one in progress.
April 26th: Got some press. And a little more.
April 15th: Hoo-F'ing-ray, we have a winner, Wade's HTC 2150mAh clocks in exactly at 2150! high five, HTC!
April 14th: Taking the HTC 2150mAh for a spin right now. Finally! Thank you Deathmonkey!April 12th: Rotohammer's Seidio 1600mAh for the N1 has arrived, charging. Exact dimensions as OEM, wish I had a scale.
April 9th: In a continued effort to outdo himself Rotohammer just ordered a 2400mAh-rated Cameron Sino, on its way to me. Lucky I got his attention. Extremely helpful. Thanks.
April 8th: N1 Seidio 1600mAh should show up today, thanks to Rotohammer.
April 3rd: Finished N1 Seidio 3200mAh, five runs. Learned that it's rated slightly more honestly than Mugen (not saying much) but is the most expensive battery per tested amp hour. Still, highest capacity. I got a new and fast and really badass server and now have a our own forum which you can fire up at forum.batteryboss.org. Finished the new Andida for the TP2, pretty weak, but for some of you the price may be right.
March 30th: Completed dry run of a Seidio 3200mAh for the N1. Not fantastic but Seidio has taken the lead against Mugen in honesty.
March 29th: Mugen "engineer" responds (see table). Rotohammer's Seidio arrived, charging now baby, yeah! Should be very interesting. Thanks Roto.
March 27th: Shawn's OEM a fake (but a well performing fake). Activity building in the Nexus One thread. Mugen sent me an exchange for Jeremy's and it sucks even more.
March 20th: Just ran the first test of the Nexus One's OEM, not bad.
March 18th: Just ordered a Google Nexus One. I got an extra battery so the first thing I'm using this for is to prepare a battery for testing. Need to figure out if it has different voltage cutoffs, need to figure out how to present the data and what to do with my site, .. hmmm.
March 16th: Mugen wants me to send me another battery to test, I agreed and mailed them back Jeremy's battery. Also mailed Sean/Telek his OEM 1500mAh. Thank you both fellas. Also DeathmonkeyGTX offered to sponsor a test of the HTC 2150mAh -- thank you!
March 13th: Finished no name #2 3600mAh (2466mAh ). In search of voltage cutoffs for Touch Pro/Fuze, please help.
March 12th: Mugen has expressed interest in sending me another battery to test, I expressed willingness. And to you I express curiosity into which device to expand the testing.
March 8th:Finished round two of no name #2 and fake OEM #2. Waiting on another ebay OEM to verify authenticity and a fresh Andida courtesy of my main man Shawn Martell.
March 7th:Added intriguing head to head chart matches.
March 6th:Completed a few more including fresh standard legit OEM, also discovered two counterfeits.
March 2nd: Completed no name #1, cheapest per mAh so far. Dropped Jason's battery off in the mail as promised.
Feb 28th: Completed tests of the Seidio, mailing it to jasonweaver.
Feb 27th: Just received Seidio 1750mAh from jasonweaver in addition to 1500mAh no name ebay cheapo. Nice.
Feb 27th: Mugen 1800mAh testing completed, table updated. Thank you very much jcr916 who bought the battery and had it shipped to me, now I'm going to mail it to him.
Feb 22nd: Thank you jasonweaver and jcr916 who are hooking me up with a barely-used Seidio and a brand new Mugen 1800mAh respectively. Those test results should be interesting as from what I've gathered those two brands have the best reputation and are priced accordingly so let's see if they deserve it.
Telek and I just laid down some dough for five more batteries this weekend. So I'll have a lot of testing to do shortly. Stay tuned for the results!
Batteries I would like to test next so PM me if you want to help. New and used batteries welcome.
AT&T/HTC 2150mAh Pricey worth it. Really want to test this one. *En route*
HTC 2150mAh - Same model as AT&T but cheaper, doesn't come with door. *En route (same battery)*
Cameron Sino - Found five favorable/neutral reports.
A new Seidio 1750mAh - Tested a used one already but need data on a fresh battery.
Google Froogle search for more.
Tips and other reflections:
AT&T people, beware that if you order a battery that requires a deeper back cover but is for the Touch Pro2 and not the AT&T Tilt 2 that the cover may not have a hole for the PTT button nor may it latch on. Maybe you can burn one through with a hot screwdriver or you could just crazy glue. Beware of the usual dangers of ebay obviously, only use sellers with high ratings and consider buying straight from the company's website or Amazon or a name you've heard of. I have found over two counterfeits from sellers with high ratings. Read your phone's warranty before using a third party battery. Get the return policy before you buy. If you do get burnt with a counterfeit OEM, immediately give negative feedback using language like "counterfeit" and email the seller requesting both immediate restitution and that they remove their listings of that particular battery or at the least any reference in the listing to the battery being either an OEM or giving an OEM-like serial number, anything misleading, and in return offer to neutralize negative feedback. Reporting fraud to ebay is up to you but I would take those steps first. It's a longshot but the information we really want from the dealer is their supplier but so far I haven't been able to get any of them to cough that information up. If you're not sure if the thing's a counterfeit and want to find out, send it to me to test.
Testing hardware:
I am using the West Mountain Radio CBA III (Computerized Battery Analyzer) which you can buy along with some toys from these guys for $149. I bought something else from them, didn't like it and they offered to shave the cost of the thing I didn't want off the price of the CBA III without even asking me to return it. Good people. The CBA III is the most accurate and reliable device we could find for these testing purposes and we spent many hours arriving at the final testing procedure. No corners cut. There is no indication whatsoever that the results it's produced are inaccurate, certainly not relative to each other given its consistency. All testing procedures were identical including the current of 250mA, starting voltage and bottom cutoff (4.14V and 3.5V respectively, the top and bottom cutoffs of the Touch Pro2, which I use to charge the batteries with original HTC wall charger). The 250mA current may be a little high and won't produce as flattering a result versus a 100mA current, but it's both a normal current we burn when we're doing stuff on the phone, it keeps each of the three tests inside six hours usually and most importantly we use that current on every single test of every single battery so this is a standardized test. Finally the OEMs get 95% of their claimed rating on this current so we believe that that current is the sweet spot to supply you with information to use to buy your next battery.
