Super Rapid Battery Drain

[mk313]

Every morning, I take my watch & ride my bike for about 20 minutes up to a shop where I grab breakfast, read for an hour & head home. There is no wifi there & I'm on cellular the whole time. I've been doing this for months with no issues. I usually end with anywhere between 50% & 75% battery life left.

Edit: Forgot to add the specifics: Series 5 Sport watch with cellular through Sprint

Today, same circumstances, but for some reason my AirPods kept cutting out (so I'd be listening to a podcast & they would no longer play the podcast, although if I looked at the watch, the podcast would still be going- it didn't pause.) I also didn't get any text messages while I was out, even though two had been sent to me. When I went to ride home, I noticed that I only had 15% battery life left. I figured it was cellular issues (Sprint & T Mobile are merging their networks) and turned off cellular, but then I lost the last 15% battery on the way home & my watch died on me.

Any thoughts on what might be causing the massive battery drain? I can't think of anything different from normal. I haven't recently added any apps, I didn't change any of the specifics of my ride, etc. It was cool out today, but I've done this in much colder weather with no issues at all.

Thanks in advance,

 

[antbob]

Based on your description you are most likely looking at correct causes ie radios draining battery. Have a look at this Apple doc describing wireless interference https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201542
What I would try next is disabling WiFi on the Watch to see if that helps.

 

[jz0309]

Every morning, I take my watch & ride my bike for about 20 minutes up to a shop where I grab breakfast, read for an hour & head home. There is no wifi there & I'm on cellular the whole time. I've been doing this for months with no issues. I usually end with anywhere between 50% & 75% battery life left.

Edit: Forgot to add the specifics: Series 5 Sport watch with cellular through Sprint

Today, same circumstances, but for some reason my AirPods kept cutting out (so I'd be listening to a podcast & they would no longer play the podcast, although if I looked at the watch, the podcast would still be going- it didn't pause.) I also didn't get any text messages while I was out, even though two had been sent to me. When I went to ride home, I noticed that I only had 15% battery life left. I figured it was cellular issues (Sprint & T Mobile are merging their networks) and turned off cellular, but then I lost the last 15% battery on the way home & my watch died on me.

Any thoughts on what might be causing the massive battery drain? I can't think of anything different from normal. I haven't recently added any apps, I didn't change any of the specifics of my ride, etc. It was cool out today, but I've done this in much colder weather with no issues at all.

Thanks in advance,

Which watchOS?
Do you have your phone on you? Not totally clear
AirPods dropping in/out could indicate BT issues with the watch trying to reconnect

 

[mk313]

Based on your description you are most likely looking at correct causes ie radios draining battery. Have a look at this Apple doc describing wireless interference https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201542
What I would try next is disabling WiFi on the Watch to see if that helps.

Thanks. That sounds like exactly what I'm seeing. I'll try turning off Wifi if it happens again & see what that does.

 

[mk313]

Which watchOS?
Do you have your phone on you? Not totally clear
AirPods dropping in/out could indicate BT issues with the watch trying to reconnect

I'm running OS 6.2.8

Nope, no phone, only the watch & AirPods.

 

[Craiguyver]

As for the AirPods audio dropping:
There's folks complaining about bluetooth connectivity with iOS 14 in other threads. What iOS version is your phone on? It might explain that part of your issues.

 

[jz0309]

I'm running OS 6.2.8

Nope, no phone, only the watch & AirPods.

Certainly looks like radio issue then.
Besides the WiFi you’re already suggesting I’d try-pair the AirPods, plus, I’d try to turn cellular off for comparison.
Also, maybe try taking your phone instead of the watch and monitor the drainage, you have some more options on iOS vs watchOS

 

[mk313]

As for the AirPods audio dropping:
There's folks complaining about bluetooth connectivity with iOS 14 in other threads. What iOS version is your phone on? It might explain that part of your issues.

Thanks for the idea. I'm still running 13.7 on my iPhone (8).

 

[mk313]

Certainly looks like radio issue then.
Besides the WiFi you’re already suggesting I’d try-pair the AirPods, plus, I’d try to turn cellular off for comparison.
Also, maybe try taking your phone instead of the watch and monitor the drainage, you have some more options on iOS vs watchOS

Thanks for the ideas. Those are good points.

I'll try it again tomorrow morning, exactly like I did today, to see if it was just a glitch, but then I'll start working through those ideas to see which (if any) solves the issue.