Battery problems (wrong charging status / battery might be dying)

I’d expect the power draw from a modern smartphone to be higher, especially when running demanding applications. At the same time, the temperature will also be higher. Both are things that challenge the battery more, and make the battery behave differently from those in old mobiles. Although, the N900 may be more like a smartphone in terms of battery use. I’ve also realised that over the past two years I’ve charged my FP1 battery more times than I charged my previous phone in its entire 8 year life span (during which I replaced the battery once due to degraded performance, and I haven’t replaced my FP1 battery).

Note that the temperature should, however, be guarded against excess by software monitoring of battery temperature (just search the web for battery temperature too high). I’m surprised that nobody has posted about receiving a too hot notification other than when the ambient temperature is too cold. I sure hope there isn’t a bug in the monitoring software and people are cooking their batteries during periods of heavy battery use.
I’m not ruling out that there is a bad batch of batteries, or that the design of the charge controller is somehow flawed, or that the design of the FP1 itself makes the battery more susceptible to thermal or physical shock.

We’ve asked about failure rates in the topic here, but it seems unlikely there will be an answer soon.

People should have noticed that their battery would get abnormally hot. My current phone (not FP) has a temperature sensor inside but I was never advised to turn it off. Especially lately I notice how my battery gets warm while I use it so I turn it off and take the battery out for a couple minutes.
Somebody on this mighty planet should have noticed if the battery was being cooked regularly.

I’m having the same issue reported by many users here. Charging does not work reliably. It’s not due to a defect cable or battery. Notably, the problems only appeared after the software update to 1.8.7.

You already tried out in this order

  • battery spin test
  • cleaning USB connector
  • reset battery software

all described here? Cheers, Robert

Very interesting… straight after I updated to 1.8.5 the battery life of my phone (FP1U) dropped dramatically. I reported it to support at the time. It wasn’t bloated.

For some reason, the battery life got better after two months, by itself.

And now it’s bloated…

I have it too a strange problem with my battery.

Often the morning when I switch on the phone the battery from 50-60% of night drop down to 10-20% at the morning.
It’s a strange issue that I’ve learned to prevent by switch off my phone during the day to see the “really” level of charge of battery.

I tried twice to force the software reset (from 0% to 100% as explained here) but it didn’t resolve.
I tried also spin test and I can see that can rotate but it doesn’t look so much swollen and it fit quite well in the battery compartment…

Everything you describe fits with a failing battery. The battery firmware reset will not help.

Doesn’t mean that the battery isn’t dying. Give it a couple of weeks and it likely won’t fit. I recommend contacting support for a warranty replacement now, rather then waiting for damage to the phone.

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Thank you very much, I wrote now.
I hoped to revive the battery with software reset and I was not so much alarmed because I couldn’t see the swelling.
Bye

Hi,
Good news for me.
After I wrote here, customer service answered immediately then after I send all the requests (pictures and my details) they wrote today that they will send a new battery for replacement. :slight_smile:

I am getting worried when I read all the comments here. I came to this forum because my battery is behaving erratically as well. Today for the first time owning a Fairphone, the phone battery failed me big time. From 100% charge to 0% in a matter of a few hours, with only occasional use for making a picture and uploading it to Instagram, some GPS-usage when searching for geocaches. Please take a look at the graph and tell me if I am in trouble…

After an hour in the car charger, the battery seems to be doing better now…

No bloating to be seen (yet)…

I am having an issue that has been reported here before:
After restarting my phone, battery level drops dramatically (e.g. before restart 90%, after restart 14%).
I remember having had this problem for all the life of my FP1, i.e. not related to any updates etc.
The spin test for my battery turned out negative, i.e. it seems not bloated.

  1. Has anyone with the same issue been able to solve this?
  2. Does replacing the battery solve this issue?
  3. Has support been of any help in this? (reading the above gives me mixed feelings)

Try the Battery-Software Reset mentioned in the FP1 battery Guide. If it doesn’t help (try it two or three times) contact Fairphone and ask for a replacement battery on warranty.

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Again an impressive crash from +30% to 0% in a matter of seconds during a phone call, which of course didn’t end well… :frowning:

Did you do the battery software reset as suggested one post above?

Seriously?! Again?!!
What’s wrong with those batteries? Or is it the phone?
And apart from buying another one is there anything I can do to prevent this?

Almost on the day 2 years after receiving my FP1 my battery started to deteriorate. Most marked symptom was a very fast drop from 15 % or thereabouts to next to nothing (warning & shut off). No signs of bloating.
I followed the instructions for resetting the battery described in Stefan’s post. This finally killed the battery (charged from 1 to 4 % after three hours with phone shut off).
Thankfully I had ordered and received a spare battery a few months ago. The new battery seems to work just fine.
Im not particularly disappointed that my battery wore down after two years - batteries may last longer, but also shorter. But I will definitely order another spare while they’re avaliable :wink:

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Well… in my case it was a bloated battery after all. See the pictures. Fairphone support will send me a new battery.


Very helpful and fast service from Fairphone. New battery up and running already.

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I have a FP1 and use the function to switch it off and on certain times. Sometimes it happens that the battery charge indicator shows a decrease of 40% or more. But I think this discharge is not real, because charging the battery, it will also jump from for example 60% to 100% in a few seconds, as you can see in the screenshot. How can I get the correct charging status of my battery?

I’ve moved your post to this topic, as it shows a number of similar problems. In general it appears to be a sign that the battery is beginning to fail. First check for battery deformation (do a spin test if unsure, see here). If there are any problems with the battery, and your phone is less than 2 years old, support may provide a warranty exchange, see here. If the phone is older, a new battery can be purchased here or via distributors (the latter especially if you are in Switzerland).

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