Is there an app which will stress TEST a cellphone battery?

Ahmed E. Souaiaia wrote, on Sat, 26 Apr 2014 19:57:16 -0500:

I had first assumed there were no battery benchmarking apps becuase I had read this review of benchmarking apps, which flatly stated there are none for batteries:

Yet, while reading up further, I found this free app "appears" to be a battery benchmarking app, at least by the app description: Battery Benchmark, by MonacoDevDroid

But, it earned only 3 stars, which is oddly low.

Looked at this one, Nova Battery Tester, by Nano Dynamics

But, it also only earned just a bit over 3 stars.

Off the Android store, there seems to be this benchmarking app, but, like the other two, the developer practically pleads with the users not to give it a bad review: Battery Benchmark, by App Brain

I'll try these three, but, do you know of a good 4 or 5 star Android battery stress-testing benchmarking tool?

Ahmed E. Souaiaia wrote, on Sat, 26 Apr 2014 20:06:04 -0500:

Upon first use, I can see why this Nova Battery Tester by Nano Dynamics has such a bad set of user reviews.

First off, it tells me to download the 'device characteristics' for my phone, which may be a reasonable request - yet - it knows nothing about the Samsung Galaxy SIII phone, which has to be one of the most common Android devices out there.

So I'll try the other Google Play app (I didn't know how to install the non-Google-Play app).

No app is going to be able to tell if the fault is in the phone or the battery.

The only definitive answer it to take the battery out and test it in a proper calibrated way.

--

Brian Gregory (in the UK). 
To email me please remove all the letter vee from my email address.

Brian Gregory wrote, on Sun, 27 Apr 2014 02:28:25 +0100:

I would think that nearly impossible, for an average user such as I.

I have a fluke meter, and I can dig up some resistors, but, the test jig alone would cost more than a new battery.

Brian Gregory wrote, on Sun, 27 Apr 2014 02:28:25 +0100:

Why not?

You'd be happier if it just silently download the info without telling you? You're rejecting it for being honest with you?

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Brian Gregory (in the UK). 
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Pat Wilson wrote in news:ljhmnl$tdu$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

If it does tell you anything, it's totally relying on the phone for the "diagnosis". How do you expect it to actually put a load on the battery from the USB port?

All it can do is ask the phone to use the battery.. it doesn't have any real way to stress test your battery itself.

--
Take it easy... Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy.  
Lighten up while you still can. Don't even try to understand.  
Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy!

Then just buy a new battery.

I bought three for my Galaxy Note II.

It's useful to have a spare for those long days away from a power socket.

--

Brian Gregory (in the UK). 
To email me please remove all the letter vee from my email address.

"Ahmed E. Souaiaia" wrote in news:fbdd $535c55ec$43da7656$ snipped-for-privacy@nntpswitch.blueworldhosting.com:

I don't know of any way you'd physically connect the battery to anything on the computer that would allow you to actually perform any sort of real stress test and take any readings in the process. Required hardware isn't present from the computers POV, regardless of software.

These apps aren't doing anything with the battery directly. They have no direct control over the battery itself. They try to kill apps your phone is running to reduce the phones power consumption on the battery. That's how they "save" the battery power for you. No different than you going one by one and closing the same apps.

How old is your phone? Has it always lasted about this long, or has it gotten noticeably shorter runtime between charges on you?

It can't be done from the computer without additional hardware to actually do the work. I doubt your phone has the additional load testing circuitry onboard nor a specific program to talk to said circuitry and pull the information you want here.

Not only don't I know of any real ones, I know of no way they could possibly actually do what would be claimed. I'd be very leary of any software program that boasted being able to do this. Unless the program ran a battery conditioner. :)

--
Take it easy... Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy.  
Lighten up while you still can. Don't even try to understand.  
Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy!

When you're done destroying your Li-Ion battery, I suggest you test your replacement battery externally using a battery discharge tester. I have a West Mountain Radio CBA-II: This produces graphs such as this one of a NiMH battery discharge:

You'll find similar tests of Li-Ion batteries in the model airplane forums, and in the flashlight forums. For example:

Presumably, you'll be charging the battery in the cell phone, which will protect the battery from too high a voltage. However, you are responsible for protecting the battery from too low a voltage. Running a Li-Ion battery to zero will eventually destroy it. I'm not quite sure what is considered safe but I think 3.0v would be a safe lower threshold and 2.0v would be the absolute minimum.

This won't tell you how to extend the runtime of your Samsung phone, but will tell you what the battery is capable of delivering.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com 
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558

Brian Gregory wrote, on Sun, 27 Apr 2014 02:34:36 +0100:

I think I wasn't clear about this app on the S3:

I would have been very *happy* if the app would run the battery test.

But, since the company that made the app apparently did not have a Samsung Galaxy SIII data file, the app did nothing.

Apparently, without that data file, it seems the app does nothing useful. That's what it appears to do, anyway.

But, why wouldn't it have a S3 data file? It's a very common phone, is it not?

Jeff Liebermann wrote, on Sat, 26 Apr 2014 20:23:31 -0700:

Hey there Jeff,

I know you're an old salt in these boards, and I appreciate your advice, as I know, from experience, you personally test much of what you say.

