# Horrible Battery life with CM7 on 3g/4g



## Mitchell4500 (Jul 28, 2011)

On my phone when I have 3g or 4g on I get HORRIBLE battery life. Like 4hrs at max. I can practically watch the percentage go down (like 1% a minute)and the phone gets super hot. I have bumpcharged / calibrated like 10 times now.

On wifi its fine. Amazing even. I could go days with it. And its not like I have an app thats running. Android says its all the cell usage.

Im using CM7 rc1.5.2 and MR2.5, As I was typing this post I flashed MR2 to see if it helps.

Anyone have any other ideas? Thanks


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## Mitchell4500 (Jul 28, 2011)

I just found the chingy one from his RUU Is that newer then mr2.5?


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## Jaxidian (Jun 6, 2011)

What kernel are you running? Some kernels have issues on some phones. For example, if you run Imo's kernel that unlocks 184MHz, some phones react horribly negatively to this and chug your power and overheats. Give us more info about what you're running and what you've tried. Also, try some other kernels.


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## Mitchell4500 (Jul 28, 2011)

Im using tiamcat. Sorry. Iv tried Imo kernels too. Not the one your talking about though.

Thanks for the reply.


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## Jaxidian (Jun 6, 2011)

What clock speeds (min and max) do you have it set to?


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## Mitchell4500 (Jul 28, 2011)

Min: 268mhz
Max: 1036mhz

Governor: Conservative.


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## want a droid (Jul 23, 2011)

In my opinion that's just how it is. My Thunderbolt is the same as yours (excellent battery on WiFi, even better when not connected to anything).

I'm running OMFGB with Imos kernel and here are rough estimates of my battery life with what I consider medium usage:

4G: 4hrs
3G: 6hrs
WiFi: 10hrs
No data: 15+hrs


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## Mitchell4500 (Jul 28, 2011)

When i look at the 3g status icon I see just about every 2 seconds it lights up real fast. It seems like maybe Some app might be using lots of data. But I can figure out what because the Battery Usage tool in spareparts never says anything is using it.


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## want a droid (Jul 23, 2011)

Download system panel or better battery stats. Let it run in the background and then check it and it will let you know what's pulling battery in the background.


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

Mitchell4500 said:


> When i look at the 3g status icon I see just about every 2 seconds it lights up real fast. It seems like maybe Some app might be using lots of data. But I can figure out what because the Battery Usage tool in spareparts never says anything is using it.


I use chingys radio and imoseyons kernel and have no problem getting 20 hours on straight 4g with moderate use including pandora. Two apps that have doubled my battery life are 2x battery and brightness level (25% indoors and 75% outdoors).
"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work" Mark Twain


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## Mitchell4500 (Jul 28, 2011)

I'll go get isomons kernel and give it a try


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## robbyrob (Aug 12, 2011)

Here is something I did. I just turned the phone off and let it charge to 100%. Then I unplugged it counted to 10 and plugged it back in. To my surprise it started charging again. Then I just kept doing that until the light was green when I plugged it in. Turned on the phone let it charge all the way up to 100% used a battery cal app and BAM! Great battery life... Hope this works for you.


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## Mitchell4500 (Jul 28, 2011)

Yeah Iv done that about 10 times lol  I think it has something to do with the radio or kernel. Right now Chingy's leaked radio and Isomons kernel seems pretty good.


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## .ZIP (Jul 15, 2011)

"Mitchell4500 said:


> When i look at the 3g status icon I see just about every 2 seconds it lights up real fast. It seems like maybe Some app might be using lots of data. But I can figure out what because the Battery Usage tool in spareparts never says anything is using it.


Turn off update intervals on all you data using apps like Facebook and twitter you will still receive push notifications and you can refresh them manually..some refresh on launch anyways.

Sent from my ThunderBolt using RootzWiki Forums


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

.ZIP said:


> Turn off update intervals on all you data using apps like Facebook and twitter you will still receive push notifications and you can refresh them manually..some refresh on launch anyways.
> 
> Sent from my ThunderBolt using RootzWiki Forums


that's what 2x battery does for you

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work" Mark Twain


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## Mitchell4500 (Jul 28, 2011)

hotelmrrsn said:


> that's what 2x battery does for you
> 
> "Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work" Mark Twain


Id use that app but I use Google Voice for texting and Im not sure how that would work.


