Inconsistent Battery Life on S4

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MikeAqua

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#215149 14-Jun-2017 11:02

I have an S4 which is exhibiting intermittently reduced battery life battery behaviour. I'm trying to figure if this is likely to be the battery itself or some sort of battery monitoring component in the phone. Is there a way to tell?

I have been noticing variations in battery life. The phone will be operating normally and showing 75% battery and it will quickly reduce to 1% followed by the phone shutting down. This often happens at start up, just after I unlock the SIM. There is no high temperatures or changes in battery shape. The battery does seem to charge up very quickly.

I want to use it as a secondary phone, for boating. But for that purpose it has to be reliable.

I can replace the battery with a new one for $50 but there is no point if the battery isn't the problem. A new comparable-ish phone is ~$250. For example the Samsung J2.

Either way the battery is going to be disposed of. Just trying to figure out whether to try a new battery or write off the phone.

Mike

Linux

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#1800860 14-Jun-2017 11:03

Is this the original battery that came with the phone?

If yes then replace it for sure and only with a genuine one purchased from Samsung

Linux

MikeAqua

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#1800884 14-Jun-2017 12:12

Linux: Is this the original battery that came with the phone?

If yes then replace it for sure and only with a genuine one purchased from Samsung

Linux

Yes it's the original. If there anyway to tell if a Samsung battery is genuine - i.e. not counterfeit?

I'd be buying from a small mobile repair shop so there is some risk of a dodgy knock off product.

Edit: Looks like PBTech sell them.

Mike

robjg63

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#1800914 14-Jun-2017 13:28

MikeAqua:

Linux: Is this the original battery that came with the phone?

If yes then replace it for sure and only with a genuine one purchased from Samsung

Linux

Yes it's the original. If there anyway to tell if a Samsung battery is genuine - i.e. not counterfeit?

I'd be buying from a small mobile repair shop so there is some risk of a dodgy knock off product.

Edit: Looks like PBTech sell them.

and around $33 at the moment - so cheap enough to try.

I would guess your battery is on the way out - but I find that sometimes my trusty note 2 goes through periods of having the battery drop much quicker than normal - usually seems to be an app going rogue. Last time it was one of googles own apps - cant recall which one. A few days later another update and all was fine again.

Perhaps worth checking all your apps are up to date.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

tripper1000

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#1800915 14-Jun-2017 13:34

You get what you pay for with batteries. They make very convincing knock-offs with the labelling that can be identical. I've found $7 ones from Trademe that tested up on a battery analyser with equal or worse capacity than the stuffed battery I was replacing - 25% of the stated capacity.

I've found that the factory batteries are premium quality and most aftermarket/knockoff batteries fail to produce the same capacity, so anything of the same physical size, that claims to be greater capacity than the factory battery is to be treated with suspicion . Maybe others can relate positive experiences.

Just remember that it can take several complete charge/discharge cycles for the new battery to come up to full capacity - I used to think this was bunkus that the seller said to help fob off rubbish batteries, but I proved it to be true with a battery analyser.

MikeAqua

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#1800931 14-Jun-2017 14:15

Looks like my local PB_Tech store has them in stock, so I'll whip down and grab one.

Mike

Linux

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#1800960 14-Jun-2017 16:01

Buying anything from a small mobile phone repair shop will be Fake end of story! Just go direct to Samsung NZ buy it from them they are cheap enough

Linux

richms

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#1800965 14-Jun-2017 16:06

Samsungs all seem to do that, my note 4 has been thru 5 batteries now, all "genuine" ones from PB tech that appeared to be legit (NFC worked on them at least)

Last one I got was an exetended one and a replacement back for it off aliexpress. Wow, it lasts well. Claims to be twice the capacity of the stock one and actually seems to deliver twice the run time. Only downside is the phone is now thicker and has a weird hollow feeling on one side since it actually is hollow there.

Richard rich.ms

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Batman

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#1800982 14-Jun-2017 16:55

Heh my near new Samsung S4 (when i had it) did exactly that. Mind you it's not limited to the S2 and S4 (my first 2 smartphones). My current iphone 5S also does that, even when it was pretty new.

MikeAqua

7785 posts

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#1801843 16-Jun-2017 08:48

Got the new battery from PB-Tech. Problem solved.

Mike