Doug Simmons
Excellent thread - although from my experience with LiIon devices:
- the device itself typically has poor ability to determine battery usage
- you really need an actual external ammeter to monitor usage
With payment terminals that I used to work on the external ammeter (which I assume was accurate) was up to 15% off what the terminal itself reported - and wasn't consistent depending on the amount of current draw. The ability for the batteries themselves to accurately report their % remaning was also highly inaccurate and can only be used as a guideline. YMMV.
Thanks .. though you may realize this, my main interest is not in current at a given point but in total consumption from a full charge to when it dies. You're saying in order to get a definitive result, solid enough to recommend one thing over another, I need such a device to get beyond bad indications and confounding variables? Or with a difference between a few hundred mAhs over a few trials sound like enough to determine a clear winner, but ideally have an ammeter? Any cheap ammeters that not only clock the current but plot it down over time or do whatever it takes to yield the total? Not too familiar with these things, just a quick glance at wikipedia.
Well honestly I have no idea how either the battery or the TP2 fares for current reading.
I think you'd have to do a benchmark - find some way of running the same task on the TP2 that will use the same amount of battery power and run it a few times from a full battery charge. See if the mAh readings are consistent. My guess, however, is that the readings are going to be quite different which will be a combination of the battery AND reporting method. Even using an external battery reconditioner we'd get +/- 10% on successive runs with the same battery. The only way you could tell that the reconditioner was working was the batteries would go from 30 mins runtime to 90 mins after reconditioning.
Back when I did my testing I used a custom designed unit - had a arm7 microcontroller and threw a resistor in series and constantly monitored the voltage drop to determine current usage and plotted it that way. Most multimeters that you can hook up to your computer don't have high enough sampling rates or are too expensive.
how the frak do you delete messages? duplicate post...
Telek said:
how the frak do you delete messages? duplicate post...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dupe all you want, need this thing bumped.. working hard on it, getting some good info together.
As Telek said an external test is the only reliable way to get accurate results. The best way to do this to apply the same resistive drain to all of the batteries and charging them all with the same charger. A .5c drain should be safe enough to drain in a reasonable amount of time with out over heating the battery.
The main factor we need to know as far as the device is concerned is what the cutoff voltage is set at. LI-ion batteries can be drained down to less the 3v safely and most good ones have protection circuits that cut them off above 2.7v. None of that will matter if HTC has the device set to cutoff at 3.2v or higher.
Once the cutoff V is known then you time the drain from full charge to C/O.
I've done a lot of battery pack building and maintaining in radio controlled hobby's. With out having access to the right equipment this is going to be a daunting task and quite possibly more expensive than buying a few batteries. Hopefully the right person will see this thread and will step up to do the testing.
anit77 said:
As Telek said an external test is the only reliable way to get accurate results. The best way to do this to apply the same resistive drain to all of the batteries and charging them all with the same charger. A .5c drain should be safe enough to drain in a reasonable amount of time with out over heating the battery.
The main factor we need to know as far as the device is concerned is what the cutoff voltage is set at. LI-ion batteries can be drained down to less the 3v safely and most good ones have protection circuits that cut them off above 2.7v. None of that will matter if HTC has the device set to cutoff at 3.2v or higher.
Once the cutoff V is known then you time the drain from full charge to C/O.
I've done a lot of battery pack building and maintaining in radio controlled hobby's. With out having access to the right equipment this is going to be a daunting task and quite possibly more expensive than buying a few batteries. Hopefully the right person will see this thread and will step up to do the testing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay well in the interests of making this thread epically informative I am almost willing to buy myself an ammeter. Could you please recommend one that is both cheap and capable of getting the job done for something smaller than a car battery and a device with such settings to fine-tune? Something that I can rig up to the battery's contacts which are so thinly spaced together without a soldering iron? Here's a list...
Well for starters do you want to test the phone + battery or just the battery?
Testing the battery alone will be a LOT easier - in fact a general test can be done with just a heavy duty resistor and a voltmeter. Watch how long it takes the battery to go from full charge to C/O and you've got your mAh rating. I'd recommend this as it's easy and cheap.
If you want to check actual phone usage time and compare it to whatever reading you get via software you'll need to build a little rig that allows you to place the battery externally with leads running to the battery contacts in the phone. That part is not as hard as it sounds. However what that you're going to need some sort of way of tracking the current flow with high precision and high frequency. If you're any good with microcontrollers that can be done easily, otherwise I'm not sure. I'll check and see if I can find anything that would qualify.
Telek said:
Well for starters do you want to test the phone + battery or just the battery? Testing the battery alone will be a LOT easier - in fact a general test can be done with just a heavy duty resistor and a voltmeter. Watch how long it takes the battery to go from full charge to C/O and you've got your mAh rating. I'd recommend this as it's easy and cheap.
If you want to check actual phone usage time and compare it to whatever reading you get via software you'll need to build a little rig that allows you to place the battery externally with leads running to the battery contacts in the phone. That part is not as hard as it sounds. However what that you're going to need some sort of way of tracking the current flow with high precision and high frequency. If you're any good with microcontrollers that can be done easily, otherwise I'm not sure. I'll check and see if I can find anything that would qualify.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
C'mon man, obviously I want the easier way that satisfactorily satisfies what I want to know without crazy wiring and microcontrollers. Just want to know how many milliamp hours these two suckers and any other batteries I might get along the way compare to each other, a drag race. I'll leave that other stuff to the guys from Popular Mechanics.
We also need to consider the resolution needed for such a device.
