Tip: How to fix your Android's battery issues (rooted devices)

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Tip: How to fix your Android’s battery issues (rooted devices)

February 11, 2010 | by Ed Clark

Android Hacks, Android Tricks, Tips

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Here’s a quick tip I found on the cyanogenmod wiki for people with rooted phones and battery life issues. Many users report increases in their battery life meters after using this fix, but please note that this method does NOT provide any benefits for those with healthy batteries battery meters.

How do you know if you have a battery meter problem? Some people have noticed that they can drain their batteries in a matter of a few hours, even without much usage. This is a sure sign that something is wrong. I am a heavy user of my G1, using it for mail, browsing, note-taking, and games, and I can expect that the phone will be out of charge by the end of the day (10-12 hours). This is normal, and the rooted fix below (yes, I tried it) didn’t do anything for me.

If you aren’t running a rooted phone, there are still things you can try. Look for the usual culprits: 1) turn down your screen brightness, 2) turn off services that you aren’t using right now (GPS, wireless, bluetooth, etc), and 3) get rid of battery-hogging apps that sync too much or prevent the CPU from sleeping during periods of inactivity.

OK, enough talk, here’s what to do:

1. Power off your phone and charge it until the indicator turns green.

2. Boot to recovery mode and go to console (or adb shell) and type:

mount -a [enter]

rm /data/system/batterystats.bin [enter]

3. Reboot the phone and run it until it shuts off by itself. (TIP: Turn your screen brightness all the way up and change the Screen Timeout setting to “Never timeout.” This will drain your battery very quickly.)

4. Recharge the phone completely and then use it as you normally would.

Android, android os, Tips

6 Comments

Deathwish238 says:

February 12, 2010 at 2:41 am

Interesting. Wonder if this is why Amon-RA recoveries have a clear battery option.
- Ed Clark says:
  
  February 12, 2010 at 6:50 pm
  
  Deathwish, yes, that's why. If you choose to use Amon-RAs option, just follow the same charging and discharging steps above.
Gerard Krupa says:

February 12, 2010 at 9:27 am

This procedure apparently just recalibrates the battery monitor. It doesn't make the battery last longer, it just makes the display of the battery status more accurate.
- Ed Clark says:
  
  February 12, 2010 at 7:01 pm
  
  Gerard–thanks for the clarification. This is why I wrote "Many users report increases in their battery life meters after using this fix..". Note that the impact for users is the same. If the battery meter thinks it is at 0%, it will shut off the phone at that time, whether or not the battery is actually at 50% or 70%. Meter inaccuracy seems to be the cause of very short battery life for some people. In the meantime, I'm going to update the post to make sure that the meter issue is more highlighted.
Kar says:

September 10, 2011 at 6:12 pm

hi wud this work on a dell streak
wanda says:

January 23, 2013 at 1:55 pm

hi i have a samsung galaxy s 2 t989. and i rooted it and now when i put tit on the charge it takes more then 8 hours to charge. like i went to bed put it on the charge at like 10pm and i woke up at 6am and it was only at 44 percent. what do i do should i unroot it will that fix the problem. please help. thank u

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