[AGreenius]

Hi All

I am just after a little bit of advice. Got my BB sat and charged the battery for around 4 hrs until it was full and have charged it for around 2hrs since then.

The battery died this morning and I am now current charging it at work.

How long should I charge it for now? All day, then all evening tonight?

Shall I also charge it just until the battery shows it�s full or over that?

I don�t keep the wifi on � only when I need it and my back light is down to about 7 to try and save power.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[MURALO]

Disable the GPS , Wi-Fi , and bluetooth when not in use .I had the same problem. Some people attribute the power loss to the pouch but it's not it's the running programs that are depleting the battery.Try it and see for yourself.

[riverajuan]

I don't know what version your running but .133 improves the battery also, you may want to try that along with the other suggestions mentioned above

[Insurgent]

Hi All

I am just after a little bit of advice. Got my BB sat and charged the battery for around 4 hrs until it was full and have charged it for around 2hrs since then.

The battery died this morning and I am now current charging it at work.

How long should I charge it for now? All day, then all evening tonight?

Shall I also charge it just until the battery shows it�s full or over that?

I don�t keep the wifi on � only when I need it and my back light is down to about 7 to try and save power.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Steps to prolong battery life:

- Close all programs upon exit
- Lock and standby when not in use (left button and then hold the right button on the top of the phone)
- Turn the brightness down
- Turn off "automatically dim brightness"
- Upgrade the OS past .114 (.133 and .152 are pretty stable)

Also, you should only need to charge your battery for up to 3 hours or so. I run my phone for days (sometimes nearly a week) without charging it. When I do charge it, its usually very low (15-20%) and I takes about 2.5 hours, 3 at most.

[Taryon]

Disable the GPS , Wi-Fi , and bluetooth when not in use .I had the same problem. Some people attribute the power loss to the pouch but it's not it's the running programs that are depleting the battery.Try it and see for yourself.

Muralo: Please don't be so quick to dismiss the OEM pouch just because it doesn't affect you. Many of us have extensively sought to determine what exactly was causing our poor battery life and it came down "using" the OEM pouch. Whether it was the keys being pressed in from the case not being stretched/fitted-in properly or not, among other possibilities, we did find that not using the pouch significantly improved our battery life.

AGreenius: I would try as the others have suggested. Turn off all Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth first to see if that helps at all. These batteries are smart and designed to not "overcharge"-- meaning even if you leave the charger plugged in and the phone is already fully charged, it won't continue to try and charge.

[Protagonist]

Depending on how you charge the BB the time varies.

It is a 1400mAh battery.

Charging from a USB port with no BB software installed on the PS: 100mA (worst case) so 14 hours to charge from 0-100%.

Charging from a USB port with BB software installed: 500mA so 2.8 hours to charge from 0-100%.

OEM Wall charger: 700mA so 2 hours to charge from 0-100%.

OEM Powerstation: 1.6A so 52 minutes to charge from 0-100%.

[MURALO]

I see your point.I based my conclusion on a three day test.The first day in the pouch fully charged.The unit was powered off.I lost 20% overnight.The second day fully charged powered off out of the pouch.The result was the same.The third day I shut off the GPS,Bluetooth and Wi-Fiand left the phone in the pouch.Next morning the power was still at 100%.
If you set to tone on the keys and push it into the pouch you can hear a tone as you push,so you are right .Bottom line,I feel,is that the pouch isn't the greatest.Probably should change it.Either way the 8900 is a great unit.

[sabt]

I think charging via usb is the best way to prolong the life of the battery since it charges at a lower current compared to the other methods.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[kev.berry]

The pouch can cause problems if it is too tight. Use the pouch for a few weeks to stretch it out a bit more. That's what I did and I'm no longer having any problems.

[AGreenius]

Thanks for all your advice guys 'n' girls - iam currently doing alot of the above just will just amend a few points and monitor the level over the next wk.

Thanks again - your a helpful bunch!

[Taetrak]

Greetings,
I took mine out of the pouch on Saturday (Feb 21) after Rogers customer service advised me to do so and the change was dramatic. Before Saturday I had to charge it once every day. Since I abandoned the pouch, I went 2 days without charging it! I decided to recharge it yesterday (Monday), but even then I probably could have gone one more day with out charging it because it was at 50% power.

