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Thomas Mastin Author

Level 2

279 points

Cycle the Battery!!

NOTE: I posted this message on another thread, but I feel that this advice is so important that it belongs in a thread by itself.
__________________________________________________________

I have had my iPhone since day one. Of course, I took it home and immediately activated it. I did leave it connected to the computer (and umounted) for several hours before using it. After that, I didn't pay any more attention to the battery. I charged it every night.

I then began reading articles about people complaining about the battery, especially the battery meter. They complained that some iPhones are not charging fully. They said that when the iPhone is fully charged, the battery meter (the meter you see when iPhone is connected to the USB Dock charger) should be green all the way across and should also be "glowing."

That is when I noticed that my battery was NOT fully charging. The large battery meter was green ALMOST all the way across, but not quite. There was just a little sliver of the meter that was not green. Also the meter was not "glowing" when fully charged.

The articles I read seemed to suggest that the problem was software releated and not the actual battery, so I really didn't give the problem much thought. But then, I talked to a Mac Genius buddy who insisted that I cycle the battery.

I followed his instructions which I will detail below:

1.) I ran the battery all the way down until iPhone shut itself off (this is a safety feature and will not harm the battery).

2.) I charged the battery fully (about 8 hours, although 4 would have been sufficient). I also powered the iPhone off after connecting it to the dock charger.

3.) The next morning, I took the iPhone off the charger and left it turned off. I let it sit for about 8 hours turned off in order to set the resistance level of the battery.

4.) I ran the battery all the way down again last night.

5.) I gave it a second complete charge while I slept last night. This morning, I have a fully charged battery AND the battery meter is green all the way across and is glowing!!!

24" iMac 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo & 500 MHz Titanium PowerBook G4 15", Mac OS X (10.4.10), iMac: 2GB DDR2 RAM, Matshita Superdrive. PowerBook: 512 MB RAM, Matshita DVD-RAM

Posted on Jul 25, 2007 6:55 AM

34 replies

Thomas Mastin Author

Level 2

279 points

Jul 26, 2007 2:23 PM in response to LawrenceF

Thanks LawrenceF,

I should clarify that I am not compaining about the battery LIFE in any way, just the fact that the indicator does not correctly indicate a full charge.

There were some other posters on this thread that state that if you unplug iPhone and plug it back in several times, the indicator will magically give you a full charge reading.

I have not tried this, but if it happens again I will. If that works, then we are definitely talking about a software bug in the UI.

In any case, cycling the battery ONCE will not hurt the battery and is probably a good idea. I would not cycle the battery again (at least not for several months) unless you start experiencing diminished battery life.

All in all, I am quite impressed with iPhone's battery life. I am not a "chatty cathy" by any means, but with normal usage during the week (a few calls, checking email and reading my favorite blogs - Fake Steve, ahem) I get TWO DAYS out of my battery. I usually charge it every other night during the week. On the weekends when I use the phone more, I might charge it every night.

I doubt there is another "smart phone" (eg Blackberry, Palm or Windoze) that can touch iPhone's battery life, especially when you take into consideration the elegant UI and giant beautiful touch screen that blows all those other crappy phones out of the water.

Namaste!

Thomas Mastin Author

Level 2

279 points

Jul 26, 2007 2:27 PM in response to AndyO

Thanks for the vote of confidence, AndyO.

Thomas Mastin Author

Level 2

279 points

Jul 26, 2007 2:34 PM in response to Trifster

Trifster,

I agree that the problem of the battery meter not indicating a full charge is most likely a bug in the UI. There have been several articles relating to this.

But I wondered why some people (myself included) were having the issue while others are not. The software is the same on all iPhones, so if one person is having the problem, all the others should too.

I think it is rather strange that, after properly cycling the battery and setting the resistance, I am now getting a fully charged indication from the battery meter. It very well could be a bug, but I still think everyone should cycle their batteries when they are new. That's just good preventive maintenance. What could it hurt?

Namaste!

Jul 26, 2007 2:35 PM in response to Thomas Mastin

I don't have battery issues and I never noticed the battery glowing after a full charge, I know when my battery is fully charged when the small battery icon on the top right corner goes from the charging (lightning bolt) icon to the fully charged (plug) icon.

