iPad battery life MUCH shorter than expected - What's killing it?

[Swampthing]

The first couple days it seemed like my iPad had an okay battery life, but now I can easily bring it down to less than 50% in a single day without too much trouble. If I don't charge it overnight, the next day within a few hours I'll be down to less than 20%. For example, charged it overnight and this morning just a couple hours later, I'm down to 80% and I really haven't used it much.

Yes, I do have location services turned on, and the brightness was all the way up. But I am wondering now if those are everyone else's standard settings and still getting this WEEK LONG battery. I'm dead after two days!

I do play WE RULE, but am probably on that app maybe 10 mins at a time 2-3 times a day. I read iBooks, play games, etc. maybe 1-2 hours tops per day.

 

[wombat888]

First, let's level-set expectations.

The iPad's battery life is advertised at 10 hours on wifi, or 9 hours on 3g.

If 100% lasts 10 hours, that means that 1 hour uses 10%, in rough ballpark numbers.

It sounds like that's exactly what you are experiencing. Can you clarify the concern?

 

[Karl J]

That seems about right.

Occasional use in the evenings over about 4 hours will get the battery down to about 80-90% for me. If I don't charge over night then I can do this for a couple of days before dropping lower than 50%.

Not perfect but far better than anything else I own!

 

[Swampthing]

As I stated above, I don't think I'm getting anywhere 8-10 hours. I get maybe 4-6 tops. If I don't charge it within every two days, I go down to zero with only that much usage. Also use WiFi more than the 3G... perhaps the use of WiFi is what hurts it?

 

[johnniewalker]

You have your screen brightness ALL the way up?

This is probably the biggest factor, I'm surprised you need it that bright, I have mine just below half brightness and I find that about right.

I would also suggest that you are spending more time using your iPad than you think, I get around 3-4 days use between charges, I use it for a couple of hours per night and briefly throughout the day.

I must admit that the initial charge seemed like it would never run out! Maybe it was just because it was so good compared to my iPhone that I was surprised how long it took before I needed to recharge it.

 

[wombat888]

Okay, my fault for not reading closely. You said that two hours takes it to 80%, which is what I reacted to; what I glossed over is that this is occasional "not very heavy" use.

Two hours of heavy constant use should take it to 80% and does for me.

In your case, not sure what's up - screen brightness is probably a factor, but beyond that, hard to troubleshoot remotely. Do you have any unusual apps that might make heavy or constant use of wireless?

It's possible you have a defective unit. 10% per hour of heavy use, and almost no battery loss in sleep mode, is routine for me.

 

[antiprotest]

Seems your battery life is excellent, and just as advertised.

 

[Swampthing]

Here's an example... my iPad is just sitting here next to me with no apps open, but the screen on. In just that short time since my original posting, I've lost 3% of battery life. I am curious though, do other users iPads drain battery when not in use? Do you come back after it has not been in use and find 10-15% of your battery life gone?

I have wondered if letting it go to sleep weighs more heavily on the battery than turning it off...

 

[Julien]

The goal was to have a battery that would last "all day" under most conditions. Looks like the OP's iPad is more than meeting that goal with 50% left after using during the day.

 

[Swampthing]

The goal was to have a battery that would last "all day" under most conditions. Looks like the OP's iPad is more than meeting that goal.

Your icon says it all. Confused. Thought the original statements from Apple said 9-10 hours of usage, not 4-6. Is that confusing to you as well?

 

[Julien]

Your icon says it all. Confused. Thought the original statements from Apple said 9-10 hours of usage, not 4-6. Is that confusing to you as well?

...I don't think I'm getting anywhere 8-10 hours...

You are making statements and complaining without testing. Fully charge your iPad then play a movie over and over until dead. With push on and location services you should get 8 hours. If not then you have a legitimate problem. Just "thinking" your not getting 8 hours doesn't mean your aren't.

Also these aren't icons but emotions.

 

[gigapocket1]

How Manu mail accounted do you have set up? Do u have push on?? I haven't charged mines in about a week but I have the wifi model.. Use every now and then...

But maybe you have a runaway thread or something... Try restoring it and resync all your information.. See if that helps

 

[DaBrain]

I would say what you are experiencing is normal. I don't recall Apple stating Week long use.

Things you could do is turn down your brightness level to 1/3, turn off wi-fi overnight when off to bed and push notifications and then check for an improvement.

I think if when your iPad is on about 10% usage an hour is normal.

