How I Killed My G1 Battery, Avoid My Mistakes!

by Antonio Wells Dec 17, 2009 8:36 AM – 9 Comments

Recently my G1 (yeah still use a G1, waiting on the Nexus One Google phone or Sony Ericsson Xperia X10) would just abruptly power off and die during use, especially on process intense apps. Update: I killed the battery in less than 6 months. Called up T-Mobile and PDA Support helped with the first recommendation of battery replacement, which they promptly shipped out free of charge. I will illustrate my normal patterns where I believe I went wrong and how you can avoid them with your Android phone.

The Culprit: Overcharging

I use my phone a lot… a whole lot; more for other things like Email, Web, Social, checking out Android apps, Texting, than the phone itself. All this activity in addition to notoriously poor battery life on Android phones caused me to habitually plug into the charger most of the day. Since I’m always near a computer I’d just charge while working. Win/Win situation you’d think right? Nope, in the long term it degraded the quality and strength of my battery’s charge. I should’ve become keen to symptoms:

After charging the battery all night it would report “Charging 83%” (and not 100%).
When I had a reported full charge it would drain in two hours (even after following my own performance and battery saving advice).
False-positives in battery charge reports (turn phone off, charge a short while, turn phone back on and mysteriously report 100% charge).
Inaccurate battery health reports in apps like T-Mobile’s My Account which stated “Good”.
Battery Bulge! Look at the old and new battery in the pic, somehow it started to expand! I’m glad it didn’t explode in my pocket.

: G1 Batteries (Old on Left, New on Right)

: G1 Batteries

With my new battery I have stopped leaving it on the charger all night or plugged into PC all day (Green supporters may give me some respect knuckles for that). With all my activity it still holds a charge all day and I charge it maybe 2 hours throughout the entire day.

So take advice from my experience, try not to overcharge your Android phone or risk bricking your battery. If you are experiencing these symptoms, then you should consider getting a new battery… here’s a few recommendations from our buddies at AndroidGuys.com and AndroidandMe.com.

Tags: Android Battery, Android Tips, Battery Life, Battery Replacement, G1, Save Battery Power, T-Mobile G1

Categorised in: Apps Blog

9 Comments

By Joel Widmer on December 18, 2009 at 9:39 am:

Great advice! I have a G1 also and it’s tempting especially when using a handsfree device to keep it on the charger. One thing that has tripled my battery life is not keeping my gmail, contacts and calendar sync’d. I just put a shortcut through Anycut straight to the sync screen and only sync when I need it. This way I’m able to hold a charge throughout the day.

Reply
By Adam Bullock on December 18, 2009 at 10:11 am:

Really great advice for this new smartphone owner (Droid). I used the dock that put the Droid into multimedia mode while charging…

I think I’ll hold off on doing that all day.

Reply
By Case on December 18, 2009 at 11:43 am:

Well, I don’t know. You don’t even mention how long did it take for the old battery to reach this state. If it was in about a year or so, then I think it’s pretty much to be expected with G1 (and honestly, I think there’s about to be a spike of batteries failing soon as the first G1s now reached and crossed their first year of use). If it was in only a couple of months or even faster, then I think it’s more of a case of faulty battery than anything else.
All Li-Ion batteries degrade over time as they only have limited number of charge cycles, there’s nothing to prevent it from happening. There’s a reason you quite often only get six months warranty on battery while buying notebooks or similar devices (ie. smartphones). Even under pretty much ideal conditions and moderate usage Li-Ion battery loses about 20-25% of capacity per year, but it can be much worse when the battery is not taken care of as it should or when you use it more frequently (and Android phones in general are pretty power hungry, especially when under heavy use, so the number of recharge cycles per month will be quite high for sure thus lowering the battery life significantly). Higher temperatures are also very bad for Li-Ion batteries and Android phones DO get quite warm when ie. under load and using wifi (and the fact that you’re warming the battery up with your hand pretty much all the time doesn’t really help as well). The higher the temperature, the faster the battery will degrade.
Overcharging shouldn’t really be a problem as there’s no memory effect and the recharge cycles in case of Li-Ion batteries are not defined as the number of how many times you reach 100% charge, but instead how many times you “put” a 100%-worth of charge into the battery – meaning that charging the battery from 0 to 100% is one charge cycle, but charging it from 80% to 20% five times in a row is also just one charge cycle (actually, charging Li-Ion batteries partially and often is preffered and should in fact improve their life as opposed to draining and charging them in one go). And after you reach the 100% charge, the battery stops charging.
And for the inconsistent battery meter – the recommended practice is to let the device every 30-60 days (but don’t do it more often, that’s not recommended at all – you should avoid deep discharges with Li-Ion batteries as much as possible) or so drain the battery until it turns itself off (but again, don’t try to turn it on to drain the battery even more, that would be VERY bad for it!) and then let it charge and overcharge in one go for a few hours (ie. overnight). That way the battery meter should stay “calibrated” to your current battery state (which is of course changing over time) and should give you the best and most reliable results. Still, as the battery degrades, it won’t be as reliable as it was new, that’s to be expected.

