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Extreme battery drain: any way to determine what's causing it?

The last couple of days my battery has been draining ridiculously fast. It just went from 50% to 8%, just sitting in my pocket without otherwise being used, in the last 3 hours. Here's what the battery usage displays:
while unplugged for 3h 3m 24s:
Android OS 81%
Cell standby 10%
Phone idle 4%
Display 3%
Android System 2%
Obviously something is going on with Android OS and I suspect something I've installed is doing this. I have Watchdog installed but it hasn't given me any warnings. Is there some way to determine exactly what is causing the battery drain, other than removing apps one by one?
Thanks!

I've suspected that my display keeps coming on when my phone is in my pocket.
Both the power button, and the trackpad turn on the backlight for 15 seconds when pushed, and it's very easy to do both when the phone is in your pocket.

I stopped using the HTC weather app, there is no way to stop it from constantly searching your location and it kills the battery FAST if you are on the move. Since I stopped using it I have seen 10+ hours of battery life a day and I use it hard, internet, gps, music, twitter.

It's the suspend process.
I can't link it to you cause I'm on the phone but if you look around, you'll be able to find it.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

I don't think it's the display because the battery usage isn't showing the display as the main battery usage (unless I'm really using it for a long time). It's definitely something belonging to "Android OS". I wish there was a way to determine specifically what process within "android OS" is to blame. I really don't know much about Android or Linux in general so "android OS" is mostly a mystery to me.
I did uninstall several programs yesterday night and was almost convinced it was behaving better but it looks like after the first hour that Android OS is creeping up and overtaking the battery usage and the battery is draining pretty fast despite not using the phone other than to occasionally check the battery usage. At the current rate I'd be lucky if the phone isn't dead before the end of my workday. It probably doesn't help that I have a rather weak signal at work but if it was increased power to the cellular radio that was the culprit, would it show up under "Android OS" or "Cell standby"? I'd suspect the latter, but maybe Android isn't so logical in how it groups processes....
I'll try removing the HTC weather widgets as suggested and look up the sleep process.
Thanks!

It is the "suspend process" like that other poster said. Here is the defect, you can read through if you like. It's a known problem and not only isolated to mt4g
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=11126

How did people determine it's the "suspend" process? I can't seem to find any way to determine what processes are specifically involved. Is there an app that will tell you that? I am running Watchdog Lite set to alert me at 50% cpu and have never got an alert which makes me question whether my issue is the same one described in that thread. Various people were describing 100% cpu activity by the suspend process and it doesn't seem to be the case with me.
I did have 2 weather widgets on my home screen. I deleted both and since then the problem appears to have gone away. I'll have to wait a while to see if it's truly fixed or just a coincidence. Someone in the suspend thread did mention that plugging into a charger temporarily fixed the issue and I did charge the phone for a while after deleting the widgets so I'm not convinced just yet.
One thing I did notice in the battery usage is that google maps seems to have a significant presence, despite the fact that I haven't used maps at all since last unplugging the phone. What is maps doing in the background? I wonder if it's trying to determine my location and cache map data...
Thanks!

Install Watchdog and in its settings, include, monitor, and display all phone processes.
HTC Glacier running CM7 #15

Enable system process and set thrashold to 30% and you will see the suspend process. Or when you notice the drain is happening go to the phone hidden menu. You know the #*#*3626*#*# in the dialer and then from there go to battery usage then select CPU usage, you will see the suspend process on the top or near the top.

Just use some memory management apps. I currently use ES task manager and in advanced settings, i set it to kill all processes when i power down screen. I never use any battery when phone is unplugged(i literally left my phone unplugged overnight midnight to about 7am and it stood at 73% entire time). And having it rooted, i use SetCPU and set the phone at around 768mhz powersave when i'm not messing with the phone heavily. I easily can squeeze about a day and a half out of the battery.

knaries2000 said:
Enable system process and set thrashold to 30% and you will see the suspend process. Or when you notice the drain is happening go to the phone hidden menu. You know the #*#*3626*#*# in the dialer and then from there go to battery usage then select CPU usage, you will see the suspend process on the top or near the top.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that the correct sequence/code? I put that in and didn't get anything. Is root required?
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

sorry, that was not the correct sequence at all. I was trying to do it by memory. It is *#*#4636#*#* then select battery history, in the first dropdown box select cpu usage. That menu is pretty useful for other things to like network usage breakdown per app, gps usage, etc.
el-jodio said:
Is that the correct sequence/code? I put that in and didn't get anything. Is root required?
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thanks for all the info. I particularly like that hidden menu. I had no idea that existed...
Since removing the HTC weather widget my battery drain issue has completely disappeared. The battery now lasts a reasonable amount of time.
Thanks!

knaries2000 said:
sorry, that was not the correct sequence at all. I was trying to do it by memory. It is *#*#4636#*#* then select battery history, in the first dropdown box select cpu usage. That menu is pretty useful for other things to like network usage breakdown per app, gps usage, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Are there any other secret codes that do other things? Like the *#*#checkin#*#*
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

checkin menu does exist too. Those are the only 2 I know off. If other people here know of any please post.

Actually I have removed the HTC weather widget couple of days ago and also disabled the water sync in account settings too. That seems to have help with the suspend process on my phone also.

knaries2000 said:
Actually I have removed the HTC weather widget couple of days ago and also disabled the water sync in account settings too. That seems to have help with the suspend process on my phone also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's the "water" sync? Is that a swype typo for "weather" sync? (Swype errors are annoying in that their usually not so obvious.)
I had also disabled the weather sync (forgot to mention it). Seems to be a lot of little bugs in Sense that need to get fixed.

