New Apple Watch SE won't last from 45-50% through the night sleep tracking...

[Regbial]

I bought a new Apple Watch SE 41mm back in May... and it's been twice already when I go to sleep accidentally with the battery around 50% and I wake up and the battery is dead. The first time I could still see the watchOS with my watch face but as soon as I opened the sleep app after waking up it died, and today, it was just dead already when I woke up didn't even show me the watch face. Put it on it's charger and it showed me the boot up apple logo and then started charging from "critical" condition.

Here's the thing: when I bought it and tried to turn it on it was dead.. this already worried me but after charging it said battery health was at 100% so I thought nothing more of it.. but it's strange to me it sometimes wont last through the night sleep tracking... is the new sleep tracking that taxing on the battery? or is it that my battery is faulty because it spent too many months dead there at the store?

I mean 45-50ish % to dead in 7 hours of sleep is normal? Sometimes I'll charge it to 60% and wake up with 47% or so.. that's on a normal night.. but if I forget to charge it things like these will happen.. but I never let it drop before 40% so it's strange to me that on a normal night it's 60-50% or 60-45% but on other it's 45% (?) to DEAD.. like as soon as it crosses the 45% to lower it's on a "steep slope" to nothing.. that's the feeling I get.. 🤔

My question is how do your apple watches hold up? even at those percentages it lasts through the night no?

My guess is my watch has a "high impedence" as Apple mentions on this page (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210551)... and that having the battery dead for so long causes it to suddenly discharge quickly for some reason..

I have Apple care but they wont take it in for this will they? battey health has to indicate it's less than 80%, right?

 

[MacKid1983]

I have a week old Ultra and I charged to 100% 10pm last night woke up 6:30am down to 92%. it's now 1pm and I am down to 86%. VERY minimal notifications received, sitting at my desk. AOD off, wake on wrist raise is off, cellular off and wifi off. Simple nike watch face with no complications. Is this normalize battery life?

 

[Regbial]

Yes, I would think so.. my Apple watch (SE) also lasts longest in the highest percentages, but I keep it 50-65% normally for it's battery health... so it lasts longer..

Same thing with my previous series 3.. it would last longer in 70% or higher than in the middle range or lower..

But the series 3 would never suddenly die in the lower percentages like this one does.. that's why I worry.. Here's a screenshot of the battery life throughout last night.. you can see how suddenly around 40% it just dies suddenly..

I have a faulty battery don't I?

(edit: not even 40% ... seems like it shut down at around 50%)

 

[jz0309]

Yes, I would think so.. my Apple watch (SE) also lasts longest in the highest percentages, but I keep it 50-65% normally for it's battery health... so it lasts longer..

Same thing with my previous series 3.. it would last longer in 70% or higher than in the middle range or lower..

But the series 3 would never suddenly die in the lower percentages like this one does.. that's why I worry.. Here's a screenshot of the battery life throughout last night.. you can see how suddenly around 40% it just dies suddenly..

I have a faulty battery don't I?

(edit: not even 40% ... seems like it shut down at around 50%)

since you say you have AC+ - contact apple and talk to them, and show your pics. something seems wrong ...
one of the things they'll ask you to do is to un-pir/re-pair - have you done that yet? did you setup as new (my recommendation) or restore from backup?

 

[Regbial]

since you say you have AC+ - contact apple and talk to them, and show your pics. something seems wrong ...
one of the things they'll ask you to do is to un-pir/re-pair - have you done that yet? did you setup as new (my recommendation) or restore from backup?

Thank you... I restored from a backup from my Series 3.. although first I did set up as new just to check everything was alright the first few days before I actually restored. Could that really be the problem? I hate having more apple watches as a "source" for health data on my Health app... but if it has to be done...

I'll also try to run the battery down to 40% or lower with normal use (outside of sleep tracking) and see how that goes.. see if it suddenly shuts down again or there's a rapid decrease in power stored or something..

 

[jz0309]

Thank you... I restored from a backup from my Series 3.. although first I did set up as new just to check everything was alright the first few days before I actually restored. Could that really be the problem? I hate having more apple watches as a "source" for health data on my Health app... but if it has to be done...

I cannot be certain of course but there have been posts here where setting up as new resolved issues when folks had installed from a backup, and, Apple support will definitely ask you to do the un-pair/re-pair if you choose to contact them.
I have I think 8 AWs as sources in my health data, no issues just never delete them if you care for the history

 

[Regbial]

Just wanted to add an update... if it helps anyone. First I tried resetting my apple watch and not restoring from backup, setting it up as new, as someone (and the tech guys) suggested here. Nothing changed.

Then I tried iFixit's battery recalibration ( https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/Battery_Calibration )

That seemed to fix it... It did drop to 1% and then to dead the day after.. Figured that was fixed. but no, later the issue returned.. I had no choice but to send it in to be repaired/replaced by the still valid warranty (even though I purchased applecare+)

And so they replaced it. Surprisingly, I think the replacement had the smallest little ding on the corner of the aluminium, but I didn't care (screen was new, old one had a couple of scratches, figured it was a good trade off). Seemed to work fine... but one night, again, I forgot to charge it before sleeping, I was around 50% when I did fall asleep.. and in the morning.. dead. Put it on the charger and when it reset, it showed 35%... and so I let it run down to 35% again and it shut off.. So I did the whole recalibration thing again, this time it did drop to 1% the next day after charging it to 100%... prayed it was fixed. 🙏 That was like 2-3 weeks ago. Now the issue comes back. Again, last night I fell asleep with it at around 46% ... (shouldn't take 46% of a battery for an 8 hour night of sleep tracking, normally it takes 20-30% for me) ... and I wake up and it's dead again...

Put it on the charger, as soon as it restarts it marks 35% battery.. so I'm guessing 35% battery is actually 1%... how annoying, trying to maneuver around and guess the actual charge... seems like the watch is like a mood-swinging spouse or partner. 💀 Like I just want my sleep tracked and I don't want to worry about the watch giving out when I have a long workout.. is that REALLY too much to ask Apple? jeez...

Honestly, wth is wrong with Apple and their batteries? Even with the replacement with "new" components, the same issue.. shoddy calibration or...whatever it is..

So I'm thinking next week or in a few I'll take it back to be replaced. AGAIN...

You'd figure a multi-billion dollar company would get good batteries on their devices, or good battery management and calibration software... but no.. too focused on streaming services and pushing the M3, M4, M5, M12 chips every year.. 🙄 .. it's so annoying having to use my old S3 with the screen detached while I wait almost two weeks for testing and the replacement to come back... not to mention more and more "new" apple watches added as sources in my health app. Am I going to have to do this forever?

Anyway hope this is a good warning to anyone looking to get an Apple watch... test the battery well in those first few months so you get a replacement in time before your warranty period expires... although... who even knows if that replacement will fix the problem.

 

[tsupersonic]

What apps/complications do you use and Watch face do you use? I use my Series 7 while sleeping (primarily for alarms), and lose about 10-15% at night.

 

[Howard2k]

Seconded - about 10%-15% loss overnight is normal for me (S8, 94% battery health).