Strange behavior of a new battery in my cell phone

[stalker]

Hi, I'm looking for the explanation why is the behavior of my new cell phone battery different in comparison to my old battery when it was also new.

Old battery:
My old battery (when it was new) was always capable to charge to 100% and was holding this capacity for quite long time until it discharged for 1%. Discharge curve was straight for all the time until I launched some application. Another thing is that when I closed the application which was consuming a lot of energy the discharge curve holded it's value and didn't go up to a few %s more capacity.

New battery (on the picture):
My new battery is original for my cell phone from Samsung. But it behaves strangely (look at the picture). Mostly it reaches only 99% capacity as a maximum and then it discharges quickly - almost 10% during few hours. Discharge curve is rounded. Another thing is that when I run some application which consumes more energy than standby mode and then I close this application the curve isn't holding its value but it goes up for a few %s more capacity.

I think this is not a proper behavior of a new battery, do you agree with this? I would expect this behavior (of my new battery) at the very old battery but I don't have any experience with this so please somebody tell me - is my new battery broken somehow or did the seller cheated on me and sold me an old battery instead of a new one?

 

[GreenGiant]

I cannot explain its ability to only charge to 99%, that may be a faulty charger/sensor/battery, but the charge dropping in a curve and recovering after excessive load can be explained.

A lot of newer batteries are LiPo (Lithium Polymer) or LIon (Litium Ion) which don't have a flat discharge, they start quick then level off for quite some time, then it rolls again.

As for the bouncing back lithium batteries store a lot of energy and as its used the voltage will drop off then once the load drops the voltage will "bounce" back a little higher.

I would say look into replacing the battery as the full charge should be 100%, but don't be too concerned with the other symtoms.

 

[shrtrnd]

I've never used Lion batteries, and don't know if that's what you've got.
I mentioned on this site once before, that I picked-up some exact replacement
niMH batteries that exhibited the issues you have. After several weeks of charge
and discharging, they started acting like they should.
There was considerable talk about 'battery memory' with NiCads. (A tendency to
remember battery status that doesn't reach full capacity).
I don't know if this might be a case of the same type of issue?
The new batteries may have been sitting on a stockroom shelf for a while, and need to
be 'exercised' several times before they start acting the way they should.
Depending on the cost, you might consider GreenGiant's thought, to replace the
battery. But I'd keep the ones you just bought, and see if they start acting the way
they should after several uses.

 

[stalker]

Thanks for your comments..

I'll try to wait till I do more recharge cycles to see if it gets better. I'm just wondering why the new battery don't behave in the same way as the old one when it was new.

 

[tryppyr]

Anecdotal experience.... Samsung phones (I have a Galaxy SII) are unpredictable in their discharge rates. I am not sure what the specific problem is, but I can say that as apps update you cannot rely on past experience to be a predicter of future discharge behavior. Apps that update suddenly seem to consume more CPU, more battery power, and so on... likely because the app developer integrated new features (great stuff like integrated video advertisements, for example).

If it's any comfort to you, I am seeing even stranger behavior with my original battery. I have it fully charged to 100%. I start playing a game that should consume, say, 10% of battery per 20 minutes of play. 5 minutes later the phone crashes..HARD...powers itself down. On reboot the battery charge warning pops up. So I plug into a charger... then 5 minutes later is says it is fully charged again. Or, sometimes it starts charging at 47%, and takes an hour to get back to 100%. You just never know why it crashed or why the battery suddenly fell flat.

By contrast your battery behavior would be very desirable.

 

[Y2KEDDIE]

I bought a cell phone booster amplifier from Wilson. I also bought an inductive pickup/cell phone holder and a second pickup which is Velcro'd to my Verizon computer air card. Both devices deliver 3 signal bars more when attached. There has to be at least one bar of signal to amplify, but it does work well. I toke the inductive coupler/cell phone holder apart, there was just a simple loop inside made from a flexible pc board.

 

[stalker]

I have one more question - could the behavior of my new battery be as it is because I didn't form it at the beginning?

I bought a new battery for my grandmother and there was an instruction manual:
1. Place the battery in the mobile phone.
2. Switch on the phone.
3. Before first charging it is necessary to discharge the battery until the phone will switch off.
4. Switched off the phone connect to the charger and leave for 12-14 hours charging.

Attention - during first charging the phone has to be switched off. Don't look at indicator which shows the level of charging the accumulator.

5. After first forming it is necessary to switch on the phone and use it until complete discharging of the accumulator (until the phone will go out).
6. Afterwards the process described in point 4 and 5 should be repeated three times.
7. One ought to remember that to make full use of standing-by of the battery Ni-Mh one should always lead the battery to go flat before starting the process of charging.
8. Situation described in point 7 doesn't concern li-ion, li-pol and polimer batteries which can be charged without waiting for a total discharging of the battery.
9. The process of battery forming should be repeated in 6 months intervals in order to lengthen the vitality of the battery.

I'll try to form my battery now using this manual. Hope it won't mind that I will do it now and not at the beginning..


to tryppyr: I have Galasy S too but the first version I hate when the technics doesn't behave like it should but you are right that it's quite good when the battery gets few more percents back after some usage.

 

[(*steve*)]

I wonder if such long and tedious procedures are invented so that people will not follow them and then blame themselves rather than the product if it does not live up to expectations.