Why don't you guys do what I did... I have profiles set on setCPU so that when the screen is off the phone runs at 368mhz max and the when the screen is on it'll go up to opp speed... That actually saves alot of battery for me.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

Sorry it is weather sync. Yeah keyboard error. I stopped using swype recently for this very reason, but touch input isnt perfect either but still much better for me.

Ya if you are using OC based kernel then use SetCPU to scale your mCPU. Set few profiles for example my max is 1.7ghz, avg is 1.2ghz, min is 768mhz, idle is 368mhz.
Sent from my HTC Glacier

Android System consuming battery

I have been obessing over my battery stat page and am trying to figure out what exactly "Android System" is. It is usually consuming the highest percentage of battery power. I have tried everything to figure out what action exactly makes Android System get added to the battery stats page. I have disabled everything, every radio, syncing, deleted all widgets. I hardly have any apps as it is. It just seems rather inconsistent because sometimes Ill check the page after making a call and will find that Voice calls has consumed a small percentage of battery and Android System isn't even on the list. Other times I will take it off the charger and make a 30 minute call, but when I check the stats page 70% battery was used by Android System and only 3% was Voice Calls.
Can anyone tell me exactly what triggers Android System so I can make sure I cut down on its battery usage in any way possible
Sent from my Microwave

I assume you are looking in the settings > about phone > battery. You can select android system also and it will tell you more info.

Agoattamer said:
I assume you are looking in the settings > about phone > battery. You can select android system also and it will tell you more info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see that but under more info its not very clear about what's using the batt.
Sent from my Microwave

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/seh6183/screenshot-1312932238053.png
Sent from my Microwave

Anyone have any comments on this?
Sent from my Microwave

Did a battery calibration and now android system isn't the number 1 thing consuming battery as usual. Weird:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/seh6183/testshot.png
This seems to be more in line with what normal battery usage should look like in my opinion.
Sent from my Microwave

I had this problem too until I did a calibration. Now cell standby consumes over 50% of my battery regularly, with android system consuming only 2%.
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G using XDA App

Yea I did a calibration and all is well
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/seh6183/screenshot-1313102466360.png
Thank you
Sent from my Microwave

Aaaaaaaaand were back LOL
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/seh6183/screenshot-1313118381659.png
Sent from my Microwave

Its still occurring
What would you guys do?
Android system will occasionally use CPU as well, as shown in the following screenshots. Also! My good buddy let me see his Droid x recently. He had 42% battery life left and android system had only taken up 4% of that.
I'm pretty upset about this.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/seh6183/screenshot-1314312490137.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/seh6183/screenshot-1314312473018.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/seh6183/screenshot-1314312512785.png
Sent from my Microwave

If you asked me I would say all your values are a little screwy. Do you even turn the screen on, on your phone and use it? If you use your phone the Display should be by far the most used. To me it looks like you physically use your phone very little. That is why Phone idle and Android System seem to be the higher numbers.
Guessing you have many accounts syncing in the background. One of the biggies for Android System. So its not that Android System is using so much, the rest of the processes are using so little.

Oddly enough the same thing started happening with my phone recently too.
@Agoattamer
The system wouldn't eat most of the charge in less than 8 hours in normal circumstances. Also about your question concerning accounts, while I'm not seh6183, personally I only have my email account synchronizing and the very same thing happens.
Something is causing the CPU to remain awake, in my case stuck at 800MHz.
The factory reset will most likely solve it, but it'd be best to find the culprit to just try and rectify a specific anomaly rather than reinstalling the whole system.
Has recently any core Google apps been updated? Email, Maps, anything?

I do agree that in 8 hours of non physical use your battery should not be going dead. So I couldn't sleep last night and I did some google searching. Here are some things I found out.
Do you have Googles Goggles installed? Seems it may have a bug where it keeps the camera on even when the phone is supposedly asleep.
Seeing that seh6183 always has his wifi active maybe it has something to do with wifi. I found this from Juri's TechBlog
couple of days ago I finally got the eagerly awaited system upgrade to Gingerbread on my Nexus One. The update went pretty well, although some Nexus One users reported about problems with the updating process. The only thing I noticed is that Dropbox didn't work after the upgrade.
A re-install solved the issue. All-in-all Gingerbread is great. Beside UI enhancements it feels also faster than Froyo. However, after trying it for two days now, I noticed a substantial increase in battery consumption. By looking at the system battery stats (Settings -> About phone -> Battery use), Android System was listed to consume 23% of the battery .
Apparently the problem is a bug in Gingerbread version 2.3.3 (you know there is 2.4 as well) on how the system handles the Wifi adapter. If you go into your Settings -> Wireless & Networks -> Wi-Fi settings, press the menu button and click on "Advanced", you'll see a menu entry "Wi-Fi sleep policy". Gingerbread seems to have a problem when that option is set to "When screen turns off". While that may sound to be the most energy-saving option, the bug turns it into a battery killer. If you switch the option to "Never", the Android system will only consume ~3% in the battery stats.
Obviously, in addition to this, the best battery saver is to just turn Wi-Fi off when you don't need it . Caution, if one of the future updates fixes this problem (which I strongly hope), you have to set the option back again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Something I didn't see but killed my battery on my windows mobile phone was instant messengers. Do you use any apps that are for instant messaging.
Found this thread also talking about the same bug with wifi
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=15057
So it seems that if you (cmdr001) also are a full time wifi user, you may be affected by the same bug. Check your wifi sleep policy and adjust your settings to "Never".
Install a battery monitor app from the market or spare parts to see what is using your battery. Install Juice Defender to stop all that excessive useage.

