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How to measure the battery life?

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EliteLegend

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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?
 
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.
 
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?
 
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...
 
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.
 
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.
 
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