Thomas Mastin Author

Level 2

279 points

Jul 26, 2007 2:41 PM in response to Steven Ng

Steven NG,

What we are talking about here is the large battery icon you see when waking the iPhone when it is on the dock. If the battery is completely charged, you will see the entire battery icon (from one end to the other) full green. Also the battery icon will have a flourescent (or nuclear) glow.

In my case, I was not getting this. The battery icon was almost completely green except for a small sliver that was not green. Also, no glow.

Check this and see if you are having the same issue. You might try undocking and docking the phone a few times to see if that resolves the issue as others have suggested.

However, I would still recommend all iPhone owners cycle their battery once for good preventive maintenance.

Namaste!

Jul 26, 2007 2:41 PM in response to Trifster

For the record, my concern with the battery charge is not the elusive green glow. It is that I cannot get the battery usage and standby indicators in the settings to work.

Trifster

Level 1

50 points

Jul 26, 2007 2:43 PM in response to Thomas Mastin

Maybe I am an optimist. One thing I noticed is that the unread message count in my email often is -1, -2 or some other negative number. simple programming mistakes using counters, etc. I would think that some assumptions went into the battery charge calulations and they need to fix those initial assumptions.

Jul 26, 2007 2:46 PM in response to Thomas Mastin

"Also the battery icon will have a flourescent (or nuclear) glow."

Interesting, I'll have to try it out.

Tedsterr

Level 1

20 points

Jul 26, 2007 3:29 PM in response to Steven Ng

Never trust a meter/guage/indicator to necessarily correctly reflect the underlying thing that is being measured or quantified. This holds particularly true with a rechargeable battery/charger that is new and unused.

The green battery indicator will have a small lightning bold symbol to show that it is charging. When it is indicating fully charged, the symbol will change to an electric plug, to show that external power is applied. The statistics data will then update approx. at that time.

Jul 27, 2007 10:31 AM in response to Tedsterr

I have completed my second round of complete discharge and recharge.

It did not help my problem. My usage indicators still do not work.

Jul 27, 2007 11:03 AM in response to Thomas Mastin

I'm going out on a limb here and am going to make a social commentary:

This thread is a very good window on to the state of our world today.

We obsess on slivers of uncharged icons and the lack of nuclear glows. For what? You spent 16 hours of your limited life (that's just what you documented) on this "problem."

Ironically, one poster gave an answer that takes less than 30 seconds to solve.

We Americans are not satisfied until we have milked 100% out of everything and exploited every software "feature."

Now, I will be the first to admit that I am one to call the kettle black--I have spent about an hour reading and posting to this topic.

I had a few good laughs, though.

As Forest Gump says: "That's all I'm going to say about that."

Be good,

David

joeuu

Level 5

5,089 points

Jul 27, 2007 11:24 AM in response to David Matthews5

Aw come on David, you know too that everything must be someone elses fault! (;>)

You must have loved that thread debating whether and why the 4gB iPhone weighed more or less than the 8gB iPhone?

Joe

Jul 27, 2007 11:41 AM in response to joeuu

No, it's really all about me--I caused the battery icon issue and I take the blame fully. :~)

I guess I'm getting a bit misanthropic and curmudgeonly in my old age.

I didn't see the one about the weight issue--do the added electrons make it weigh more?

Take care,

d.

Oct 8, 2007 12:44 AM in response to Thomas Mastin

Hi Thomas,
I've ready your thread about cycling the battery because it sounded that we shared the same problem with the "halo effect". I followed your steps correctly twice, except the first time I didn't know you had to turn off WiFi to get a longer charge until I read another post. So I ran the battery down again and followed your steps only to find out that I was still not getting the "Halo Effect". Also my iPhone seems to freeze and the screen goes black or white or the screen freezes and the only way to clear it is by restarting. It would be great if you could help me with the problem(s).

Dave

Oct 8, 2007 4:54 AM in response to Thomas Mastin

I took my phone in yesterday exactly for this reason. I let it drain all yesterday after taking it in then letting it completely die before plugging it in to the wall charger. I went to bed and this morning woke up and it was only about 80% full, but the top corner battery said it was fully charged. I got up and walked it over to the computer and plugged it in. Right when I plugged it in, the battery indicator jumped all the way up until there was only about a sliver missing as mentioned in this post. I let it charge and it still gives the full battery icon, but a little sliver is missing on the main battery indicator. I read here that people thought this would clear up after the new update; however, I have updated and restored this iPhone and I am still receiving the same problems. You guy have any ideas?

Cycle the Battery!!