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## Veridor (Jun 10, 2011)

"Mitchell4500 said:


> Id use that app but I use Google Voice for texting and Im not sure how that would work.


Same here, that's why I've stayed away from that or Juice Defender.


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

Mitchell4500 said:


> Id use that app but I use Google Voice for texting and Im not sure how that would work.


It'd be really easy to test 

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work" Mark Twain


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## Icesteve (Aug 4, 2011)

"Mitchell4500 said:


> Id use that app but I use Google Voice for texting and Im not sure how that would work.


Check out juice defender you can set which apps you want to always get data, as well as set autosync on a schedule or have it only sync your google apps and wait to check facebook and twitter every couple hours. I loved the location enable/disable for wifi when I was on sense, but it doesn't work that well on cm7 because of the network location issue.


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## Nilius17 (Jul 15, 2011)

Mitchell4500 said:


> Yeah Iv done that about 10 times lol  I think it has something to do with the radio or kernel. Right now Chingy's leaked radio and Isomons kernel seems pretty good.


My phone acts the same way on AOSP roms, horrible battery life. I am a very heavy user & it lasted 4 hours on the last cm7 version I tried. I'm on Gingeritis 1.2.x & I get 10-12 hours out of it now. No juice or battery Apps running, no change in my use & I am in a 4g area.

Sent from my Samsung SGH-R225


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## Mitchell4500 (Jul 28, 2011)

Iv switched to Chingys leaked radio and Isomons kernel and it seems to be better. Battery life isnt "Great" but it dosent get hot in my pocket (hotpocket lol) anymore.

I usually keep 4g off but turn it on when I need it. I think of it as an alternative to WiFi when there is no WiFi where as my mom ALWAYS wants 4g on because she claims "its a 4g phone so it should have 4g (I agree with this). But being as 4g is new I think the best option is to use it when needed.


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

On cm7 1.6.1, mr2.5, imoseyon 3.5.8, currently at 48% after 15 hours 45 mins. Moderate use on a mix of wifi and 4g. I use both 2x battery and brightness level apps from the market.

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work" Mark Twain


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## pcar1947 (Jul 11, 2011)

Is having 4g always on like driving a turbo porsche all out? It says turbo so lets blow the doors off!!!!


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## miketoasty (Jun 10, 2011)

"pcar1947 said:


> Is having 4g always on like driving a turbo porsche all out? It says turbo so lets blow the doors off!!!!


Sort of. Its not all out insanity but it will eat your battery quicker.


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## tjk2795 (Jul 25, 2011)

im getting great battery life, cpu settings 768 min 1497 max, middle brightness and 3g/4g on, sync on, and i have the extended battery.
View attachment 1104


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## Kronofile (Aug 6, 2011)

tjk2795 said:


> im getting great battery life, cpu settings 768 min 1497 max, middle brightness and 3g/4g on, sync on, and i have the extended battery.
> View attachment 1719


Mine doesn't look much like yours....


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## turbonegro32 (Aug 9, 2011)

Lately on rc1.5.2 its been showing alot of maps usage on the battery usage. And I go into applications and stop it but it keeps turning itself on. I have GPS off and wireless networks off.... anyone have ideas?


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## AciD_LingK (Aug 8, 2011)

Mitchell4500 said:


> Id use that app but I use Google Voice for texting and Im not sure how that would work.


I use google voice as well and it seems the texts get pushed right away with 2x Battery.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk


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## rommel (Aug 16, 2011)

I had terrible battery life on RC 1.5.2, I switched back to RC 1.4 and my battery life was probably 2-3 times longer. Before on 1.5.2 I could barely last 8 hours on standby. Now I can easily go a day.

Anybody that had bad battery life on 1.5.2 try 1.6 or higher and have any luck with good battery life?


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## Scorch (Aug 17, 2011)

Flashed CM7 RC1.6.1 with the offical MR2 OTA radio 2 nights ago, 4 hours and 34 minutes on battery with a nice slow decline. This is with what I would consider heavy usage before when running stock and by this time I would be around 50%. Definitely seeing much IMPROVED battery life from the latest CM7 build.


