Phone battery goes rapidly up and then back down. Also have a question about power bricks.

[RandomRestore]

So here is my issue. While I'm using my phone, the battery starts to decay at a normal speed. Once it's at a percentage(usually under 80% or 70%) and I briefly make my phone go to sleep, then poof, the battery percentage immediately increases(ex 34% to 69%). Then after a while of usage or another while of sleep, it returns to it's previous state(67% to 32%, removed some percentage due to usage). Can someone tell me why is this happening, and whether I can fix this or not?

 

My phone is the BLU Studio X8 HD, which I just bought new two weeks ago from Amazon.

Link: 

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B01FS0AAZG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474204758&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40

 

I also have a question about power bricks. So my phone uses a 5 watt power brick. On Kijiji, there is someone selling an used Apple IPad 2 power brick(basically a 10 watt power brick). So basically, if I use the Apple power brick, my phone will charge faster(well I think at least). I just want to know if it is safe to use a 10 watt charger for a phone designed for only 5 watts and whether any potential problems may arise.

 

If you require more information to give a response(I.e. I can give the voltages and such or both power bricks), simply request it.

 

Thanks for reading, and helping me out. 

[Zyndo]

Battery gauges on phones aren't really a measure of "energy remaining"... rather, they are a calculated guess of "time remaining until you are out of energy". There isn't really a effective way for the phone to measure its actual remaining batter power, so it does these calculations based on the current amount of energy being used, based on the amount of the energy it received from your charger when last you charged, and so on. This is why your phone can be a 1 or 2% batter life for a very lone time, or why you can suddenly run out very quickly when you're not looking. So when you suddenly change the amount of power your phone uses by a significant amount, it has to rebalance the equation, which causes you phone to think it has less remaining battery......

 

.....or some nonsense like that. I dunno, someone explained it to me like that one time. I don't do phones.... ASK ME ABOUT GPU'S BRAH!

[Mr.Meerkat]

The first question I can't help as if it was a older phone that you've had for some time then the ovbious thing to do is to get a new battery but it's a new phone so IDK

 

9 minutes ago, RandomRestore said:

I also have a question about power bricks. So my phone uses a 5 watt power brick. On Kijiji, there is someone selling an used Apple IPad 2 power brick(basically a 10 watt power brick). So basically, if I use the Apple power brick, my phone will charge faster(well I think at least). I just want to know if it is safe to use a 10 watt charger for a phone designed for only 5 watts and whether any potential problems may arise.

The iPad charger is just a 5v 2a charger where it's probably fine to use with your phone . If your phone doesn't like that much current then the power brick doesn't have to supply it with 2 amps all the time...that's just it's maximum rated output you know  

[RandomRestore]

5 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

Battery gauges on phones aren't really a measure of "energy remaining"... rather, they are a calculated guess of "time remaining until you are out of energy". There isn't really a effective way for the phone to measure its actual remaining batter power, so it does these calculations based on the current amount of energy being used, based on the amount of the energy it received from your charger when last you charged, and so on. This is why your phone can be a 1 or 2% batter life for a very lone time, or why you can suddenly run out very quickly when you're not looking. So when you suddenly change the amount of power your phone uses by a significant amount, it has to rebalance the equation, which causes you phone to think it has less remaining battery......

 

.....or some nonsense like that. I dunno, someone explained it to me like that one time. I don't do phones.... ASK ME ABOUT GPU'S BRAH!

Alright, thanks for explaining, I thought that my battery was defective or something.

 

Do you know if it would be safe for my phone to use an Apple IPad 10 watt charger?

[Plavi]

It is correct, when you are using your phone for something demanding like playing pokemon GO, your phone will not show the actual percentage of the battery remaining but the percentage that is estimated if you continue to do something demanding. Once you stop doing demanding things, your phone will then calculate the actual remaining battery that is remaining if tge phone remains in a low power consumption state. 

 

To answer the power brick question, I would not recommend using a more powerfull power brick than is intended for the phone. It could cause damage. But I am not exactly sure. 

 

Hope this helps.

[Zyndo]

Just now, RandomRestore said:

Do you know if it would be safe for my phone to use an Apple IPad 10 watt charger?

not a clue.

 

I know one time when I was doing some cable management near my computer with my routers and power cables and all that sort of thing i accidentally plugged the wrong brick back into my router and saw some blue smoke come out of it and it started smelling funny. Never worked after that. (best 50 bucks I ever threw away lol)

 

That being said, there are a lot of phones and chargers that advertise being able to take more energy when charging. this can lead to reduced battery life, and damage if used long term, but if used occasionally here and there its usually not a big deal. But I would just recommend using the charger that came with your phone. There is pretty much no downside to doing so.

