0

I recently bought an external non-standard 7000 mAh battery for my Samsung Galaxy S3 but the phone doesn't seem to recognize it. Is it possible that the phone needs to be reconfigured or recalibrated so as to recognize the difference in the battery capacity?

Nikhil Girraj
  • 131
  • 3
  • How exactly does it behave? Generally, external batteries simply act as portable chargers, and are recognized as chargers - not as batteries that can be "used" directly in the manner that your phone's battery is. – eldarerathis Dec 01 '14 at 16:42
  • Did you check on the manufacturers website or forum? – HasH_BrowN Dec 01 '14 at 16:43
  • External batteries are usually plug&go, since they function as chargers. This may seem like a silly question but is the external battery charged? A dead batter won't be recognized by anything. Also,have you tested any other devices with it? Is your phone the only one that won't respond to it? – Trish Ling Dec 01 '14 at 22:56
  • I'm sorry if it is not clear, but by external battery I mean this battery pack not a portable charger. – Nikhil Girraj Dec 03 '14 at 06:53
  • The link in the comment above seems broken: it goes to the product page of a "Waterproof & Shockproof Portable Wireless Bluetooth 4.1 Speaker", not a battery of any kind. :/ – Ilmari Karonen Apr 05 '19 at 08:07
  • @IlmariKaronen I see the link is broken and it was too long ago to remember what exactly it was. Please look at this product which seems similar - https://www.amazon.com/warranty-ZeroLemon-Extended-Protection-Included/dp/B00BXO7YOW – Nikhil Girraj Apr 05 '19 at 09:27
  • Also, I am not actively seeking an answer to this anymore. – Nikhil Girraj Apr 05 '19 at 09:28

1 Answers1

0

That is most definitely an INTERNAL batery, and I am also curious as to what you mean by "doesn't seem to recognize it". I'm not sure how you could install that externally as you imply. Did you follow the manufacturer directions EXACTLY? Did you charge it completely before powering yor device on? I am most curious becouse I plan to purchase the s5 version of the same battery. I'll try to keep you posted as to my results.

This is the most complete calibration method that I could find. I hope this helps.

How to format a new Li-Ion battery.

  1. Plug in the charger but leave the phone off. charge your phone until the the charge is 'full' not just 100%. Then at least on the first charge leave it another 30 minutes to an hour to make sure it is full/full.

  2. Unplug, and pull out the battery. You need to press and hold the power button for 1 minute to discharge any current left in your phone. This current is needed to store data in your phone’s RAM. If there is any corrupt data in the RAM it will stay there even if the phone is off as long as current is still available. In reality, even if you press and hold the power button for a mere 30 seconds the current will be discharged. It is however best to do it for a longer period of time just to make sure.

  3. Put the battery back in and boot in recovery mode using the following method.

  4. While phone is off Hold down the Home and Volume Up keys.

  5. Press and hold the Power button while still holding the other keys.

  6. As soon as you see the Samsung logo, release all keys/buttons (May need to continue holding volume up and home).

  7. When blue screen appears use the Volume Down key to scroll down to Wipe Cache Partition. (Wipe dalvik as well if possible)

  8. Press the Power button to select it.

  9. Press the Volume down button to highlight "Yes" and press the Power Button to select it.

  10. Wait for a few minutes for the phone to clear the data.

  11. Then press the Power button to select reboot system now. Wait for your phone to reboot.

  12. Connect the phone to the charger with the phone powered on, and allow the phone to charge until it shows "full".

  13. Disconnect the phone from the charger, and power it off.

  14. Pull out the battery. You need to press and hold the power button for 1 minute to discharge any current left in your phone. This current is needed to store data in your phone’s RAM. If there is any corrupt data in the RAM it will stay there even if the phone is off as long as current is still available. In reality, even if you press and hold the power button for a mere 30 seconds the current will be discharged. It is however best to do it for a longer period of time just to make sure.

  15. Reconnect the phone to the charger with the phone powered off, and allow the phone to charge until the battery indicator shows "full".

  16. Disconnect the phone, power it on, and use it.

  17. Use the phone till it shuts off by itself due to exhausted battery. (1st time ONLY, turn on and drain battery until phone shuts down [repeat until you are unable to turn the phone on- this step is very important because we need to drain the battery completely]) -Charge till "full" before turning back on.

