v3 build 823 - High Battery Consumption

[RBEmerson]

1 hour ago, maxmp said:

@akb825 can you please post the Poweramp details and Poweramp settings / About page. Also, did you play tracks on background or used Poweramp on foreground with screen on? Thanks?

FWIW, I often use PA while I'm doing something that has me carrying my phone in a pocket. I use a "turn screen off when in dark place" (Samsung? Android?) option to keep the screen blank. NTL battery temps go over 100F and the battery is run flat, from 100% in 3-4 hours. BT is off, WiFi is on (I should try with it off). Not a chance I'll use airplane mode at least while I'm the tractor (this is a phone, after all). I tried airplane mode once; no change. 

[akb825]

6 hours ago, maxmp said:

@akb825 can you please post the Poweramp details and Poweramp settings / About page. Also, did you play tracks on background or used Poweramp on foreground with screen on? Thanks?

Poweramp was in the background with the screen off.

[reverbel]

This might or might not be relevant, but I started to experience this problem last week, when I switched from an S8+ to an S10+. On my old S8+ I had no problem at all. The attached screenshot was taken on the S10+. I am using Poweramp v3-build-838-arm64-play.

PS: I will try v3-build-837-uni-no-google-services and post any results here.

[reverbel]

I was not able to downgrade Poweramp from v3-build-838-arm64-play to v3-build-837-uni-no-google-services... 😞

[akb825]

7 hours ago, reverbel said:

I was not able to downgrade Poweramp from v3-build-838-arm64-play to v3-build-837-uni-no-google-services... 😞

You must uninstall first if you want to downgrade.

[dinfinity]

I've had this issue for a couple of months as well. Tried downgrading, autoscan off, etc.

For me the PA behavior seems to kick in sometimes (maybe 1 in 5 times, same file) after I pause a song (or when I unplug my headphones), which leads me to believe there is some kind of race condition involved. The behavior on my phone is that PA will be shown using 20-25% CPU (almost) continuously in OS monitor. Additional info is that I have also seen it stuck at 45-50%, which might indicate two threads operating in the same way (stuck in some loop, probably). Killing/resetting PA with OS monitor resolves the issue.

I can't see anything particularly significant in logcat. The lines closest to when high CPU usage kicks in seem to be these:

07-23 21:49:17.407 30969-31212/? I/dsp_thread.c: dsp_thread_release_impl releasing: com.maxmpz.audioplayer/plugin.tempo
07-23 21:49:17.407 30969-31212/? I/dsp_thread.c: dsp_thread_release_impl releasing: com.maxmpz.audioplayer/plugin.reverb
07-23 21:49:17.407 30969-31212/? I/dsp_thread.c: dsp_thread_release_impl releasing: com.maxmpz.audioplayer/plugin.milk

Sidenote, I've also noticed these logcat lines when editing reverb and tempo settings in PA:

07-23 21:44:03.867 29657-30677/? W/MilkRendererJava.cpp: avg frame time us=3389 avg fps=59.986286

Blackberry Priv, Android 6.0

[Mark BT52]

Hi,

I seem to have fixed it for the V30 at least.

I noticed that the phone volume slider was often a bit crazy when using custom no. of volume levels, moving around on its own when displayed etc.

Switched Poweramp back to the default volume levels (16) and not only did the slider start behaving itself but the battery drain and heat up stopped as well.

I tried changing the volume levels back and sure enough all the problems reappeared.

Hope this helps for others.

Cheers

Mark

[RBEmerson]

At least I'm not sure which full version of PA "V30" refers to. 

My general experience with  with V3-build-838-arm64-play is that power consumption is marginally reduced and heating similarly reduced.

- - - - - -

In general, for any electrical device, the heat generated is a direction function of power consumption. As this applies to any phone, the busier a phone gets, the hotter it gets. This is not application specific. Running any specific app does not, per se, mean the phone will get hot for running that app. What does indicate any app will be tied to heating is how "busy" the CPU, etc. will be as demanded by that app. For example, a benchmark app that drives the CPU, memory, etc. to full capacity will heat the phone significantly. An app that does nothing more than blink the notification LED is not likely to much heat because of its low demand on the CPU, etc. 

