Battery Utilization observations/questions --- (not again!!!!)

[TexasRockbox]

Hello,

I'm a Rockbox newb (but have designed a WPS)  and an ipod less-than-newb.  In another topic it was mentioned that we don't have all the ipod information therefore we don't know what is exactly being turned on or off by Apple and that the battery indication is unreliable in Rockbox.

OK?

For fun, I booted to the Apple ipod mode and went through their menus and turned "OFF" anything that was turned "ON".  Everything I could find, maybe I missed something.  Even turned down the brightness control all the way to lowest setting.

Still with me?

I boot up to Rockbox (using my own WPS as I was before) and what was once 4h 49m of battery time left is now 14h 0m.  Is it possible that some or all of the "OFF" settings in "ipod-mode" are still in effect in "Rockbox-mode"?

Am I being fooled?  I guess we'll find out 14 hours or so later.

Thoughts?

[Llorean]

The estimated time remaining in Rockbox is not at all accurate. And when they said "turned off things" they meant specific pieces of hardware, not software functions as most of those are. For example, properly shutting down the USB hardware when it's not in use.

[TexasRockbox]

OK.

For experimentation purposes anyway I've used it slightly over three hours and the battery remaining shows 73%.  All .OGG files, a 7/16/07 build.  Minimal navigation or lighting up the display.

From previous usage, to me, the battery estimation is done "on the fly" and is adaptive.  That is, the more one navigates or lights up the screen, the battery estimation drops quickly, but if that kind of activity is stopped, the estimated battery usage decreases and the time time remaining actually increases.

What has me intrigued is that previous to the "ipod-mode" changes the display the battery life was a consistent 4h 49m (100% fully charged) until those "ipod-mode" changes.  Then the sudden leap to 14h 0m.

[Llorean]

Look, the best way to do this is full battery benchmarks using the plugin so that we can see the actual voltages over time. Both percentage readings at any given time and the estimated time remaining are known to have inaccuracies, so please simply create full, proper battery benchmarks.

[TexasRockbox]

I'll do that when this charge runs out.   Thanks.

[TexasRockbox]

Stopped, recharged, Battery Plugin underway.  I guess we'll find out in the morning or that I ran the plugin incorrectly.

[Llorean]

You'll need at least two benches won't you? One with the settings on, one with them off, all other conditions exactly the same?

[TexasRockbox]

True.  Thiis test is with the "ipod-mode" settings as they were altered (things turned off -- FM, Photo, whatever seemed like it could conceiveably utilize power).  I can run another one with the ipod settings reset to default.

The item that bugs me is the "remaining time".  It was a consistent 4h 49m with full charge until the ipod changes, then it jumpted to 14h 0m after the changes.  Has anyone else reported a "remaining time" of 14h 0m with the ipod 5g Video 80gb?

[Llorean]

I told you that number is virtually meaningless right now. Change the Battery Capacity setting (if it's changeable on the 5G iPod right now) and see how the time remaining changes, for example.

Objective tests are the only way to go, depending on that at all is pointless.

[tdtooke]

Just out of curiosity I just did this and did notice my remaining time get a boost I've never seen it get before.  I understand that this number is not to be relied on, but it does have me curious.  I'm going to do a bench with factory settings and one with everything turned off myself in the odd event there is something to this.  

[wesderby]

Hmmm...Looks like I may have to do a third test.  Currently, I'm running a test to see if having speech enabled or disabled impacts the battery cycle...I may also have to try one or the other or both with all possible factory settings turned off and see what happens...Hopefully, this will prove useful.

[pondlife]

Having speech enabled will currently result in the CPU being boosted at all times (see bug report at http://www.rockbox.org/tracker/7447), and hence lower battery life.

pondlife

[TexasRockbox]

It appears from test #1 (ipod settings set to off) and using Sony EX90LP as a load, and a slight bass and treble boost (normal listening conditions for me) and repeating The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" over and over, the battery lasted 12h 1m 19s.

From what I've been reading on the forum, this is pretty good time (stock battery, low mileage).

[TexasRockbox]

Booted into "ipod-mode", reset to defaults.  As a test I changed one of the settings, ran reset to default again, and the setting changed back to default.  Ok there.  I rebooted into "Rockbox-mode"and let it charge up a couple of hours (not quite full yet) and took a quick peek at the time remaining while playing a song and it showed 12h (cant recall)m remaining on the battery.  Hmmmm....  Will run battery test #2 as soon as full.

[soap]

.  I rebooted into "Rockbox-mode"and let it charge up a couple of hours (not quite full yet) and took a quick peek at the time remaining while playing a song and it showed 12h (cant recall)m remaining on the battery.

This reported time is inaccurate, means nothing, and is beyond worthless.
Seriously, ignore what the WPS says.  It has no bearing on the conversation and only adds to the jumble of numbers floating around.

I hope your prior report:

It appears from test #1 (ipod settings set to off) and using Sony EX90LP as a load, and a slight bass and treble boost (normal listening conditions for me) and repeating The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" over and over, the battery lasted 12h 1m 19s.

came from a battery bench file, not from the WPS.