Moto G (2nd Gen) dead battery issues

mp3ireland2

Anytime my battery goes completely dead I have a lot of trouble getting it charging again. I end up having to hold the power button and volume down for 2 mins....Is my phone dodgey? Surely this is fairly ridiculous? Thought about installing an app to turn off phone when it reaches 5% or something? But surely this is a design flaw?

duridian

mp3ireland2 wrote: »

Anytime my battery goes completely dead I have a lot of trouble getting it charging again. I end up having to hold the power button and volume down for 2 mins....Is my phone dodgey? Surely this is fairly ridiculous? Thought about installing an app to turn off phone when it reaches 5% or something? But surely this is a design flaw?

As far as I am aware, it is very bad for lithium ion/lithium polymer batteries to let them drain completely. Apparently it can damage the battery, and the problem you are encountering getting the phone to charge it again is down to the phone trying to minimise the damage.

From what I've read on this topic, when such a low charge state is detected, the phone will atempt only a minimal trickle charge as a policy to try and protect the battery. This trickle is so tiny that it may appear that it is not charging at all (maybe 10% charge or less after a full day of charging).
The trick with holding down the buttons for two minutes is probably getting it to bypass this, but forcing it to charge at normal rate may not be good for the battery.

The battery usage statistics in the phone settings might clue you in if there is a rogue app causing your battery to drain excessively fast.

Anyway, given how new your phone is, I think you may have grounds for a warranty claim on the battery. Since it is sealed in, you would probably have to send it away to get it replaced.

mp3ireland2

duridian wrote: »

As far as I am aware, it is very bad for lithium ion/lithium polymer batteries to let them drain completely. Apparently it can damage the battery, and the problem you are encountering getting the phone to charge it again is down to the phone trying to minimise the damage.

From what I've read on this topic, when such a low charge state is detected, the phone will atempt only a minimal trickle charge as a policy to try and protect the battery. This trickle is so tiny that it may appear that it is not charging at all (maybe 10% charge or less after a full day of charging).
The trick with holding down the buttons for two minutes is probably getting it to bypass this, but forcing it to charge at normal rate may not be good for the battery.

The battery usage statistics in the phone settings might clue you in if there is a rogue app causing your battery to drain excessively fast.

Anyway, given how new your phone is, I think you may have grounds for a warranty claim on the battery. Since it is sealed in, you would probably have to send it away to get it replaced.

Thanks very much for the reply. So just to be sure i understand, normally a phone will shut down before a battery gets as low as mine does? One theory i have is that the battery is draining when off..as once i turned off the phone at 4% and the next morning it wouldn't turn on or charge.....(I've turned off phone now at 6% and i'll leave it for a few hours).
I have asked a question on the amazon website and i'll see if others have this problem, if it's unique to me, perhaps i just got a dodgey phone....but I'll see what others say.

mp3ireland2

"Motorola appear to be aware of this problem and are "working on it". The best advice I have seen so far is do let the battery fully discharge! This is a very unsatisfactory situation especially as only a dealer can replace the battery."


That's a reply that i got from Amazon, so hopefully they release a software upgrade to sort it!

duridian

Yes, I believe that a phone would normally shut down automatically in an attempt to prevent damage to the battery. Also the phone would be starting to kick up a fuss with warning messages about needing to charge the battery for a while before it reached the point of shutting down. These would probably be accompanied by warning beeps so as to alert you in the same manner as a newly arrived text message. I'd be very surprised if the phone wasn't doing this in a low battery situation.
The advice on Amazon about just letting it drain out sounds contrary to everything I've read about the lithium ion/polymer type of batteries in use by today's smartphones and tablets. The type of battery in use over 15 years ago was nickel metal hydride based. These were what came in those old Motorola Startac flip phones from ~1996. The common wisdom back then was that it was okay to drain these type of batteries out about once per month. In fact it was said to extend the battery life if you did so because it solved a problem caused by memory effect. Then along came Nokia and Lithium batteries and the advice changed.
Any reputable source says to avoid running Lithium ion batteries too low as it can severely bork the battery.

https://www.apple.com/batteries/why-lithium-ion/
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/02/ask-ars-what-is-the-best-way-to-use-an-li-ion-battery/
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/everyday-tech/lithium-ion-battery.htm
Are just 3 quick examples

mp3ireland2

oh yeah i get all the usual warning messages, but it's just when I'm out and about If i'm stuck it goes dead, but with other phones they just charged normally when dead, they didn't go as flat as this or whatever the issue is.

Sorry I meant to fix that guy's typo, i assume he meant the only advice he got was don't let the phone go dead, which doesn't really solve te underlying issue of why the phone goes "Super dead" for want of a better word and wont charge normally!