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A54 5G Battery draining after few days

(Topic created on: 27-08-2023 07:59 PM)
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VincentKen
Explorer
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Hi all,

has anyone noticed battery draining after few days of usage? I leave my phone without WiFi overnight on Power Saving mode with 4G/3G/2G enabled. For the first few nights the phone uses minimal battery capacity (1-2 %), but after few days it uses over 15%. Usually restart helps.

Any ideas how to resolve this issue?

Thanks!

299 Replies
DrWage
Pathfinder
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Would be nice if you list specifically when you contacted Samsung Support and how. (problem diary). I can only suggest that you continue to pursue the matter and stay tuned.

At least the support still answers me, even if I have to explain the problem all the time from the beginning.... I tried the support via chat again today, and I also phoned the support once. I'm going to try a few more things now. I always have to wait 9 to 10 days before the problem comes back.

Would be nice if someone confirmed my specific observations. I have a specific problem with the device, an error that occurs repeatedly. But I can't say for sure that it affects everyone else.

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Guzuta
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hello,

for investigating battery drain during *idle time* it could be useful installing "better battery stats" and "battery guru" : these two apps can show application alarms and wakelocks that were fired during idle time.

these are tools that don't need root; they need ADB command line tool to enable special permissions.

use BBS for alarms (it should also show wakelock but for some reason it's not working on some samsung phones, including A54).

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/app-2-2-11-dec-2022-v3-1-betterbatterystats.1179809/

EDIT: BBS version on playstore is payed, but there are free versions here:

https://install.appcenter.ms/users/sven-knispel-g51w/apps/betterbatterystats-xda-edition/distributio...

latest stable version is 3.3.1-522 (107).

And battery guru for wakelocks:

https://www.paget96projects.com/battery-guru.html

the lastest version is 2.1.7.6 but for some reason it doesn't work on my A54.

I had to use older version 2.1.7.4, which you can find here:

https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/paget96/battery-guru-health-saver/battery-guru-health-saver-2-1-7-4-re...

please use google to understand how to use these tools before trying them.

for people who don't like command line there is this windows program (it's an user interface for ADB):

https://adbappcontrol.com/en/

(the free version is enough, no need to pay for a license).

 

DrWage
Pathfinder
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Great comment.

I used to have "GSAM Battery Monitor", but it shows very little information. Will consider your suggestion. It would be nice if other users followed and also observed the problem in some way.

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Guzuta
Pioneer
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it could be useful to take measurements of alarms/wakelocks in the "good" situation, like after a restart, when the phone it's working correctly, and another one in the "bad" situation, when it's draining battery, like after 10 days (without restarts), or when you detect abnormal drain.

then posting here the relevant information could help understanding what is happening.

 

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Aco2
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Screenshot_20230823_153707_Device care.jpg

Not normal!

on wifi..

Still on July update 

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Guzuta
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august update available in europe:

https://doc.samsungmobile.com/SM-A546B/EUX/doc.html

 

DrWage
Pathfinder
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I installed "Better Battery Manager" on my second smartphone and granted "BATTERY_STATS" permission. First time just to test

-Wakelocks and Alarms can be displayed in the selection in the main menu.

 

I'm just unsure how to evaluate it

-For example, I can't seem to select a time in the graph, it's showing me since boot. With 10 days, the diagram will probably be very long. Recognize wakelooks here? But you said BBS is better for alarmsScreenshot_20230824-202615[1].png

 

Here are the alarms listed!? What should I look out for here? How is the procedure to determine strange values. I assume compare alarms per hour in good and bad situation?

Screenshot_20230824-203458[1].png

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Guzuta
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Hello,

BBS is better than Battery Guru, but on my A54 nothing works except the alarms! (you get "no stats have been collected yet" message).

It's probably an issue with Android 13, because I tested BBS on a Samsung A42 running Android 12 and it's working fine. So on A54 I have to use BatteryGuru as a replacement.

I never use that diagram for wakelocks. Instead I use Partial Wakelocks, which are relative to applications. The kernel wakelocks are generated by the kernel, and you cannot do much about that (except rooting the phone and installing a different kernel).

On  your screenshot I see 199 wakeups for com.android.phone. This seems too much for an idle phone. On my phone I get zero wakeups about the phone app.

In any case this is what I usually do:

I open Partial Wakelocks (not working on A54) or alarms.

Before taking measurements I usually set a custom ref. using the menu at top right (this will be my starting point for measurements).

Then I let the phone rest for the entire night, or at least some hours (like 4 or 5). don't touch the phone during this time, since all of this is for detecting battery drain during idle time.

After some rest time I open BBS and select "custom" instead of boot, and "screen on" instead of current. this way I have the list of alarms/wakelocks fired during the period of measurement

Note: sometime I open BBS and get an emtpy list. To workaround this issue I close BBS in the recent apps list, and the I reopen it. The measurements are not deleted.

To identify the drain you search for a high number of alarms/wakelocks. Ideally you want to have the minimum number of alarms and wakelocks, because those are preventing the phone form going into deep sleep.

Then by looking at the number you identify the application and you can decide what to do: sometimes you can change options in the app to reduce the alarms, like for example disabling notifications if they're not important for you. or you can uninstall the app if you really don't need it, or finally you can disable the app (not uninstall) using ADB or ADB AppControl. I usually google the name of the wakelock to find some common solutions from other users.

Another option is to save a log and upload that to the XDA forum of BBS: there are some kind users that will take a look at the log and tell you what is going on in your phone during idle time.

I use Battery Guru for wakelocks: there is a section that lists them, but you cannot set the range of the measurement (or at least I didn't find any way to do it).

Currently I have moderately debloated my A54 using ADB (ie I disabled some applications I don't use, like Bixby or beacon manager). I can provide my list of disabled apps, but usually is not very useful: each person uses the phone in a different manner, so maybe you'll need some apps that instead I keep disabled.

I then tried some solutions to wakelocks I was getting, like a wakelock related to multimedia, IIRC. I'm getting some moderate wakelock numbers, like rilj_ack_wl but I didn't found a solution for that yet.

I keep my A54 with no data or wifi enabled during the night, and I'm currently getting a drain of 0.2 per hour, which is very good IMHO).

 

AraGorNN
Journeyman
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DrWage
Pathfinder
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I had now tried to install BBS on my Galaxy A14, the message "private API cannot be accessed" appears. The command "adb -d shell settings put global hidden_api_policy 1" via ADB_AppControll seems has no effect, although I was able to set the other permissions. I suspect BBS doesn't work on the A14, but now I know what might help me.

 

Edit: I activated WakeLocks in GSAM Battery Monitor,  i try to use this for more information

The current screenshot comes from my Motorola Moto E4, where I had BBS installed as a test. The 199 wakeups for com.android.phone will probably come. because I forgot my work cell phone that day and had to use it privately.

What I could definitely observe with the Moto E4 is that there are massively fewer waklocks in flight mode than in IDLE mode with network connections. Almost as a confirmation of what I already knew. That's why I bought the A14, because you can set the flight mode time-controlled, which saves a lot of battery in my case.

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