# What can cause a mobile phone to discharge over night ?



## Dave7 (5 Oct 2022)

We both have Samsung Galaxy 5. Both well over 3 years old.
Recently MrsDs has started to lose its power quite quickly.
Last night I made sure it was switched off completely....50% power. Switched on this morning to find it had dropped to 14%.
Any obvious reason this should happen?


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## BoldonLad (5 Oct 2022)

Galaxy 5 is a very old model I think. Wife has a Galaxy S10 and that is two or three models old. I would suspect battery has given up the ghost. I think that model has a removable battery. If rest of phone is good, and, meets your (well MrsD's needs), I would have a look on EBay for replacement battery. The model number for battery should be on the existing battery.


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## T4tomo (5 Oct 2022)

^^^ this batteries have a finite life, which is why its a mugs game buying a phone where you cant easily change the battery. there are sites which recommend best after market batteries for various phone models if your google-fu is up to it.


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## Cycleops (5 Oct 2022)

Battery I'm afraid. It gradually degrades as it gets older.
You could get a replacement battery but the phone likely won't be upgradable beyond an old version of Android and won't be getting security updates.
Sorry Dave but it's time to bite the bullet and get a new or newer phone. That's the bad news, the good news is you can now buy a phone for under £200 that might have been considered a flagship a few years back 
If that's too much you can still get a decent new phone for £100 if you just want the basics, like this Samsung:

View: https://youtu.be/byEbaPxToL4


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## cougie uk (5 Oct 2022)

Dave7 said:


> We both have Samsung Galaxy 5. Both well over 3 years old.
> Recently MrsDs has started to lose its power quite quickly.
> Last night I made sure it was switched off completely....50% power. Switched on this morning to find it had dropped to 14%.
> Any obvious reason this should happen?



If you're keeping it then take it to a phone shop for a new battery.


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## fossyant (5 Oct 2022)

cougie uk said:


> If you're keeping it then take it to a phone shop for a new battery.



This, then you'll also get a decent quality battery.


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## Sharky (5 Oct 2022)

If you both have the same phone, try swapping the batteries. If the problem moves to your phone, then you know its the battery. If it stays with the Mrs, then it's the phone or an app running in the background.


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## Profpointy (5 Oct 2022)

It most likely is just old battery, particularly as it was switched off. 

Another possibility is that various shyte is running in the background, though not when switched off presumably!

Unlike apple it is easy to replace the battery on Samsung (the one I had anyway) as it just pops out when you take the back off


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## Tail End Charlie (5 Oct 2022)

I have a Samsung S3 mini and have had three over the last ten years (one stolen, one I put through the washing machine). I've replaced the battery after five or six years with one from Ebay which is identical to the original one. I'm not a heavy phone user, so see no point in "upgrading".


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## Dave7 (5 Oct 2022)

fossyant said:


> This, then you'll also get a decent quality battery.


Just phoned a recommended repair shop......20 quid fitted.
TBH I expected worse than that. Will give that a punt as MrsD is happy it suits her needs.


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## BoldonLad (5 Oct 2022)

Dave7 said:


> Just phoned a recommended repair shop......20 quid fitted.
> TBH I expected worse than that. Will give that a punt as MrsD is happy it suits her needs.



Your choice, but, you are paying (approximately) £6 for battery and £14 for fitting. I would guess that fitting would take about a minute.


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## icowden (5 Oct 2022)

Dave7 said:


> Just phoned a recommended repair shop......20 quid fitted.
> TBH I expected worse than that. Will give that a punt as MrsD is happy it suits her needs.



You are being taken for a ride. A replacement battery should be less than a tenner. The phone is only worth about £50.
Just google Samsung Galaxy 5 battery - or take out the battery and get the battery number and google that. You'll likely find one for a fiver.

Personally I wouldn't spend £20 on a £55 phone.


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## Julia9054 (5 Oct 2022)

Dave7 said:


> Any obvious reason this should happen?


The in built obsolescence necessary to keep people buying phones when for the majority of people, phones have reached the point where you don’t want to upgrade because a newer model has features you don’t have on your current one.


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## cougie uk (5 Oct 2022)

Oh its a very easy battery to replace. I would pay the shop if it was a tricky one - but this is like replacing a torch battery. 


