Samsung Note 2 Charging Problems after 4.3 Update

Hello, randyorr!

Thanks for your post. I'm sorry to hear that your Samsung Note 2 is having charging issues after the software update. If you don't mind, please send us a private message by clicking here so we can track the issue and find a fix.

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-Mariana

My phone takes like 10-12 hours to charge. Sometimes it doesn't charge at all. I plug it in and it shows charging but in the morning the phone hasn't charged at all. This only started after the upgrade.

I have the Galaxy Note and after the upgrade, mine does not keep a charge for more than 30 seconds, especially if I am viewing an APP. I have done all of the standard fixes, e.g. power saving, removing old apps, etc. no luck. I still cannot use my phone for more than 30 seconds unless it is plugged in.

There is no problem with the battery. When I am able to charge it to full (which takes forever with the new firmware), it lasts just fine. Every once in a while it goes dead like 10x faster than normal, but that isn't very often. I'm done with this phone. I'm going to unlock it, factory reset it, and sell it. I want to go back to HTC.

I have this too; I do not use mobile data, only use apps on wifi, use battery saver, etc.  I HAD 75% battery life at the end of the day BEFORE the 4.3 FORCED update.  (Thanks ATT for that one... love the lack of decision under the guise of security).  But I digress...

Now with 4.3 I get 30 to 35% battery life and being that this is a lithium Ion battery, I will not DISCHARGE it till it reaches reserve capacity and recharge.

I don’t know who would do that, it’s not a NiMH battery, and driving a Ion battery to reserve it a GREAT way to buy a new battery.  Without getting too technical they have no memory effect, which means that you do not have to completely discharge them before recharging, as with some other battery chemistries.

Meaning what someone on here recommended this and that will only work for use with NiMH or the old acid lead batteries.

Also, most only last 2 to 3 years and the lower the discharge the lower the life of the battery becomes.  If you ever remove the reserve charge and totally drain the battery you will destroy the battery.  That is fact, and I dare you to try it.  (Don’t try that please).

But this still does not solve the code issue in the 4.3 update that is not regulating the battery.  I am going on 2 or 3 months with 4.3 update, and AGAIN AT&T you have managed to destroy a working phone due to crappy coding and lack of error checking and Beta testing.  (I also blame Google and Samsung for this also)  Keep up the subpar work…. Go team.  LOL

I have the same problem !

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@margaret.brafford wrote:

being that this is a lithium Ion battery, I will not DISCHARGE it till it reaches reserve capacity and recharge.

I don’t know who would do that, it’s not a NiMH battery, and driving a Ion battery to reserve it a GREAT way to buy a new battery.  Without getting too technical they have no memory effect, which means that you do not have to completely discharge them before recharging, as with some other battery chemistries.

Meaning what someone on here recommended this and that will only work for use with NiMH or the old acid lead batteries.

Also, most only last 2 to 3 years and the lower the discharge the lower the life of the battery becomes.  If you ever remove the reserve charge and totally drain the battery you will destroy the battery.  That is fact, and I dare you to try it.  (Don’t try that please).

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This is (mostly) FALSE.  Draining the battery to low levels will not "destroy" the battery instantly.  Its true that frequent small charges are "ideal" for Li ion battery life, doing a fuller cycle just once is not going to ruin the battery, and will probably not have much (if any) significant long term effect.  Frequent full cycles are harmful long term, but one time, NO.

You are right that Li ion does not suffer from memory effects.  But the reason for a full cycle is not about memory effect.  Its to properly calibrate the battery meter "high" (full) and "low" (empty) flags to the corresponding voltages.  And this needs to be done every time a major OS update has been performed.  Without proper battery calibration, the meter has no real way of knowing what voltages correspond to "empty" and "full", and you are really just going by false meter reading when looking at the battery percentage.

Just draining to 10 or 20% is fine to get the "low" flag set.  You don't need to sit in the red, if it really scares you that much.  

I have owned some 6 smartphones and tablets spanning back 6+ years.  All of them work fine (original battery on all), and I've performed the above described battery meter calibration on them plenty of times.  While its true some of these devices are sitting in a drawer collecting dust, they all still charge and function just fine, last I checked.

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@PhoneSpecialist wrote:
Hello,

After every firmware update I will recommend you Factory reset the device, after that for the battery, I recommend you drain it out until there is no juice left and charge the phone until it reaches 90% - Full charge.

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For the purpose of calibrating the battery meter, I would recommend you charge to 100%, and leave it there for 1/2 hour or so, to ensure any saturation charge is achieved.  While its true that partial charges are better for Li ion battery life, if the goal is to properly calibrate the battery meter, a full charge should be done at least once (one time is not going to ruin the battery).