Yes. But, I have to find one!

I'm in the Santa Cruz mountains (like you), but on the far eastern side (Croy Road), whereas you're on the southern tip.

Maybe they have 'em at Frys?

Yes. It's the only way I know how to charge it. In use, it often gets blazing hot. It always did. Even when new. It's now about two years old (maybe 1.5 years old), but the battery never lasted a day, ever. Usually, it lasts two, maybe three hours, with GPS turned on. Even on the 2.1 amp car charger, it still slowly discharges with GPS on.

I guess that's due to insoluble salts? I don't think I often run it to zero, but, at about 15% (or so), my S3 usually shuts down automatically.

"Ahmed E. Souaiaia" wrote in news:92917 $535c818b$43da7656$ snipped-for-privacy@nntpswitch.blueworldhosting.com:

That sounds like a failing battery...

I don't think your phone will let you actually kill the battery outright; it should be interested in self preservation. :)

--
Take it easy... Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy.  
Lighten up while you still can. Don't even try to understand.  
Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy!

Yeah. I have the scorch marks on my workbench to prove it. My experiments with fast charging NiCd batteries did not go as planned.

No, you can't borrow mine. I'm using right now for yet another battery test.

Not exactly. I'm in Ben Lomond, about 12 miles north of Santa Cruz.

I doubt it. It's a rather specialized device. I had to order mine from the manufacturer. However, if you just want a fast guess as to the battery capacity, you can get it with just a load resistor and a DVM. Googling, I find the your Samsung Galaxy 3 can use various batteries ranging from 1900 ma-hr to 4500 ma-hr (with an extended case). The specs are all lies and based on very light loads, which produce amazingly large battery capacities. For this test, I'll assume the stock 2100 ma-hr battery and a 1C load. That would be: R = 3.7V / 2.1A = 1.8 ohms Power = 3.7 * 2.1 = 7.8 watts Throw together some kind of load that can handle 7.8 watts with a resistance of 1.8 ohms. Charge the battery, apply the load, and record the voltmeter readings until the voltage starts to drop. Stop discharging at about 2.5V or you'll kill the battery. My guess is that this will take about 15-20 mins (not 1 hr as one might guess from the 1C discharge). Do it again with a brand new battery.

The battery is dead, and may have been dead on arrival. A Li-Ion battery does not like to get hot, should not get hot when charging, and can be killed if overheated: Notice what happens when you get the battery too hot and/or with too high a voltage. Getting the battery very hot also a risk of fire. I don't know what your Samsung S3 is doing to the battery, but it's not doing it any good. Replace the battery and try again. While you're at it, measure the charging voltage. It should not be greater than

4.2v.

Google for Samsung S3 battery problems, I find plenty of complains about short battery life. I had a Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 for a while and can confirm that battery life is relatively short, even with its larger 4000 ma-hr battery. I had to turn off all kinds of things in the settings in order to get reasonable battery life. I'm not sure what it was doing at night, but before I started tweaking, I would start with a fully charged battery when I went to sleep, and found myself anywhere between 40% and 80% of full charge 8 hrs later, even though I wasn't doing anything and the power hunger backlit screen was off.

No. The details are explained under "Voltage Effects".

With 15% remaining, you're probably safe. It takes some time at low voltage to kill the battery. To be safe, don't leave it totally discharged for more than a day or so.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com 
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558

Ahmed E. Souaiaia wrote, on Sat, 26 Apr 2014 22:56:16 -0500:

I spent about an hour with this Nova Tester battery exerciser. After that effort, I couldn't possibly recommend it to anyone.

So very many things are wrong with it, that, you fight them, one by one, and then they're inconsistent with their messages, and, in the end, you get nothing anyway. Then when you uninstall it, it leaves 198 files on your system (luckily the cleaner programs caught that).

All in all, you're going backward if you try this app, IMHO. If *you* can get it to work, I congratulate you, and ask you how you did it.

Jeff Liebermann wrote, on Sat, 26 Apr 2014 23:06:41 -0700:

Ah, I see. I'm off of Croy, which you can (sort of) get to following Summit to knibbs knob at Uvas, and then across Uvas, to Croy. But, of course, those are dirt roads and they are gated.

The long way is probably 50 or 60 miles, while the shortcut, if it wasn't gated, would be only about 10 or 15 miles.

Probably only about 5 miles as the crow flies though, between us!

:)

Jeff Liebermann wrote, on Sat, 26 Apr 2014 23:06:41 -0700:

The battery says it's a Samsung 3.8V Li-ion, 7.98Wh, 2100mAh, model EB-L1G6LLA.

Jeff Liebermann wrote, on Sat, 26 Apr 2014 23:06:41 -0700:

It has 4 pins. The outermost pin is labeled + and the second from the inside end is labeled -.

I'm not sure what the other two pins are for, but, the 1xcapacity load should most likely go across those two labeled pins.

Jeff Liebermann wrote, on Sat, 26 Apr 2014 23:06:41 -0700:

You make it all sound so easy, that I'll go out and try to find a

2 ohm 10 Watt resistor like this one: