Battery at 100% one minute ... then completely dead the next!

[jmpmntwnty3]

The strangest thing just happened to my phone. I use my iPhone a lot ... A LOT. So I purchased a car charger so that everytime I'm in the car (which is very often) I can put it on the charger so it can have some juice. If I'm not mistaken, there's no way to "over charge" the battery, so I assume that this is okay.

Anyhow, I went out tonight. I charged my phone in the car whenever possible. When I got home, my battery was basically at 100% ... the icon was completely full. I look at my phone a few minutes later, and the "low battery warning" prompt came up. So I rebooted my phone to see what was up. The battery was at 100% again ... then a few minutes later, the "low battery prompt" came up. Now it's sitting on the charger completely in the red, as if I haven't charged it all day. What's going on?

 

[blueprint1983]

i had this problem too, i didn't even use a car charger..

i don't have anything to add other than it was nearly identical symptoms to your iphone 3g.

 

[chomby1991]

I know that if its a brand new one that the battery needs to be run through a few times but apart from that i also know that overcharging can be a problem. i leave my macbook on charger 24/7 and it now only stands an hour long battery off charger but one of my friends macbooks will only last a matter of minutes and doesnt even show a time estimate.

 

[iParis]

This exact thing happened to my iPod 5.5gen.
I just let it alone and it eventually passed.
If it doesn't pass you might want to go bitch at Apple.

 

[dcshutter019]

I had the same problem and posted a forum about it a while ago.

Did you try turning it completely off then back on? That's what worked for me. Or just wait.

 

[Grasbak]

just a thought, did you get a car charger that is specifically for the iPhone? I notice that iPod car chargers dont necessarily work....

Although doesnt explain the sudden drop in charge....

 

[question fear]

I think I have the same problem. It's intermittent, but the battery meter is definitely going funky. Last week it basically flipped its **** on me and declared it was fine one minute, then down to 20%, then 10%, then amazingly stayed at 5% for almost 2 hours. This week I had it charged whenever I was in the car saturday. Saturday evening I had 3/4 of a battery, and Sunday morning ~10am it was totally dead.

There's something weird with the battery meter, even with the 2.01 update.

 

[haddman]

I think I have the same problem. It's intermittent, but the battery meter is definitely going funky. Last week it basically flipped its **** on me and declared it was fine one minute, then down to 20%, then 10%, then amazingly stayed at 5% for almost 2 hours. This week I had it charged whenever I was in the car saturday. Saturday evening I had 3/4 of a battery, and Sunday morning ~10am it was totally dead.

There's something weird with the battery meter, even with the 2.01 update.

I don't think it has anything to do with the update, I had mine on for a 1 day and like 8 hours last night and had yet to receive the 20% remaining warning. You probably have a bad battery...take it to apple and swap it for a new one.

 

[question fear]

I don't think it has anything to do with the update, I had mine on for a 1 day and like 8 hours last night and had yet to receive the 20% remaining warning. You probably have a bad battery...take it to apple and swap it for a new one.

Urgh, I hope it's not the battery (it's a 1st gen iphone from launch day, so I'm out of warranty and never got Applecare.)

If the battery can hang on until 3G comes to my area reliably then I'll worry about replacing it with a new phone, but I'd really prefer to drag this one out for a good while longer.

 

[warburg]

Are you sure that you can't overcharge the battery by leaving it on charge for long periods of time, even if it's full? Also, how many recharges can one expect to get on a battery like this?

 

[taibant]

this just happened to me too

battery was at 100% for over a day which is odd for me since i use it alot
restarted phone and was immediately at 10%



2.0.1 bug?

 

[ajthomason]

From my experience of a Griffin PowerJolt (car charger), if the iPhone gets too hot while charging, it will cut off the charger and display the Full Battery indicator at the top right, however if you lock it, it will show the main battery (in the middle of the screen) as the true battery level.

The trick is not to use heat-producing features while charging it (GPS, 3G or playing games etc) and it will always charge fine - it just overheats and shuts off.