Applying this to using PA, the question is simply how much demand is placed on the CPU, etc. when using PA. High demand, high heat. Low demand, low heat. It's my understanding that of the roughly 50,000,000 downloads, accepting there are not 50,000,000 users, the "PA high battery demand/high heat" syndrome is reported by a very small percentage of users. Stipulated that not all who experience this problem have reported experiencing the problem, there's still a very low percentage of users with this problem. That leaves me with the conclusion that the problem is tied to some specific configuration of those phones that causes "high consumption/high heat". 

It's the developer's call on whether to address the problem or not. Either the conclusion is "there's no way that everyone who uses or tries to use PA is going to be satisfied" or "the problem may be pointing to a something in PA that's worth investigating as it may be a symptom of a potential problem for the wider user community". 

There is, as part of the latter conclusion, the "non-Google" release, which seems to be giving mixed results. Other strategies also seem to give mixed results. All of the above leads me to think it's best to look at what, in any particular phone, may be using power that, when adding PA's nominal demands, push a specific phone into the domain of excess demand. Excess demand, for whatever reason, means excess heat. Or, PA isn't a pocket warmer, it'the total of the phone's activity that's a pocket warmer. 

Personally, I'm still trying to figure out what else in my phone is busy when it shouldn't be. My main tool for running down "who's busy when I don't want it to be" is GSam Battery Monitor. I have no skin with this monitor, it's just the monitor I have. I do suggest doing a consumption inventory and use that to decide what apps should shut down, or deleted, if they "do nothing to earn their keep".

---

Your mileage may vary, prices higher in Hawaii and Alaska, some assembly required, not tested by the FDA to determine if this product will prevent, treat, or cure any disease, do not use while driving or operating heavy machinery, pursuant to California Proposition 65, this item may contain cancer producing agents. Have a nice day.

 

[Mark BT52]

Hi,

"V30" is the LG V30 H930DS

Cheers

Mark

[kevinj]

Any news on this issue yet?

I've also tried the version without google services, but 2 times out of 3 I had the drain.

 

The only version I'm found so far that works flawless is 820.

[hugeblizzard]

Battery usage is higher than any other music player, more than twice. I never looked into this on my old phone. But losing 25-30% of battery with 1.5 hours of background playback while commuting from home to college every morning was too much to not notice on a brand new Galaxy S10. To do my test, I played music for some time on Phonograph and the battery graph shows clearly that Poweramp uses more power. This is sad. If I have to save power and save myself from carrying a charger everyday, I'll have to give up on Poweramp. I hope there's a solution to this. 

I don't use visualization, most of the playback was in the background with screen off. And forgot to mention, when this happens, phone gets warm. Also, auto scanning is off. I've sent a message from within Poweramp for this same issue, I think that one will have all logs every other debugging details with it. 

Build details and battery graph in screenshot. I am using this on a Galaxy S10 Exynos. With Bluetooth headset. I've been using only Bluetooth headset since 2013. Do ask for any other details if needed. 

I understand some people might say, that the test wasn't long enough. I'll do one now for as long as I can and add another screenshot later. 

[RBEmerson]

Having encountered the same "high draw, high heat" syndrome, I wondered about the cause, of course. I tried some suggested changes with no success. Used a battery demand app (GSam) to see what apps were pulling the most power. I found apps that sucked up cycles, and created activity/heat, for no obvious reason. With those apps removed or otherwise silenced, I went back to PA. The results are conflicting.

With my S7 on a charger, and a Sirius/XM portable receiver/amp (think boom box) plugged into the phone jack, the phone remains at or under 100F even while charging. The phone volume's full up (the box is in charge of loudness), and I've let the screen go back to the idle display (black with digital clock). I'd count this as problem solved. But...