Not sure what else one can do to get better battery life then that.

Over all if your running your scree at 100% and all wifi and g stuff on 9 to 10 hours is good.

I noticed an improvent when I turned off the above when my iPad was not on and being used. I did that just as an experiment.

However, if Im going to do several hours of ebook reading I make it a habit to turn of my wifi only version.

Also, when practical I run my iPad on AC sitting in my stand.

Hopensome of this helps ha, but I do think your getting normal battery life for these setting you choose.

 

[phpmaven]

As I stated above, I don't think I'm getting anywhere 8-10 hours. I get maybe 4-6 tops. If I don't charge it within every two days, I go down to zero with only that much usage. Also use WiFi more than the 3G... perhaps the use of WiFi is what hurts it?

Why do you have a problem with charging it every night? That's pretty routine for any electronic device that get used as much as this does. Is it too much effort to plug in the cable?

 

[h1w1nd]

I use mine a couple hours a day and only charge it twice a week.

brightness is 20%, notifications off, push off.

I get way more than 10hours out of this thing!

 

[J&JPolangin]

...if you guys would start returning your iPad's then they'd start showing up in the refurb store and maybe I'd get one

 

[nausea]

It could be that the battery meter just reports it wrong. I've been browsing the web for 30mins now and mine still shows 100%.

 

[spinedoc77]

but now I can easily bring it down to less than 50% in a single day without too much trouble. If I don't charge it overnight, the next day within a few hours I'll be down to less than 20%.

As I stated above, I don't think I'm getting anywhere 8-10 hours. I get maybe 4-6 tops.

I don't understand. If you get 50% out of the ipad "in a single day" as you said you are actually doing better than the average ipad user if we figure a 8 hour day. If you are getting 4-6 hours of use then based on your description that would be 2 days of use for 2-3 hours per day, and yeah that is bad.

It depends what I'm doing, but yesterday for example I used my ipad on and off from about 7am to 12am. I watched the news in the morning, then read the newspaper before opening my office. Then I scanned in 2 700+ page books and let iannotate process them, I had to leave the ipad on processing for a good half hour churning the processor and screen. Then I opened it up and browsed the web and read books on it at various times. In the evening went to Barnes and Noble with my wife and browsed the internet for a couple of hours and read some books. On the car ride home I browsed some more thru MyWi. At home I was about 35%. My power went out on us last night so I put in my iphone sim card into the ipad and used 3g for about 2 hours, that brought it down to 20% when I finally got the low battery warning. Power came back on so I went back on wifi and read for about another 2 hours before plugging it in and going back to sleep.

 

[Swampthing]

Also these aren't icons but emotions.

Quick Internet education for ya:

is an ICON which replaces EMOTICONS.

;-) is an EMOTICON.


LOL.. that's me laughing at you thinking you knew this correctly.

Now back to our regularly scheduled topic...

 

[goobot]

when in sleep it uses battery. push. video takes a bit more. if jailbroken things in the backround can take power.

 

[Swampthing]

If you are getting 4-6 hours of use then based on your description that would be 2 days of use for 2-3 hours per day, and yeah that is bad.

It's quite refreshing to see someone who actually READ what I wrote rather than telling me everything is just fine.

I love my iPad and highly recommend them to everyone, but asking a simple question in this forum which could be seen as a negative tends to turn into a rapid gang bang attack. Sad really.

 

[M87]

Quick Internet education for ya:

is an ICON which replaces EMOTICONS.

;-) is an EMOTICON.


LOL.. that's me laughing at you thinking you knew this correctly.

Now back to our regularly scheduled topic...

Actually they're both called emoticons.

 

[redman042]

Drain the iPad without charging all the way down until it shuts off. Then recharge to 100% without interruption. Do this twice. This recalibrates the battery. My iPad was off calibration too when I first got it, now it's fine.

All new ipads should be put throughout this procedure. And you should repeat this every few months.

 

[Hammie]

I honestly do not trust the battery meter.

I have gone almost an entire day with it at 100%.

Also, I'm on my third day with the meter in the 40's without charging. I am a semi-heavy user with mostly web browsing, e-mail, and eBooks. I usually use it a good 4-6 hours a day under these conditions.

 

[drewbwfc]

First thing I did when I got mine is turn the battery meter off. I HATE it. I just use the thing and don't worry about it.

As mentioned above I intend to run it right out juice once a month a couple of times and then just charge it as an when it needs it.

10% per hour is bang on I honestly wouldn't worry!