Excellent find!!!!!
Just switched the sleep policy to "never" (which ironically I've always used until very recently). Ill return with results after about 5 hours. The only thing is that I'm on android 2.3.5 not 3.3 so we will have to see if the bug was affecting me.
I also don't have Google goggles. And to the above poster, my phone regularly went into deep sleep so it wasn't my CPU that was staying active.
Oh and I've been using watch dog to look for rogue programs for the last 24 hours. I haven't got a single alert.
Sent from my Microwave

I guess the first question should have been what ROM were you using and to try a different one then. Needless to say it still has 2.3.3 components in it. And if you recently changed that setting then my bet is thats the issue. Goodluck.
Watchdog may alert you if you are using too much cpu at one time but I don't think it will let you know what is constantly using the cpu.

Ok there's a glitch somewhere in the battery tracking. I just checked it and android system was consuming 12% battery. I placed one 17 minute phone call and re checked it, I then had 57% android system consumption.
No way.
I'm using a cm7 nightly and I'm about to flash the stable version with a different kernel. Ill do a full wipe as well.
Sent from my Microwave

You could check your wakelocks.

After recharging my battery to 100% and wiping the battery stats, my android system consistently uses 2% of the battery, while the display sucks up around ~40%.

[Q] battery drain in standby, and Google play service problem

so I decided to charge my phone fully then leave it alone for 12 hours to see the standby drain, and This morning when I took a look and I was pretty disappointed. I attached pics, but as you can see, 12 hours of standby and 30 percent of my battery is gone. wtf? another time I did this a week ago with only 8 hours of standby, it drained 20 percent, which if scaled to 12 hours will become 30 percent. Why is the drain so high? Google play services is at the top of the list, and even with normal use it takes about 10 plus percent of my battery. my friends nexus 4, with basically the same apps I have (fb, messenger, Chrome, snapchat, bbm, etc) only had 10 percent after 12 hours. both our phones have the battery saving location enabled, radios on, but the only difference is that he wasn't connected to WiFi and I was. any suggestions? And yes I've looked around on the Internet at other people having the same problem and I still haven't found a fix

Lol sorry I forgot to add the pics in the first post

It's the WiFi. I had the really bad battery drain issue while connected to WiFi after the 4.4.2 update. I lost about 30% of charge after 4ish hours while connected. Currently I'm at 92% after 3 hours.
Try disconnecting from WiFi and redoing your test!

spitefulcheerio said:
It's the WiFi. I had the really bad battery drain issue while connected to WiFi after the 4.4.2 update. I lost about 30% of charge after 4ish hours while connected. Currently I'm at 92% after 3 hours.
Try disconnecting from WiFi and redoing your test!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh wow, that might be my problem then. thanks a lot, I'll redo the test and see what happens, thanks

I haven't used WiFi at all today, my phone had been unplugged since 6 am and at 1pm today it's down to 57 percent. I have hardly used my phone today and the play services are killing it.

I think WiFi was my issue actually, I have kept it off all day and after 2.5ish hours I'm down to 72 percent battery, with an hour of screen on and using Google search quite a bit. the screenshot has screen and Google search at the top, Google play services hasn't been up in double digits at all

NuckFuggets said:
I think WiFi was my issue actually, I have kept it off all day and after 2.5ish hours I'm down to 72 percent battery, with an hour of screen on and using Google search quite a bit. the screenshot has screen and Google search at the top, Google play services hasn't been up in double digits at all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On your first screenshot Google play services consumed 34% out of 30% of your total battery loss, which is approx. 10% of your full charge. Within 12 hours this would be a 0.85% battery drain per hour because of gp services.
I did the math again for the second screenshot and Googe Play services consumed 0.7% per hour.
Doesn't feel like a big difference for me. If the time was actually less than 2.5 hours the drain could be equal.

George_Mn said:
On your first screenshot Google play services consumed 34% out of 30% of your total battery loss, which is approx. 10% of your full charge. Within 12 hours this would be a 0.85% battery drain per hour because of gp services.
I did the math again for the second screenshot and Googe Play services consumed 0.7% per hour.
Doesn't feel like a big difference for me. If the time was actually less than 2.5 hours the drain could be equal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh, well this is disappointing. that's so stupid, what is Google play services even for? and why does it have like an hour of keep awake time??

NuckFuggets said:
oh, well this is disappointing. that's so stupid, what is Google play services even for? and why does it have like an hour of keep awake time??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to Settings->Location->Google Location Reporting and set both to Off => no more battery drain

George_Mn said:
Go to Settings->Location->Google Location Reporting and set both to Off => no more battery drain
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but then won't Google now not work anymore?

NuckFuggets said:
but then won't Google now not work anymore?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google Now will still function. It just will not show cards based on location. Also when you disable or semi disable location sometimes Search start's keeping you're phone awake trying to find some location information. If this happens just force stop Google search or reboot the phone.

bblzd said:
Google Now will still function. It just will not show cards based on location. Also when you disable or semi disable location sometimes Search start's keeping you're phone awake trying to find some location information. If this happens just force stop Google search or reboot the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh ok, so like the weather card won't work? what about commute time to home? I'm guessing that won't work either right?
but anyway thanks for the help!

