My 8525 Eats batteries - options?

[kcfried]

Hi all. I just got this 8525 off a former forum user, and it's in fantastic condition. It's running the MRH 8.4 Sun Shower ROM, which of course is running HTC Home and S2U2. I've done nothing to it but remove a couple small programs and install MemMaid.

I've noticed that this beast eats batteries - big time. I pulled it off the charger this morning at 7:15, and after just a few calls, I'm down to 60% in under 3 hours!

Is there anything, short of buying an extended life battery, that I can do to get more life out of this 8525?

[enjoithis]

I acutaly own 3 batteries myself, cycle through them when im out during the day so i always have my phone.

I did see on ebay a bigger battery, i think its twice the capacity of the original one - except you need to use a modified battery door for it to fit.

[kcfried]

Are there any tweaks available to drop CPU/radio usage, or auto-close apps when the phone's locked?

I'm dying here - now I'm at 20-30% and I've made all of 3 calls today - the rest of the time it's been locked on my desk.

I've got wifi set to auto shut off, weather is on manual update only. Not sure what else I can shut down. I don't even have FTouchFlo or S2U2 running - I shut them off.

[kcfried]

Well, I flashed to CRC's v13 last night, then customozed from there with the app updater, and it's much much better on the battery usage. I was able to leave it off the charger all night, and this morning I was sitting at 85%.

However, I made one call this morning that lasted a few minutes and was drained to 75%. Obviously, I need a lower power radio!

How can I find the version of radio, and if I flash it, will I need to reload my CRC ROM?

[ultramag69]

Radio is dependant on area and carrier. In Oz I use 1.54.30.10 on Telstra. I've found it best where I am... It would help to give that information out and maybe someone can help you. I believe zocster did some research on this but I cant remember the thread. Maybe you can pm him to find out...

Cheers...:D

[kcfried]

Thanks for the response. I'm in Kansas City, KS but I bought the phone from a guy in Tuscon, AZ - so it might be good to flash the radio :)

Is it possible to flash the radio without having to reload the ROM? And if I have to reload the ROM, is there a way to back it up first?

Last question - the phone defaults to 3G. If I'm just making calls and not transferring data, would it help to save juice if I switch off 3G as well?

[h2opoloplyr_11]

radio can be loaded by itself! i did it a bunch of times cause i found out that i had 1.18 radio version and i wasnt even getting edge let alone 3g.

go to the comm manager and there should be a 3g icon there. you can turn that off! which gives better signal strength sometimes!

[stevieboy]

ALL 3g phones are power hungry battery eaters,particularly in marginal 3g areas as the radio hunts around and flips from 2 to 3 g.flashing the radio is the singularly most dangerous thing you can do with the phone as it results in the most bricking.
only change the radio if you know there is going to be a pay off.have a peek at the wiki there is a lot of good stuff about radios there.

[ultramag69]

"Flashing the radio is the singularly most dangerous thing you can do with the phone as it results in the most bricking."


This is true.. I'd suggest usng the sd card method to do this as it is safer ( I believe) than using the pc. There is NO chance of a power outage, "accidental" disconnection or pressing of the reset button. In fact the only way I've found to interrupt the flash is to manually reset with the stylus or rip the battery out...

If you don't know how to flash with the sd card method, here goes....

MAKE SURE YOU HARD SPL ON YOUR PHONE....
1. format an sd card (2gb or less) fat32 and copy the .nbh file of the rom you want on it. rename to "hermimg.nbh".
2. insert back into phone and go into bootloader (tri-colour screen) - hold power, ok button above flywheel and reset with stylus. Hold in until you get to bootloader.
3. Follow onscreen prompts. If you have problems look at did you format fat32, is the name of the flash file right.

Make sure you have at least 50% battery power or you may have problems.

Cheers...:D