Windows 10: How to fix awful battery life

My battery life on my surface pro 5 only lasts about 10-20 minutes fully charged, even with brightness to the lowest, battery saver on 24/7, and no background apps running. When I test the maximum capacity of my battery, it is different every time, usually from 10% of the battery's indented life to about 60% of it. It goes up and down and up and down. I don't know how the max capacity can just go up and down like that randomly so exponentially. How to fix?

:)

 

The battery life

Hi boerab61,

Battery life varies from phone model to phone model, even when they're from the same OEM. For instance, the HTC Titan II has a different battery life than a HTC HD7. However, your particular battery life can be varied depending on several factors:

• Strength of your phone carrier signal. If you're in areas of low or terrible coverage, then your phone will consume more energy trying to maintain a connection with a cell tower.
• High usage of GPS can also drain the battery quickly because the GPS sensor consumes a lot of energy. By the way, if you are using GPS a lot, you can actually improve battery life by leaving WiFi on, as Windows Phone can quickly pull geolocation info from
  WiFi routers, even if you're not connected to them.
  

With that in mind, here's some suggestions to try to extend the life of your battery.

Reduce the load on your battery:

• 
  Decrease screen brightness.
  
• 
  Set Timeout duration on Backlight.
  
• 
  Set Auto-Off Timeout duration for 1 minute or less (device turns off).
  
• Throttle down your CPU speed.
• 
  Remove external devices (SD Cards, etc)
  

Turn off appropriate radios on your device:

• 
  Turn off Bluetooth transceiver when not in use.
  
• 
  Turn off WiFi transceiver when not in use (except when using GPS).
  
• 
  Turn off GPS receiver when not in use.
  
• 
  Turn off Cell transceiver when not in use.
  

Change the way you do things with your device:

• Minimize media playback use.
• Minimize use of e-mail and browsing.
• 
  Once in a while (every few weeks), drain battery until dead, then recharge 100%
  
• Keep a spare charger in your car and/or office.
  

Again, these are the ways you can consume battery life and yes, some are extreme but if you're serious about conserving your phone's battery, these are some great suggestions.

I hope this helps!

David

 

The battery life

Hi boerab61,

Battery life varies from phone model to phone model, even when they're from the same OEM. For instance, the HTC Titan II has a different battery life than a HTC HD7. However, your particular battery life can be varied depending on several factors:

• Strength of your phone carrier signal. If you're in areas of low or terrible coverage, then your phone will consume more energy trying to maintain a connection with a cell tower.
• High usage of GPS can also drain the battery quickly because the GPS sensor consumes a lot of energy. By the way, if you are using GPS a lot, you can actually improve battery life by leaving WiFi on, as Windows Phone can quickly pull geolocation info from
  WiFi routers, even if you're not connected to them.
  

With that in mind, here's some suggestions to try to extend the life of your battery.

Reduce the load on your battery:

• 
  Decrease screen brightness.
  
• 
  Set Timeout duration on Backlight.
  
• 
  Set Auto-Off Timeout duration for 1 minute or less (device turns off).
  
• Throttle down your CPU speed.
• 
  Remove external devices (SD Cards, etc)
  

Turn off appropriate radios on your device:

• 
  Turn off Bluetooth transceiver when not in use.
  
• 
  Turn off WiFi transceiver when not in use (except when using GPS).
  
• 
  Turn off GPS receiver when not in use.
  
• 
  Turn off Cell transceiver when not in use.
  

Change the way you do things with your device:

• Minimize media playback use.
• Minimize use of e-mail and browsing.
• 
  Once in a while (every few weeks), drain battery until dead, then recharge 100%
  
• Keep a spare charger in your car and/or office.
  

Again, these are the ways you can consume battery life and yes, some are extreme but if you're serious about conserving your phone's battery, these are some great suggestions.

I hope this helps!

David

 

Microsoft Lumia 950: Awful battery life

Awful battery life. I am a developer and a Sys Administrator. I love the Windows 950 phone, however; have to agree that the battery life is just awful, 4 hours max with no apps running in the background.

A strange occurrence this morning which brought me here to this board. The phone was charging when I went to bed. When I woke up, it was 56%??? I usually charge at night after working during the day. I have to charge it at least 2-3 times during the
day. I thought there was an issue with the charger cable.

I tried 3 seperate charger cables (USB-C) while the phone was on and it was not charging. All I did was turn the phone on and off - it is now back to charging with no problems. That is the first time I experienced this issue after owning it about 4 months.
I did not experience this with my prior phone, Lumia 920.