Reply
- By Mike Silva on December 26, 2009 at 6:31 pm:
  
  Case, when you say:
  “but charging it from 80% to 20% five times in a row is also just one charge”
  you ment
  “from 80% to 100%” – just 20% charge right?
  
  Reply
By Dadical on December 18, 2009 at 1:07 pm:

While not all phone models benefit (may actually reduce battery performance on G1, for example) my app Screebl helps extend battery life on some phone models. Devices WITHOUT a physical keyboard benefit most. Screebl reduces the average screen timeout, and makes keeping the screen of your device on only when you need and want it to be on very natural and effortless. It’s free, and for those that use their phone a lot I recommend trying it out. It’s on the market under the name “Screebl Lite”, and you can find more information at: http://www.keyeslabs.com

Reply
By Gavin on December 18, 2009 at 3:38 pm:

I think I’ve had this problem too. I’ve only had my HTC Dream, G1 equivalent in Canada, for about 4 months now. They phone started randomly shutting down and it would reset by itself. I have about half the symptoms listed above and I don’t know about the bulge, cause I’ve never had another battery to compare to and it would drain in about 4 hours under moderate to heavy use. I typically have to charge my phone at noon, and then at midnight, where midnight I would leave it plugged in until about 600 630 when I wake up. In my opinion, the battery has stayed pretty much the same, no noticeable degrade in battery life. It sucked from the beginning until now. I am thinking the random restarts are OS related. It kinda sounds like the situation here, but this person doesn’t mention restarting the phone….

Reply
By Alvin Brinson on December 18, 2009 at 5:05 pm:

Being a former (as of a few weeks ago) PDA Tech for T-Mobile I can attest this is indeed the case, not only with the G1, but any phone. If you charge too frequently and don’t let the battery “cycle down” to empty regularly, it can increase the rate of wear on the battery. And, when the battery starts to fail, it will randomly power off/reboot *even* if it is currently showing a charge.

The reason it is more noticeable on the G1 is simply because the battery life is so pathetic currently that you’re tempted to “hook up” at each and every opportunity to a charger. I found myself doing the same. Five minute drive to the grocery store? On the car charger it goes! Sitting at the PC at home, on the USB charger it goes! Go to bed? AC Charger?

As someone who also needs my battery to not be dead, I finally settled on the best solution: Multiple batteries. I have the stock battery, a 1600mah battery that fits with the stock cover, and a 2400mah battery I use for those weekend out of town trips. Now another tip – when using multiple batteries, don’t forget about the old ones. They *have* to be used sometimes or they go bad sitting! If you are going to let them sit, try to have them at about a 70% charge when you pull them from the phone.

Reply
By Jeimy on February 3, 2010 at 7:42 am:

My battery bulges like that too! and holds a 5 minute charge. It has also affected my screen from not coming on until 3 minutes or longer of continuous button pressing after going to sleep. I’m waiting for my replacement G1 and purchasing a new battery (since it’s been over a year. Thanks for the tips! I too overcharge my phone!

Reply
By Rummy on December 9, 2012 at 11:45 pm:

Hi Thanks for this post but i use this app to stop over charging phone
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.batteryalert.home&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5iYXR0ZXJ5YWxlcnQuaG9tZSJd

Reply