NuckFuggets said:
oh ok, so like the weather card won't work? what about commute time to home? I'm guessing that won't work either right?
but anyway thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weather will still work you just need to input you're location into the card settings manually. I used that for a while but it consistently wakes the phone to update it which annoyed me so I use Dashclock as it only updates when I turn the screen on.
Without Locations it will still grab information from the net about your searches, sports teams, stocks etc. It will no longer show you commutes, local picture spots etc.
I've kept Google Now on mainly so I can still set and receive reminders but don't want to tolerate any unnecessary wakes when the screen is off and have accomplished that now.

bblzd said:
Weather will still work you just need to input you're location into the card settings manually. I used that for a while but it consistently wakes the phone to update it which annoyed me so I use Dashclock as it only updates when I turn the screen on.
Without Locations it will still grab information from the net about your searches, sports teams, stocks etc. It will no longer show you commutes, local picture spots etc.
I've kept Google Now on mainly so I can still set and receive reminders but don't want to tolerate any unnecessary wakes when the screen is off and have accomplished that now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh man, Idk il have to see how that works, cuz I use Google now a lot. but I'll try it, thanks again

George_Mn said:
Go to Settings->Location->Google Location Reporting and set both to Off => no more battery drain
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not necessary to go that extreme.
I had the same issue as you guys after upgrading. Goto Settings->App->All
Select Google play services. Stop it. And clean data (All, including cache)
Reboot. And voila, it will consume much much less battery (Dont ask me why... Probably some conflict arising on the data file after upgrade)
On a side note, without completely disabling data location, it is worth switching to the battery friendly mode (Location will be evaluated using the network and not the GPS)
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Alcibiade said:
Not necessary to go that extreme.
I had the same issue as you guys after upgrading. Goto Settings->App->All
Select Google play services. Stop it. And clean data (All, including cache)
Reboot. And voila, it will consume much much less battery (Dont ask me why... Probably some conflict arising on the data file after upgrade)
On a side note, without completely disabling data location, it is worth switching to the battery friendly mode (Location will be evaluated using the network and not the GPS)
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just tried that, I'll see what happens. what's this though, when I want to disable it I get this pop-up. I get it with all system apps, but the last line I've never seen before

NuckFuggets said:
just tried that, I'll see what happens. what's this though, when I want to disable it I get this pop-up. I get it with all system apps, but the last line I've never seen before
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont disable it. Stop it and wipe data
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Alcibiade said:
Dont disable it. Stop it and wipe data
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't going to disable it, I was just wondering what would happen if I did
also here are my stats from today, what is android system and android os? why are they draining so much battery? also why is Swype using so much battery?

Researched this a lot, found some solutions, bad and good fixes and after trying some different twists on it after two days this is what I found to be the best, and I decided since this is just as bad as 4.0/4.1 and the mediaserver battery drain I might as well try and help at least 1 person by mass posting this reply I wrote else where to other threads, so here you go:
"Hey- I don't know if you, or anyone else has found a working solution, but here is the way I found best:
Note- I am on galaxy s4 [sgh-i337] running a 4.4 KitKat rom. I have found the following work around to work best for me:
1 Google now & Hotword detection=OFF,
2 GPS = OFF and turned on only when needed, eg maps/checkin on facebook/whatever needs location.
3 Settings-> Manage Apps -> Google Play Services -> Manage Space -> Clear All Data.
**Optional:After this [root only] I go into KT tweaker and make sure my phone cpu is set to a max of 810 Mhz when screen off.**
This fix usually works until I reset the phone. I ALWAYS follow those 3 steps when rebooting. AND always check that after I've used GPS that Google Play Services isn't keeping my phone awake. [Eg, after 30 minutes I check if the phone ever went to sleep again when the screen was off.] IF it does act up, I repeat steps 1, 2 &3. I still get notifications and all, and this is the least feature disabling way I've found that works with the cost of a little micro-management of your phone.
With this fix I can idle for an estimated 5-6days. As I take off my phone from charge at 8am and at noon with minimal usage [maybe 4 or 5 texts] I am at 97%. With WiFi on & connected.
OTHER: I personally keep NFC&Android beam&Bluetooth OFF, and turn ON when I need it on. Other- WiFi is always ON, and "Scanning Always Available" EDIT: Now is OFF, "WiFi Optimization" is checked ON for me. And for location mode when I do have it on, I keep it at EDIT: Device only. Using only gps to find my location.
All in all, I hope this gets fixed."
I can post screen shots and all if somebody wants them or if there is need for one
-icy

