[Q] At wit's end with the Tab 3 8.0 battery and Samsung support

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tthoma

Senior Member
Sep 13, 2012
53
1
North Carolina
Have the initial release of the Tab 3 8.0 from last July. I run rooted stock firmware. About 3 months ago I started having issues with the battery - it would not charge past 60-70% most of the time. Yes, I am using the 2A standard charger that came with it and have tried several others and other outlets. The problem occurs most but not all of the time; occasionally I'm able to get it to charge fully.
I've tried reverting to factory settings (ie stock and non rooted and standard recovery)
Reflashing the ROM and carefully managing the first two charge cycles (up to 100, down to 15, up to 100, then normal)
Two online tickets submitted to Samsung have provided the above "helpful" suggestions which I had already tried and told them that I tried.

Installed battery monitor widget and a screenshot is attached (couldn't figure out how, if possible, to export the history) but you can see the salient points. Plugged it in at 15% at about 1015 PM, happily charging until 10:57 PM when it inexplicably stops at 63%...to resume charging at 8:12 AM and it had almost full 99% at about 9:15 when I opened it to use. (I did not touch it during the charge time).

I also installed the Galaxy charging current app/widget. I'm not 100% certain it supports the Tab 3, but the reference current swings wildly - 800mA is the most I've seen with lows of around 160mA.

Is this a hardware or a firmware problem?
How can I narrow it down?
How can I get Samsung to actually listen to me and do a warranty repair before it runs out?
Advice? Thoughts? Exorcisms?
 

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tthoma

Senior Member
Sep 13, 2012
53
1
North Carolina
I called Samsung today and expected a battle, but got them to agree to let me send it in for service. Hopefully they will do more than just reflash it.
 

charlesog

Member
Jan 8, 2013
16
2
I called Samsung today and expected a battle, but got them to agree to let me send it in for service. Hopefully they will do more than just reflash it.

Any update on your situation? I'm interested to hear what happened or is happening?

Sent from my SM-T310 using XDA Premium HD app
 

tthoma

Senior Member
Sep 13, 2012
53
1
North Carolina
You have good timing. I just received it back today. They replaced the internal USB connector, see attached for the replaced parts. Can't comment on the charging performance yet but I'm pleased to see they at least replaced HW.
 

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tthoma

Senior Member
Sep 13, 2012
53
1
North Carolina
Sent it 4/2 and got it back 4/15, so just under 2 weeks (NC to TX and back for what it's worth)

Sent from my SM-T310 using Tapatalk
 

Kejen Kaos

Member
Oct 7, 2013
15
1
The USB is a common problem with these tablets, luckily I haven't had that issue. I had pretty severe battery drainage issues when I first got my T217s in December, but greenify helped significantly. I hibernated a lot of bloatware I was hesitant to remove. If you are confident with messing with your system apps, there are quite a few you can remove safely. I will try and find the guide of system apps that are safe to remove, but use at your own risk. Also, Xposed is amazing. If you have it, you should get the Samsung DVFS Disabler module, it did wonders for me.

Sent from my SM-T217S using xda app-developers app

---------- Post added at 01:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:45 AM ----------

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2258952

http://techspooler.com/guides/remove-bloatware-apps/1868

These aren't exactly specific for the Tab 3, but it is most of Samsung's bloatware and whether safe to remove or not. I hope I helped ya out! If battery drainage isn't an issue it is still fun to mess with your device and try different things, but remember to always make a backup!

Sent from my SM-T217S using xda app-developers app
 

NJ_RAMS_FAN

Senior Member
Sep 28, 2011
885
96
North Bergen, NJ
Sent it 4/2 and got it back 4/15, so just under 2 weeks (NC to TX and back for what it's worth)

Sent from my SM-T310 using Tapatalk

Just got off the phone with samsung. The lady didn't want to hear it till the end. She kept insisting its normal for the tablet not to charge while on and running apps. (WTF). I had to get a bit loud with her. I told what's the point. Then she said I should just charge by tablet while its off.. lol.. ok... she finally gave the ok to send it in. I'm going to get a video of this so they can see I'm not BS. I even told her it doesn't recognized when I connect to the computer.

edit: my just jumped from 49% to 100%.. sending it back. might as well.
 
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    I called Samsung today and expected a battle, but got them to agree to let me send it in for service. Hopefully they will do more than just reflash it.

    interesting. I have the no charging issue. It will charged after I reboot. wonder If I should call samsung to see if they service it. I haven't rooted that one yet.