Finally, I found the reason why my N900's battary drain so quick !

[lanwellon]

My system is the latest PR1.2.

And usually, I use a 802.11n support router to get access to the internet
(actually, N900 is useing 802.11b because it does not support 802.11n)

After about 3 hour web browsing, by Wifi
the battery drained.

Ususally, after about 6 to 7 hours use, I had to change battery.

I thought this is normal at first.

Because it is said that N900 is a 'power eater'




But lately, I find that the power use of my Wifi is set to 100mW

and another choice is 10mW !

After switch to 10mW, my N900 can use for 2 days ! (48 hours)

Hope that can help you.

And also, hope that Nokia/Maemo can set the power of the Wifi to 10mW as default value.

[F2thaK]

how do u do this please

[eitama]

In the very same page, you can also change power saving.
Moving it from OFF to any of the other will also boost your battery significantly, but may ruin your network a bit. (higher ping, some drops) if the router doesn't support it properly.

BTW, it's odd that it's recognizing it as b, when it should fallback go to g.

[F2thaK]

okay i found it, in internet connections > wifi connection settings

[eitama]

No, That's not what I wrote.
Moving it FROM off to any of the other...

[F2thaK]

i thought u were talking about the powersave option in display

didnt know about the 'other' settings in wifi connection!

[festivalnut]

nokia have said the 10mw option is only there to comply with law in some countries where 100mw is too high, and that due to the way the data is sent in bursts there shouldn't be any real change in battery consumption. then again nokia has said a lot of s**t recently so if anyone else sees significant improvement let us know.

[noipv4]

I have set it to 10mW now. Will report back with battery monitor graphs.

[Dancairo]

Guy's, this has been discussed already but a while ago....read through the posts in the link below for more info on this...

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=36444&highlight=100mw

if i remember correctly it was also discussed extensively elsewhere...but i can't remember in what topic..and i need to get up for work, so can't search again ;-)

Dan

p.s bear in mind that the linked topic was pre pr 1.2 so some of the bugs referred to no longer exist...as nokia has now cleared up all bugs and problems and has a fantastic ovi store...sigh!:rolleyes:

[F2thaK]

trying 10mW also

[lanwellon]

Guy's, this has been discussed already but a while ago....read through the posts in the link below for more info on this...

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=36444&highlight=100mw

if i remember correctly it was also discussed extensively elsewhere...but i can't remember in what topic..and i need to get up for work, so can't search again ;-)

Dan

p.s bear in mind that the linked topic was pre pr 1.2 so some of the bugs referred to no longer exist...as nokia has now cleared up all bugs and problems and has a fantastic ovi store...sigh!:rolleyes:

Thanks for the link.

I think mthmob's view proves my theory.

100mW just use the battery much quicker !

[petrelli]

I can't have access to the menu where you can change it, in settings->internet connections, I only have the option of
- connect automatically (any connection)
- search interval (10 minutes)
- X Switch to WLAN when available

To the right, a Connections and a Save button, and in the first, I see the connections available, I can edit them, just to change the name.

So where can I change the 100-10mw value???

* exactly what it can be seen here
http://zomgitscj.com/introducing-maemo-5-part-8-internet-connections-on-the-nokia-n900/

* ok, finally :)
http://www.forums.internettablettalk.com/showthread.php?p=466904


Then, testing, however, I will see any change if I am connected to WIFI signal, I suppose, if I am connected to 3G network, my battery will be drained as fast as it does now??

[D4rKlar]

I can't have access to the menu where you can change it, in settings->internet connections, I only have the option of
- connect automatically (any connection)
- search interval (10 minutes)
- X Switch to WLAN when available

To the right, a Connections and a Save button, and in the first, I see the connections available, I can edit them, just to change the name.

So where can I change the 100-10mw value???

* exactly what it can be seen here
http://zomgitscj.com/introducing-maemo-5-part-8-internet-connections-on-the-nokia-n900/

* ok, finally :)
http://www.forums.internettablettalk.com/showthread.php?p=466904


Then, testing, however, I will see any change if I am connected to WIFI signal, I suppose, if I am connected to 3G network, my battery will be drained as fast as it does now??

Settings->Internet Connections->Connections->Edit->Next->Next->Advanced->Other->Transmission Power

[Stskeeps]

My system is the latest PR1.2.

And usually, I use a 802.11n support router to get access to the internet
(actually, N900 is useing 802.11b because it does not support 802.11n)

After about 3 hour web browsing, by Wifi
the battery drained.


Chances are you have a router where PSM is not properly implemented or enabled:

http://wiki.maemo.org/Wifi_Power_Saving_Mode_(PSM)

[F2thaK]

bad link above

http://wiki.maemo.org/Wifi_Power_Saving_Mode_(PSM)

[jaysire]

I didn't come to this forum from the start and even I have read about this fix three times already. The discussion always ends the same way: It doesn't make ANY difference if you use 10 or 100mW. The thread starter will find out this was just a coincident. You will NOT go from 17 hours to 48 hours of battery time thanks to this setting.

[lanwellon]

I didn't come to this forum from the start and even I have read about this fix three times already. The discussion always ends the same way: It doesn't make ANY difference if you use 10 or 100mW. The thread starter will find out this was just a coincident. You will NOT go from 17 hours to 48 hours of battery time thanks to this setting.

Actually, I really go from 7 hours to 48 hours of battery time because of the setting, I think.

And some people here have the same view.

