Librem 5 Battery Life 2024

[amarok]

@gondolyr

I do wonder what people’s reasons are for having multiple Librem 5 batteries instead of using a power bank.

I suppose it’s to avoid the bulk and/or awkwardness of the combined power bank and phone in one’s pocket.

[carlosgonz]

Due to the complexity of Librem 5 and complexity of Purism’s budget i can confirm that Purism has done an incredible job for Librem5, but that’s not all, Purism has more magical things for Librem 5 than you can not imagine.

I am grateful from Purism.

[irvinewade]

@Dlonk

So, it’s possible that sometimes I was negatively affecting the % tracking.

I believe that this is a known issue with swapping batteries.

[irvinewade]

@amarok

I suppose it’s to avoid the bulk and/or awkwardness of the combined power bank and phone in one’s pocket.

Against that, outside of the Americas, aviation restrictions may mean that it is far easier to obtain a compatible power bank as compared with spare compatible batteries. (I have it on my agenda to get a suitable power bank but I haven’t so far done that, or really needed to.)

If you are in a remote cabin, with careful planning, it may be possible to avoid carrying the power bank in your pocket. I guess the OP can shed better light on the logistics of that.

[Dlonk]

@amarok

the bulk and/or awkwardness of the combined power bank

I haven’t spent a lot of time with power banks, so maybe I’m biased and just choosing to like Librem 5, but I really do think that I enjoy the handset form factor without a dongle, so that this extra power doesn’t feel like a long drawn-out event to utilize and instead is like something that’s always active – i.e. the phone is always in its standalone “good/ready” state and yet also has the extra energy available.

I was talking to someone about it once and they suggested the electric car market might be about to dramatically shift, if folks realize they can design cars that battery swap. I heard that in China or somewhere, it changes a 30 minute stop at a “fast charging station” to instead be an instant bump to full charge by doing a swap at a battery swap station.

Anyway, if nothing else, my Purism phone gives me the freedom to battery swap while my old junker Android did not. So whether I am right or wrong to do so, being allowed to do so, for me, is liberating and fun.

[FranklyFlawless]

Car battery fuel cells would need to be standardized to implement that concept, if not done so already.

[Privacy2]

@Dlonk

Anyway, if nothing else, my Purism phone gives me the freedom to battery swap while my old junker Android did not.

For me, battery swapping is for replacement for a dead battery that no longer takes a charge.
A power pack is for charging. I went 23 days on a hike with a 10000mAh power pack and a cheap Android phone (only needed to swap power packs after 10 days). The phone was mainly for GPS + topo maps and photos and, so, while the phone was on all day every day … it was in “airplane mode” except when using it as the interface (over bluetooth) for satellite texts.

I’m sorry to say that this would not have been possible with a Librem 5.

[shak]

I m interested to know any tips or tricks to prolong battery life . Even in suspend mode , over night i am losing about 40% battery life. Using waydroid at the gym with a workout app and listening to music via shortwave about 1 hour and a half workout , uses up to 80 % battery life. 15 minutes using bluetooth helmet and shortwave about 20 percent drain. Is there anything to improve it ? i already have auto suspend at 2 minutes

[Ick]

There is not much you can do. Most stuff is hardware and software related. You just can try to find applications that are more efficient and you can try to keep your battery healthy.

I am plugging in my phone the whole time I am at home. Once it’s fully charged it doesn’t drain the battery anymore and so it keeps it healthy. In additional I change a file that makes the phone stop charging at ~70% (as long as I do not need a fully charge to carry over the day). But these things only help that you to not loose max capacity in one, two or more years. It still happens, but a bit less.

[FranklyFlawless]

@shak

Is there anything to improve it ?

Turn off the device when not in use.

[zks1]

@Ick what file do you change to limit max battery charge?

[Ick]

echo 4000000 | sudo tee /sys/class/power_supply/bq25890-charger-0/constant_charge_voltage is the code to limit the max charge. After reboot it’s back to normal. If you chance the value, you also change the max amount. It does not start at 0, so keep steps little. To reverse it on code check the file /sys/class/power_supply/bq25890-charger-0/constant_charge_voltage_max - it should be 4208000. You either can write the number into the code above or copy paste it. Keep in mind, this is L5 specific.

