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3 iPads in family. One drains quicker than the other two.

A

amro

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 7, 2008
369
34
I got three iPads as soon as they came out. Ordered two myself and had a friend order a third one for me. One for me, and two for my folks.

I setup mine the week after they arrived. I want to say the first time discharge was good. Felt like the battery would last a long time. However, after the first full charge, battery drain appeared to get worse. I wasn't sure and didn't want to be labeled as "one of those picky people".

Two days ago, I let the iPad drain until it shut itself off. I then charged it fully until the next morning (approx. 18 hours). I unplugged it and went to work. When I came back it was down to 94%. By the next morning it was down to 89% with no usage.

So, I decided to experiment with the other two, because my folks are out of town and have not used them yet.

1. I reset my iPad by turning off all iCloud, iMessage options, deleting all email accounts and then "Erase All Content and Settings".

2. I then setup all three the exact same way. In other words, WiFi enable, connect to iCould, enable location services, disable error reporting, enable find my Ipad, enabled 2 other mail accounts (Google and Yahoo).

3. I left them alone (around 11:00 pm). My iPad was at 88%, the other two were 85% and 92%. At 8:00 am, my iPad was at 82% and the other two did NOT change. Mine dropped 6% overnight, while the other two did nothing.

Now, I will try to do a DFU on my iPad and re-install firmware just in case "erase all settings" wasn't enough. I will also let them all drain and recharge. Then I will recheck. BTW, mine is one of the two that showed up first. So, one of the other two is close to the serial number of mine while the third one is further off.
 
I think it's been said that the battery indicator is not really perfectly accurate. You do need to let them all drain and recharge to calibrate (and then do that like once every month or two) and then you should see better results. But my iphone 4 or 4s used to drain kinda fast down to 1% and then stay there for a couple hours.

So meh. If all 3 ipads last each of you all day with your usage, i wouldn't worry about it. But if you want to make sure you have the best battery in any ipad i would go back to apple and keep exchanging until you find it (partial sarcasm, partial do-whatever-you-want-since-it's-your-$500+) :)
 
Not every device is equal in quality and battery life. As long as your iPad can last you around 9-10 hours on wifi with brightness set to 25% then you're fine.
 
Were they set up to the same accounts (iCloud, email, etc)? The number of notifications can make a difference. If they were set up with the same accounts, were you opening up the emails/alerts on one but not the others or just letting them sit there?
 
stringbeanie said:
You didn't mention brightness settings. If they aren't at the same brightness level, it will make a huge difference.
Click to expand...

In fact this is one of the biggest causes of battery consumption. My iPad's battery lasts 3 days (normal-moderate use) with brightness at 50%, and just 1 if it's at 100%.
However, he said that he left them alone, so I assume that the screens were off.
 
mrgreen4242 said:
Were they set up to the same accounts (iCloud, email, etc)? The number of notifications can make a difference. If they were set up with the same accounts, were you opening up the emails/alerts on one but not the others or just letting them sit there?
Click to expand...

They were setup with the same account.
Brightness is at 50% on all three. Although it shouldn't matter when I did a test of them while they were essentially off.

I'm aware there may be slight differences, but a drop of 6% vs none is significant. And this was never an issue with my iPad 1. I just used it. But now, it really bothers me that when I come home and pick up the iPad to start reading that it's dropped that much from no usage. You're right andross77. I'll just get used to it, like I did with the 4S. Or give it to one of my folks ;)
 
I've owned a pair of each iteration of the iPad. One for myself and one, for my wife. We essentially now run our business with them.

With the iPad 2--I had the same issue as yours...but didn't have a local Apple store until this past fall (I purchased two iPad 2s on launch day last spring). Same challenge...I would use it in the AM getting ready for work...shut 'er down until lunch time (96% remaining battery)...open it...down to 87%. No use in those 3-5 hours. After using at lunch for an hour, shut down with 85%, get home at 6pm--boom, another 10% drop in battery power. In my day to day, non-traveling world I live in...I was always able to charge at night, while sleeping. Never really needed it to live for 10-12 hours straight.

However...the behavior of neither of my original iPads...nor my wife's iPad 2 exhibited this behavior. I knew there was a problem...but we all remember the scarcity of the iPad 2 for 60-90 days. I figured I'd wait til they were more readily available and, rumors were floating around town that we were getting an Apple Store in Alaska.

Fast forward to October or so (after the initial 30 day overwhelming crowds at said new Apple store), one of our iMacs was recalled due to a faulty HDD issue. I brought it in for the fix--and when picking it up (at the Genius bar), I brought my iPad 2. Asked the tech about the above and same issues you're having.