For example a 5.0V ADC (providing 0-5V range) at 16-bit resolution for a current shunt designed to provide a 50mV drop at 1A is going to give you 1.53mA resolution (5V 16-bit = 0.0763mV resolution; 0-50mV range = 655 binary range = 1.53mA range). Conveniently a 3.3V range for the ADC gives almost exactly 1mA resolution which is perfect.
However I can't find any cheap ready-to-go data loggers with that resolution and range.
Now if you wanted to make the setup a little more complicated and toss a simple op-amp into there you could probably get away with something like this:
http://www.dataq.com/products/startkit/di194rs.htm
$25 plus a few bucks to build a simple op-amp circuit (check out http://www.chem.uoa.gr/Applets/AppletOpAmps/Appl_OpAmps2.html with values 1kO and 2000kO V1=0.005V and V2=0) use the computer PSU to provide +/- 12V to the amp will give you ~ +/- 10V operational range (perfect for the data logger) and you'll get 2mA resolution with 240Hz sampling - far from perfect but sufficient to actually do some decent measurements of actual current draw from the phone. Log both the shunt resistor voltage drop through the op-amp and the raw battery voltage and you've got a nice little power monitor that can give you detailed measurements of how much power every little thing in your phone takes.
Ok so grab yourself one of these:
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=HPC1210JCT-ND
Or any generic 10 ohm resistor capable of dissipating at least 5W (wire-wound will work). Ask at your local electronics shop and they can probably help you. Should cost less than $20 including the multimeter.
It'll draw about 700mA and dissipate about 5W (so it'll get hot, should put a small fan on it) and should dissipate your battery in about 2 hours. Combine with a voltmeter where you write the measurements down at least every couple of minutes and that will allow you to plot the voltage drop curve and calculate the mAh rating of the battery.
Well if you can come up with what you think the right standardized procedures and various levels of this and that, again standardized, to use to test multiple batteries from multiple manufacturers of varying mAh claims (but presumably of the same voltage?) just to get a total mAh versus that of the OEM, and then tell me which device to buy to make that happen, I could contact these various companies, tell them to send me their superbattery for me to test accurately to see if they are legit and, in exchange for sending me the battery, I'll list the results on either of my sites which are fairly trafficked, enough for a company to want to give away a battery if it meant getting their claims verified in front of an audience thirsty for milliamp hours.
You see where I'm going with this?
Telek said:
Ok so grab yourself one of these:
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=HPC1210JCT-ND
Or any generic 10 ohm resistor capable of dissipating at least 5W (wire-wound will work). Ask at your local electronics shop and they can probably help you. Should cost less than $20 including the multimeter.
It'll draw about 700mA and dissipate about 5W (so it'll get hot, should put a small fan on it) and should dissipate your battery in about 2 hours. Combine with a voltmeter where you write the measurements down at least every couple of minutes and that will allow you to plot the voltage drop curve and calculate the mAh rating of the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got a Radio Shack down the block. But 700mA is maybe unnecessarily/excessively strong -- firstly because running batteries hot and heavy wears them out over time so if I keep testing new batteries against one oem .. ahh nevermind i guess that wouldn't batter but normal usage is between 30-400mA. How many ohms might yield roughly 250, 300mA? Think I'd get lucky at RatShack?
Running batteries at 1/2 their capacity is generally pretty safe for full discharge - so a 1500mAh battery discharging at 700mA should be fine - not really considered "hot & heavy".
You could go 20 ohm (2.5W discharge 350mA) and monitor over 4-5 hours then, just means more work for you since you're going to need to record the voltage over time.
I somehow doubt that RadioShack would carry any sort of resistors like this, but a general purpose electronics hobby shop should.
Thanks you very much with this test. Very instructive.
A question:
What is the best PocketPC software for mesuring mAh. I've try AbcPower, but I don't think it's very accurate when charging. normally, 500mA via PC USB.
powerguard
I believe it's powerguard which is frickin' awesome for all things battery-related (.. born on xda) but I can't get the consumption thing to tally which doesn't really help this project. That's either because the software doesn't like our phone or because the shareware is crippled not to do that among some other things. Other than this powerguard and abcpowermeter, I am unaware of any other WinMo app that will count up the consumption. So I sent the guy some euros (five, he asked for three) to get a registration file hoping that will do the trick but man he went out of his way to make it a pain in the balls to register this thing. Hope he checks his email soon because I want this thing unleashed.
By the way for those of you living in 10% increment land on your battery meters, grab Chainfire's 1% battery driver for Euro and apparently AT&T Touch Pro2s (gsm?) or Quentin-'s 1% driver for Tmo, Sprint and Verizon (I guess any cdma tp2). After you install either of those you'd better check your battery drain to make sure you didn't install the wrong one (you can tell if you notice your phone is using a lot more juice). If you did, not to worry, they are uninstallable.
Doug
anit77 said:
Hopefully the right person will see this thread and will step up to do the testing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want to be that guy. I'm willing to put the time, money and patience into it. Only snag is is that I'm not a physicist/electrical engineer like you two.
What I want to set out to do here is have a means of performing standardized testing with the same equipment with the same settings with me doing the same things (including how frequently I watch it and what math I do at the end) each time in order to get true and consistently true mAh until c/o ratings, true enough to satisfy third party battery companies/dealers (and people who actually read and use what I post) that I've got a fair and trustworthy procedure to see if their batteries live up to their claims, posting tables of batteries, mAh, cost of the battery and cost per mAh, something like that, both here and on my website for people to read and copy to their own sites and forum threads.
I reread your comments a couple more times. What I guess I need to do is find out what the cutoff voltage is for this phone (do I do that by eyeballing the mV readings on this powerguard software until the phone clicks off or is additional equipment necessary?). Then I need to get myself this data logger -- nope, just a 10 ohm resistor and maybe this voltmeter or perhaps something like this would make this simpler? What's my shopping cart?