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## reyztec (Aug 11, 2011)

I am on a modified CM7 1.6.1. Stock kernal. 1024mhz/1209mhz Max. Screen off 368/368mhz Max. Mixed 3g/4g half the day wifi the rest of the day 9am to 1am I still have 30% left. I have had no trouble going over 25 hours with moderate use. Heavy usage will give me around 12-15 hours. This is all on a 1700mah Mugen extended slim battery. On a standard 1400mhz I get 2-3 less hours depending on usage.


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## masri1987 (Jun 29, 2011)

6 hours of moderate usage using the latest IMO kernel and im at 48%. Using droidth3ory's CM7. Cell Stand by is the shit that uses my batt the most.
i have it undervolted and overclocked 368 - 1.4ghz on ondemandx (sometimes interactivex) -- mixed 3G and rare 4G usage (don't find a need for it unless im DL a new ROM!!!) 
184 - 750
245 - 750
368 - 825
768 - 900
1024 - 975
1222 - 1075
140800 - 1175

needless for me to say, i think we are all experience horrible battery life. And those who have great battery life, aren't really using their phone ---


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

masri1987 said:


> 6 hours of moderate usage using the latest IMO kernel and im at 48%. Using droidth3ory's CM7. Cell Stand by is the shit that uses my batt the most.
> i have it undervolted and overclocked 368 - 1.4ghz on ondemandx (sometimes interactivex) -- mixed 3G and rare 4G usage (don't find a need for it unless im DL a new ROM!!!)
> 184 - 750
> 245 - 750
> ...


Go back to imoseyon 3.5.8 and report back. I think you'll see that reports of long battery life do not mean we are not using our phones.

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work" Mark Twain


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## Kronofile (Aug 6, 2011)

Only thing I did differently (after a full charge last night) was to switch the network mode to CDMA/EvDo auto. I think that narrows down the culprit. The plateaus are time spent on WiFi. Probably could have made it 24 hours, but I don't like letting it get much below 20% (I also fill my car's gas tank at a quarter, one of my many neurosis). Luckily the spotty 4G coverage I get ended up with me not noticing much of a difference when using the phone (mostly browsing, reading tweets/news feeds, emails, txting and making only 3 phone calls). Downloading some themes and other APKs took a bit longer than usual, but I was at work and really should have been doing other things anyway.


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## masri1987 (Jun 29, 2011)

hotelmrrsn said:


> Go back to imoseyon 3.5.8 and report back. I think you'll see that reports of long battery life do not mean we are not using our phones.
> 
> "Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work" Mark Twain


if i go back to 3.5.8 my in-call volume will be borked --- wasn't that the point of 3.5.11?


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## Jodiuh (Jul 31, 2011)

Count me in as one with terrible 4g battery life. The whole phone gets hotter than heck!


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## Icesteve (Aug 4, 2011)

On either one 1x, 3g, 4g I can't get past 8 hours. juice defender helped a little bit, but I ended up enabling tablet mode for when I'm at work (this means no phone calls or texts until you turn your screen on) which doesn't really matter to me because I can't take calls at work anyway and all the texts flow in when I turn my screen on, this has made my battery lady ridiculously longer I went down 3% in the last 3 hours. So anyone that can live without calls or texts (lol I know I know) this will at least give you the best overall for when you can start using your phone.


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## Icesteve (Aug 4, 2011)

Another recommendation.. Buy an anker 1700mah battery.. I bought 2 with a charger from amazon for $20. On a daily basis with my oem battery I would unplug at 6am and it would be dead by 3pm. With this extended battery after fully charging and forcing battery capacity to 1700 using battery monitor widget, I had my phone unplugged from 8pm last night and it finally died ironically at 3pm today. Now I do use juice defender to shut off 3g and 4g when the screen is off but I did not have tablet mode enabled like I said in my last post. I've heard a lot about batteries being labeled incorrectly but these work awesome for me, a lot longer than oem.

When my screen is off I discharge at 21ma, minimum use around 74ma, and when multitasking around 258ma, using tiamat undervolted by 25 on conservative max 1036, min 192


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## jimnutt (Jul 19, 2011)

The Anker batteries don't seem to be too bad. Even if they only match the performance of the OEM battery (which they seem to at least do), they're a good deal at $20 for two batteries and an external charger.


