Help with Vivoactive battery life

Former Member over 8 years ago

I'm building a golf app for my Vivoactive watch (with some very helpful assistance by jim_m_58).

The app is working extremely well but appears to be using significant battery power.
The watch is only 10 months old and using it as a basic watch or just the factory installed golf app, the battery lasts long enough for a day without charge.

However, running my golf app, the battery ran out by mid afternoon (about 5hrs!).
I guess that some functions consume more energy (e.g.GPS).
I obviously have to use GPS but is there an efficient way to use it?
Or are there other functions to avoid?
Regards
David

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

On the va, I have apps that will go 8+ hrs or so (with GPS) at least last time I checked. The va is rated as "up to 10 hours" with GPS (that's in ideal conditions, native app), so I think 8hr for a CIQ app, with BT on, etc, is a good ballpark. While you could try things like turning off GPS at times, that may cause headaches when you turn it back in and are waiting to get a good fix.

One thing to look at is how often you update the screen. More than once a second is a waste, but could you get by with once a minute? Or update less often on certain screens. If you have a screen that does a large number of draws, maybe only update that one half as often as a simple screen...

And there's one other thing that not CIQ related, but when I did it, I got over 24 hours with GPS on, and the battery was still at over 70%!.

"Charge on the go". In settings, under USB Mode, if you change it to "garmin" you can charge while your app is running. So you bring your changing cable, and something like a battery based cell phone charger, and at good times (maybe riding to the next hole?) you can drop the va in the charger, top off the battery, and not lose anything! In my test, I used the charger maybe every hour or two, and maybe 5-10 minutes at a time.

Former Member over 8 years ago

Thanks AGAIN for clear and concise suggestions.

I will check if I am updating screens too often but the most promising suggestion is to re-charge.
Thanks for the tip on 'charge on go' , which I didn't know about.
I had been thinking about building a USB charging socket into my electric golf trolley but had avoided it because of the issue of app reset when charging.
I may end up letting my golf trolley 'wear' the watch !!
Cheers,
David