Once I have some setup like that I fully discharge a battery then charge it up with the phone off then connect it both to the resistor and the voltmeter, plot out the readings every three minutes until it hits the voltage cutoff point, repeat X amount of times, then crank out some math to figure out a total mAh reading from start to cutoff point (we'll discuss that later...) and finally I'm good? Something like that? How am I doing?
Just hit me with the shopping cart and I'll get that out of the way and read this while it all ships then check back here.
The goal is to generate and disseminate valuable information on something very mysterious and dubious. People who make these things know we have no idea how to do what we're fixin' to do in this thread so why not claim wild ratings for the same dimensions and get more people to buy our stuff? Let's tell 'em why and maybe score some free batteries along the way for our troubles.
This looks like it'd be perfect. but it's $120. You be able to test most any battery too. There's tons of this type stuff in R/C and electronics hobby sites. It just doing the searching needed to find what your looking for.
I'd say make a new thread for taking donations to buy one. PM a mod or Flar and ask where to post it or if they'll put links to the thread in some of the sub forums and you'd get people with other phone that'd be interested too. Could be a way to make some extra cash as well. If you don't want to deal with a progect of this size I'm sure you'd be able to find someone who is.
A DITTY
Batteries, batteries everywhere and yet not an amp hour to spare. Tiny brains draining power, to die so soon - despair!
THE LIES WE TELL OURSELVES
The posters initial claims of " I got 50 hours of moderated use! " is sure to degenerate into " umm well it was cheap and it will make a good backup battery at least. " How can you respond to that? I mean, I for one was pulling for the guy to best the odds... What response could be appropriate... "Hey, don't move let me kick you in the head while your down".... Just doesn't seem nice.
IMPROVEMENT
The Samsung captivate came with a 1500 mAh oem battery... a 1800 mAh oem was latter released for a sister phone and while a little thicker than the original, it still fit into the captivate original back and all... Sweet!
A MOTHERS LOVE
The problem is that for most of us battery testing is too subjective to provide useful information. My "moderate use" is your "heavy"... It's as useful as comparing how much our mothers love us.
D=M/V (DENSITY=MASS/VOLUME)
So what can we do? How can you objectively test your new ebay battery and immediately know you got ripped off? Well my friend you put it on a gram scale. Let me show you how this works using the two aforementioned captivate batteries(# 1.. 1500 and #2. 1800 mAh) , the Samsung oem note battery, and a Hyperion aftermarket battery (#3. 2500 and # 4.. 2600 mAh).
Results
#1. 30g
#2. 36g
There is a six gram difference between the lower and 300 mAh higher capacity Samsung batteries, a finding consistent with expectations. The slight increase in the volume of the #2 battery also indicates that the energy density for both of them is much the same... Now on to the S-note batteries!
#3. 50g
#4. 40g
The Samsung battery weighs a full ten grams more than its higher rated Hyperion replacement. Its lighter weight simply does not pack the mass to back up its big claims... It comes as no surprise that few long term users of the Hyperion are claiming the better than stock battery results they should experience, given manufacturer claims...
CONCLUSIONS
You can objectively test inflated power claims by aggressive aftermarket battery manufacturers.
CONTRIBUTE
Use a simple gram scale to help quantify the potential of battery claims. If you really want to nail it down use a vacuum packer seal the battery and measure its volume through displacement..Bonus, save the results and your kid has his/her next science fair project!
POST YOUR RESULTS
If we share our respective findings here, we can help each other make better informed choices. Xda really is great.
YOUR MOTHER
I am sure she loves you very much!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
The way to properly test the battery is to do a factory reset so no custom apps are installed and then do the following:
1. Power down the phone and allow the battery to fully charge with the phone OFF. Then boot the phone keeping the power plugged in.
2. Turn all the radios on
3. Turn the screen brightness to max
4. Install an app that logs battery levels (I use battery monitor by 3C)
5. Loop a video until the battery dies (unplug the power AFTER you start playing the video)
5a. An alternate method is to loop a benchmark test until the battery dies
This is how the pros do it anyway...
Lw thanks for your response... The testing process you outlined is indeed an excellent procedure.
The only problem it presents is that few, besides the pros and yourself, seem to be willing to take the time needed to test every battery they run across.
I was able to test 4 batteries in less time than it would take to setup your phone to implement the test you've outlined...
A truly professional approach to the battery capacity was demonstrated in a captivate thread. The posters built a test to charge and drain every battery through multiple cycles. The details that were posted provided details far in excess of anything your proposed testing procedure is able to offer.
The captivate battery thread included plans for his battery testing rig, if you are interested and have the time I could probably find the link for you... I would be interested in your shared results.
The advantage my procedure offers is that it does not require modification of phone followed by an extended four hour testing sequence...
My procedure is definitely not for the pros with lots and lots of time, it took me four minutes to test four batteries... That's 1minute per battery...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
I've come across some people that say the GS2 battery should not be drained completely since for this type of battery it's not good.
lckh said:
I've come across some people that say the GS2 battery should not be drained completely since for this type of battery it's not good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.google.com/search?q=Is+it+bad+to+completely+drain+a+lithium+ion+battery?
ctomgee said:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Is+it+bad+to+completely+drain+a+lithium+ion+battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pants - is the only way to describe that post, false info.
It does no harm at all to fully discharge, more problems are caused by giving regular, short charges, than 1 long full charge so i wouldnt believe that.
He also says to charge it 8-10 hours, that total rubbish as well, these batteries dont need 8-10 hours to prime, on average 3-4 hours for a full charge is more than adequate.
I think few year back batteries were far inferior and did indeed need longer charging periods, but not any more, and if ya flash roms a lot and need to calibrate your battery after flashing to a new custom rom indeed part of the calibration process is completely running down the battery, my s2 is well over a year old and has been drained flat many a time and i still get 14 - 20 hours out of it on average, which is damn good for any smart phone these days, That post is on a HTC Thread by the way, Htc notoriously have batteries with a crappy life span, i had a wildfire s, used to get about 6 hours out of the battery.
