Re: Something is rapidly draining the battery of my Gear S3 Frontier - Page 8

RedWolf · ‎19-08-2017

Dear All,

When I first got my Gear S3 Frontier, I was very happy with the watch. A charge of the battery used to last me at least three days, and that was fine by me. Then suddenly, the battery started being completely drained within about 10 hours.

I thought that probably I have a power-hungry app installed, did a reset, install only trusted apps I have been using for a long time, and everything seemed fine again, battery lasts three days. I thought at the time that the issue had been resolved.

However, a few days later, the same thing happens again... and again... and again... ever more frequently... it seems to happen particularly after episodes of the watch having lost BlueTooth Connection to the phone, e.g. because of having been in airplane mode -- I travel a lot. On a side note, I also have the BlueTooth reconnection issue that is being dealt with in a different thread, and may or may not be related.

I have had the S3 Frontier now for about 7 months, and it has now become virtually impossible to use it for a full day. Even resets no longer resolve the issue. I have done a reset and not installed *any* apps, and yet the battery lasted only 10 hours(ish), so it's not just one dodgy app...

Anyone any ideas...?

RedWolf · ‎14-04-2019

@Corn73

Many thanks for all the details, and your theory makes sense. Unfortunately, turning off the automatic updates has made hardly any difference at all for me. Maybe my battery is too knackered by now because of all the abuse it had to suffer and just is not up to the task any more...

It is a pity though, because I love just about everything else about my S3 Frontier.

RANIMITA · ‎30-04-2019

@Thomas-Jones wrote:

Hi,

I had the same problem for months after the update but I can report that my problem is solved.
Here in the Netherlands, Samsung has a Facebook messenger option. I submitted my issue and they promptly answered. After asking the standard questions (reset, factory reset, pairing with other phone, etc) they gave me the option to have it picked up for service. The very next day a courier swung by and picked it up in a sealed container. 3 days later, I received notice that it had been repaired and be delivered by the same courier, free of charge.
Upon receiving my Gear, I really wasn't thinking it would be repaired by was proven very wrong. The motherboard and battery were replaced and also given a software update.

The watch is working perfectly ever since. Long battery life (3 days easy!). Can now sleep with it on to monitor my sleep and also during my workouts.
It came off the charger this morning at 8:30am and still has 99% battery left.

My guess is that there could be a faulty component on the board that only presented itself through the software update everyone is talking about. That would also explain my bluetooth connection issue I was having with my phone and Harmon Kardon bluetooth speaker. It was having dropouts while also connected with the Gear. That problem is also solved with this repair.

Hope this all helps!!!

I thought that probably I have a power-hungry app installed, did a reset, install only trusted apps I have been using for a long time, and everything seemed fine again, battery lasts three days. I thought at the time that the issue had been resolved.

However, a few days later, the same thing happens again... and again... and again... ever more frequently... it seems to happen particularly after episodes of the watch having lost BlueTooth Connection to the phone, e.g. because of having been in airplane mode -- I travel a lot. On a side note, I also have the BlueTooth reconnection issue that is being dealt with in a different thread, and may or may not be related.

jbabb · ‎02-07-2019

I was having this issue randomly. My watch was great, 3 days worth of battery, then all of a sudden I started getting maybe 1 day's worth. I realized it started happening after I set up my dad's watch for him. He was also having the same issue. I deleted the pairing from my phone, went into the gear app and reconnected it. It has been doing great since. Had my dad do the same thing and his is working at the same rate as mine.

Also worthy of mentioning, I have a Note 8 and my dad has an iphone. Same issue, same resolution. I also realized that this started after I set his up for him, so wondering if the pairing of his phone and watch somehow interferred with mine in such close proximity.

SN11 · ‎18-07-2019

I changed the battery and the same drain of power no more then 10 hours of work time!?

jbabb · ‎18-07-2019

@SN11 wrote:
I changed the battery and the same drain of power no more then 10 hours of work time!?

Try removing the pairing from your phone then pair it again through the app

Degs7 · ‎18-07-2019

Just called Samsung Support and they act like they have never heard there is an issue. They said I can ship it to them and get it back in about 2 weeks with a charge of $70 plus andy parts that will be needed. No guaranteeds it will actually fix anything and reading this message trail makes me wonder. Might as well just go buy something else new.

I will try the disconnect idea and see if that works. Otherwise it is just a paperweight.

Vizflair · ‎14-08-2019

I'm seriously pissed about sending mine in for repair only to be charged $161 for "POWER BATTERY ISSUES BATTERY LOW TALK/STAND BY TIME". It worked fine until an update and now they want me to pay an additional $80 without explanation. Nah. Send it back and I'll never buy anything samsung again. Good way to lose loyal customers guys.

RedWolf · ‎17-08-2019

I have actually made some progress on this one.

Because plenty of people told me that their Gear S3 Frontier is working just fine, I finally grudginly bought a new one ― and guess what, the new watch shows exactly the same problem. Some days it's fine, still at 75% battery in the evening, but other days I'm out of battery in the afternoon even though the watch came off the charger that morning. Having two watches do exactly the same thing now made me start to suspect that the watch itself may not be the one to be blamed, but that the problems was rather something common to both watches, most likely an app that runs on both.

One of the telltale signs for the battery drain is that the watch is quite warm when coming off the charger. The new Galaxy Watch app allows to check which app on the watch drains the most battery, so I thought: "Worth a look, and see what right now, while the watch is warm, is drawing the highest current...."

Interestingly, it did not work. The Galaxy App was frozen, and would not connect to the watch. After this was the case a few times in a row, it made me wonder whether it may actually be the Galaxy App on my mobile that is to blame, rather than any particular app or a component or software problem on the watch.

I have now started to kill and restart the Galaxy App on my mobile every time I notice the battery starting to drain faster than expected, and so far, that has always cured it...!

Of course, could still be coincidence, and may also not be the same problem for everyone experiencing fast battery drainage, but I thought I share my experience, at least as a contribution to building the picture....

Best of luck, everyone!

Eaglei22 · ‎22-09-2019

I just had some update 2 weeks ago. I noticed, samsung health was using a lot of battery from the wear app. My battery would drain from 100% to 15% in like 4 or 5hrs.

I force stopped samsung health and that helped.

Vizflair · ‎24-09-2019

I went ahead and bought a new $20 battery and changed it myself. Unreal...the watch is back to normal and wearable all day with very little drain. My old battery was swollen and puffy compared to the new one. Shame on you Samsung for trying to charge me that much and not even telling me the issue when I asked you...