Battery indicator suddenly drops

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What steps will reproduce the problem?
Can't tell for sure, but I noticed this behavior while browsing on WiFi,
GSM not connected (the SIM card in the Freerunner has expired), GPS off,
Auto screen rotation (accelerometers) off, brightness @ 30%, ...
Anyway, sometimes the battery indicator says there suddenly is much less
battery available (I've noticed drops from 80% to  ~20%, from ~60% to ~10%
and even had a forced shutdown with no way to abort it when the battery was
in fact at around 50-60% !) and it goes back to normal minutes later
without any obvious reason, even if I continue to browse via WiFi...
See
http://groups.google.com/group/android-on-freerunner/browse_thread/thread/e7c0c4
f7600e166e

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
Expected output : not such a huge drop, maybe an algorithm to check that
the battery level wasn't much higher only seconds ago, and warn the user,
or something :-p

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?
GTA02v5 Freerunner, date code 20080618, "unpatched" (no GPS
fix, no buzzfix, ...)
I have noticed this since at least weekly 45+

Original issue reported on code.google.com by kewlcat...@gmail.com on 10 Nov 2009 at 11:36

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It just happened again, and this time I have the logcat...

I/ActivityManager(  855): Starting activity: Intent {
action=android.intent.action.MAIN categories={android.intent.category.LAUNCHER}
flags=0x10200000 comp={com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings} }
I/ActivityManager(  855): Start proc com.android.settings for activity
com.android.settings/.Settings: pid=2084 uid=1000 gids={3002, 3001, 3003}
I/ActivityManager(  855): Displayed activity com.android.settings/.Settings: 
2812 ms
I/ActivityManager(  855): Exiting empty application process 
com.android.alarmclock
(android.os.BinderProxy@437aa958)
I/Process (  855): Sending signal. PID: 1120 SIG: 9
D/ActivityManager(  855): Received spurious death notification for thread
android.os.BinderProxy@437aa958
D/dalvikvm( 2084): GC freed 1314 objects / 95904 bytes in 131ms
I/ActivityManager(  855): Starting activity: Intent {
action=android.intent.action.MAIN
comp={com.android.settings/com.android.settings.DeviceInfoSettings} }
I/ActivityManager(  855): Displayed activity
com.android.settings/.DeviceInfoSettings: 1434 ms
I/ActivityManager(  855): Starting activity: Intent {
action=android.intent.action.MAIN
comp={com.android.settings/com.android.settings.deviceinfo.Status} }
I/ActivityManager(  855): Displayed activity 
com.android.settings/.deviceinfo.Status:
2099 ms
D/dalvikvm(  917): GC freed 8870 objects / 349256 bytes in 138ms
D/CallNotifier(  917): onBatteryLow()...
D/dalvikvm( 1133): GC freed 1847 objects / 206952 bytes in 378ms
W/InputManagerService(  855): Window already focused, ignoring focus gain of:
com.android.internal.view.IInputMethodClient$Stub$Proxy@43772838
D/dalvikvm(  917): GC freed 2355 objects / 177976 bytes in 137ms
D/dalvikvm(  921): GC freed 2797 objects / 207776 bytes in 133ms
D/dalvikvm( 2084): GC freed 725 objects / 81552 bytes in 165ms
D/dalvikvm(  917): GC freed 5463 objects / 522248 bytes in 145ms
D/dalvikvm(  917): GC freed 5228 objects / 515240 bytes in 144ms
W/InputManagerService(  855): Starting input on non-focused client
com.android.internal.view.IInputMethodClient$Stub$Proxy@4374b560 (uid=1001 
pid=917)
I/ActivityManager(  855): Starting activity: Intent {
action=android.intent.action.MAIN categories={android.intent.category.LAUNCHER}
flags=0x10200000 comp={com.android.browser/com.android.browser.BrowserActivity} 
}

This is the part where I take the (charging) Freerunner from the table, start
"Parameters" --> "About phone" --> "State", check the battery level (OK, 100%, 
I can
unplug it), unplug it, see that it's still at 100%, see a warning that the phone
should be plugged in for charging (less than 15% etc. etc.), dismiss the 
warning, see
that the battery level is now 5% in the "State" screen (yeah, right !), ... and 
it
lasts for 15 to 30 seconds before it goes back to 100%.
There was no "heavy load" in my opinion, and the battery was full (still is, in 
fact,
as I type this comment)...

Original comment by kewlcat...@gmail.com on 11 Nov 2009 at 1:44

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I have been noticing this too; sudden drops in reported battery charge and 
sudden
shut downs despite plenty of charge.

Original comment by benjamin...@gtempaccount.com on 15 Nov 2009 at 1:49

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As far as I'm aware, this is not a new issue to the entire device. I've noticed 
it 
regularly in every other distro i've installed, and i've installed every single 
one i 
can touch except gentoo and hackable:1

Original comment by rooly4@gmail.com on 15 Nov 2009 at 9:16

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I've seen this as well. Rooly4, hanks for the confirmation that it doesn't seem 
to be 
android-related.

Original comment by scarhill on 16 Nov 2009 at 12:16

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A possible solution would be to add a delta discharge value in android's 
battery 
meter. if the delta is significantly different then delay rechecking the 
battery 
level until the next pole cycle. if the delta persists then the battery is 
indeed 
low, or removed.

Original comment by rooly4@gmail.com on 16 Nov 2009 at 5:31

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[deleted comment]

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I can confirm this too... Some times it turns my phone off too.

Before of reading this issue I was looking at the frameworks' code to apply 
something 
like rooly4 suggested, but from a first quick check it already performs 
something 
like 
that; however maybe it isn't configured well for a device like the one we have.
I'll look in the sources in next days if I've time...

However I think that this problem is more related to the kernel side, and it 
affects 
also the other distros (which doesn't turn off, by the way :P)... I think it 
would be 
more correct if the kernel itself would implement something like that.

Original comment by trevi55 on 3 Dec 2009 at 12:02

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I'm using weekly build 50 and my Freerunner has just shut down right after the
battery indicator turns red.
The main problem, here, is not that the battery level was at 93% (although...) 
but
that it was *charging* !!
:-(

Original comment by kewlcat...@gmail.com on 9 Dec 2009 at 2:34

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I haven't seen this issue in a while (although my usage did not change a single 
bit).
Maybe it has something to do with the latest changes in the kernel (cpu_freq,
preempt, ...) ?

Original comment by kewlcat...@gmail.com on 3 Feb 2010 at 10:56