Battery problem: sudden fake discharge

A few times a month, usually when I use GPS (but sometimes also on other occasions), it happens that my phone starts discharging extremely fast: about one percent every 5 seconds, until it hits 0 and turns off.

However, the battery is not really empty at that time. As soon as I connect a charger, it seems to reset the charge level: the charge light turns yellow, not red. After connecting the charger, even if it is for just a second, the phone is able to boot again and shows about 25% charge. Then it continues to work normally, until the battery is actually empty.

It also happens at time when using GPS, that the battery level drops by 10% in an instant. But, when this happens, the phone feels very hot which is not the case in the scenario mentioned above.

Does anyone have an idea about these weird battery issues?

I have the latest FP OS 17.11.2. It does not appear to have started with one particular update. These issues have already been happening for quite a while, but seem to be getting more frequent lately.

Hey Albert,

Sorry for the late reply.
This sounds like something that happened with the FP1 a lot - the battery not showing the real charging status.
If it’s the same issue a battery reset from the #batteryguide should solve it.

So I am also replying late, I have performed a battery reset but the problem has not gone away.

Last night I had a new episode of it: updating the FP OS. I started the update with 46% battery. Just a few minutes later, when the phone had just started optimising apps, the indicator light started to flash red. I connected the charger, and when the phone had finished optimising apps, it was still at 2% despite having charged for some minutes.

I suppose you are still on your original battery? Probably your battery is simply wearing out and you need a new one.

Yes, it is still my original battery. Usually it has good battery life, but once every few weeks it suddenly has not and that is the problem I’m having with it.

I also experienced this (similarly) twice now under LineageOS with microG (see here).
So the phenomenon seems to be OS independent.

I’m also on my first battery, i.e. it’s two years old now. And I was taking pictures at rather low temperatures, which is - same as using GPS navigation - putting extra load on the battery.
So possibly the battery can’t deliver the required voltage, kind of breaks down, but after a short “break” with no or little load continues working fine?
Just guessing though…

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Hey there,

i have the same problem under FP OS as well as under Lineage OS.
After one year i replaced the battery because of this behavior. Half a year later it was the same with the new one. I am used to it and i live with it. But nevertheless this should not happen and its absolutely anoying!!

I strongly recommend to fix this issue!

PS: after a big drop i pulled out the battery and connected the contacts in the phone (not the battery!!) to drain all capacitors and so on. After putting the battery in i had 30% againg :-o

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