 

If I use Klipsch buds, put the phone in a pocket to invoke the "dark place, dark screen" mode, the phone picks up to 105-110F (I doubt my body temp will bring temps above 98.6F...). Without a charger. I have no idea about why this happens, but IMHO I don't think the problem is with PA. If it were, the phone temperature, given constant PA use (same settings, same material), should be higher with charging (app-generated heating plus heat from charging) and lower without it. Instead, things are upside down. I don't think PA"s the cause of the problem. Current installation: 839

[andrewevenstar]

4 hours ago, krazzyvishal said:

Battery usage is higher than any other music player, more than twice. I never looked into this on my old phone. But losing 25-30% of battery with 1.5 hours of background playback while commuting from home to college every morning was too much to not notice on a brand new Galaxy S10. To do my test, I played music for some time on Phonograph and the battery graph shows clearly that Poweramp uses more power. This is sad. If I have to save power and save myself from carrying a charger everyday, I'll have to give up on Poweramp. I hope there's a solution to this. 

 

 

yeah i agree, this is really sad. i've been using the app for years. i'd even pay for it again if the battery drain was gone. V3 is super awesome except this major flaw. everyday i go to the gym with above 90% -- i'll be there for a few hours and drains to 20-50% just about every time. 

[maxmp]

@krazzyvishal Poweramp plays music (that means it reads file, decodes samples, processes samples, output samples), Phonograph doesn't (system media component plays for it, Phonograph and similar players are just UI which commands system to play given file), so the Poweramp % will be always higher, but for comparable output resolution (e.g. 16/48kHz) Poweramp will play for longer vs current state stock Android media players (or for a comparable duration) until battery is out. Some rare devices are affected with the google services issue, but from your screenshot, your device is not affected as the usage line is linear without spikes. Thanks!

[maxmp]

On 7/29/2019 at 12:25 PM, kevinj said:

Any news on this issue yet? I've also tried the version without google services, but 2 times out of 3 I had the drain. The only version I'm found so far that works flawless is 820.

The issue is not reproducible on my test 200+ devices. If it works for you for 820 and below, this means your google services is the cause - try to update them. Have you tried test 83x build without Google services?

[akb825]

16 minutes ago, maxmp said:

The issue is not reproducible on my test 200+ devices. If it works for you for 820 and below, this means your google services is the cause - try to update them. Have you tried test 83x build without Google services?

How can you be so sure it's Google services when it's reproducible on the build without Google services?

[dinfinity]

17 minutes ago, maxmp said:

The issue is not reproducible on my test 200+ devices. If it works for you for 820 and below, this means your google services is the cause - try to update them. Have you tried test 83x build without Google services?

Not directed at me, but I just installed this build. Same behavior as I reported earlier. Second time pausing and pushing PA to the background and OS monitor now shows PA using 20% continuously, so it does not seem to be related to Google Services in my case.

[dinfinity]

Addendum:

Before installing this build, I've actually seen PA go to 75% continuous usage.

With this build, I can fairly reliably keep increasing PA usage in the same way:

1. Switch to PA 

2. Play song

3. Go to next song

4. Pause

5. Switch to OS monitor

6. Go to 1.

Usage either increases with 25% (about 2 seconds after switching to OS monitor) or does not increase at all.

Did this about 6 times, and Poweramp is now using 95% CPU. Killing Poweramp puts it back to 0% again. I'm a developer myself and will happily cooperate if you want logs or other information.

[hugeblizzard]

15 hours ago, maxmp said:

@krazzyvishal Poweramp plays music (that means it reads file, decodes samples, processes samples, output samples), Phonograph doesn't (system media component plays for it, Phonograph and similar players are just UI which commands system to play given file), so the Poweramp % will be always higher, but for comparable output resolution (e.g. 16/48kHz) Poweramp will play for longer vs current state stock Android media players (or for a comparable duration) until battery is out. Some rare devices are affected with the google services issue, but from your screenshot, your device is not affected as the usage line is linear without spikes. Thanks!

 

15 hours ago, andrewevenstar said:

yeah i agree, this is really sad. i've been using the app for years. i'd even pay for it again if the battery drain was gone. V3 is super awesome except this major flaw. everyday i go to the gym with above 90% -- i'll be there for a few hours and drains to 20-50% just about every time. 