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## Jodiuh (Jul 31, 2011)

Icesteve said:


> ...forcing battery capacity to 1700 using battery monitor widget...juice defender...


Is that necessary? To force the bat cap? Do you have a link for the batteries/charger? Also, I tried 2x battery, but didn't notice much difference...placebo at first, but definitely nothing noteworthy.

Oh yeah, I'm noticing much better battery life after updating to the radio from the 2.07.605.0 RUU. The biggest difference however's the lack of heat from the back of the phone when in 4G mode! Here's a screenie...

View attachment 1181


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## Icesteve (Aug 4, 2011)

"Jodiuh said:


> Is that necessary? To force the bat cap? Do you have a link for the batteries/charger?


I have no idea if its necessary haha just saw the option the other day so I did it when I got the battery.

It takes about 4hours to fully charge, the light turns blue when its finished fyI
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004YHO31C/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1313831476&sr=8-1

Edit: the batteries say htc my touch 4g, you can tell its a bit heftier than oem I guess thats the extra 350mah but fits just fine


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## Jodiuh (Jul 31, 2011)

Sweet. Thanks, it's a crazy good deal for 2 batteries! Would you mind posting any pics you have of the charger? So you can charge the phone and an extra battery @ the same time?


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## Bill3508 (Jul 25, 2011)

I'm running these same batteries and they work great.


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## Mitchell4500 (Jul 28, 2011)

Do you think using a Sense ROM would help? For me its definitely something wrong with the radio here. On WiFi I can go all day even while I set it to Never Sleep, but once I use data it is horrible.


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## Icesteve (Aug 4, 2011)

Heres a few I'll post a couple more for charging and charged

Yeah theres a usb port on the bottom of the charger


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## Jodiuh (Jul 31, 2011)

Sweet little package there. Just need to find a long USB cable. Anyone know the maximum length to provide 1 amp?

Thanks for pics!


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## jimnutt (Jul 19, 2011)

The USB port on the charger will only push 800 ma. I should think any USB cable under 6 feet long should be fine for that.


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## schrochem (Jul 27, 2011)

I'd like to chime in here because I fall in the camp of deflating battery life quickly 
I've tried lots of different roms (AOSP and Sense), different kernels, different radios, different governors, and lots of combos therein.
I never get as good of life as others.
I have noticed a few improvements.
I have used juice defender and 2x (currently on 2x).
I turn them to never check unless screen on. I decided I check my phone often enough to get the info I need with a data connection without it going out and looking.
Just yesterday in the main CM7 thread I found out about checking 'partial wake' in battery history in spare parts.
I have an exchange account using enhanced email and it was set to 'push'. It was causing my phone to be awake even if the screen was off.
My guess is it remains checking for some period of time after screen off and this accumulates over time. I notice my 'awake' time has dropped off a lot.
If I put the phone in airplane mode and leave it for the night it won't budge but maybe 1%.
With data off but cell standby on, it would drop 10-15% just sitting there with the screen off.
So last night with the partial awake issue silenced I tried again with cell standby on, data off. It was better at about 5%.
However, reviewing the usage this morning I was kind of expecting the awake time to have followed the screen on time.
BUT there was a rather large chunk in the middle of the night when it was awake. It wasn't a steady interval.
I'm using the latest 2.11 radio and seem to get great signal.
Based on what I've said above does any one know what caused the awake time in the middle of the night?
Is this the signal being to weak? (despite it being in the same spot)
Anyway, the more I read about battery life and what I've seen I think the actual cell and data signal are the main culprits.
We might be running the same rom, kernel, governor, and radio and get completely different results with similar usage.
I think the tbolt just doesn't handle poor signals well and really chews it up if you are in an intermittent to poor area.


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## Icesteve (Aug 4, 2011)

"schrochem said:


> Based on what I've said above does any one know what caused the awake time in the middle of the night?
> Is this the signal being to weak? (despite it being in the same spot)


is it autosync? That will use a good amount especially if you have Facebook, twitter. Google services and email also sync. Check what you have syncing, if your using paid juice defender you can set different options for autosync


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## orkillakilla (Jul 9, 2011)

Running cm7 rc1.6.1 with the latest ota radio and the latest jdkernel (smartass gov) . First day using it. 8 hours on battery and its at 70%. Not too bad.