icy4phone said:
Researched this a lot, found some solutions, bad and good fixes and after trying some different twists on it after two days this is what I found to be the best, and I decided since this is just as bad as 4.0/4.1 and the mediaserver battery drain I might as well try and help at least 1 person by mass posting this reply I wrote else where to other threads, so here you go:
"Hey- I don't know if you, or anyone else has found a working solution, but here is the way I found best:
Note- I am on galaxy s4 [sgh-i337] running a 4.4 KitKat rom. I have found the following work around to work best for me:
1 Google now & Hotword detection=OFF,
2 GPS = OFF and turned on only when needed, eg maps/checkin on facebook/whatever needs location.
3 Settings-> Manage Apps -> Google Play Services -> Manage Space -> Clear All Data.
**Optional:After this [root only] I go into KT tweaker and make sure my phone cpu is set to a max of 810 Mhz when screen off.**
This fix usually works until I reset the phone. I ALWAYS follow those 3 steps when rebooting. AND always check that after I've used GPS that Google Play Services isn't keeping my phone awake. [Eg, after 30 minutes I check if the phone ever went to sleep again when the screen was off.] IF it does act up, I repeat steps 1, 2 &3. I still get notifications and all, and this is the least feature disabling way I've found that works with the cost of a little micro-management of your phone.
With this fix I can idle for an estimated 5-6days. As I take off my phone from charge at 8am and at noon with minimal usage [maybe 4 or 5 texts] I am at 97%. With WiFi on & connected.
OTHER: I personally keep NFC&Android beam&Bluetooth OFF, and turn ON when I need it on. Other- WiFi is always ON, and "Scanning Always Available" & "WiFi Optimization" is checked ON for me. And for location mode when I do have it on, I keep it at EDIT: Device only. Using only gps to find my location.
All in all, I hope this gets fixed."
I can post screen shots and all if somebody wants them or if there is need for one
-icy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks! but wow i wish my battery would be that good. i actually did so,ething else, i turned off the location reporting like someone earlier said and google play services dont even show up anymore. using device only disables location reporting as well so they both should have similar improvements.

[Q] Please Help ! Android System Battery Drain on Nexus 5 after KitKat 4.4.2 update

Hi,
The battery life of my Nexus 5 has taken a dramatic hit since the 4.4.2 update. I think the culprit is Android System but the GSAM battery graph seems to suggest that the culprit is Android OS kernel. My Nexus 5 is on 4.4.2, unrooted, stock ROM and the build no. is KOT49H.
In short, my phone does not seem to have a wakelock issue but I can't verify because 4.4 does not allow wakelock access without root. It sleeps fine at night and in daytime when it is not in use. I only lose around 5% or less overnight with 2x battery turning off the data connection and only turning on data connection once every night. The problem is the Android System which drains at least 17% (sometimes 25%) of battery everyday and routinely sits on top my of battery usage chart with or without me actually using the phone. My usage per charge is typically around 6-7 hours with around 1 hour 45 minutes screen on time. I had extraordinary battery life before the update to 4.4.2 (lasting more than 1 day with over 3 or 4 hours screen on time). Now my battery life is completely shot. The battery graphs attached already represent one of the better days. Some days the Android system will drain at 25% or more. You will note my phone relatively slept fine without draining at night in the first 7 or 8 hours and then the battery drain started to take a nose dive after I woke up. I feel that whenever I start using the phone (with the screen being turned on), the battery drain will occur. My observations are as follows:
1. I use LTE but the reception at my home and work for LTE is not good so the radio jumps between LTE and H+ from time to time however I do not think the radio jumping contributes that much to the drain. The drain stays the same even when I am at a place with good LTE reception. I use wifi at home but i cannot connect to wifi at work (which sadly is another issue). The wifi is always off unless i use it at home. I do NOT have wifi scanning in the settings. I have wifi battery optimization on. I never use bluetooth.
2. My google now is off. My location setting is completely off with no location reporting etc..
3. My Google + auto back up is off. I do not use Facebook, Facebook messenger, Instagram, snapchat etc. I mostly use Feedly, Whatsapp, Gmails and look at stock quotes every day. I seldom take pictures, videos or listen to music.
4. I only have one widget dashclock widget. I have removed feedly and stock quote widgets from the home screen but they don't seem to affect my battery usage that much.
5. I use Automateit but only have a few rules such as setting vibrate on weekdays etc.. I do not have any profiles which are related to GPS or location which i understand would drain battery. I also use Dynamic Notification, Light Flow, Lux, Nova Launcher, Notification Toggle and the memory in general is always below 65% in the background. I also use 2x battery to save battery which is set at switching off data after I turn off the screen and it will only turn data in the background every 10 minutes.
6. I have tried safe mode and 9 out of 10 times the Android system drain remains the same. The only way to lower the Android system drain (albeit temporary) is when I turn off the phone and plug it in for a charge, then turn it on when it is full and still plugged in. After I unplug it, the Android System drain will lower to say 7 or 8 % but it will slowly creep back up to 20% within an hour or so.
7. The CPU usage overlay routinely has 9 + readings on the top when the screen is turned on (but with no app running). I think it means very high CPU usage.
8. I do not think Feedly is causing any problems. I deleted the app and the drain remains. I also do not think GSAM is that useful as pointed out by another member here. It points to one app. You delete that app and then the drain remains it will point to something else.
9. I have been using Greenify (non-root) but it does not seem to help with my battery drain as the drain might be caused by system apps or processes within the OS.
I don't know what else to do and this problem has been troubling me for more than 1 month now. Please help !
Update on 24/2/2014:
I have given up and factory reset my phone. After I reset my phone, the apps were installed via Google Play automatically. I also switched to ART. It was fine initially for at least one day. The apps were there but I did not use or enable most of them as I wanted to transfer all my data and tweaked the settings in one goal. I mostly just used Feedly, Whatsapp and Maps for navigation. Even with Maps and high accuracy GPS on, the Android System would go below 10% even though it would temporarily increase to say above 20% during navigation. This morning, I thought the battery seemed ok so I enabled Lux, Dynamic Notifications, Lightflow, Automateit, Nova Launcher and restore the settings to most of the apps.
The Android System drain came back within 2 hours and hit 25% of the total battery drain. My phone's battery dropped from 100% to 40 % in less than 5 hours and the screen on time was only around 1 hour! I never did any battery intensive actions. The most was turning on the phone to check my battery and whatsapped less than 10 messages back and forth ! Since the drain re-appeared, I have turned off completely the location setting, Google Now, sync for Google Plus, auto-backup for Google Plus. I have removed all widgets and disabled Dynamic Notifications, Nova Launcher, Light Flow, Lux. The drain still remains the same at 23% or more.
This is driving me absolutely crazy and I am sick and tired of spending so much time and energy on sorting out the cause for drain (and to no avail!) I spent a lot more time on trying to fix the phone than really utilizing the phone for my benefit !! I just sent an email to the Google tech support and hope they will help instead of sending me generic self-help sheet. Thanks all for listening and trying to help. I am just really disappointed with Google this time.

