Battery use on Android 8.0.0

Eddy Geurts7 years ago

The Traccar client is on place 3 or 4 of consuming battery power, sometimes even more than the display.
The client is set to update every 300 seconds, and 0 to the other 2 settings.
Is there a solution to this?

Anton Tananaev7 years ago

It's not a surprise if you are using GPS provider. You can reduce battery usage by using network provider.

Eddy Geurts7 years ago

I see, but I only use updates every 5 minutes. I would like to use that GPS provider for its accuracy
Is the client using the GPS provider more often than those 5 min?

Anton Tananaev7 years ago

It shouldn't, but even every 5 minutes will use a lot of battery.

Eddy Geurts7 years ago

I tried only network provider, but that is useless in NL.
So I have to live with draining the battery.
I hope you will be able to find a solution in the future.

kaykor7 years ago

Here is a solution for you. SONIM XP7 XP7700, battery will last 5 to 6 days without location service activated, 3 to 4 days with location service activated.

I have a note 5 that lasts 24 hours, android tablet(cheap) that last 2 days, Samsung Neo 30 hours, Moto 4, 24 hours, Iphone 7 only 8 hours and other varying Android phones that last 6 to 30 hours.

GPS is designed for open SKY not indoors, this will affect your accuracy and battery life.

It's the device and what battery it has and its condition. Not much Anton can do about that for you.

Do try the other settings like Distance 100 and angle 30 so when the phone/tablet is not in motion it will not report, also helps with GPS drift.

But truly the best solution is an actual designed GPS device, wired or OBD devices no need to worry about battery. Or personal GPS trackers. The ones I have lasts about 30 to 36 hours between charges.

Eddy Geurts7 years ago

I know, I have a Blackview for my MTB activities, but my Nexus 5X is for normal live.
I only notices that the client is at the top 3-4 Apps of using power.
That just seems a lot compared to sending every 5 minutes a signal.
I will try your suggested settings, but that still needs a GPS fix every 5 minutes.

kaykor7 years ago

The gps fix will happen during motion and any angles, your frequency should be something higher like 15 minutes or more. Where the savings come in is during the idle time of the phone sitting on a desk or something. Otherwise the only thing that will help is a bigger battery, if you want real time tracking. Our Iphone user charges it during driving and when on a job site if battery is low he uses a battery bank to top it up. Before installing traccar he would charge 2 to 3 times a day, now it is 3 to 4 times.

You could also turn off your wireless when not in use and turn off your data when using wireless. I have 1 user who does not have a data plan and his phone updates his trips when he is back in wireless range.

Reality is phones that are stylish have small batteries, so not ideal for real time tracking unless charged frequently.

Eddy Geurts7 years ago

No, I am tracking every 5 minutes, that is not realtime. It is only 720 times a day that a GPS fix is needed.
It is not about wireless and saving battery power.
It is about the fact that the client App is in the top 3-4 of power consuming Apps.
I was just wondering if there is an inefficient loop between the 5 minutes that might be the reason, or some other part of the program.
In my perspecttive is the App idle for 5 minutes, then gets a GPS fix, and transmits the location and other things.
That are only a few bytes. The GPS fix is ready in a few seconds.

kaykor7 years ago

Ok forget my suggestions.

But you are looking at traccar as the user of your battery and not other android apps. Real Time just grabbed my phone and looked at battery usage. (I'm updating every 60 seconds) Messenger uses 0.04% per hour, Traccar Client uses 0.06% per hour I have my phone as part of my home PBX (as an extension) and it uses 0.1% per hour battery.

What I don't see in my battery information app is what does the different android OS apps use as battery power. Like Blue Tooth, location services, wifi, celluar connection all of these use the battery.

Saying it is the second or third in your list does not mean much as everybody's list will probably be different. I'm sure everybody uses their phone differently too which will affect the different usage scenarios. The issue is WHAT is using the battery, what size of battery do you have, how long between charges without traccar running, how long with traccar running? How long without location services, how long with location services. Are you using GPS only or GPS plus wireless....

Then compare, as in minutes or hours but especially in percentage. My experience is 15 to 30 percent less life of each battery charge depending on my usage. This is fine with me, but not fine for other users which is why I'm going with dedicated devices for some.

OverkillTASF7 years ago

I used to use OsmoDroid. With similar settings for time and distance, and it always used Mixed location mode, I can't say I really noticed that it drained battery as much as the Traccar Client does. Traccar's quite noticeable. Have seen it at 20%. Since I spend most of my time indoors, I noticed a huge savings by switching back to GPS only mode, but this prevents any updates from being sent while I'm at work. Strange.

Don't really have much that isn't anecdotal to add. Not sure if OsmoDroid did something differently or not. I know this is a terrible "report".

The only possible amendment I can think of is the ability to set a "plugged in" profile and a "on battery" profile.

Eddy, you can set up your phone to use Mozilla's or OpenBMap or even a locally generated and purely-local location provider. Those data sets might be more complete than Google's. Bonus that they don't require Google services.

kaykor7 years ago

OverkillTASF is that 20% reported by Android or was that you noticed that you got 20% less battery life; like normal 10 hours then you started charging in 8 hours.

I just did a quick trip and my usage went up to 0.23% by Traccar from the 0.06% I reported earlier, as reported by Android on a Note 5.

To me the issue is you're looking at Traccar as the culprit, when in fact it is your phone. My Android 7" phablet which I use strictly for a GPS device lasts 2 days between charges. It was cheap so guaranteed it does not have any bells and whistles in the hardware department. The Note 5 which cost 10 times as much with bells and whistles will last about a day with the Traccar enabled. Same Android OS, same location services and same application Traccar, the difference is hardware.

I should also point out I'm not a heavy phone user, nor do I use many applications on my phone(Note 5). Location services are set to high accuracy (GPS, WIFI and mobile networks) Traccar is set at Frequency=60secs, Distance=100m, Angle=30 Location Provider = mixed

According to Anton in a previous post:
"Android also allows to specify location frequency, so it turns off GPS in between reports resulting in lower battery consumption."

Using my settings negates that statement.

OverkillTASF6 years ago

Yesterday, with a 5 minute update frequency on "high" accuracy mode, Traccar had used 50% of my battery. As of this morning, with just 3 hours 45 minutes of on-battery time, Traccar alone has already used 10% of my battery. I just bumped to 10 minute update frequencies to see if it matters.

Anton Tananaev6 years ago

High accuracy uses GPS module in your phone, so obviously it's going to use battery very quickly. It's just physics.

OverkillTASF6 years ago

Right, but a GPS fix every 5-10 minutes doesn't seem like it should nuke battery that much. I can't say I see a lot of difference between an every 2 minutes and an every 5 minutes check. Is there any way (ADB or otherwise) to see how long GPS is actually on for Traccar? I'm suspecting that it's not actually turning the GPS off between requests or something. Maybe that's up to the OS though.

Semi-related; Does a "Medium" accuracy setting fall back to "High" if it is unable to get a "Medium" accuracy fix? Where is the logic for Low/Medium/High defined?