Additional information:
The battery icon will always say you’re charging. But as soon as the red status led turns off, it does not charge anymore.

[Sarcasmo220]

@Ick

In additional I change a file that makes the phone stop charging at ~70%

From what I remember from previous discussions there is no major benefit to limiting the battery charge, as it is already limited a little bit for technical reasons.

Define upper and lower limit for charge state

Thanks for sharing the link. I learned 2 things: The battery is already not being charged to 100%, so it should last longer than most smartphone batteries already. Most batteries charge to 4.2V, and that is what the phone stops at, but the battery in the Librem 5 can go to 4.35v. So stopping charge at 80% in its current configuration is redundant. If someone takes out (or maybe just keep the kill switch on) the cell modem, it can be charged to its true 100% for a longer time between charg…

[Ick]

It’s a curve where you damage your battery. What’s hard coded is to prevent damaging your battery quickly plus some threshold plus a slower charge when it becomes full to reduce aging. But there is no point when charging does not damage it. The reason it’s not reduced further: we want to have uptime with a single charge, so we need a sweet-spot where we get most time with as little as possible damage. However you can reduce it even further if you think you do not need a full charge for your day (because you can keep it powered most of the day).

And of cause it’s less effective, but it still helps. My old phone had an uptime above 7 days (modern smartphones may just 2 days). L5 will not survive longer than one day. So the charging damage is significantly higher (you charge more often). And in my daily cycle I’m usually discharge just 20% until it’s plugged again. So it would always charge 80% to 100%, which destroys it even more. It’s not redundant, it has just a little additional effect and no huge impact.

So at the end, it makes sense if you do not need more than 50% charge before you power it the next time. If you need 60% to 100% to survive the day, you can stay without custom limits without any fear.

[zks1]

Thanks @Ick ! This seems to have done the trick for what I am looking for. I think. I am still playing around with it, but the key thing is it stops the charging at a set level. As you mention the level is not what you might think it is since it does not start at 0. I am trying to see if I can get 80% but it seems to be tricky.

Thanks though!

[VClaw]

what trick? mine without byzantium os, only last 4.5 hours per battery which is ridiculously bad.

[carlosgonz]

@VClaw

what trick?

There are a lot tricks:
Prevent to enable VoLTE if not needed.
Prevent to enable Flatpak.
Prevent to enable 5ghz WLAN.
Prevent to enable dark mode.
Prevent to enable Firefox.
Prevent to enable openVPN but Wireguard
Prevent to enable Opensources things because evils.

Also native GLES3 is missing which causes it to consume a lot of battery, the good news is that this piece is near to be completed which would add robustness and a significant drop in battery consumption.
Phosh Framework it need native GLES3.

[VClaw]

Prevent to enable VoLTE if not needed.
Prevent to enable Flatpak.
Prevent to enable 5ghz WLAN.

With all above to be gone, I rather use my blackberry passport.

L5, This is an expensive phone, if all modern stuff needs to be disabled, not worth it. I bought four batteries and still not enough to go through a day. I just hope they can keep improving instead of compromising more and more to make it more usable.

[zks1]

Well the trick for me meant, I’ve been worried about the reduction in capacity of my battery. I mostly kept it plugged in, but the occasional times I would have to be on battery and the resulting charging/discharging cycles seemed to be reducing the overall battery capacity.

By being able to limit the max charge to 70 or 80% and prevent it going below 20% is supposed to help make the battery last longer.

So the trick was post #17 Librem 5 Battery Life 2024 - #17 by Ick

Now, based on your comment

@VClaw

only last 4.5 hours per battery which is ridiculously bad

running the L5 between 20-70% further reduces it’s usefullness on a daily basis. But, with the trick from post #17, I can choose to let the battery charge to 100% if I want.

Overall, using the Suspend feature, turning off wifi when I’m away from home (to conserve battery), and I’ve noticed lately, closing web browser email app when I’m away from home, seems to give my about 8 hours maybe (from 100%).

I do agree, I wish I could get more daily usage, but I’m hoping improvements in Crimson will help?! But, also, I’m also nervous about getting longer life out of the battery itself.

[Lliure]

Prevent to enable Opensources things because evils.

Open source software, the silent battery killer!