[RandomRestore]

7 minutes ago, Plavi said:

It is correct, when you are using your phone for something demanding like playing pokemon GO, your phone will not show the actual percentage of the battery remaining but the percentage that is estimated if you continue to do something demanding. Once you stop doing demanding things, your phone will then calculate the actual remaining battery that is remaining if tge phone remains in a low power consumption state. 

 

To answer the power brick question, I would not recommend using a more powerfull power brick than is intended for the phone. It could cause damage. But I am not exactly sure. 

 

Hope this helps.

Alright, thanks for the reply. It helps a lot.

[MrDrWho13]

Hi, 

What are the volt and amp ratings on each charger?

You should be able to get more accurate battery percentages by calibrating the battery. As others say, it just take a guess of how much power is remaining, so you calibrate it by running it to 0% then charging to 100%.

[RandomRestore]

10 minutes ago, Mr.Meerkat said:

The first question I can't help as if it was a older phone that you've had for some time then the ovbious thing to do is to get a new battery but it's a new phone so IDK

 

The iPad charger is just a 5v 2a charger where it's probably fine to use with your phone . If your phone doesn't like that much current then the power brick doesn't have to supply it with 2 amps all the time...that's just it's maximum rated output you know  

Alright, I might try this method later on, but do you know if it would actually charge faster? Since I heard that Apple chargers are designed for Apple phones, so they would provide a better charge for them vs. other USB devices.

[Mr.Meerkat]

Just now, RandomRestore said:

Alright, I might try this method later on, but do you know if it would actually charge faster? Since I heard that Apple chargers are designed for Apple phones, so they would provide a better charge for them vs. other USB devices.

It will work and it will charge faster assuming the power controller in your phone doesn't mind the extra current  

[RandomRestore]

9 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

not a clue.

 

I know one time when I was doing some cable management near my computer with my routers and power cables and all that sort of thing i accidentally plugged the wrong brick back into my router and saw some blue smoke come out of it and it started smelling funny. Never worked after that. (best 50 bucks I ever threw away lol)

 

That being said, there are a lot of phones and chargers that advertise being able to take more energy when charging. this can lead to reduced battery life, and damage if used long term, but if used occasionally here and there its usually not a big deal. But I would just recommend using the charger that came with your phone. There is pretty much no downside to doing so.

Alright, thanks for the advice.

[RandomRestore]

28 minutes ago, MrDrWho13 said:

Hi, 

What are the volt and amp ratings on each charger?

You should be able to get more accurate battery percentages by calibrating the battery. As others say, it just take a guess of how much power is remaining, so you calibrate it by running it to 0% then charging to 100%.

Hey, thanks for the advice. I will be sure to calibrate my phone battery once I have time. As for the volts and amp ratings, I've attached pictures of their full ratings(I don't know too much about volts and amps, sorry).

 

BTW, the BLU power brick is my phone's original power brick, and the Apple one is the 10 watt power brick.

[RandomRestore]

27 minutes ago, Mr.Meerkat said:

It will work and it will charge faster assuming the power controller in your phone doesn't mind the extra current  

Alright, I will further research this matter, thank you.

[MrDrWho13]

Yeah I think you could use the other charger, but I don't think it's worth spending much money on a 2A charger since it won't charge much faster. It's not like fast-charging found on Samsung phones etc. If the phone is only designed to charge at 1A, it will pull 1A from the 2A charger which doesn't case any problems. (Unlike another person mentioned where they probably plugged in a power brick of a different voltage). These are both 5V chargers which is part of the USB Spec.

[RandomRestore]

36 minutes ago, MrDrWho13 said:

Yeah I think you could use the other charger, but I don't think it's worth spending much money on a 2A charger since it won't charge much faster. It's not like fast-charging found on Samsung phones etc. If the phone is only designed to charge at 1A, it will pull 1A from the 2A charger which doesn't case any problems. (Unlike another person mentioned where they probably plugged in a power brick of a different voltage). These are both 5V chargers which is part of the USB Spec.

Alright, thanks. One more question, how much faster do you think the 10 watt charger will be? Like percentage or minutes-wise.

[MrDrWho13]

Just now, RandomRestore said:

Alright, thanks. One more question, how much faster do you think the 10 watt charger will be? Like percentage or minutes-wise.