Use bbs to get wakelock info.
Feedly has got to go too
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

rootSU said:
Use bbs to get wakelock info.
Feedly has got to go too
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply. My N5 is not rooted so I do not have access to wakelock stats anymore.
I have removed Feedly but the android system drain persists.

Not a lot that can be done without knowing the cause. Consider factory reset?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

rootSU said:
Not a lot that can be done without knowing the cause. Consider factory reset?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am hoping I don have to resort to factory reset and can wait for the 4.4.3 update but I guess my patience is running out.
Thanks for your help.

My missus' LG-P880 has exactly the same problem. Just started happening one day. It seems to be wakelock locator alarms according to bbs but there doesn't appear to be any reason for it. Its been driving me mad too. Luckily tho she's rooted so using app opps i disabled Google services location and it's kinda helped
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Did you try another kernel ? When I changed to franco kernel, my battery life is better.

having weak LTE signal kills the battery but it should not be this bad.
Maybe you should try a factory reset and see if the problem still persist, if not then you have an rogue app somewhere.

You can use the process of elimination.
Start with disabling Dynamic notifications and Light flow as those have high potential for battery drain.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Elias_grodin said:
I am hoping I don have to resort to factory reset and can wait for the 4.4.3 update but I guess my patience is running out.
Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Restart your phone in safe mode, and see the battery drainage...maybe it can help you.

It seems good for me
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I had this same problem the other night. Get app ops starter from the play store. In there turn location off in Google play services and android system. Note, this may impact other apps. I don't use any that I need location for so it works for me.
Sent from my Nexus 5

I had a similar issue as well. For me I turned off a couple things and it really helped:
1. Turned off Cerberus, I believe checking location too often or incorrectly or something.
2. Turned off Account sync for Play Newstand. Noticed when a sync would occur, it would hang on Newstand for much too long which I think was waking device and keeping device awake during it's long syncs. Everything else would only take a min or two total.
3. Set G+ photo sync to only sync when on wifi and charging.
4. Removed Yahoo Weather app. Noticed yahoo weather app staying alive a lot too.
5. Removed Whatsapp. Probably unnecessary really, but any of those messaging/weather/location apps that I don't use often (if ever) I removed to make sure they weren't checking location in the background.
So far, I'm at 78% battery today when I would have been at around 30-40% usually, so that combo has made a huge difference.
It's going to be different for everyone I think, but basically just make sure you don't have any excess apps checking location in the background. And at least for me there seems to be something wrong with Play Newsstand sync hanging for long periods of time.

Yea... Even i had the same issues... Latest version killes ma deep sleep mode nd also some of a rules disappeared....

I was having similar issues and was able to narrow it down to syncing Google Services...
I found that often times Google Drive would get hung up when syncing in the background and chew up my battery.
What Google Services do you have set to auto-sync? I would narrow it down to the ones you only really need to have synced in the background and have the others sync up for you when you open them.
Also, in regards to your LTE/H+ signal, have you tried to flash another radio to see if there is any improvement? A poor signal can have a pretty significant impact on battery life as well.
Lastly, as mentioned by another user, Better Battery Stats, though requiring root, will make it a lot easier to track down the culprit of the issue if it indeed a rogue app somewhere.

Try different keyboard. I've a suspicion that latest Google Keyboard is the culprit.
I was having some unexplainable with BBS (no locks, etc.) battery drain. Which can only be resolved (though temporarily) with reboot.
So, I installed alternative keyboard (Swype in my case) and using it. So far, second day I don't have battery drain.

Update
Please refer to the OP for update. Thanks all.

battery after reset
After a second factory reset, I did not install a lot of the apps which I suspect have something to do with my drain - including Swype, Dynamic Notifications, Nova Launcher, LightFlow, Task Manager, 2x battery, Lux, Notification Toggle, Dash Clock, Automateit. I have also set my location to device only with no location history and history. I have also disabled Google Now. I have not restored my photos, music and videos to the phone yet. I have disabled sync for Google Plus, Google Drive etc.. I have also disabled auto back up for Google Plus. I am on ART.
The battery life (with around 25 % left) was around 6 hours 30 minutes or a bit more but with close to 2 hours 40 minutes screen on time. The screen was the biggest draw. Android system comes in second with around 13%. This is obviously better than before where I managed to squeeze maybe a hour or 30 minutes more but with 2x battery turned on in the background. I mostly used the phone for battery checking, whatsapp, Feedly, web surfing. I played games for around 20 minutes. I was not on wifi most of the time. Is this battery performance normal?
Thanks in advance.