I don't think that's true.
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
graemeg said:
ctomgee said:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Is+it+bad+to+completely+drain+a+lithium+ion+battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pants - is the only way to describe that post, false info.
It does no harm at all to fully discharge, more problems are caused by giving regular, short charges, than 1 long full charge so i wouldnt believe that.
He also says to charge it 8-10 hours, that total rubbish as well, these batteries dont need 8-10 hours to prime, on average 3-4 hours for a full charge is more than adequate.
I think few year back batteries were far inferior and did indeed need longer charging periods, but not any more, and if ya flash roms a lot and need to calibrate your battery after flashing to a new custom rom indeed part of the calibration process is completely running down the battery, my s2 is well over a year old and has been drained flat many a time and i still get 14 - 20 hours out of it on average, which is damn good for any smart phone these days, That post is on a HTC Thread by the way, Htc notoriously have batteries with a crappy life span, i had a wildfire s, used to get about 6 hours out of the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My post is full of false info? The one linking to direct Google search of the OP's question? Interesting.
ctomgee said:
My post is full of false info? The one linking to direct Google search of the OP's question? Interesting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmmmmm, no, you didnt start the thread, i was replying to the starter of the discussion, not yours.
More importantly, where is your link meant to point, coz from what i can see it only points to a google search and not to any specific document, unlike donalgodon who posted a very interesting and intriguing link indeed with so much info
graemeg said:
Hmmmmmm, no, you didnt start the thread, i was replying to the starter of the discussion, not yours.
More importantly, where is your link meant to point, coz from what i can see it only points to a google search and not to any specific document, unlike donalgodon who posted a very interesting and intriguing link indeed with so much info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which was actually one of the results of the google search, if you bothered to look.
I was trying to impart the fact to the OP that he could easily find this info himself.
Also, if you were replying to him, then why did you quote my post, saying "Pants - is the only way to describe that post, false info"? Context is important.
ctomgee said:
Which was actually one of the results of the google search, if you bothered to look.
I was trying to impart the fact to the OP that he could easily find this info himself.
Also, if you were replying to him, then why did you quote my post, saying "Pants - is the only way to describe that post, false info"? Context is important.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
aBSOLUTLEY, QUOTING YOURS WAS INDEED AN ERROR ON MY BEHALF, SPOSE DUE TO TIRED EYES SO APOLOGIES IF THAT CONFUSED YOU INTO THINKING I WAS MEANT TO QUOTE YOU, WAS INTENDED FOR THE ORIGINAL THREAD STARTER.
See what i mean, just realised i hit caps lock instead of shift, hmmmm, oh also yes i agree completely, google is completely the place to look so point taken, its suprising what you can ask google and still get an answer, i dont think some people realise that if they have a question in mind, then the likelihood is, someone else already asked it, yet they still dont google it, or maybe its just down to laziness that people dont goole anymore.
graemeg said:
aBSOLUTLEY, QUOTING YOURS WAS INDEED AN ERROR ON MY BEHALF, SPOSE DUE TO TIRED EYES SO APOLOGIES IF THAT CONFUSED YOU INTO THINKING I WAS MEANT TO QUOTE YOU, WAS INTENDED FOR THE ORIGINAL THREAD STARTER.
See what i mean, just realised i hit caps lock instead of shift, hmmmm, oh also yes i agree completely, google is completely the place to look so point taken, its suprising what you can ask google and still get an answer, i dont think some people realise that if they have a question in mind, then the likelihood is, someone else already asked it, yet they still dont google it, or maybe its just down to laziness that people dont goole anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine was a rhetorical question, but it's all good, dude.
Lol, short version: Depending on the battery type you will want to drain it completely before charging or never drain it completely. Let it charge fully overnight or it only needs a few hours.
Seriously, do some reasearch on batteries. Figure out what types there are, how they are different, and what makes them different. each has advantages and disadvantages.
Every battery type is a little different. For our phones will be different than for your rechargable nicad batteries at home, or the batteries in your remote control vehicles.
Bottom line: We COULD tell you, but that would be defeating the purpose. Instead we are pointing you in the right direction to acquire the knowledge yourself. Happy hunting! let us know how it works out!
In simple, it actually causes more harm discharging the battery to empty.
There is alot of do's and donts to preserve the battery,
Info:
The Li‑ion charger is a voltage-limiting device that is similar to the lead acid system. The difference lies in a higher voltage per cell, tighter voltage tolerance and the absence of trickle or float charge at full charge. While lead acid offers some flexibility in terms of voltage cut‑off, manufacturers of Li‑ion cells are very strict on the correct setting because Li-ion cannot accept overcharge. The so-called miracle charger that promises to prolong battery life and methods that pump extra capacity into the cell do not exist here. Li-ion is a “clean” system and only takes what it can absorb. Anything extra causes stress.
Most cells charge to 4.20V/cell with a tolerance of +/–50mV/cell. Higher voltages could increase the capacity, but the resulting cell oxidation would reduce service life. More important is the safety concern if charging beyond 4.20V/cell. Figure
Discharging:
Li-ion should never be discharged too low, and there are several safeguards to prevent this from happening. The equipment cuts off when the battery discharges to about 3.0V/cell, stopping the current flow. If the discharge continues to about 2.70V/cell or lower, the battery’s protection circuit puts the battery into a sleep mode. This renders the pack unserviceable and a recharge with most chargers is not possible. To prevent a battery from falling asleep, apply a partial charge before a long storage period.
Battery manufacturers ship batteries with a 40 percent charge. The low charge state reduces aging-related stress while allowing some self-discharge during storage. To minimize the current flow for the protection circuit before the battery is sold, advanced Li-ion packs feature a sleep mode that disables the protection circuit until activated by a brief charge or discharge. Once engaged, the battery remains operational and the on state can no longer be switched back to the standby mode.
