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Battery Drains While Plugged In

G

GovtLawyer

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 6, 2008
301
9
Last night I plugged the iPhone 4s into the wall when it was at around 50%. When I got up in the middle of the night I looked at it and it was at 100%. I left it plugged in. When I woke up this morning it was at 95%. How could it lose power while still plugged in to the wall? When I got to work ½ hour later it was at 93%. From then on, everything I did took more power than I could have imagined.

I'm not so concerned about the power drag when I am on the Internet or otherwise using the phone. Does the loss of power while plugged in sound like a serious problem, or is it just typical of the 4s, which seems to have battery issues?
 
Sounds like a really serious strange problem to me take both the charger and the phone to the apple store as they should replac both.

MM
 
My 4 did that to me once recently and I've had this one since about at least May (it was a replacement for my original which had a bad home button which this one is developing too but I am getting the impression the problem is a crappy home button that wears out quickly and since I am constantly making sure my phone doesn't have too many apps open since i find it runs better that way I think I wear mine out quicker. Still annoys me that it wears out quickly when they design the OS to rely on it so much. I mean if it dies completely there is no way I can get around not having a home button).

Anyways, just hte other day it did it but I chalked it up to some game I was playing was so battery intensive it was sucking battery even when I had it plugged in (some WoW wannabe multiplayer game and it really does suck battery quickly. I mean I've not had any other games be quite the battery hog as it is). But I have noticed that I have played the game other times and not had it suck battery (but wasn't playing it for quite as long as that time).
 
this happened to me too, I actually watched it drop 5% but not sure if I should take it back to the apple store I did a complete drain and it hasn't done it again, so I will keep watching it for the future
 
Apple store says this is normal behavior for ios5 and it will continue to drain into perpetuity even while plugged in once it hits 100% and you use it.

Hard to believe.
 
Ive noticed that my 4s will discharge while on the charger if i'm using it. Should i be concerned?
 
I wasn't using it

fjk said:
Apple store says this is normal behavior for ios5 and it will continue to drain into perpetuity even while plugged in once it hits 100% and you use it.

Hard to believe.
Click to expand...

The thing which alarmed me was that it went to 100% an down to 95% during the night while it was plugged in and not being used. Last night it stayed at 100%. I think I'll drain it completely over the weekend and see how it responds with a complete recharge.

What's the best (most effective) way to drain the battery? I don't have songs on it, so I can't simply let it play for hours.
 
the first part of this story is not abnormal. most phones with a Li ion battery will stop charging once they hit 100% to prevent damage to the battery. they will restart charging once they go below a certain point.
 
jake921660 said:
the first part of this story is not abnormal. most phones with a Li ion battery will stop charging once they hit 100% to prevent damage to the battery. they will restart charging once they go below a certain point.
Click to expand...

Well the issue is more that:

1) this was not behavior on previous iPhones/iOS versions
2) for example laptops disable the battery and run off AC power. Or trickle charge the battery
 
Mine used to do this when I had my rapid battery drain issues. (fixed by turning off iCloud sync of contacts/cal. (Still use MobileMe so don't need it yet).

I did notice that it would not do this when plugged into an iPad charger though. Only when plugged into an iPhone charger.
 
Could you have accidentally have knocked the usb cable out of place?
I've done this a few times with my iPod where I somehow knocked the connector diagonally so it was slightly out of place.
 
londoner888 said:
Could you have accidentally have knocked the usb cable out of place?
I've done this a few times with my iPod where I somehow knocked the connector diagonally so it was slightly out of place.
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree - I use a leather case and it only does this when charging it in the case. When docked uncased it's fine. Possibly the connection is just not tight enough for a full charge.
 
I've had the same issue. Woke up in the morning to a battery at 94%. It's hit or miss and doesn't happen all the time. Don't have a clue what's going on with it. In general my battery life is acceptable.
 
Twice now I've woken up and the battery was at 92%, but had the "charged" icon next to it. I unplug and re-plug and it goes to 100%. Probably a software bug
 
Happens to me too now

I've had my 4s for 3 years now. I think the battery is shot. With my normal usage it would last about 6-8 hours. Now it lasts 2 if i'm lucky. I have to keep the phone plugged in 24/7 or have it in a battery case. It often drains while it is charging now too. I woke up the other morning and it was at 28% when it was at 100% earlier that night. It just seems to charge then when it hits 100% it starts draining.

I don't have money for another phone so I'm going to have to attempt a battery replacement myself. I looked on line it doesn't look too hard, as i only have to take the back off. Let's hope it works.
 
jake921660 said:
the first part of this story is not abnormal. most phones with a Li ion battery will stop charging once they hit 100% to prevent damage to the battery. they will restart charging once they go below a certain point.
Click to expand...

Exactly. It's normal. As far I can remember I''ve seen this with my 3 iPads, and last three iPhones - 4S, 5S, and 6.
 
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