Power consumption - overview

[MarcinLas]

Hi all!

I'm about to go on a long biking trip, and I'm trying to optimize my battery usage. Recently I bought a premium subscription, and I'm super excited to test Locus maps full potential.

Is there a table showing battery usage per feature in Locus maps?

So far, I've noticed that Locus turn-by-turn sound navigation drains the battery (screen off). I thought I could use a different navigation method instead. I came up with the idea of combining 'Point alert' and 'Screen on/off control'(Turn on when notified of a point). So I mark turns with a point, and 50m before I reach the point, I get a beep and screen on for 5s.
Does it make sense?

Has anyone tried that approach to save the battery?
Is it possible for app developers to estimate the battery usage in these two cases?


LM varsion: 4.16.0
Android 13


Regards
Marcin

[Andrew Heard]

For me, track recording is 4%, and optional navigation increases that to 8% (total). Will depend completely on battery size & condition & screen brightness. I therefore (mostly) never use navigation, and simply turn on the screen briefly before any potential turn. I find looking at the map far more informative & reliable than turn instructions. I have the screen timeout for 6s. Sometimes I use POI alert but to replace navigation commands would be very tedious if lots of turns.

[Menion]

Hmm, having a measured features and it's impact on battery is my dream. I've tried it a few times, but never get a reliable values.

Anyway, best is to avoid CPU hungry tasks if possible. We have a small FAQ about it here: https://docs.locusmap.app/doku.php?id=manual:faq:locus_performance

Generally, try to avoid mainly:
- screen on
- GPS on (funny, I know)
- extra map layers (overlay, WMS, WMTS)
- shading
- too many points & tracks visible on the screen
- and well, app navigation/guiding is still not perfectly optimized so IT IS CPU hungry feature

[lor74cas]

For me, track recording is 4%, and optional navigation increases that to 8% (total). Will depend completely on battery size & condition & screen brightness. I therefore (mostly) never use navigation, and simply turn on the screen briefly before any potential turn. I find looking at the map far more informative & reliable than turn instructions. I have the screen timeout for 6s. Sometimes I use POI alert but to replace navigation commands would be very tedious if lots of turns.

I agree with Andrew.
In addition to keeping the consumption of Locus under control, it is also necessary to reduce that of the device.
If you don't need to be contacted by phone, you can put it in airplane mode.
If, on the other hand, a telephone connection is needed, but it is possible to give up the internet connection, data connectivity can be disabled.

[Andrew Heard]

Another thing I do at the start of the day when LM track recording will be on all day & I need to maximise battery time, is to run an app called KillApps. It kills (supposedly) around 50 useless background apps. I really don't know whether it has useful benefit but it makes me feel better;-)

[michaelbechtold]

@Menion:
my S10, old (now exploded) and new battery is depleted at 24-36% per hour while tracking!

- screen on: my screen is off 99% of the time, as I know the route by heart
- GPS on (funny, I know): as far as I recall Locus will deny tracking if GPS is off - has that changed?
- extra map layers (overlay, WMS, WMTS): overlay typically yes, but there is no display work, as screen is off
- shading: not active
- too many points & tracks visible on the screen: maybe one track and a few points

I had sent you a PM with logs files and more stuff, when Locus burnt 24%/h for sitting still in my room for 6 hours, no movement.

What tracking settings do you use, @Andrew, pls?
Mine are 10m dist., 5s interval, AND condition, GPS 50m acc.

All my background noise on the phone (incl. Locus NOT tracking, Locus GPS off) is 2%/h

[Tapio]

I'm logging my BATT usage to WPs while hiking and had a look now. Recording settings is 8/8/50, no livetracking, some Tasker background action, voice navigation, lots of looking on phone, taking pictures and videos.

Device at 100% batt at start. Battery % loss increases over time.

- 6% batt/h in the beginning
- 12% batt/h towards the end (after 5-6 hours).

Huawei Mate20X, idk, 4 years old device.

[Menion]

With such huge consumption, you may do a few tests to check what exactly do the difference.

I would test, with the screen enabled for the whole time
- just turn on the device after the restart, to have some "baseline"
- start Locus and turn off everything possible, including GPS (here you should have mentioned 2%/h + screen
- then just turn GPS on, no track recording, no navigation, no map movement
- then start track recording, nothing more

Did anything from this make a difference in consumption? No matter what parameters you define for recording, no matter what you do in the app, it should never have 24%/h 

[michaelbechtold]

TXs Menion.
Steps #1 and #2 I have proven: without tracking, Android GPS is on, but Locus location is off, so Android GPS is not working: result is the 2%/h
#3 I think I did once, but I am not sure about the results, so I'm running this test now: Locus GPS is on and location found, then I turned screen off. Let's wait for the results.

[Andrew Heard]

What tracking settings do you use, @Andrew, pls?
Mine are 10m dist., 5s interval, AND condition, GPS 50m acc.

25m/ 240m/ 50m, I also have Tasker running, but doing very little. The Samsung phone is now 5 years old.

[michaelbechtold]

What tracking settings do you use, @Andrew, pls?
Mine are 10m dist., 5s interval, AND condition, GPS 50m acc.

25m/ 240m/ 50m, I also have Tasker running, but doing very little. The Samsung phone is now 5 years old.

25m dist, 50m acc, I assume, but what are the 240m then? And which interval do you use?

[michaelbechtold]

TXs Menion.
Steps #1 and #2 I have proven: without tracking, Android GPS is on, but Locus location is off, so Android GPS is not working: result is the 2%/h
#3 I think I did once, but I am not sure about the results, so I'm running this test now: Locus GPS is on and location found, then I turned screen off. Let's wait for the results.

#3: Locus and Android GPS active, but no tracking: 2.5%/h

[Menion]

@michaelbechtold
oki, thanks for the test. Anyway, I wrote, "with the screen enabled for the whole time".

Because

Locus GPS is on and location found, then I turned screen off. Let's wait for the results.

causes the GPS is turned off when the screen goes off. You may prevent this by "Settings > GPS & sensors > Disable when the app is hidden". Disable this option to keep GPS on all the time.

If this will have still low consumption, then step 4 is enabling track recording ..., nothing more.

[Andrew Heard]

we can't directly compare the absolute value of each device battery consumption per hour because each device has a different size battery, I*think* mine is roughly 4mAh (4Ah). A small battery, with all else the same, will have a bigger drain per hour.

[michaelbechtold]

@michaelbechtold
oki, thanks for the test. Anyway, I wrote, "with the screen enabled for the whole time".

Because

Locus GPS is on and location found, then I turned screen off. Let's wait for the results.

causes the GPS is turned off when the screen goes off. You may prevent this by "Settings > GPS & sensors > Disable when the app is hidden". Disable this option to keep GPS on all the time.

If this will have still low consumption, then step 4 is enabling track recording ..., nothing more.

TXs @Menion. Luckily, that option I have set years ago for all my devices ;-)

Over night I had started a track recording, no movement of the device, screen off. The device did not even survive until the morning: 93% to 1% in 4.5 hrs -> 20%/h. Same effect you have in my older mail.

I ran the same test with my Tab S6l: 4%/h, which is very reasonable.

Only difference in settings I found was GPS accurracy: 50m for the S10, 200m for the Tab.