 

[jmpmntwnty3]

I know that if its a brand new one that the battery needs to be run through a few times but apart from that i also know that overcharging can be a problem. i leave my macbook on charger 24/7 and it now only stands an hour long battery off charger but one of my friends macbooks will only last a matter of minutes and doesnt even show a time estimate.

I got it the day after launch day, so it's about a month old. The first day I got it, I barely used it. I made sure it was at 100% charge before I started playing with it and really using it and what-not.

I think I have the same problem. It's intermittent, but the battery meter is definitely going funky. Last week it basically flipped its **** on me and declared it was fine one minute, then down to 20%, then 10%, then amazingly stayed at 5% for almost 2 hours. This week I had it charged whenever I was in the car saturday. Saturday evening I had 3/4 of a battery, and Sunday morning ~10am it was totally dead.

There's something weird with the battery meter, even with the 2.01 update.

I'm thinking it has something to do with 2.0.1 as well. I've NEVER had this problem until yesterday.

From my experience of a Griffin PowerJolt (car charger), if the iPhone gets too hot while charging, it will cut off the charger and display the Full Battery indicator at the top right, however if you lock it, it will show the main battery (in the middle of the screen) as the true battery level.

The trick is not to use heat-producing features while charging it (GPS, 3G or playing games etc) and it will always charge fine - it just overheats and shuts off.

I use Griffin PowerJolt too. Cutting off GPS would be a waste because in the future whenever a suitable GPS app is available, you're gonna want to be able to use that and have your phone on the charger so that you can preserve battery life, right?

 

[ajthomason]

I use Griffin PowerJolt too. Cutting off GPS would be a waste because in the future whenever a suitable GPS app is available, you're gonna want to be able to use that and have your phone on the charger so that you can preserve battery life, right?

It's the only way I found to get it to charge reliably, so I just leave it playing music or doing nothing charging in the car, then use it after I've unplugged it.

I hope that they produce a fix for it to keep it running a bit cooler, but at least I can charge it now!

 

[haddman]

Urgh, I hope it's not the battery (it's a 1st gen iphone from launch day, so I'm out of warranty and never got Applecare.)

If the battery can hang on until 3G comes to my area reliably then I'll worry about replacing it with a new phone, but I'd really prefer to drag this one out for a good while longer.

I did not realize it was a 2G iPhone. You might want to try rolling back the software to 2.0 or maybe even 1.1.4 for a few days to see if you have the same battery issue. That might help you determine if it is a software or hardware. If you expierence no issues on an older software version you could try to reflash back to the latest to see if the problem returns.

 

[jnalley1]

I have the same issue with my phone. If I let it charge too long the battery icon will remain at 100% until I get the 20% battery life message. I have to turn the phone off and back on to get the battery to show the true life left, but it is fine after that as long as I don't over charge it again. I noticed this issue with my phone with the even the 2.0 software, so I know the update that came out has nothing to do with it.

 

[jprincesa]

So what exactly is overcharging? How do you avoid doing that? My phone said it was at a 100% then all of a sudden my music stoped and the phone was asking me to charge it. The next day it went from being 80% full to only having 10% left. I hope i dont have a bad battery.

 

[Mauricio N.]

So what exactly is overcharging? How do you avoid doing that? My phone said it was at a 100% then all of a sudden my music stoped and the phone was asking me to charge it. The next day it went from being 80% full to only having 10% left. I hope i dont have a bad battery.

I'm facing the very same problem here! Did you get your issue solved? I've tried a few reboots and turned it off/on several times as well, but with no luck. Now, I've just finished a full restore and recharge, and started a video playback to see how the batt mater behaves.
Is this bug still common among iPhone 3G owners? Should I look for a replacement?

 

[Lexoticstylez02]

I am now getting this problem as well.. it's not 2.0.1 because I'm on 2.1 and still have this happen. This did not happen with the 1st 3G I purchased, and I had it for almost 3 months so I don't think it's a software problem. I may have to get another replacement