Replacement offer by Google
Elias_grodin said:
After a second factory reset, I did not install a lot of the apps which I suspect have something to do with my drain - including Swype, Dynamic Notifications, Nova Launcher, LightFlow, Task Manager, 2x battery, Lux, Notification Toggle, Dash Clock, Automateit. I have also set my location to device only with no location history and history. I have also disabled Google Now. I have not restored my photos, music and videos to the phone yet. I have disabled sync for Google Plus, Google Drive etc.. I have also disabled auto back up for Google Plus. I am on ART.
The battery life (with around 25 % left) was around 6 hours 30 minutes or a bit more but with close to 2 hours 40 minutes screen on time. The screen was the biggest draw. Android system comes in second with around 13%. This is obviously better than before where I managed to squeeze maybe a hour or 30 minutes more but with 2x battery turned on in the background. I mostly used the phone for battery checking, whatsapp, Feedly, web surfing. I played games for around 20 minutes. I was not on wifi most of the time. Is this battery performance normal?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have reset the phone three times. After the third attempt, the battery drain for Android System would go back up to 20% plus. By the test of elimination, I thought I narrowed down the possible culprit to Light Flow and Dynamic Notifications. I uninstalled both of them but the battery drain remained 20% plus.
Google was willing to replace my device. I asked them whether the battery drain is likely a hardware or a software issue or a combination of both. They said (to my surprise) it is hardware issue. It seems they have come across quite a number of similar cases. I always thought it was a bug within 4.4.2 or in the google apps such as Google Play Services etc. and could be fixed by a patch or something. The phone also means a lot to me as it was a gift from my gf. I just don't want to go through the hassle of replacing the device if it is a software problem but I guess I am running out of choices unless I decide to wait for the update. What do you guys think?

It's definitely not a hardware issue. If you Google it there's threads all over the place with all different makes and models of phones having the same problem and no one can figure out why, apart from it definitely seems something to do with Google services (GmsCore.apk)
Your best option is to root your phone and use app ops and turn location access off for every app that doesn't need it. (pretty much everything apart from maps and weather apps)
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Nexus 5 battery life

Hi, I really did some research but I find alot of ROMs and Kernels and I always get lost. I just need a good safe way to better the battery life of my Nexus 5 and keep it's stability and all the functions it has. So I wanted to ask what you guys recommend as Kernels, apps and lastly (I dont want to change unless its worth it) ROMs.
Sorry, its been hard without a PC to do decent research.
Enviado do meu Nexus 5 através de Tapatalk

The ROM has very little to do with battery life. It's all about the kernel or the apps.
We can't recommend kernels (or roms) as this is against the rules. They will all pretty much help with battery life. Just try them all- yourself.
Apps:
Greenify
Better battery Stats
That's it. Anything else I would recommend is going through all your settings and turning off things you dont need like location reporting etc

if battery life is all you are looking for... the difference are ... not much
Just disable google apps that you do not use, then you are good to go.
Locations settings, always off, activate only when needed. uncheck all under Google Location Reporting.
Disable NFC if not needed.
If you don't have good LTE coverage, change it to 3G under mobile networks.
For maximum battery life, do NOT activate Google Now.
eg. (These are apps I've disabled)
Drive
Earth
Email
Exchange Services
Face Unlock
Gallery (I use QuickPic as alternative)
Gmail
Google Hindi input (These ones gets disabled once you uncheck them from input settings)
Google Play books
Google Play Games
Google Play Magazines
Google Play Movies & TV
Google Play Music (I use Poweramp *Paid)
Google+
Keep
Maps
News & weather
Quickoffice
Street View
Tags
TalkBack
Hangouts (I use HoverChat *Paid)

Check this thread mate...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/general/nexus-5-battery-results-t2509132/

CitizenLee said:
Check this thread mate...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/general/nexus-5-battery-results-t2509132/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What he said ^^^^
It doesn't matter what's on your phone....you should be able to get good battery life. Its all about setup and usage.
Just gotta troubleshoot issues occasionally.
Please check the thread linked above, and read read read. . (Start on last page and read back for a bit....a lot of good info)

On my phone it certainly seems to have something to do with signal quality. At home, I can put the phone next to the bed at night with it fully charged and wake up with it at about 95 or 96%.
At work a fully charged phone just sitting on my desk drops to about 90% in only a couple of hours.
The signal quality in my building at work is pretty poor, so I'm guessing the phone is using a lot of extra energy desperately searching for a better signal .

Claghorn said:
On my phone it certainly seems to have something to do with signal quality. At home, I can put the phone next to the bed at night with it fully charged and wake up with it at about 95 or 96%.
At work a fully charged phone just sitting on my desk drops to about 90% in only a couple of hours.
The signal quality in my building at work is pretty poor, so I'm guessing the phone is using a lot of extra energy desperately searching for a better signal .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Poor and searching for signal is probably the biggest battery drain there can be.
Get gsam. And after your at work a few hours, open and click on "phone radio". It will say how long your phone was actually searching for a signal. That's a huge battery killer.
The only cures, get on WiFi. Or go into airplane mode. Toggle off data might help, then you'd still get texts and phone calls.

kj2112 said:
The only cures, get on WiFi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do have wifi on in both locations, so the wifi part of this doesn't help. I suspect data isn't the issue, just the cell connection. My old phone used to randomly reboot inside this building when trying to get a signal . I guess I should install gsam just to verify, but the signal is really the only difference between work and home, so I'm pretty sure that is the issue.

