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Battery indicator always full.

A

AaronRC

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 11, 2008
68
0
Apologies if there has already been a thread on this issue. I could find plenty relating to battery life and an inaccurate battery indicator, but nothing about this specific problem.

I'm having problems with the battery indicator on a 16GB iPhone 3G. It's always been there (received the phone Friday), so it isn't something new.

My iPhone battery indicator sits at 100% constantly. The actual battery life seems fine (it lasts longer than a day with all features on/active, anyway), but it's a pain not knowing how close to death it is. I don't get the 20% and 10% warnings, obviously. The iPhone just quits without warning, demanding a charger.

Every time I connect it to my Mac or the wall charger, the iPhone assumes it's fully charged after just a second and all usage stats are reset etc. (not a huge issue, just sayin'). Obviously it isn't charging fully in a split second, and the only way I can be sure it'll last me the day is if I leave it charging overnight (which I do anyway, but that's not really the point).

I've tried resets and restored twice (once from a backup, the other without) and reset all settings and data through the iPhone itself (why that took 2 hours I have no idea) but the problem persists.

Do you think it's worth waiting for an update (the phone is otherwise close to perfect) or getting a replacement (software or hardware issue?)?

I'm letting it run down again to see if another full charge might fix it, but I'm not hopeful.

Has anybody else encountered a similar problem or found a way to fix it?
 
Well I have no idea about the solution to your problem. But I read "Battery indicator always full" and thought this definitely doesn't belong in the help/troubleshooting forum!
 
I get very good battery life (although accurate stats are pretty tricky to get due to the phone registering as fully charged with every sync etc.). I worry that I'll exchange this and end up with a not so great battery.

I've noticed some minor light leak and also a small section of the "seal" between the screen and the bezel is missing, so I'll be getting a replacement even if the battery indicator does start working suddenly or can be fixed with an update.
 
i don't want to freak you out but i had the same issue as you, unfortunately the result was horrid. the whole day my phone said full battery life and i thought "wow". after 4+ hours usage it suddenly died. so i charged it....well 2 problems happened one after the other.


1. i put it in the charger but i noticed the battery meter wasn't going up after 15min. so i thought might as well dock it and let it backup just in case...well that led to #2


2. docked it so it did an autosync and was updating the boxoffice app (i did delete it on my phone earlier in the day). phone restarted automatically and that was the end of my phone :(
 
Well in that case, I'll call Apple and arrange a replacement (nearest Apple store is 2 hours away, so I'll make use of their Advance Replacement Service so I'm not without a phone).
 
I had this problem too, but it's gone now.
What happened is that I didn't let the battery drain fully. So I charged it 100% used it to maybe 40%, then charged it to 70%, then back to 40% and then to 100% and so on. I didn't drain it to 0%. That's when my indicator became inaccurate, and it would suddenly shut down.

Solution for me, charge to 100%, let it be for 100% on the charger for a few hours. Then use it normally to when it goes down all the way, let it be in that state for an hour. Then charge it all the way to 100% without using, let it be for an hour in 100%, and then finally use it down to 0% again.

It's now accurate, and problem solved:D!

Good luck!
 
Same thing happened to me yesterday (right after I posted gloating about my great battery life LOL!). Our battery meters probably just need a few more deep charges to calibrate properly. Just let your phone run down until it shuts off and charge it for an extended period, as if you were conditioning the battery itself.
 
I got a new (white box) phone this week. The battery life was amazing the first full day; full the whole day!

It magically dropped to 10% in the evening and died in my night class.

Charged it fully and now the meter is fine. I think a full drain / full recharge did it for me. If that doesn't do it, something might be wrong with the phone itself.
 
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