Do not recharge lithium-ion if a cell has stayed at or below 1.5V for more than a week. Copper shunts may have formed inside the cells that can lead to a partial or total electrical short. If recharged, the cells might become unstable, causing excessive heat or showing other anomalies. Li-ion packs that have been under stress are more sensitive to mechanical abuse, such as vibration, dropping and exposure to heat.
And may i point out, this is a community, People ask questions and peoples feedback, the web is not always correct and nor is the information you find.
It takes more effort to argue with someone and to point someone in the right direction, instead of just answering there question.
We have all been New here once before.
dave7802 said:
In simple, it actually causes more harm discharging the battery to empty.
There is alot of do's and donts to preserve the battery,
Info:
The Li‑ion charger is a voltage-limiting device that is similar to the lead acid system. The difference lies in a higher voltage per cell, tighter voltage tolerance and the absence of trickle or float charge at full charge. While lead acid offers some flexibility in terms of voltage cut‑off, manufacturers of Li‑ion cells are very strict on the correct setting because Li-ion cannot accept overcharge. The so-called miracle charger that promises to prolong battery life and methods that pump extra capacity into the cell do not exist here. Li-ion is a “clean” system and only takes what it can absorb. Anything extra causes stress.
Most cells charge to 4.20V/cell with a tolerance of +/–50mV/cell. Higher voltages could increase the capacity, but the resulting cell oxidation would reduce service life. More important is the safety concern if charging beyond 4.20V/cell. Figure
Discharging:
Li-ion should never be discharged too low, and there are several safeguards to prevent this from happening. The equipment cuts off when the battery discharges to about 3.0V/cell, stopping the current flow. If the discharge continues to about 2.70V/cell or lower, the battery’s protection circuit puts the battery into a sleep mode. This renders the pack unserviceable and a recharge with most chargers is not possible. To prevent a battery from falling asleep, apply a partial charge before a long storage period.
Battery manufacturers ship batteries with a 40 percent charge. The low charge state reduces aging-related stress while allowing some self-discharge during storage. To minimize the current flow for the protection circuit before the battery is sold, advanced Li-ion packs feature a sleep mode that disables the protection circuit until activated by a brief charge or discharge. Once engaged, the battery remains operational and the on state can no longer be switched back to the standby mode.
Do not recharge lithium-ion if a cell has stayed at or below 1.5V for more than a week. Copper shunts may have formed inside the cells that can lead to a partial or total electrical short. If recharged, the cells might become unstable, causing excessive heat or showing other anomalies. Li-ion packs that have been under stress are more sensitive to mechanical abuse, such as vibration, dropping and exposure to heat.
And may i point out, this is a community, People ask questions and peoples feedback, the web is not always correct and nor is the information you find.
It takes more effort to argue with someone and to point someone in the right direction, instead of just answering there question.
We have all been New here once before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, not everything on the web is correct.
But may I point out that all you did was copy and paste text from this page, which donalgodon linked in post 4, and again, I feel I must point out, was actually one of the results in the Google search I linked him to.
The point I was trying to make, and seems lost on you, is teaching people how to look for stuff on their own. No one should just expect to be spoon-fed information. That is lazy to just post a question on a forum, sit back, and watch the answers roll in. You should do your own legwork and research.
As the old adage states: give a man a fish, and you feed him for that day. Teach a man to fish, and he is fed forever.
I ask for an opinion to experts.
I installed the app Battery Life Repair
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.BoshBashStudios.batterydoctorrepair
I can't understand if this app is really effective or if it is a fake. In both cases, if you want to give your opinion can you justify it with technical considerations?
It's strange to see so many high ratings, but it is also strange that there are no tests or in-depth reviews.
Sorry for bringing a thread from the dead but I am also very curious as to how this app works (or if it does at all).
Such apps don't work.. They're usually fake and earn money through ads. Battery life is purely hardware and can't be increased by a software other than changing kernel features...
Sent from my Moto G
MasterAwesome said:
Such apps don't work.. They're usually fake and earn money through ads. Battery life is purely hardware and can't be increased by a software other than changing kernel features...
Sent from my Moto G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what a load of crap.
You can increase the length of your battery time betweeen charges by lessening the load on the cpu(which causes ups in voltage usage).
we reduce cpu load by reducing ram usage too.
also, turning the display brightness down and turning off unneeded features like bluetooth or wifi.
the kernel can be made more efficient like you said. so i agree there.
Lgrootnoob said:
what a load of crap.
You can increase the length of your battery time betweeen charges by lessening the load on the cpu(which causes ups in voltage usage).
we reduce cpu load by reducing ram usage too.
also, turning the display brightness down and turning off unneeded features like bluetooth or wifi.
the kernel can be made more efficient like you said. so i agree there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trying to do that the battery app takes more battery by being in the background always. sometimes it also steals data.. There's no point you're better of without it.
Regards
MasterAwesome
Sent from my Moto G
MasterAwesome said:
Trying to do that the battery app takes more battery by being in the background always. sometimes it also steals data.. There's no point you're better of without it.
Regards
MasterAwesome
Sent from my Moto G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course the battery does nothing.
thats what the settings > battery
function is for anyways. to see the resource hog of the system.
so it works in identifiying the problem.
but your right, the battery app is unnecessary since we already have a stock implementation.
but that wasn't my point. my point is that you can modify the userspace for more battery between charges.
Lgrootnoob said:
Of course the battery does nothing.
thats what the settings > battery
function is for anyways. to see the resource hog of the system.
so it works in identifiying the problem.
but your right, the battery app is unnecessary since we already have a stock implementation.
but that wasn't my point. my point is that you can modify the userspace for more battery between charges.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At the end of day we agree that battery apps are not required... Android is pretty optimized by itself.
