iPad Battery Discharging

Question

iPad Battery Discharging

HI all,
Anyone had any issues with the iPad battery losing charge quickly? For instance, my iPad lost 12% of its charge (from 100% down to 88%) over a period of 10 hours with the device turned off. I made certain that all wifi and 3G network connections were switched off when I turned the iPad off.

I read a thread here suggesting that GoodReader may be a culprit (for some reason) and have since removed that app. Still waiting for a decent time to elapse before checking battery capacity again to see if that has made any difference.

Did not have this problem when the iPad was 'new', ie a couple of weeks old.

regards
Steve

Two iMac 24in Intel Core2 duo, G5 iMac, Intel Mac Mini, variety of screens., Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Jul 6, 2010 9:54 PM

Reply

Answer 1

red555

Level 4

2,581 points

Jul 7, 2010 7:11 AM in response to Stephen Bruhn

Was your ipad "off" or in "sleep" mode? If you momentarily pressed the sleep button, that does not turn the ipad off.

My sleeping ipad loses 2-3 percent overnight with wifi & 3g on.

I have goodreader and unless you had a bad install, that is probably not the app affecting your ipad.

You could isolate the apps by removing them all and checking the batttery drain when sleeping. If it fixes thte drain, install half of the apps and check it again. Add apps a group at a time to isolate the bad app, if it is indeed an app.

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Answer 2

StevePug2

Level 2

376 points

Jul 7, 2010 1:02 PM in response to Stephen Bruhn

I don't have 3G but I leave the wifi on all the time and my iPad sleeping (not off) doesn't lose a single point of charge in 24 hours. Am I just lucky? I don't know but I would be surprised if apps were allowed to keep running after sleep was engaged. I know some Apple apps do (the iTunes store will continue to download while sleeping), but I'd be surprised if others can do that. But I've been surprised before.

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Answer 3

Jul 7, 2010 2:59 PM in response to StevePug2

Hi guys,
Okay, thanks for that. Guess I was only putting my pad to sleep and not actually turning it off. But still. Stevepug2 says he gets no battery discharge even in sleep mode. Well I definitely don't get that, and I have made sure that wifi and G3 connections are disabled. I checked it again last night and it lost 13percent charge overnight in 10 hours, So i still think that I have a problem. Maybe I need to speak to apple technical support. My wife has the same problem with her iPad as well. This problem has definitely manifested itself in the last week or so.
Anyway. Thank you for your help. Much appreciated. And yes, I did not realize that pressing the top button only put the pad to sleep, not switching it off. I have since read the manual and switched it fully on and off with the red slider.
Cheers.
Steve.

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Answer 4

red555

Level 4

2,581 points

Jul 8, 2010 6:18 AM in response to Stephen Bruhn

Good luck Steve. And please post the final outcome so others can benefit....

Thanks.

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Answer 5

Jul 8, 2010 8:23 AM in response to red555

I get almost no battery discharge overnight in sleep mode, so 12% in 10 hours seems odd. Perhaps you should reverify that.

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Answer 6

KenW418

Level 1

8 points

Jul 8, 2010 12:26 PM in response to Stephen Bruhn

I have the same problem. I did not have that initially. For the 3 weeks, this has been happening. I have to turn it off to conserve battery

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Answer 7

Jul 8, 2010 2:52 PM in response to KenW418

Hi everyone. I definitely have a partial answer to the battery drain issue. Last night I turned the pad off, then back on and then put it to sleep. In the morning, after 10 hours, there was virtually no change in the battery state ie. no battery discharge. I believe this has something to do with one of my apps that is still running somehow. I am going to isolate which one it is using a previous suggestion for removing half at a time.
It is clear that turning the pad off stopped all apps from running. I am thinking now that it may be a map/gps app that is causing the problem.
I think the only way to prove it is to switch the pad completely off, then back on, but do not activate any apps at all. Just put the pad to sleep and check the battery capacity some hours later.
Will report back and then hopefully the offending app can be identified and the developers and the rest of the community made aware of this problem.
Regards.
Steve.

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Answer 8

StevePug2

Level 2

376 points

Jul 8, 2010 8:03 PM in response to Stephen Bruhn

Also, sometimes a software glitch causes a battery calibration problem. Rebooting the iPad (which you did when you performed the "slide to power off" thing) often corrects this problem. You can also try the even lower level reset reboot which is attained by holding down the Home button together with the side on/off button for about 15 seconds until you see the Apple logo on screen (you have to hold them down through that "Slide to power off" notice) then let go. That reboot resets every possible thing on the iPad that can be reset yet does nothing to program data or apps. Solves virtually 99% of all problems.

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Answer 9

Sooz2010

Level 1

0 points

Mar 19, 2011 3:55 AM in response to Stephen Bruhn

My iPad went from 100% to 39% from 8am this morning (it is 8.50pm now). All I have been doing is surfing web, checking mail and playing plants v's zombies on and off. I am annoyed and apple are getting a call from me about replacing it. It is 4 months old. I charge and discharge my battery according to the apple website so do not understand why its battery life has deteriorated so rapidly. Not happy with it at all and feel I wasted my money.

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Answer 10

Mar 19, 2011 3:50 PM in response to Sooz2010

Not sure why you are so upset. You used your device for 12 hours off and on, and still have almost 40% battery left. You would be surprised how much longer you have left.

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Answer 11

Sooz2010

Level 1

0 points

Mar 19, 2011 4:24 PM in response to ncsuboner

I am upset because I used to get DAYS out of one charge not hours. Within an hour after posting my last message here it dropped to 23% so now can you understand why I am annoyed. I may have said the time frame was 12 hours but I certainly wasn't using it the whole 12 hours straight. I was out half the day and even while it was asleep it drained (which you expect but not that much).
Will recharge it and see what happens again.....

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Answer 12

Apr 13, 2011 1:56 PM in response to Sooz2010

My iPad had 42% charge when I went to bed last night and was completely drained over night.

This must be a flaw of the iOS 1.4.3 system as it use to happily last a week without needing to charge before that.

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Answer 13

Apfelwurm

Level 4

1,717 points

Apr 13, 2011 2:19 PM in response to Honeycroft

Did you turn the iPad off or merely put it into sleep mode?
In sleep mode there could possibly be an app running in the background draining the battery.

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Answer 14

Philly_Phan

Level 7

20,707 points

Apr 13, 2011 2:52 PM in response to Stephen Bruhn

Stephen Bruhn wrote:
HI all,
Anyone had any issues with the iPad battery losing charge quickly? For instance, my iPad lost 12% of its charge (from 100% down to 88%) over a period of 10 hours with the device turned off. I made certain that all wifi and 3G network connections were switched off when I turned the iPad off.

I read a thread here suggesting that GoodReader may be a culprit (for some reason) and have since removed that app. Still waiting for a decent time to elapse before checking battery capacity again to see if that has made any difference.

Did not have this problem when the iPad was 'new', ie a couple of weeks old.

regards
Steve

Using the battery level indicator to predict charge life is comparable to using your car's gas gauge to calculate fuel efficiency. Instead, charge overnight using the charger that came with the iPad. Do NOT use an iPhone or an iPod charger. Then, use the iPad until it shuts down automatically. Ignore any low voltage alert messages. How much total operating time did you get?

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Answer 15

Apr 13, 2011 11:31 PM in response to Apfelwurm

It was in sleep mode and no apps were running in background.

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