[emtunc]

So I noticed that my PlayBook battery life wasn't great from the day I bought it (about a month ago)... only recently did I decide to actually monitor it with the really useful 'BatteryGuru' app and noticed something really interesting.

I noticed that at about 50-60%, the battery power consumption (Amps) would double/triple and battery would drain a WHOLE lot faster.

See the attached screenshot... you might be as surprised as I was when I first had a look at it (or see screenshot @ http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3607718/Imag...teryexport.PNG)
btw, the PlayBook is mostly in standby during the entire monitor.

I gave RIM tech support a call and they will be sending a courier to pick up the device and hopefully repair it.
Since it looks like a battery (hardware) issue, I am hoping they'll send me a nice new one

If you think you have a battery issue, it's probably worth monitoring your battery over a full charge/discharge to make sure you're not experiencing similar issues.

I'll keep this thread updated as the RMA proceeds.

[0100010]

Looking at that chart - I was thinking to myself wow you get great battery life if yours lasts 4 days like that; but then I realized you must have charged it and let it drain on its own in standby to generate that graph.

I have to charge my PB nightly, just like my phone.

[peter9477]

@emtunc, was that a one-time occurrence, or did it happen that way every time, consistently around the same battery level?

There are certainly other people that have their tablets switch from the normal 50mW (the first part of your graph, around 15-20mA) to 300mW (or around 100mA as you show), but so far I haven't heard of one where it "switched gears" like that at a particular battery level.

Is there any chance that just before it started dropping faster, you'd run any app that uses the GPS? Or changed the WiFi state (on/off/connected/not)? I assume the early spikes in consumption are some of the times you turned it on briefly to check on it, but as the OS provides updates only every 2 minutes, I guess there could be more activity just before the drop that could, in theory, explain something.

In any case, thanks for posting, and for trying the RMA route. Could prove helpful to the rest of us with the mysterious jump in standby consumption to learn how it works out. (I don't think it's a hardware issue, unless you say it happened consistently at the same battery level for you, in which case I think your issue was different from what most of us are seeing.)

[emtunc]

Check the linked/attached graph below... this is a second monitor.
Ignore the huge peaks in the first half of the graph as I was briefly watching a movie there :P

Notice how the drain starts from around the same percentage point as the last graph... this is what makes me think it's a hardware issue.
Both times the devices are on standby mode... no changes in configuration or turning off wireless/GPS etc.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3607718/Imag...eryexport2.PNG

edit: also you see some crazy usage when the PB hits 9% battery... not sure what it is doing there. It looks like it stays at 0% for a good 3 hours though... must be something wrong with the battery no doubt.

This behaviour will shorten the battery life considerably in my opinion... the temperature is also far hotter (about 5 degrees more on average) when it is draining unexpectedly.