I would say maybe 1.5 times faster, but that's just a guess and I have no evidence to back that up. That's if the phone can draw 2A. (Otherwise it will still be pulling 1A and charging at the same speed).

[RandomRestore]

3 hours ago, MrDrWho13 said:

I would say maybe 1.5 times faster, but that's just a guess and I have no evidence to back that up. That's if the phone can draw 2A. (Otherwise it will still be pulling 1A and charging at the same speed).

Thanks for your response.

[RandomRestore]

7 hours ago, Zyndo said:

Battery gauges on phones aren't really a measure of "energy remaining"... rather, they are a calculated guess of "time remaining until you are out of energy". There isn't really a effective way for the phone to measure its actual remaining batter power, so it does these calculations based on the current amount of energy being used, based on the amount of the energy it received from your charger when last you charged, and so on. This is why your phone can be a 1 or 2% batter life for a very lone time, or why you can suddenly run out very quickly when you're not looking. So when you suddenly change the amount of power your phone uses by a significant amount, it has to rebalance the equation, which causes you phone to think it has less remaining battery......

 

.....or some nonsense like that. I dunno, someone explained it to me like that one time. I don't do phones.... ASK ME ABOUT GPU'S BRAH!

 

7 hours ago, Plavi said:

It is correct, when you are using your phone for something demanding like playing pokemon GO, your phone will not show the actual percentage of the battery remaining but the percentage that is estimated if you continue to do something demanding. Once you stop doing demanding things, your phone will then calculate the actual remaining battery that is remaining if tge phone remains in a low power consumption state. 

 

To answer the power brick question, I would not recommend using a more powerfull power brick than is intended for the phone. It could cause damage. But I am not exactly sure. 

 

Hope this helps.

Hey guys, sorry to bother you all, but what my phone just did was while I was web browsing on my phone it was at 11%, then after a while, I wake it up and start browsing the web again and it magically goes all the way to 42%. Is this normal?

 

[Zyndo]

7 minutes ago, RandomRestore said:

 

Hey guys, sorry to bother you all, but what my phone just did was while I was web browsing on my phone it was at 11%, then after a while, I wake it up and start browsing the web again and it magically goes all the way to 42%. Is this normal?

 

well your battery isn't suddenly generation energy from nothing. you probably had some background programs running, or wifi or bluetooth or some other thing running on your phone that wasn't present when you turned it back on when you turned it off.

 

 

If you're that paranoid about it, take it into a phone shop and ask them. they will know the answer.

[RandomRestore]

24 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

well your battery isn't suddenly generation energy from nothing. you probably had some background programs running, or wifi or bluetooth or some other thing running on your phone that wasn't present when you turned it back on when you turned it off.

 

 

If you're that paranoid about it, take it into a phone shop and ask them. they will know the answer.

Would I need to pay to get them to tell me? Or are there any tools or instructions that I can follow online that you know of?

 

Thanks for reading.

[Zyndo]

Just now, RandomRestore said:

Would I need to pay to get them to tell me? Or are there any tools or instructions that I can follow online that you know of?

 

Thanks for reading.

well it depends. usually basic operation is free (assuming these are the people you bought the phone from). but if you want them to take it, work on it, diagnose it, see if there is a problem, if there is a problem then fix the problem..... that will probably cost some money. but if you go in and ask them why your phone battery is jumping all over the place they will probably give you a similar answer to what you've seen here.

[RandomRestore]

Just now, Zyndo said:

well it depends. usually basic operation is free (assuming these are the people you bought the phone from). but if you want them to take it, work on it, diagnose it, see if there is a problem, if there is a problem then fix the problem..... that will probably cost some money. but if you go in and ask them why your phone battery is jumping all over the place they will probably give you a similar answer to what you've seen here.

If I bought my phone from Amazon, would I just type out a review or of the like?

[Zyndo]

2 minutes ago, RandomRestore said:

If I bought my phone from Amazon, would I just type out a review or of the like?

if you bought it online then just take it in to whomever your service provider is. whoever you pay your monthly cell phone bill to. They will probably have the answer you seek and probably wont mind since you are already a customer.

[RandomRestore]

4 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

if you bought it online then just take it in to whomever your service provider is. whoever you pay your monthly cell phone bill to. They will probably have the answer you seek and probably wont mind since you are already a customer.

My service provider isn't really all that well known and is owned my an convenience store, so I don't really expect them to know, but I will just be browsing the web for answers and solutions.

 

Thanks for your help.