[yautze]

How can u upgrade ur os version ?

[aristile]

Depending on how you charge the BB the time varies.

It is a 1400mAh battery.

Charging from a USB port with no BB software installed on the PS: 100mA (worst case) so 14 hours to charge from 0-100%.

Charging from a USB port with BB software installed: 500mA so 2.8 hours to charge from 0-100%.

OEM Wall charger: 700mA so 2 hours to charge from 0-100%.

OEM Powerstation: 1.6A so 52 minutes to charge from 0-100%.

I'm glad to see there is someone else here that understands that as long as the Voltage is correct for charging the phone's batteries that the current determines how quickly the battery will charge. I had to explain that on a few other threads and I really think people thought I was crazy or something.

I think charging via usb is the best way to prolong the life of the battery since it charges at a lower current compared to the other methods.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I don't agree with this. I think that since the charger that comes with the device is 700mA then that is perfectly fine for charging the device. If that were a problem then I seriously doubt RIM would send that charger with the device.

[aristile]

How can u upgrade ur os version ?

Welcome to Crackberry!

Check out the upgrade procedure link in my signature.

[p-stone]

To touch on a previous post mentioned about the different methods of charging (USB, wall charger, power station), that was absolutely correct as already stated.

Also, the "slower" you charge a battery (lower amperage), the more efficient that charge will be for the battery. I.E. - trickle charging a car battery at 2amps for 24 hours will produce a much better recharge than 20amps for 4 hours. Last night was my first full charge from USB port and took about 3 hours. Now, almost 17 hours later with moderate to heavy use, I'm at 85% still. Typically from using my wall charger, I'd be at about 60%.

I now plan on always using the USB to charge when I have enough time. I have no problems with wall chargers either, although I've never liked car chargers. I've been through my share of batteries with previous phones from frequent car charger use. Try it yourself. Charge your phone with each of the above listed methods to a full charge, then record your runtime until the phone had to be charged again. That slow charge from a USB will make you happy! Generally, it will also increase the lifespan of your battery as well, adding on extra months of good battery use before the need to replace them.

/novel, sorry guys. Avatar says it all... lol

[wb6nah]

My battery experience has been exceptional. Have had the 8900 for a week. This am I started with a full charge and have had, the phone, GPS, wifi, bluetooh going for the last eight hours and still have two bars of power. Have talked for about an hour on the phone.

[majikmonkie]

To touch on a previous post mentioned about the different methods of charging (USB, wall charger, power station), that was absolutely correct as already stated.

Also, the "slower" you charge a battery (lower amperage), the more efficient that charge will be for the battery. I.E. - trickle charging a car battery at 2amps for 24 hours will produce a much better recharge than 20amps for 4 hours. Last night was my first full charge from USB port and took about 3 hours. Now, almost 17 hours later with moderate to heavy use, I'm at 85% still. Typically from using my wall charger, I'd be at about 60%.

I now plan on always using the USB to charge when I have enough time. I have no problems with wall chargers either, although I've never liked car chargers. I've been through my share of batteries with previous phones from frequent car charger use. Try it yourself. Charge your phone with each of the above listed methods to a full charge, then record your runtime until the phone had to be charged again. That slow charge from a USB will make you happy! Generally, it will also increase the lifespan of your battery as well, adding on extra months of good battery use before the need to replace them.

/novel, sorry guys. Avatar says it all... lol

I really don't think this is true for Lithium Ion batteries. Do you have a source for that?

[Protagonist]

I'm glad to see there is someone else here that understands that as long as the Voltage is correct for charging the phone's batteries that the current determines how quickly the battery will charge. I had to explain that on a few other threads and I really think people thought I was crazy or something.

I don't agree with this. I think that since the charger that comes with the device is 700mA then that is perfectly fine for charging the device. If that were a problem then I seriously doubt RIM would send that charger with the device.

My EE father will be proud!

I have seen knowledgeable people on BBF say the 'sweet spot' for charging is 700-800mA. It seems reasonable to me that RIM would ship the optimal charging device.

Personally I use a charging dock almost exclusively, with a standard OEM RIM power adapter. 2 hours to charge and drop in convenience cant be beat.

[aristile]

Yep, EE background myself. I also use the cradle with the wall charger pretty much every night. My phone does get charged by my laptop when I am updating media or OS, etc.