For tabs with battery drainage problem... or how to calibrate

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mahouny

New member
Feb 9, 2016
2
1
Check the battery connector's solder joints. ...

This is old topic, however I would like to wrote for those of you who have the problem with incorrect battery reading, extremely fast battery drain,sudden battery charge level drop....

The problem is caused by cracked (broken) soldering joints of battery connector !!!

I've ecountered all above problems for almost one month on my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 P600, so I replaced the battery, but that didn't fix the problem.
Until the day when I wanted to disconnect the battery to do "battery calibration"

And then I saw that the connector is slightly lifted up when I started unplug the battery.
When I looked to the solder joints with the magnifying glass, I saw that they are cracked.
That created a faulty contact and all above problems with battery charging and level gauge reading.

Fortunately, I have the soldering iron with very small tips, so I applied some amount of flux to connector pins and re soldered them.

The problem is fixed now !
The tablet is working again, as before. With the battery drain between 8 and 10% per hour, when browsing the Web, watching youtube and so on.

Don't forget to unplug your battery first!
And when you will do it, slightly press on battery connector which is soldered to PCB, so you will not tear it appart from the PCB.

Best regards
 
Last edited:
J

jasperkemmp123

New member
Mar 14, 2016
1
0
Vlad_z said:
I want to give you guys updates on my findings regarding fuel gauge chip Samsung is using in our tabs.

It's MAX17042. I spend lots of time looking for datasheet but cannot find it. I found some very similar chip but still not exact. It looks like this chip was specially designed for Samsung by Maxim. So any further knowledge was derived from looking at various drivers for different Samsung devices.

Ok, looks like max17042 is utilizing combination of coulomb-counter with impedance tracking algorithm. What does it practically mean?

There is "quick start"/"quick charge estimate" software function but it's not accessible without special cable or kernel software change. If someone wants to try this I can elaborate on that more.

What can we do without any special thingy?

Tab needs to be at rest (turned off) for at least an hour when its empty and then when it charged back. This will let chip to make 2 open circuit voltage measurements.

How to make sure that tab is discharged enough for calibration to take the place? If capacity is off big time then gauge may report SOC 30% but in the fact battery is in 70%, so chip will not execute calibration procedure.

The most sure way to check this is in terminal, execute this command:

cat /sys/class/power_supply/battery/voltage_now

or through adb:

adb shell cat /sys/class/power_supply/battery/voltage_now

your good discharged start point should be anything below 3700 (3.7V). If your tab is telling that you have 0% capacity but voltage is more then 3700 then keep rebooting tab (this will refresh counter for a moment) or just boot in CWM and let tab run/sit there for some time.

Then charge it with power adapter to 100%, you can check voltage at this point - should be around 4100, usually you should be good.

Then shutdown tab for another hour or two.

That's it. You should be good now unless you are still using certain custom kernels.


PS: I have heard cases when SOC miscalculation occurred on totally stock devices, well, I have no explanation for that, but with custom kernels which allow to charge through USB cable - there is a code path to write wrong data into remaining capacity counter stored in the fuel gauge chip.

After it happens and even when you are back on stock kernel then it will take some time for the chip to slowly correct itself or you need to force recalibration outlined above.

Btw, resent custom kernel (from pershoot) does not include charging by USB functionality. Well, there is nothing wrong with that idea. It just Samsung implementation of charging algorithm is not good if such function will be allowed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Hi Vlad, in terminal, my voltage level seems to increase while the battery level goes down. Also it reads 3716000 instead of say 3716 . Is this right? Thanks in advance
 
M

mixend1981

New member
Apr 13, 2016
2
0
Have anyone tried this on tab s 8.4(sm t705)? Mine is charging and draining very quickly like 35% in 50 min so I am just considering to give it a try before opening the tab to check the loose battery connector.
 
U

UncleMarty

Member
May 28, 2016
23
6
Just wanted to post my thanks. I'm using a custom marshmallow aosp rom and my battery totally went crazy. With screen on lowest and just surfing on chrome my battery was going down even plugged in to the stock 2 amp charger, cpu clocked down, virtually everything greenifyied. I used this method yesterday/last night and since doing so I've been testing by playing with screen on full, plugged into charger and heavy games and my battery has sat at 100%, unplugged it went down by a couple of percent (which was great). My battery problem has totally gone! Thanks so much for posting this!!!
 
I

immzy

Member
Dec 29, 2014
7
0
Samsung Tab 337a

I have samsung tab sm-t337a, the problem is with my tab that it takes longer to charge while discharging is a bit quick then expected so do i have to try this method of calibration as mentioned in this thread. Also to mention that i am using completely stock firmware, kernel etc haven't modified my tab a bit since i got it.
 
T

test3343

New member
Dec 10, 2017
1
0
The confusion about why the battery level drops quickly when running apps, but drops very slowly (1-2% per hour) when idling has little to do with battery calibration. It has something to do with high battery internal resistance.