It is easy to find that 100mW use more power than 10mW.

You said it was a bug, then is this bug fixed in PR1.2 ?
If not, then I think this setting still helps to save the battery.

[F2thaK]

id like to see proof, but im testing 10mW

also, theres a few apps that eat battery, such as catorise

[jakiman]

Well, I know for a fact that when I set mine at 10mW at home, and when I go to my living room, I lose connection to my wifi router which is in my room.

But if I set it to 100mW, I can keep the connection alive and browse from the exact same spot. So it definitely does make a difference in terms of wifi coverage. So I can only guess it will also make a bit of difference in power usage if wifi is used heavily.

[daflex]

After installing update PR1.2 I found my battery lasted much longer then before. This was because it wasn't connecting in 3G mode and I had no wifi connection available.

Everyone should know and have the 2 Vital apps for the N900 which are the Wifi Switcher & the 3G Switcher. I had this before the update and to fix the 3G issue just installed the switcher again.

By keeping the wifi off when not needed and ONLY using 3G when needed for extra quick browsing (otherwise in 2G) you save a hell of a lot off your battery.

Btw a tip i picked from a thread here somewhere is by keeping the brightness level on 2. This also saves a lot from my experience. ( I sometimes use full for videos.)

Surely by using 10mW instead of a 100mW one can assume it would make a BIG difference. Im also going to try this now. Could be useful!

I dont know about the battery lasting for 48 hours. With casual use of the phone, a bit of wifi, music, phone calls, messages, actually even with phone calls only,thats quite impossible including the steps mentioned.

[F2thaK]

Well, I know for a fact that when I set mine at 10mW at home, and when I go to my living room, I lose connection to my wifi router which is in my room.

But if I set it to 100mW, I can keep the connection alive and browse from the exact same spot. So it definitely does make a difference in terms of wifi coverage. So I can only guess it will also make a bit of difference in power usage if wifi is used heavily.

big house?? thick walls?

--------------------------

thanks daflex

a long time ago I set mine to only 3G, thinking the constant 'searching' for 3G was the problem.

now i have mode selector applet installed, only using 3g when needed. :D

[jakiman]

big house?? thick walls?


Small but long apartment. Living room is on the other side of my bedroom. About 20m away. 3 concrete walls to go through also.

[lanwellon]

Well, I know for a fact that when I set mine at 10mW at home, and when I go to my living room, I lose connection to my wifi router which is in my room.

But if I set it to 100mW, I can keep the connection alive and browse from the exact same spot. So it definitely does make a difference in terms of wifi coverage. So I can only guess it will also make a bit of difference in power usage if wifi is used heavily.

Yes. I think I have the same symptom.

When set to 10mW, the signal quality will be lower than 100mW. Of course.

But 10mW can save a lot of battery in my opinion and observation.


My question now is many people here said 10mW and 100mW has no difference in battery use and it is a bug of N900's OS,
then my question is :
Is it really a bug of the OS ?

If yes, is this fixed in PR1.2 ?
(I think not because I am using PR1.2 on N900 now, and it saved battery quite a lot when I set it to 10mW than 100mW)

[lanwellon]

I didn't come to this forum from the start and even I have read about this fix three times already. The discussion always ends the same way: It doesn't make ANY difference if you use 10 or 100mW. The thread starter will find out this was just a coincident. You will NOT go from 17 hours to 48 hours of battery time thanks to this setting.

Any prove ?

[gabby131]

im using 10mw setting since i got a router a home.....(i think past 4 months. and according to conky, as per my heavy use, all day connection to wi-fi, online in 5 voip's, overclocked to 1ghz, about 5 hours of audio and video, my uptime lasted for 12-15hours.....

[arbitrabbit]

As Stskeeps said, if your router implements PSM properly, you wouldn't notice the difference between 10mw and 100mW in battery life, other than network disconnections due to lower power at 10mW setting.

I have my phone set on 100mW, is connected to wireless and 3G, online on skype, checking emails as they come and yet I get two days battery. So try setting SmarReflex to 1 if it works for you and stop manually faffing around with wireless power, which your router and device will handle automatically anyways.

[lanwellon]

As Stskeeps said, if your router implements PSM properly, you wouldn't notice the difference between 10mw and 100mW in battery life, other than network disconnections due to lower power at 10mW setting.

I have my phone set on 100mW, is connected to wireless and 3G, online on skype, checking emails as they come and yet I get two days battery. So try setting SmarReflex to 1 if it works for you and stop manually faffing around with wireless power, which your router and device will handle automatically anyways.

Thank you for your reply.

But I still cannot understand if my router support PSM.

Because I checked almost all options of my router

But I cannot find a option called "Power Saving Mode"

My router is a TP-LINK WR-841N

http://www.tp-link.com/products/productDetails.asp?class=wlan&pmodel=TL%2DWR841N

The IC is Atheros AR7240 :

http://www.atheros.com/pt/AR7100.htm

[volt]

I tried this yesterday, and with 10mW setting I lost the connection in the bedroom. That's just one wall from the router. I got the connection back when I changed it back to 100mW.

[arbitrabbit]

Hmm, not sure about TP-Link but most Netgear and Linksys routers do have decent support for Power Saver Mode. Alternately, if you can flash your router with DDWrt, you can enable Power Save there. I think your router does support it. You can get firmware for your router here.

ftp://dd-wrt.com/others/eko/BrainSlayer-V24-preSP2/06-12-10-r14594/