View: https://youtu.be/TL8T74za4Og


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## MontyVeda (5 Oct 2022)

Julia9054 said:


> The in built obsolescence...



No. As everyone has mentioned, it's the battery.


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## si_c (5 Oct 2022)

Dave7 said:


> Any obvious reason this should happen?





Julia9054 said:


> The in built obsolescence necessary to keep people buying phones when for the majority of people, phones have reached the point where you don’t want to upgrade because a newer model has features you don’t have on your current one.



Lithium batteries have a defined life cycle, usually in terms of the number of full charge cycles it will take. For a mobile phone this is often in the region of around 1000 full charge cycles, although more recent batteries do have a better charge profile as a result of better chemistry and more intelligent charging of the battery itself (not simply charging as fast as possible as with early smartphones).

The Galaxy S5 was released in 2014, with it's replacement released a year later, so the phone itself is probably in the region of 8 years old, I'd say the battery has done remarkably well. A replacement should give at least a year or so of additional use which for £20 I think is fairly reasonable.

That being said the lack of security updates is no small thing and a replacement should be considered eventually.


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## icowden (5 Oct 2022)

si_c said:


> A replacement should give at least a year or so of additional use which for £20 I think is fairly reasonable.


Except that the replacement battery will likely cost a fiver and it's just a case of peeling off the back of the phone and swapping the battery. At that point £20 looks quite unreasonable!


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## PaulSB (5 Oct 2022)

Dave7 said:


> Just phoned a recommended repair shop......20 quid fitted.
> TBH I expected worse than that. Will give that a punt as MrsD is happy it suits her needs.



£20 fitted sounds very reasonable to me, battery cost, wages, overheads, VAT, etc. and you'll have a phone which will last a while longer.

I know the batteries degrade over time and don't disagree with any of the remarks to that effect. BUT........it could be worth trying a factory reset. I've known this to solve battery issues on other devices.

Please make sure you've got a full backup in your Google account before doing this.


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## Dave7 (5 Oct 2022)

OOPS
I found a local guy who would do it for 15 quid so I arranged for him to call round and do it.
Now.........
This where I show my true lack of tech knowledge.
He looked and said, sorry mate, its not a 5s. Its an A20e and the battery does'nt clip out so it will be 25 quid.
Dilemma now......new battery or new phone.


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## Sharky (5 Oct 2022)

Looks fiddly, but not impossible. 
Will need the micro screwdrivers 


View: https://youtu.be/F9_5h9ug9PQ


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## si_c (5 Oct 2022)

Dave7 said:


> OOPS
> I found a local guy who would do it for 15 quid so I arranged for him to call round and do it.
> Now.........
> This where I show my true lack of tech knowledge.
> ...



That makes more sense given your initial indication that the phone was about 3 years old. I'd still think it better to replace the battery than the whole phone, it's much less wasteful. You'd also be expecting to spend well over £100 for a replacement phone.


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## Cycleops (5 Oct 2022)

Dave7 said:


> OOPS
> I found a local guy who would do it for 15 quid so I arranged for him to call round and do it.
> Now.........
> This where I show my true lack of tech knowledge.
> ...


New phone 👍


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## icowden (5 Oct 2022)

Dave7 said:


> He looked and said, sorry mate, its not a 5s. Its an A20e and the battery does'nt clip out so it will be 25 quid.
> Dilemma now......new battery or new phone.


So he was willing to take your money to do something that you didn't really need any help with and could have been talked through. That said, a non-changeable battery is much more complicated. Offer him £20 :-)

Value of repair to phone is now 20% rather than 50% which is better. I presume you are on pay as you go and buy outright. You could get a Moto E7 which has a fantastic camera for about £100...


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## Regular.Cyclist (6 Oct 2022)

If the local phone repairer had to take it apart to find out it's an A30e and not a 5s then I'd be question his ability!


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## Dave7 (6 Oct 2022)

icowden said:


> So he was willing to take your money to do something that you didn't really need any help with and could have been talked through. That said, a non-changeable battery is much more complicated. Offer him £20 :-)
> 
> Value of repair to phone is now 20% rather than 50% which is better. I presume you are on pay as you go and buy outright. You could get a Moto E7 which has a fantastic camera for about £100...



Not really.
1. He said.......before paying for a new battery he I will check your phone for other issues.......thats when he explained things to me.
2. It is on contract (which has expired) so I pay for the sim card.


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