How to measure the battery life?

[EliteLegend]

I am basically a software guy (knowing a little electronics) but I wanted to know if someone can point me towards resources that would help me measure the battery power consumption on a mobile phone...

The task is not big: I need to just estimate the battery power consumption characteristics over time...

Any suggestions?

 

[MikeMl]

Every battery has a capacity rating, measure in Ah, which is the integral of current over time.

Every load you hang on a battery draws current, not necessarily a steady current. Cell Phones have a huge average to peak current draw.

That is why you have to integrate the current draw vs time waveform to accurately predict how long the battery will run.

 

[EliteLegend]

Great... So I have to somehow hookup a multimeter to the battery terminals and then keep measuring the current drawn over a period of time (maybe 24 hours or until the battery completely drains out)... Once I get these values, I draw a "current drawn" vs. "time" graph... Is that it?

 

[MikeMl]

Yep. Or just time how long a battery of known capacity runs the phone with a repeatable usage pattern. Then if you install a battery with 10X the capacity of the original battery, you should expect to run 10 times longer...

 

[EliteLegend]

That's awesome... Thanks a lot!

 

[gerty]

If you plan on powering an inverter with the battery you should be aware of the fact that most inverters will shut off at approximately 10.5 to 11 volts.

 

[audioguru]

Mobile phones are called wireless home phones or cell phones in Canada.
The wireless home phone uses a low current when idle since its receiver is working. Its power use is a little higher when it transmits since it is low power.

A cell phone also uses a low current when idle, a higher current when transmitting voice or data to a nearby cell phone tower and a much higher power when transmitting to a far away cell phone tower.

You cannot know how much is its power unless you measure it.