Long story longer...he plugged it in, immediately noticed my device wasn't going in to "StandBy" mode...said he was NOT happy with that response, went to the back...opened a brand new iPad. (64GB/3g), popped my SIM in my old iPad...put it in the new one, turned it on, hooked up to iCloud...had me put in my info--even told me if I'd like to hang out for a bit, the had a Hyper Fast internet connection and ALL my apps, content, and information would be available before I left:) I was stunned...happy can't describe the feeling.

Again...I'm green to the Apple store scene. As a user on and off since my Apple IIe...in Alaska, all we've had were a couple of Apple re-sellers...and the night and day difference between customer service was readily apparent that day...that moment I handed over my iPad.

Sorry for the lengthy post...it may have NOTHING to do with what you're experiencing...but it WAS an issue *for me*, a hardware issue easily identified by their hardware test system at the Genius bar. If you've got a local shop, I'd have it tested.

By the way...also picked up a pair of iPad 3s for her and I--no issue that you're describing. I shut the door on it in the morning with 97% and when I open it at lunchtime, it's got 97%. Shouldn't be happening. I suspect there's an issue.

Forget the battery calibrating BS, etc. Take it in...or send it in. They'll happily exchange if for ya!

Good Luck

J
 
akdj said:
I've owned a pair of each iteration of the iPad. One for myself and one, for my wife. We essentially now run our business with them.

With the iPad 2--I had the same issue as yours...but didn't have a local Apple store until this past fall (I purchased two iPad 2s on launch day last spring). Same challenge...I would use it in the AM getting ready for work...shut 'er down until lunch time (96% remaining battery)...open it...down to 87%. No use in those 3-5 hours. After using at lunch for an hour, shut down with 85%, get home at 6pm--boom, another 10% drop in battery power. In my day to day, non-traveling world I live in...I was always able to charge at night, while sleeping. Never really needed it to live for 10-12 hours straight.

However...the behavior of neither of my original iPads...nor my wife's iPad 2 exhibited this behavior. I knew there was a problem...but we all remember the scarcity of the iPad 2 for 60-90 days. I figured I'd wait til they were more readily available and, rumors were floating around town that we were getting an Apple Store in Alaska.

Fast forward to October or so (after the initial 30 day overwhelming crowds at said new Apple store), one of our iMacs was recalled due to a faulty HDD issue. I brought it in for the fix--and when picking it up (at the Genius bar), I brought my iPad 2. Asked the tech about the above and same issues you're having.

Long story longer...he plugged it in, immediately noticed my device wasn't going in to "StandBy" mode...said he was NOT happy with that response, went to the back...opened a brand new iPad. (64GB/3g), popped my SIM in my old iPad...put it in the new one, turned it on, hooked up to iCloud...had me put in my info--even told me if I'd like to hang out for a bit, the had a Hyper Fast internet connection and ALL my apps, content, and information would be available before I left:) I was stunned...happy can't describe the feeling.

Again...I'm green to the Apple store scene. As a user on and off since my Apple IIe...in Alaska, all we've had were a couple of Apple re-sellers...and the night and day difference between customer service was readily apparent that day...that moment I handed over my iPad.

Sorry for the lengthy post...it may have NOTHING to do with what you're experiencing...but it WAS an issue *for me*, a hardware issue easily identified by their hardware test system at the Genius bar. If you've got a local shop, I'd have it tested.

By the way...also picked up a pair of iPad 3s for her and I--no issue that you're describing. I shut the door on it in the morning with 97% and when I open it at lunchtime, it's got 97%. Shouldn't be happening. I suspect there's an issue.

Forget the battery calibrating BS, etc. Take it in...or send it in. They'll happily exchange if for ya!

Good Luck

J
Click to expand...
This right here, if there re any problems you re uncomfortable with, take it in and have it looked t. They will exchange it for you, or try and help to find a solution of what is going on.
 
DFU fixes my battery drain issue?

Interesting note here. Did a DFU on the iPad and my battery drain is comparable to the other two iPads now. All three have maintained whatever delta percentage there is between them throughout the last two days. Even overnight, there was no drop in percentage on my iPad whereas in the past I saw 6%. I did resetup my iPad exactly like I did in the first post. All three are configured and setup exactly the same.

I'm guessing DFU forces a re-calibrate? Will still let all three drain normally and then recharge.
 
Update: Six days later, and my iPad is at 31%. When I did the DFU, my iPad was at 54%. So, over 6 days that's 23% which is less than 4% every 24 hours. That's more like it. I'm still waiting for it to drain before I recharge to see what happens. I have not re-installed any of my apps yet. I've been surfing and checking emails for about 30 minutes each day. My iPad would have drained after three days before the DFU. The DFU definitely did something.
 
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