 

Hey max, thanks for your explanation but Alex from your support team fixed my problem. So happy about it, give him a cookie! I had sent this same problem via the app's support option. Alex replied within a few hours. And after tests since yesterday, I think the issue is gone. @andrewevenstar try it for yourself too. The Chromecast button was the culprit, I suspect that means actually Google Play Services was the culprit.

Thanks a ton! 

[RBEmerson]

And Alex's "fix" is...???

[maxmp]

@RBEmerson I guess it's auto scan disabling in Poweramp settings. In rare cases, some apps constantly generate file changed events, which are picked up by Poweramp and forces it to rescan affected folders. (This may be noticeable in Poweramp UI as rotating progress in header shown more frequently than usual). Disabling Chromecast also makes Poweramp not to load Play services (requires app restart).

[andrewevenstar]

Hmm, well we already knew about the chromecast button and a few other things, but I'll definitely try disabling the auto-scan feature and report back. I'm on the latest build now too. Thanks  @krazzyvishal

 

Edit: also to address above, while i'm at the gym i also am switching heavily between tracks more than i am at work. so that definitely contributes to the drainage. 

[RBEmerson]

11 hours ago, maxmp said:

@RBEmerson I guess it's auto scan disabling in Poweramp settings. In rare cases, some apps constantly generate file changed events, which are picked up by Poweramp and forces it to rescan affected folders. (This may be noticeable in Poweramp UI as rotating progress in header shown more frequently than usual). Disabling Chromecast also makes Poweramp not to load Play services (requires app restart).

I disabled Chromecast. What I found as big power stealers are apps such as a German weather app that I don't need in the US. There were some other apps that seemed to do lots of I don't know what, but the apps just didn't need to be in use, period. 

The power use issue seems to be erratic. It comes back on occasion, and it's not there on others. As I said earlier, I'm leaning towards PA forced into some state where it gets overly busy. IIRC file scanning can be shut down, to be used only manually. If so, that will  disable unwanted scans, right?

[hugeblizzard]

Cool. I always kept autoscanning off knowing it would drain battery unnecessarily. I just manual scan whenever I add new tracks. @andrewevenstar

[RBEmerson]

Well. I just had two "isn't that interesting" moments with PA. 

The first is probably OT, but here it is: my S7 phone nearly locked up to the "pull the battery to restart the phone" level. An extended single digit to Samsung for not letting the battery be user accessible. After enough button pushing and screen waiting, I got to the home screen and saw the PA announced as not working, stop or keep waiting. As soon as I stopped PA, the phone went back to being a normal phone with no unusual delays. I've seen the phone lock up like this a few times over the past couple of months. I rebuilt the phone (back to "out of the box experience" stock firmware forward to rooted otherwise stock firmware) and the problem stopped. Until yesterday. Did PA cause the problem or did PA wind up in a situation where it failed for lack of resources? No idea on that. 

The second is the "high discharge, high heat" problem on steroids. I spent most of three hours using the S7 with earbuds. At some point I stopped to check the phone - very warm and down to 47% from 87% in, to be charitable, under two hours. I turned off WiFi (poor service to the tractor anyway) and BT (not used, except in a car). An hour plus later (yes, that adds up to more than three hours - I'm trying to leave slack around how long it took for discharging), I was down to 15%. I pulled the phones jack to stop playback, put the phone on its charger and walked off to do something else. 

The stunner is coming back over an hour later to see the phone at 29% and not going higher. The phone was up to about 116F. The screen, when I unblanked it, showed the album art for the track that had been playing. The point here is PA should have been idle, the phone should have been charging, and 116F is well above the phone's normal temperature (~100F). As soon as I left PA, the phone resumed charging, and the temperature dropped to the usual "warm from charging" temperature. 

Whatever had PA going was hammering the phone to the point where the charger was barely keeping ahead of demand. 

PLACE HOLDER!

The text above is complete, but I need to add some screen grabs to the post. The grabs are on my phone, not on my laptop. More to come.