  18. Repeat step 17 - 6× for ZeroLemon, or high capacity battery (3× for standard battery). (This step takes DAYS.)

    • You should only use this sequence one time.

Note: The easiest way to calibrate your battery is to allow it to fully discharged (until it turns itself off), then plug in the charger but leave the phone off. Charge it until "full" while the phone is off. When it hits "battery full", unplug it and turn it on.

  • Recommend is do not continually drain battery below 10%, battery calibrates itself via onchip. Generally, using the phone for a week will recalibrate it. Previous steps are only recommended for a new battery.

  • Personal suggestion is do NOT repeat step 17 any more than the manufacturer recomends. Completely discharging, or keeping a Li-Ion battery at "full" charge WILL place undo stress on the "chemical" battery and reduce longevity.

  • Also it does seem to make sense to get the most accurate possible reads for 100% AND 0%, especially with a new high capacity battery.

Anonymous
  • 13
  • 4
  • Do you have any evidence to support that this method works? I'm not sure if dalvik cache has much to do with the battery calibration. – 1990clb Jul 02 '15 at 13:03
  • Honestly, I have checked to see that the described method (steps 4 through 7) do boot to recovery mode. Also ZeroLemon website does make passing reference to the need to fully charge and discharge their batteries 6×, as well as full instructions in the package. Aside from that, no I haven't verified anything else. In fact when I booted to recovery I only chose to reboot as it was just for verification purposes. Also my menu made no reference to delvik, so.... Performed on Galaxy s5, will update when I get my high capacity battery. – Anonymous Jul 02 '15 at 13:39
  • Not all rechargeable batteries deliver the fully rated capacity when new and require formatting. Formatting completes the manufacturing process and occurs during early usage when the battery is being cycled. Lithium-ion is a very clean system. Additional formatting makes little difference because the maximum capacity is available right from the beginning, (the exception may be a small capacity gain after a long storage [such as a newly purchased battery]). Nor does a full discharge improve the capacity once the battery has faded. A low capacity signals the end of life. – Anonymous Jul 03 '15 at 22:54
  • A discharge/charge may only be beneficial to calibrate a “digital” battery; it does nothing to improve the “chemical battery.” The on board overcharge protection chip stores [at least] the battery code and tracks battery readings that typically include voltage, current, temperature and state-of-charge information. A SMBus battery contains permanent and temporary data. The battery manufacturer programs the permanent data into the battery, which includes battery ID, battery type, manufacturer’s name, serial number and date of manufacture. – Anonymous Jul 03 '15 at 22:57
  • The temporary data is added during use and consists of cycle count, user pattern and maintenance requirements. What most “smart” systems ignore is the condition of the battery. They assume that [all] packs are running close to the original capacity and that all cells are well balanced. Such a condition only exists when the battery is newly [manufactured].

    It should be noted that although battery life is determined by construction li-Ion batteries typically have two additional controls.

     – Anonymous Jul 03 '15 at 23:00
  • In cellular phones for example there is the on board chip noted above, but there is also a software controller [in the using device] as well which will also stop the charging process when it estimates a full charge (a typical redundancy). This would be the reason that while the battery itself should not need recalibration it will suffer reduced usability without calibration.

    Information compiled from batteryuniversity.com I used cut and paste method and placed all additions and corrections in [brackets].

     – Anonymous Jul 03 '15 at 23:04
  • Also, several places batteryuniversity.com strongly recommend against either keeping Li-Ion batteries at full charge or completely discharging them as this places undo stress on the chemical battery and reduces longevity. To that end the only logical conclusion that I could reach is that the fault actually lies in the phones power management software which when uncalibrated can cause symptoms observably similar to a dieing chemical battery. It would only be the software that requires calabration, which is bad for the chemical battery. – Anonymous Jul 03 '15 at 23:08
  • @1990clb ok, I said that I'd update when my battery arrived so... my ZeroLemon 8000mAh tri-core arrived yesterday, and the first thing I noticed was that it covered the speaker. Neadless to say, I immediately sent it back as not conforming to the description as eleminating the speaker function (in my opinion) makes it non-compatible with the Samsung Galaxy S5. I didn't charge it or check the instructions above. The replacement I have now settled on is a double core that does support full functionality of the phone. The manufacturer recommends against recalibration. – Anonymous Jul 09 '15 at 14:02
  • If something doesn't work, or in any way is not compatible with your device then immediately send it back. – Anonymous Jul 09 '15 at 15:58