When the load is light (low current), the voltage largely reflects the state of charging: 4.2V means 100%, 3.2V means 0%. However, as soon as the load is heavy (high current), the voltage will drop by (high current x high internal resistance). Because voltage is the only indicator of charging/discharging, and it's never safe to discharge below 3.0V, the circuit will mask a rapid drop of battery level when load is heavy.

High internal resistance is a sign of either battery aging (too old) or battery quality issue. This is not something you can calibrate away. You must replace the battery or struggle with the strange behaviors.

But I really appreciate the efforts vald_z puts in to figure out how to calibrate without root access.

For people to see the voltage drop under heavy load, install android app like battery doctor. It has a page that shows the current battery voltage, and the remaining capacity and estimate overall capacity. You can play with screen brightness to see the voltage drops as much as 0.3V or more.

Too bad Samsung has made this a living hell for the customers.
 
U

UncleMarty

Member
May 28, 2016
23
6
test3343 said:
The confusion about why the battery level drops quickly when running apps, but drops very slowly (1-2% per hour) when idling has little to do with battery calibration. It has something to do with high battery internal resistance.

When the load is light (low current), the voltage largely reflects the state of charging: 4.2V means 100%, 3.2V means 0%. However, as soon as the load is heavy (high current), the voltage will drop by (high current x high internal resistance). Because voltage is the only indicator of charging/discharging, and it's never safe to discharge below 3.0V, the circuit will mask a rapid drop of battery level when load is heavy.

High internal resistance is a sign of either battery aging (too old) or battery quality issue. This is not something you can calibrate away. You must replace the battery or struggle with the strange behaviors.

But I really appreciate the efforts vald_z puts in to figure out how to calibrate without root access.

For people to see the voltage drop under heavy load, install android app like battery doctor. It has a page that shows the current battery voltage, and the remaining capacity and estimate overall capacity. You can play with screen brightness to see the voltage drops as much as 0.3V or more.

Too bad Samsung has made this a living hell for the customers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Interesting post and a good read. Nothing personal but im a fact check whore so i dont suppose you have a link that supports what you wrote in some way and might give me even more insight? It sounds like you have some good electronics experience and id love to save myself lots of googling if you have something handy ;)
 
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    Vlad_z
    I've got this problem with my tab (quick battery drainage). Symptoms would be your 100% charged tab would go down to 0% in unusual shorter time ( like 2-4 hours). You put it on charger and tab would be charged back to 100% again in substantial short time like 2-3 hours instead of 6-7 hours.

    Well, after looking at this issue I think I have come up with solution.
    At least, my tab looks like it's back on track... though, to say for sure I would need another couple days of testing.

    The problem is not runaway wild application on a background but battery control circuit. This chip reports to OS much smaller battery capacity as it is for some reason. I will not go into details but here is what you need to try:

    Flash stock kernel (may be custom kernel is not the reason for bad chip calibration and I'm 90% positive but just to be on safe side). You don't need to do factory wipe in OEM recovery for our purpose.

    You also don't need to wipe batterystats.bin or use "Battery Calibration" apps from market (which does exactly the same wipe just in more end user friendly way). This wipe serves no other purpose then refreshing your usage statistics.

    You also don't need to drain your battery all way down... nice, this way you don't have to wait for too long.

    Well, here we go:

    charge tab somewhere in between 80 and 100%.
    edit: remove charger
    shutdown tab (not put in hibernate/sleep) for 1 hour.
    edit: turn tab on and run it for 30-40 min. or whatever it takes to drop charge to 40-50%.
    shutdown tab again for 5 hours (overnight).

    turn tab again and check... you should be fine now, charge it again 100% and use as usual.

    That should do correct chip calibration.


    PS: the reason why this chip calibration went bad at the first still remains open.



    EDIT: just want to give a shortcut for those who does not feel like reading through the thread.

    http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=16771651&postcount=41

    Edit: here is calibration procedure which was modified down this thread ...

    1. in CWM/recovery let it sit till battery in terminal will show less then 3700. The less you can get it the better. 3400 is probably absolute minimum.

    2. shut down tab and let it sit for 1 hour.

    3. plug it to charger and charge it for 5 hours.

    4. disconnected charger and let it sit for 1 hour.

    5. boot up your tab and test it, it your battery still not calibrated you can flash back your backup and repeat calibration procedure.

    Edit: if you physically disconnect battery (you have to disassemble tablet) and keep it for couple min. that would trigger FG chip to start with default SOC curve.
    View
    17
    V
    Vlad_z
    I want to give you guys updates on my findings regarding fuel gauge chip Samsung is using in our tabs.

    It's MAX17042. I spend lots of time looking for datasheet but cannot find it. I found some very similar chip but still not exact. It looks like this chip was specially designed for Samsung by Maxim. So any further knowledge was derived from looking at various drivers for different Samsung devices.