I'm using Green Power for data off when screens off and setcpu profiles (245/368 min Max when screen is off on powersave gov).

With the right tweaks, cm7 can have pretty good battery life.


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## Jodiuh (Jul 31, 2011)

Yeah, but how long was the display on for?

I'm at 8hrs too with 72% batt, but only an hour of screen time. Also, wifi haha.


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## miketoasty (Jun 10, 2011)

Usually I have my phone on the charger 90% of the time but this weekend I am going to do some tests to see about battery on AOSP (More specifically OMFGB, 8-25 release, jd's latest kernel). Slightly undervolted, with clock frequency 245-1408. Will post results as the weekend goes on.

This is without any batter saving programs (2x battery, Juicedefender), on a standard battery, and 4G the whole time, with a fresh battery.


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## schrochem (Jul 27, 2011)

here's what has worked best so far that gives me enough speed and I feel satisfied with my use.
CM7 1.6.1, tiamat 1.10 kernel, interactive governor, 2.11 radio and min/max cpu set at 268/1036 MHz.
I run 2X battery and have it shut off unless screen on. It has a new option that it won't turn on unless you unlock the lock screen.
This lets me check to see if I have texts without grabbing data.
I had an issue with enhanced mail going partial awake even though I told it to never check mail unless I sync.
It was working but the latest update messed that up.
There are still programs and/or services that are waking my cpu when I have screen off and data off.
Ideally (for my needs) I like to only have texts and voice calls available when the screen is off.
I would want everything else shut down. I check my phone often enough to get the data I need when the screen is on.
In my mind this would extend my battery life quite a bit.
From what I can tell in battery statistics, the awake hits I'm getting are network usage by the android system.
It SetCPU an app that will allow me to prevent apps from running in the background when the screen is off?
Thanks


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## schrochem (Jul 27, 2011)

I think to accurately depict usage (heavy, moderate, light, etc), certain stats should be listed.
Mainly, time up on battery, running %, screen on % and probably wifi% (all under 'other usage')
Mine could last forever with no data and the screen on at 1%


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## zenoran (Aug 19, 2011)

I've had this problem for a while to the point where I could hardly get through the day any more. I decided to finally try a sense rom and battery drain has gone to what I would consider normal.

It's unfortunate because I love cm7 but aosp roms rape battery for some reason so I'm sticking with sense for some relief. Wish someone could pinpoint the difference the sense Tom's provide but it's a drastic difference. Like 2-3xs longer life of a standby phone.


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## orkillakilla (Jul 9, 2011)

"zenoran said:


> I've had this problem for a while to the point where I could hardly get through the day any more. I decided to finally try a sense rom and battery drain has gone to what I would consider normal.
> 
> It's unfortunate because I love cm7 but aosp roms rape battery for some reason so I'm sticking with sense for some relief. Wish someone could pinpoint the difference the sense Tom's provide but it's a drastic difference. Like 2-3xs longer life of a standby phone.


I agree that sense ROMs offer better battery life. I guess it all depends on how you use your phone. For me, I use my phone heavily at home mostly, with wifi and a charger near by, so aosp ROMs are ok for me.


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## Gearhead Geek (Aug 24, 2011)

Figured I'd post up my last charge:
Cm7 1.6.1
Latest leaked radio
oem extended battery
Wifi on all the time (set to stay on when screen is off)
KangBang 1.0 BFS at 1ghz, ondemand
I use the phone a decent ammount, and use data constantly (remote desktop, and tether my iconia to it for work). I also use it as an mp3 player whenever i'm in my car.
Just got 3 days, 3 hours, 15 minutesbefore plugging it in. Phone was at 4% remaining.

This is with an exchange account,and 2 gmail accounts set to push.
Facebook and Google+ notifications off (pointless to have them on with email notifications setup), and manually running ATK (pretty extensive ignore list setup for system apps).
Also, i disabled (deleted) dsp manager. While it's a neat feature, i found it absolutely destroyed the battery.


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## schrochem (Jul 27, 2011)

how did you delete dsp manager? I don't use it.....


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## Gearhead Geek (Aug 24, 2011)

schrochem said:


> how did you delete dsp manager? I don't use it.....


I personally prefer Root Explorer. Just rename the apk to .apk.bak, or delete it. You could also use adb, I just find it quicker to do it on the phone.


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