Decrease screen brightness and timeout it takes the highest amount of battery.
Sent from my Moto G
MasterAwesome said:
At the end of day we agree that battery apps are not required... Android is pretty optimized by itself.
Decrease screen brightness and timeout it takes the highest amount of battery.
Sent from my Moto G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"At the end of day we agree that battery apps are not required.." obviously.
"Android is pretty optimized by itself. " its not about android(I didnt mention android being optimized, I figured that it was pretty obvious and didnt need discussion), it was about android having the tools to find the problem. see the following:
"Decrease screen brightness and timeout it takes the highest amount of battery. "and this brings me to MY POINT.
We are talking about app hogs which ARE a problem.
I would expect the OP has enough of a brain to reduce the brightness.
You have app services that use tons of ram and cpu. Why can't you accept that?
The theory behind a battery app is legitimate, but the OP just has to use the builtin android application.
Lgrootnoob said:
"At the end of day we agree that battery apps are not required.." obviously.
"Android is pretty optimized by itself. " its not about android(I didnt mention android being optimized, I figured that it was pretty obvious and didnt need discussion), it was about android having the tools to find the problem. see the following:
"Decrease screen brightness and timeout it takes the highest amount of battery. "and this brings me to MY POINT.
We are talking about app hogs which ARE a problem.
I would expect the OP has enough of a brain to reduce the brightness.
You have app services that use tons of ram and cpu. Why can't you accept that?
The theory behind a battery app is legitimate, but the OP just has to use the builtin android application.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Confrontation Much
The original posting he said was that software does not have impact on hardware in that it can not fix physical damage on the battery such as dead cells.
Such apps are just fake.
I purchased a new phone and same day I installed repair battery life. It showed 8 low cells and one inactive. It claimed it will increase my battery life by 18% (WOW, LOL)
After that I tried again and it showed me all green cells.
I cleared the app's cache, cleared data and uninstalled the app.
Later on, I calibrated the battery with another app called "battery fix" which needs root and deletes batterystats.bin file
I once installed "repair battery life" and guess what? It showed again 8 low cells and one inactive.
It's just another fake crAPP
Number of cells shown suggests fake.
I tried Battery Life Repair by "Extended Apps " and I remain very sceptical. Nowhere it is explained what the app actually does.
A normal Phone has one or two cells. This app shows 100 cells and claims that some are broken or damaged and the software can repair it through some extraordinary (supernatural?) process. It Claims it repaired these problematic cells (like 5 out of 100), although it physically makes no sense considering a phone has one or two cells, which are usually either working or broken. Then it also requests access to media, identity and accounts, which is suspicious given what the app claims to do.
Comments in the app-store just prove to me that placebos work. On the other hand, some people figured that if the "battery repair" is done, the app data is deleted and the app run again, it again shows the same amount of "problematic cells".
aj1789 said:
I tried Battery Life Repair by "Extended Apps " and I remain very sceptical. Nowhere it is explained what the app actually does.
A normal Phone has one or two cells. This app shows 100 cells and claims that some are broken or damaged and the software can repair it through some extraordinary (supernatural?) process. It Claims it repaired these problematic cells (like 5 out of 100), although it physically makes no sense considering a phone has one or two cells, which are usually either working or broken. Then it also requests access to media, identity and accounts, which is suspicious given what the app claims to do.
Comments in the app-store just prove to me that placebos work. On the other hand, some people figured that if the "battery repair" is done, the app data is deleted and the app run again, it again shows the same amount of "problematic cells".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I strongly suspected myself this app is complete bull twaddle, but I was also curious so installed it just to see what it makes of the battery "analysis".
It magically 'fixed' the problem cells, but unlike you on a subsequent retest the previously 'faulty cells' had still be 'fixed'.
I wonder how this app is polling the 'cells'? Or is it just making up some fancy graphics and not actually doing anything at all under the hood?
I also wonder what would happen if I switched batteries or took the existing one out and in again? Maybe I'll try at some point.
This is my experience.
I thought this is impossible but i installed it just to try..
In that time i first tryed it i had Galaxy 3 Apollo. Battery was so bad that percentage was going low when you were looking on it and after some short period of time phone just shutdown by itself.. I decided to try it so maybe i save money for new battery. With few shutdowns i finally did it and something happen. Battery didn't go low that way and phone stoped turning off by itself!! It could stop while i was washing dishes but it was "fixed" after i used that app, so i dont know. I don't personally think that some app can fix hardware issue but i think it works as some "refresh" or something like that. I don't know really but in my case was money saver what ever that is. Oh and i'm talking about "Extended Apps" app.. :/
I'm also skeptical about these things but unlike others in here, I tried before drawing conclusion with my awesome rational brain. And yes it works marvelous. My Galaxy Note 3 battery is working as brand new, giving 3 to 4 days without charging and it was 1 to 2 days before the app. I don't think that is placebo effect and I have absolutely no idea what the app does, and too bad the dev doesn't have a website, but the app is good. Also using the other app from the same dev, called Advanced Battery Calibrator and letting the phone charge till 100% while off did wonderful things.
I still wonder how it can fix hardware of it simply erase data from the battery increasing risk to catch on fire, but it does work.
As far as I know, the software keeps data of the battery in other to avoid charges over 100%. With time that will effectively make the battery charge till 99% then 98% and goes on, till u have a battery on 70% for example but the software say its 100%, because it wont charge more than that to avoid the risk of fire. Perhaps this app erase that data and increase the risk of mal function. But I have no idea.
douglasrac said:
I'm also skeptical about these things but unlike others in here, I tried before drawing conclusion with my awesome rational brain. And yes it works marvelous. My Galaxy Note 3 battery is working as brand new, giving 3 to 4 days without charging and it was 1 to 2 days before the app. I don't think that is placebo effect and I have absolutely no idea what the app does, and too bad the dev doesn't have a website, but the app is good. Also using the other app from the same dev, called Advanced Battery Calibrator and letting the phone charge till 100% while off did wonderful things.