    Ok, looks like max17042 is utilizing combination of coulomb-counter with impedance tracking algorithm. What does it practically mean?

    There is "quick start"/"quick charge estimate" software function but it's not accessible without special cable or kernel software change. If someone wants to try this I can elaborate on that more.

    What can we do without any special thingy?

    Tab needs to be at rest (turned off) for at least an hour when its empty and then when it charged back. This will let chip to make 2 open circuit voltage measurements.

    How to make sure that tab is discharged enough for calibration to take the place? If capacity is off big time then gauge may report SOC 30% but in the fact battery is in 70%, so chip will not execute calibration procedure.

    The most sure way to check this is in terminal, execute this command:

    cat /sys/class/power_supply/battery/voltage_now

    or through adb:

    adb shell cat /sys/class/power_supply/battery/voltage_now

    your good discharged start point should be anything below 3700 (3.7V). If your tab is telling that you have 0% capacity but voltage is more then 3700 then keep rebooting tab (this will refresh counter for a moment) or just boot in CWM and let tab run/sit there for some time.

    Then charge it with power adapter to 100%, you can check voltage at this point - should be around 4100, usually you should be good.

    Then shutdown tab for another hour or two.

    That's it. You should be good now unless you are still using certain custom kernels.


    PS: I have heard cases when SOC miscalculation occurred on totally stock devices, well, I have no explanation for that, but with custom kernels which allow to charge through USB cable - there is a code path to write wrong data into remaining capacity counter stored in the fuel gauge chip.

    After it happens and even when you are back on stock kernel then it will take some time for the chip to slowly correct itself or you need to force recalibration outlined above.

    Btw, resent custom kernel (from pershoot) does not include charging by USB functionality. Well, there is nothing wrong with that idea. It just Samsung implementation of charging algorithm is not good if such function will be allowed.
    View
    3
    P
    pershoot
    Evan2ac said:
    I agree. The problem is the devs refuse to to add a disclaimer of the issues. Im sure if some of the people in this thread knew flashing other kernels and ROMs would cause this battery damage (which it does as statistics dont lie) they wouldnt do it.

    If you can do anything to help protect people from this issue it would be to state a clear disclaimer of this issue in all aftermarket kernel and ROM threads. Why is this not being done? :confused: You cant argue with the dozens of people here who have gotten this issue after they flashed ROM/ kernel.

    Be aware that I know you may not value me or my tablet but I ask for you to value others as they spent their hard working money on these tablets and it hurts me to see their units become crippled like this.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    exactly. you spend your money, and we make it multiply overnight. we do things the manufacturer wouldn't dream of doing (sometimes), and/or did not implement. you get to see development right before your eyes and be a part of something great in the making. for example, if i didnt value everyone's tabs, i wouldn't work so dilligently to perfect things across numerous devices. if i didn't care to make said device great (to the best of my ability), i wouldn't post anything. i like to share and have everyone reap the benefits.

    you are not protecting anyone by alienating yourself, in the way that has been done, thus far. this makes your core statement/focus lose credibility by the tenfold.

    here is a better way to phrase something:
    hey. im receiving xx issue. any logs or something i can get for you to try and rectify the issue?

    that would help a ton of people.
    View
    2
    V
    Vlad_z
    wlighter said:
    May I ask what do you mean by rest time intervals of 1 and 5 hours?

    Does it mean that the calibration will only take place when the tab is off for 1 hour, then switch on and used till battery depleted by a further 40% minimum and the switch off for another 5 hour. Correct?

    Also , is this 40% refer to value before or after calibration? I asked this because when I restart my tab the value changed (ex: 36% before restart to 53% after restart)
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Yes that's correct.

    Fuel gauge chip will take 1 measurement of open circuit voltage and internal resistance only when battery is at rest (no charge/discharge) for at least 40min. - so I say 1 hour just to be sure...

    Consecutive measurements, from which gauge chip can derive capacity of the battery have to be at least 40% and 5 hours apart.

    Technically speaking, that 40% difference can be in either directions. Say you have 40% as of now, leave it in rest for 1 hour, then charge it to 100% and leave it at rest for 5 hours and you will have same result.

    Condition "at rest" means voltage change less then 4mV (or mkV) per sec. - I don't remember.

    When tablet is in sleep some background processes may awake tablet briefly and reset the 1 hour counter - so to make it work for sure, simply do shutdown.

    if you want additional reading on my findings then look here:

    http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=16615800&postcount=517
    View
    2
    W
    wlighter
    FillTheVoid said:
    My previous posted method of calibration (what the op says) did in fact stop the battery from super draining then going back up after reboot. I can't say for sure if the battery is completely back to normal, I have nothing to compare it to but as far as I can tell I'm running normal again.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    you should be looking about 10% per hour battery usage for normal browsing on wifi
    View

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