Locus draining my battery

[Menion]

nono, it have nothing to do with it. I just personally do not want to risk to run both at once.

anyway CPU usage when no action is running is really weird. Have to check it also ...

[tommi]

anyway CPU usage when no action is running is really weird. Have to check it also ...

Thanks, it was not easy to convince you as I see no clear conditions under which it happens and so I had to be so insistent . Sorry for that, it's not meant against you.

[UKlocusfan]

Thanks so much Menion,
So I understand your reasonings for turning off 'always screen on'. I set this as I thought that is what was needed for when using Locus to navigate whilst driving?
So if I turn this off,when I am in the car and navigating with LocusPro - the screen will stay on and not time out?

edit
Actually Menion, I just checked and the 'always screen on' is now set to be always on but is set to Only When GPS On.  
If I set it to Only When Guiding then that would be the same surely?
So is it your suggestion I leave it as System Settings or will that cause the screen to sleep whilst I am using it in car?
Thanks alot.

[tommi]

Thanks so much Menion,
So I understand your reasonings for turning off 'always screen on'.  I set this as I thought that is what was needed for when using Locus to navigate whilst driving?
So if I turn this off,when I am in the car and navigating with LocusPro - the screen will stay on and not time out?

There is a special setting for navigation: "Only when guiding – the screen remains lit up only when guiding/navigation feature is running" on this page: http://docs.locusmap.eu/doku.php/manual:settings:global.
I use this setting successfully: screen stays on while navigation but not if I have GPS on e.g. to record a track.

[tommi]

@UKlocusfan, Menion: Was the reason for the battery drain found in the setting "always screen on" (though I guess the screen was switched off manually)?
For my case this is not the explanation: In Locus Free it is set to "System settings" and in Locus Pro it is set to "Only when guiding".

[UKlocusfan]

Excellent, thank you tommi62.
I have changed the setting know after yours and Menions great advice.
Unfortunately though, I dont think it will change the battery drain problem simply because when I am walking and geocaching I use the 'guiding' function and so when the phone is sleeping in my pocket - it is still guiding and therefore presumably using the same amount of power as the 'only when GPS on' setting.

I have however turned map rotation off so I really hope something umproves with this battery usage thing.

Thanks again jusc, Menion and tommi62 :-)

(UPDATE)
with the greatest of respect tommi62 I wouldnt have thought running 2 versions was not a good idea at all - especially when trying to diagnose a problem.
In answer to your question, lets say for example I use Locus for 1 hour.  During that 1 hour it will be logging my walk.  For about 10 - 20 minutes in total the screen will actually be on as I check how far I am from my geocache POI but that is usally done via the compass screen and I hardly ever use the map whether rotating or not.  Throughout all of the 1 hour Locus is probably guiding for about 50 minutes in total.
So - in summing up... Locus is mainly in my pocket with the screen manually switched off.

[Menion]

ah I just wanted to say, that every settings different then "System defaults" use android "Wake lock" and this may cause higher CPU usage. That's all ... it was just a suggestion what to check if you want to play with it.

anyway guys to summarize it. I'm trying in all cases, to be CPU and battery usage as low as possible. Anyway as mainly tommi already noticed, Locus isn't perfect so it's for sure possible that some combination may not works perfectly. Anyway these problems are really hard to identify from a table, so if you notice that some settings affect battery consumption more then expected, I'll gladly check it

"Alyway screen on" was just a small suggestion, that may deserve to check, nothing more

[tommi]

ah I just wanted to say, that every settings different then "System defaults" use android "Wake lock" and this may cause higher CPU usage.

Once again one of my beloved questions : Does this mean if setting is "Only during guiding" that the wakelock is used always or only during guiding? (I hope the latter but I'm not sure from your comment)

Anyway these problems are really hard to identify from a table, so if you notice that some settings affect battery consumption more then expected, I'll gladly check it

You can be sure  :mrgreen: .

However there seems to exist a problem though I use "battery friendly" settings, at least this is my assumption.

[Menion]

ah I just wanted to say, that every settings different then "System defaults" use android "Wake lock" and this may cause higher CPU usage.

Once again one of my beloved questions : Does this mean if setting is "Only during guiding" that the wakelock is used always or only during guiding? (I hope the latter but I'm not sure from your comment)

second for sure, that's why this settings exists

[Henk van der Spek]

Well I am on system defaults but there is something funny going on. Never had an empty battery at 14.00 hours. Some playing in the morning (setting my rec profiles etc) and then 1 1/2 hour of recording while I was guiding left me at 60%. Ok, that looked quite normal. Then at home some news reading and surfing with browser and two hours later I was at 5%!!
I will play on to try and get more meaningfull comments. Feels like Locus is not really switching off.

[UKlocusfan]

Interesting post Henk.
I havent had chance to test Locus out in the field yet for a few hours but did want to mention that I am pretty sure my case is nothing to do with Locus not switching off.

The drain for me is when Locus is being used.

I have used it on and off for a very short while today and it does seem to be switching off completely when I exit properly as the battery use is only 3%  as I would expect from very very minimal light short use.

I am not sure if Locus running as a service is what is keeping it running on your phone as I'm not sure what the running as a service does - but have a check to see if you have that setting enabled maybe?

[jusc]

Well I am on system defaults but there is something funny going on. Never had an empty battery at 14.00 hours. Some playing in the morning (setting my rec profiles etc) and then 1 1/2 hour of recording while I was guiding left me at 60%. Ok, that looked quite normal. Then at home some news reading and surfing with browser and two hours later I was at 5%!!
I will play on to try and get more meaningfull comments. Feels like Locus is not really switching off.

What do you see in system/settings/battery (akku) of your phone? Is Locus using much power?

[Henk van der Spek]

[attachment=0:39yddhu8]accu.jpg[/attachment:39yddhu8] Accu screen is from yesterday. The browsers use and other stuff never showed up anymore, that surprised me most, but, as said, I will give it another try soon.

Next was last night: Battery on 90%; Locus started and guiding set (beep at 50m) , silent and GPS on; phone on table. This morning 15% left after a good six hours. Again feels like more power consumption (mind you, the past is all from memory and not from taking notes etc).

[jusc]

I´m not sure if I understand you correctly. Do you use "GPS on" inhouse? Without GPS signal or very weak signal I had this behaviour in the past too.
I forgot to disable GPS and next mornig after 10 hours the phone was "dead".

[UKlocusfan]

Agreed jusc,
Using GPS indoors is not good for any battery I dont think regardless of using Locus or any other program.
May I suggest that a real test of what Locus is doing Henk is a good few hours use outdoors.