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Question

Determining a battery's maximum capacity

Sep 16, 2016 6:01AM PDT

I've just purchased a ZTE Warp Ellite phone and am trying to determine whether it might have been manufactured with the wrong capacity battery installed. It does not have a removable battery, so I can't open the phone and examine it directly without breaking into it.

The phone is advertised to have a 3000 mAh battery. However, the DU Battery Saver app, which I use to maximize battery life, is reporting that the battery has a maximum capacity of only 2000 mAh.

In previous phones that I've owned, I've also used the DU Battery Saver app to maximize battery life. On those other phones, it was able to correctly report the batteries' maximum capacity. (Those phones had removable batteries, so I could determine directly what the manufacturer claimed the capacity was.)

Is it likely that ZTE manufactured my phone with the wrong capacity battery, or is there a reasonable technical explanation for why the DU Battery Saver app might report a maximum capacity of 2000 mAh when the battery is actually 3000 mAh?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
I would have to open it up.
Sep 16, 2016 12:19PM PDT

Those battery apps are not stone cold reliable so the ONLY ways to know are:
1. Read the label on the battery.
2. Perform a full up battery test with the usual engineering gear (does not use the phone!)

What really rankles users and consumers today is the battery capacity varies with temperature and age. There are some consumers that will never accept this.

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Answer
Does the battery self-report it's maximum capacity?
Sep 16, 2016 1:02PM PDT

I'm pretty sure the maximum capacity is self-reported by the battery. On my old LG Volt the battery still reported a maximum capacity of 3000 mAh after more than two years of use.

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Clarification
Sep 16, 2016 1:07PM PDT

By self-report l mean the the battery has in permanent memory the manufacturer's claimed capacity at the time of manufacture. I realize the actual capacity will decrease over the life of the battery.

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I'm going with no.
Sep 16, 2016 1:15PM PDT

As the design of Android does not mandate a battery do this, you can't be sure if this is a battery with some chip to report or just coding by the maker.

So I'm going with no.

As to the max capacity report, you just proved it's in their code. A battery, even LiPO and those ilk lose a little every month. If it's unchanged, then someone hard coded it.