Claghorn said:
I do have wifi on in both locations, so the wifi part of this doesn't help. I suspect data isn't the issue, just the cell connection. My old phone used to randomly reboot inside this building when trying to get a signal . I guess I should install gsam just to verify, but the signal is really the only difference between work and home, so I'm pretty sure that is the issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually battery drain from a low or bad signal is only a big issue while on data. On WiFi it doesn't affect the battery much , if any. Its from apps trying to sync through data on a bad or no signal. So on WiFi, that's not an issue.
At home I get fairly poor reception...sometimes only a bar...with some time spent searching for signal, but my battery times are at their best at home. On WiFi.
It could be a network issue. Some devices on networks can affect your device by spam polling your phone....might want to also get wakelock detector to see that. If the LAN is draining your battery, there will be wakelocks from it.
Try gsam and compare work results to home results. Especially good would be trying at least a few hours of total standby to see the difference at both locations. You'd have to reset gsam stats to start your standby test at all zeros though. A reboot will reset gsam.
Good luck!

Remove all google [email protected]%# ...
And disable autostart from programs like poweramp which start on boot...use romtoolbox and autostart manager
Of course, pay attention to what you're going to disable
If You will try and You have some doubt ask here
I use a lightweight aosp ROM, a minimal gapps package, stock kernel, disabled some programs from boot and run in background...and battery duration is good
Don't ask to us roms/kernel combo, please Questions like your are not allowed on xda
Always read the users feedback and make Your choice
And... My doubt..is it really needed to change the kernel ??
Give stock kernel a chance... That's all I can say...
And make sure to charge your phone the right way

Hi! Anyone knows if I can disable the processes that Viber starts every so often? Like the in-app processes, it keeps on running in the background consuming a huge chunk of my battery. I already emailed Viber about it but unfortunately they don't have a fix for it.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

natadecocolococo said:
Hi! Anyone knows if I can disable the processes that Viber starts every so often? Like the in-app processes, it keeps on running in the background consuming a huge chunk of my battery. I already emailed Viber about it but unfortunately they don't have a fix for it.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Greenify?

rootSU said:
Greenify?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try that. Thanks.

kj2112 said:
Try gsam and compare work results to home results. Especially good would be trying at least a few hours of total standby to see the difference at both locations. You'd have to reset gsam stats to start your standby test at all zeros though. A reboot will reset gsam.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I turned the phone off, charged it to 100%, then pretty much let it sit doing nothing after rebooting. After sitting overnight at home (where the battery doesn't drain much) the "Phone" app was way down in the list:
GSam Labs - Battery Monitor - Export Data
Phone
Apr 30, 2014 9:55:45 AM
Usage Details
CPU Usage:2s
CPU Usage (Background Only):2s
Keep Awake:19s
Number of Wake Locks:177
Number of times waking device:2
App UID:1001
Wakelock Detail
RILJ8.8s(136)...
Did the same recharge with phone off at work, rebooted, then let it sit on my desk for just a couple of hours, and "Phone" is now the 2nd biggest culprit in the apps list:
GSam Labs - Battery Monitor - Export Data
Phone
May 1, 2014 10:35:57 AM
Usage Details
CPU Usage:3m 24s
CPU Usage (Background Only):3m 24s
Keep Awake:12m 1s
Number of Wake Locks:1167
Number of times waking device:141
App UID:1001
Wakelock Detail
RILJ11.9m(1031)...
Wifi was on in both locations (with a good signal), I even turned off location to prevent that overhead. It just hates the environment at work .

Claghorn said:
OK, I turned the phone off, charged it to 100%, then pretty much let it sit doing nothing after rebooting. After sitting overnight at home (where the battery doesn't drain much) the "Phone" app was way down in the list:
GSam Labs - Battery Monitor - Export Data
Phone
Apr 30, 2014 9:55:45 AM
Usage Details
CPU Usage:2s
CPU Usage (Background Only):2s
Keep Awake:19s
Number of Wake Locks:177
Number of times waking device:2
App UID:1001
Wakelock Detail
RILJ8.8s(136)...
Did the same recharge with phone off at work, rebooted, then let it sit on my desk for just a couple of hours, and "Phone" is now the 2nd biggest culprit in the apps list:
GSam Labs - Battery Monitor - Export Data
Phone
May 1, 2014 10:35:57 AM
Usage Details
CPU Usage:3m 24s
CPU Usage (Background Only):3m 24s
Keep Awake:12m 1s
Number of Wake Locks:1167
Number of times waking device:141
App UID:1001
Wakelock Detail
RILJ11.9m(1031)...
Wifi was on in both locations (with a good signal), I even turned off location to prevent that overhead. It just hates the environment at work .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that is just the difference in signal quality. It seems to be pretty common to get degraded signal at work places due to larger structure sizes as well as more users per cell tower.
Phone Idle is from the voice network, Cell Standby is from the data connection.

Is it normal for Google Play Services to be running in the background always? The gcm and the location service is always on.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

natadecocolococo said:
Is it normal for Google Play Services to be running in the background always? The gcm and the location service is always on.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup
And its worse with location on for sure....battery wise anyway.