I still wonder how it can fix hardware of it simply erase data from the battery increasing risk to catch on fire, but it does work.
As far as I know, the software keeps data of the battery in other to avoid charges over 100%. With time that will effectively make the battery charge till 99% then 98% and goes on, till u have a battery on 70% for example but the software say its 100%, because it wont charge more than that to avoid the risk of fire. Perhaps this app erase that data and increase the risk of mal function. But I have no idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your battery has dead cells im sorry but no app will fix it, unless its magic! It must replace the cells somehow magically! Omg do some basic research these apps are fake garbage! Maybe it can fix my dead s3 battery hahaha NOT!
hilla_killa said:
If your battery has dead cells im sorry but no app will fix it, unless its magic! It must replace the cells somehow magically! Omg do some basic research these apps are fake garbage! Maybe it can fix my dead s3 battery hahaha NOT!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ofc is not gona revive a battery,but even that it can be made,in some cases,i saw that of ppl proving that live,they took a dead battery and test it to show that it is dead and just used another same model battery that it was working and hold them connected like 5 min toghether,after that it just put the dead battery at charged and what u know?it did revived it,no idea how the battery actually work,but it seems that they can actually get stuck somehow and they can get a "forced" revive,like a CPR for humans,but like i said,not working with all,same as like on humans,not all can be revived with CPR,but i guess that this app has to do something coz like some in here i did used it and ... the magic worked,not on a dead battery,so scheptical as it sounds,on some batteries it works even tho maybe is not something hardware but maybe just something software,why i say that,i had a tablet and a few times when i was restarting the tablet,after a min was turning off coz of battery 0%,and that after i got the recharger plug off,so it was 100% for sure,after a few times restarting the tablet it was showing again 100 % as it should be,so i guess that not even android is always reading the data correctly
Of course is a full fake. Uninstall them, becouse they can do bitcoin mining or whatever gain trough pupup and promotions., as well as getting your data.
1) Ion litium or polymer batteries cannot be repaired.
2) cells are 1 or max 4 not 256 as those apps shows
3) clearing the cache brings different fault cells
4) reinastalling shows other broken cells
5) strangely the application after "repair" stays open in background. So at least the word "repair" is a joke fooling people.
6) dynamic ram and ddr are always powered and refresh cycles are required in all the address space generally, so saying that freeing ram allow more battery duration is a fake.
7) whatever the app does to have battery least more is just sw and tricky. I would not rely on that and remove the app.
Wow...
MasterAwesome did u disable Lgrootnoob's account because it says its disabled was it because he challenged ur opinion? lol childish much? Who cares if it works it either works or it doesnt I dont see it hurting me
---------- Post added at 07:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:47 AM ----------
Crazydan360 said:
MasterAwesome did u disable Lgrootnoob's account because it says its disabled was it because he challenged ur opinion? lol childish much? Who cares if it works it either works or it doesnt I dont see it hurting me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didnt notice this was my brothers account he uses my phone
Hello, there's a way to calibrate your battery without root.
to calibrate your battery, i found by my self a way to(when i did it, the battery time left was increased):
1)charge your phone to 100% battery.
2)turn on- wifi, auto rotation, bluetooth...(everything that is consuming battery not including apps)
3)leave your phone with screen off.
4)discharge much as you can.
5)when you finished, charge your phone and don't use the phone.
optional:
if you want a proof that this is worked- open settings and see how much time left for your battery(you will see that it had been increased).
FYI I just finished testing Battery Life Repair 2018 by running it on a new Android tablet with a huge 8000+mAh battery. It reported about 14 weak or bad cells out of a total of 120 cells. When told to fix those cells, it requests you to download another of their apps to help support them. Just say YES, then kick back out without downloading and the fix finishes. I had hardware "USB Safety Tester" connected during this test (it displays various info including the charging voltage and amperage). With about 12% of the cells reported bad, after the fix the Tester recorded zero increase in Volts or Amps. So it maintained a steady watt draw from the charger even after 14 more cells were now drawing watts to charge. Next I cleared storage on the app, ran it again, and got 12 different cells reported to have problems. Fixed those cells, and again, no change in charge draw.
I also found it strange that it would use WIFI and Cell Data and run in the background. Why?
The Battery Life Repair app reports that my Galaxy S5 also has 120 cells in its battery. Seeing as almost 99% of phones and tables have a SINGLE cell in their battery (one or two phones have 2 cells), the display of a 120 cell grid seems rather fishy. Having a 120 cell battery requires cell balancing hardware and software that that would add to the cost of the phone, plus make the battery physically larger. My electric bike has about 80-90 cells in it and it weighs about 15lbs and is 30,000 mAh and 47 volts. Hard to do in one or two cells. That is a good example of why a multi cell (3.6 v each?) battery is needed. But not a cell phone or tablet.
I know my test is not the most scientific, but at least I did check for a change in wattage draw before and after fixing cells, and not just ecstatically claim my battery has improved.
So I call Battery Repair Life 2018 to be a steaming pile of BS that is probably robbing you of your contacts and other personal information while running in the background sucking up your data plan. But, hey, that's just me.
So take apps like Ampere for example, they show some battery-related stats, one of which is battery health. I've yet to see any other value than "Healthy". So wondering how does the app / system determine the battery to be in good shape or not? Does it calculate the current maximum charge the battery can hold and compare to maximum, something like 2970mAh / 3000mAh can be considered healthy? Does it use the voltage value? Does it just use the temperature?
To provide context, my Note 5 is feeling like the battery has gone bad, I'm getting very limited screen on time even with light usage. Ampere and similar apps still show my battery as "Healthy", so I don't know if it's just a bogus stat or something scientific and can be trusted (which means my problem lies in something software-related).
Thanks for any input!