Fairphone 3 random reboots and extreme battery drainage

Help Fairphone 3
1

Hey everyone!

I bought my Fairphone 3 two months ago in December 2019. For the last 3 weeks, I have been experiencing the following issues:

  • random reboots: Between 1x and 6x per day. Most commonly when I am unlocking the screen or opening an app. But it can also happen when the phone is in idle mode with the screen off. I noticed that whenever it reboots, the phone loses a substantial amount of battery charge, normally around 20% (e.g. the battery is at 35%, then after the reboot, it’s only 12%). See screenshots 1 and 2.
  • Extremely fast battery drainage. I can basically watch while the battery loses its power. Losing charge is about as fast as charging, with no apps running in the background and WIFI/bluetooth disabled. I’m running AccuBattery and GSam Battery Monitor to monitor it and it once showed a drainage of 80%/hour with 56 minutes remaining at 75% charge. See screenshots 3, 4 and 5.
  • Battery won’t charge until 100%. At first, it would stop charging at 80% but over the last 3 weeks, it would only charge until around 65%. See screenshots 4, 5 and 2. I also attached a screenshot where it was plugged in and supposed to charge with the battery at 71%, but the Android notification says “fully charged” (screenshot 6).
  • Poor battery capacity (according to the AccuBattery app). It shows a capacity of 1400 mAh where it should be 3000 mAh based on 20 charging cycle measurements. In the last couple of weeks I had to charge my phone 3 times per day. See screenshot 7.

To troubleshoot the problem, I already

  • had my provider swap the SIM card for a new one. I also removed my second SIM card. This did not change anything.
  • did a full factory reset but had Android restore all my apps and settings afterwards. This did not solve the problem either.
  • did another full factory reset without restoring my apps and settings. I kept everything on stock factory settings and just installed WhatsApp and Signal messenger. For one happy day, it had a functioning phone that would charge to 100% and could keep the charge. Then, another random reboot and it’s bleeding battery life again…

I also noticed that sometimes, GSam Battery Monitor shows continuous WIFI use despite WIFI being disabled (screenshot 2), but not always.

I hope you guys can help me out. I also sent this problem description to the Fairphone 3 support team and will update it if I find a solution.

Cheers!

Screenshot 1

screenshot%2001%20android%20battery%20usage
screenshot%2001%20android%20battery%20usage1080×2160 144 KB

Screenshot 2
screenshot%2002%20GSam%20battery%203
screenshot%2002%20GSam%20battery%2031080×2160 131 KB

Screenshot 3
screenshot%2003%20battery%20usage%20percentage
screenshot%2003%20battery%20usage%20percentage1080×2160 162 KB

Screenshot 4
screenshot%2004%20GSam%20battery%201
screenshot%2004%20GSam%20battery%2011080×2160 155 KB

Screenshot 5
screenshot%2005%20GSam%20battery%202
screenshot%2005%20GSam%20battery%2021080×2160 127 KB

Screenshot 6
screenshot%2006%20fully%20charged%20at%2071%25
screenshot%2006%20fully%20charged%20at%2071%251080×2160 446 KB

Screenshot 7
screenshot%2007%20AccuBattery
screenshot%2007%20AccuBattery1080×2160 324 KB

1 Like
2

Hi,

You may read on here, maybe there is help for you. Also feel free to use the search function for even more related posts.

1 Like
3

On the screen shot I spotted Cricket Wireless as the carrier you are using. Are you located in the U.S.? The FP3 is not registered there, maybe that is part of your problem.

4

Hi Joey,

Sounds a little bit like the problem I had.. However, I did get an error message before the reboots. I have sent in the phone for warranty, and received a new one.

Try this, as indicated by FP support, for more diagnostics:

" 1. Open the Phone App
2. Dial *#*#66#*#* in the same way you are entering a phone number to make a phone call. Once the last character is introduced, the Service Menu appears showing you three sub-menus.
3. Select Service tests > Test Single
4. Press Battery status check . This test displays battery-related measuring values.
5. Take two screenshots : first when you are charging the device and then when you are not and send them to us.

If you want to stop the test, tap Back navigation key. Choose FAIL or PASS accordingly.

"

2 Likes
5

Hi Patrick,
Thank you so much! What Fernsprecher (another fellow German :grinning: ) reports in the link you posted seems to be the same problem.
He says:

I can see the same flickering of voltage when running the battery status check:
youtube

I’ll wait until I get a response from Fairphone support and then decide whether I’ll try the Glass Fibre Eraser Pen Contact Scrubbing solution.

PS: This morning, the phone had charged to 71%, then another random reboot and the battery was at 17% :astonished: :rage:

screenshot%2008%20GSam%20battery%204
screenshot%2008%20GSam%20battery%2041080×2160 127 KB

6

Hi mrt,

Thank you!! There seems to be a difference in voltage between charging and plugged out.

screenshot%2009%20Battery%20Status%20Check
screenshot%2009%20Battery%20Status%20Check818×778 52.8 KB

And as I already said, when the battery is charged around 70%, it won’t charge further:
youtube

8

Hi teezeh,

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I am located in the US but my carrier uses AT&T , which is common and supports 3G (1900 MHz). According to your link, that should not cause problems with the Fairphone 3.

9

Hm, I have to remember one guy not being of the clever type stating: 71 or 17 where’s the difference, the cross sum remains equal so what’s it all about… :face_with_raised_eyebrow:
I’m glad not having anything more to do with him.

Anyway that’s a quite abnormal jump in charge level.
Do you have another USB-C charger + cable at hand for testing? Maybe there is some mismatch with the power negotiation.