Battery Charge % Confused!?

[Norfolkenchants]

Having problems with the battery and/or the charge % on my iPhone 4S. The battery charge usually lasts about as long as I would expect it to but the reported charge % is sometimes all over the place. From 100% down to around 50% I would guess it is correct but thereafter in a very short while and with very little usage it will plummet to 10%, give low battery warning message and then power off a minute later.

When plugged into charger it initially shows empty battery charging symbol but as soon as it has enough charge to power itself back on again it shows charge of 40-50% (around what I would have expected before power off) and will stay at that figure even when unplugged from charger. Therefore, I've no idea whether the battery really was flat or whether the system just mistakenly thought it was.

Following advice from this forum I have re-calibrated the battery and it does seem more accurate when battery is well charged but it is still losing the plot once the charge gets a bit lower.

Would this be caused by a battery fault that can be fixed with a new battery or is it a software problem and my phone still confused (like me!)?

 

[willerz2]

About how old is the device? With more charging cycles, the battery capacity will start to deteriorate. It may be present in the upper percentages or the lower percentages, but should not be this drastic


Sent from my iPhone via Tapa

 

[Norfolkenchants]

Nearly 18mths old. Bought 2nd hand from eBay in September and has been absolutely fine until about 2 weeks ago.

 

[xrayeyes]

A few things to try "just to see". Try using a new cable, especially an OEM. And plug into a wall and not a computer source. Also, sometimes a hard reset will correct little bugs within the system. (hold the on/off button and home button down at the same time until the apple logo appears, and then release). And then also try a battery app that you might use just to compare percentages with. It won't be extremely accurate, but might give you some comparisons.

 

[willerz2]

For a week, consistently drain it completely to the point where it shuts itself off, place it into airplane mode and just end all of the background processes while charging. Once the battery indicator hits 100, overcharge it for about another hour, then prior to unplugging the device, perform a hard reset while it's still plugged in. By forcefully calibrating the battery in sequence, possibly you can tell the OS that it's reading the battery capacity incorrectly. Usually it's the top 50% running fast, and the lower 50% running down slightly slower.

 

[Norfolkenchants]

I always recharge using OEM and did do a hard reset when re-calibrating but not in airplane mode etc. Will try a few more cycles over the next week and see if that sorts it. Thanks for the suggestions. 😊

 

[Norfolkenchants]

An additional question: When things are running normally, the charge is generally around 50-60% at the end of the day and I tend to leave my phone on charge overnight most nights. Is this bad practice?

 

[willerz2]

An additional question: When things are running normally, the charge is generally around 50-60% at the end of the day and I tend to leave my phone on charge overnight most nights. Is this bad practice?

It is. If you're constantly charging it from 50-60, you're essentially locking the lower 50/60% of the battery from use, and the iOS will recognize that at the nominal 50% mark that you see on your screen, that's when the battery is nearly depleted and it will have to shut down soon unless it gets a recharge. Best practice would be to have your USB cable with you so that you can charge your battery once it hits the ~10% mark, or, purchase either a battery case or have an external battery pack that you can keep with you so that you can charge the device when necessary.

 

[Norfolkenchants]

Mmmm - I guess that's why I have a problem then. 😞 Will amend my routines and hope that several full discharge cycles will put us back in order. Thank you.

 

[willerz2]

It's a pretty common mistake unless you're familiar with the mechanisms of a Li-Ion battery. I actually did not know that until fellow moderate @Skull_One pointed it out. I've always thought that it didn't matter since you're just "filling it" back up to max and does not have any detrimental effects on the battery/device.

 

[bear7962]

Don't overlook the fact that the battery in the phone is 18 months old. It is going to start showing signs of deteriotion. Can you get to Apple and have them check the battery life?