Battery Drain After Long Periods of Inactivity

[xyz]

When I turn off my SteamDeck and leave it for a few days without turning it on, the battery drops to 0%. To turn it on later, I have to plug it into power and wait for it to start by itself because the button doesn't respond.
Has anyone else had this issue or knows how to fix it?

[Mahjik]

If you aren't going to use it for long periods, either keep it on power or put it into Battery Storage Mode.

[xyz]

The device is not connected to the power supply when it is turned off. I only use SteamDeck on weekends and during this time it will be able to discharge the entire battery

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by Mahjik:

If you aren't going to use it for long periods, either keep it on power or put it into Battery Storage Mode.

[Haruspex]

Are you actually turning it off?

Pressing power isn't turning it off. That puts it into standby. Handy for when you need to put your Deck down for a bit to take care of something before picking it back up again, but not days later. The battery still drains slowly in standby mode.

To actually turn it off, you need to press "Steam", then select power, then shutdown. This will actually power off the Deck, and the battery won't drain. (Besides the natural very slow drain lithium batteries experience anyway.)

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by Mahjik:

If you aren't going to use it for long periods, either keep it on power or put it into Battery Storage Mode.

yeah, for periods of like half a year, not a few days lol

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by Prezidentas:

Originally posted by Mahjik:

If you aren't going to use it for long periods, either keep it on power or put it into Battery Storage Mode.

yeah, for periods of like half a year, not a few days lol

I used to be heavy into R/C racing. In that sport, you put your lipos into storage mode after a race, even if the next race was the next weekend.

I always recommend to put the Deck on a charger or into storage mode if you aren't someone who uses it regularly. Ideally the next Deck has circuity to prevent a full discharge but fully depleting a lipo battery is not a good thing.

[Haruspex]

Originally posted by Mahjik:

I used to be heavy into R/C racing. In that sport, you put your lipos into storage mode after a race, even if the next race was the next weekend.

All well and good, but OP was saying the battery drain was occurring over a period of just a few days, which suggests to me either there's a problem, or they're not actually turning it off. (I suspect the latter.)

If you properly shut the Deck down. (As in, don't just put it in standby.), the battery will hold a charge for weeks or months just fine. Of course if you're going to put it down for an extended period of time, yes, you should put the battery into storage mode.

I should add, there's no harm in putting the battery into storage mode every time, and if this is something you want to do I won't tell you not to. It might even help the battery last longer over time. I think for the average user though, it's unnecessary and inconvenient.

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by Haruspex:

All well and good, but OP was saying the battery drain was occurring over a period of just a few days, which suggests to me either there's a problem, or they're not actually turning it off. (I suspect the latter.)

The concern is I doubt it's a "few days". Even suspend mode will last a "few days". I wager either the duration is longer than being reported, or there is a battery issue with that Deck.

Originally posted by Haruspex:

If you properly shut the Deck down. (As in, don't just put it in standby.), the battery will hold a charge for weeks or months just fine. Of course if you're going to put it down for an extended period of time, yes, you should put the battery into storage mode.

Months is a bit stretching it. I have a battery monitors on my R/C lipos and months without storage mode is not an option. They will drain within a few weeks. The other thing for battery health is ambient conditions. If the OP is keeping his Deck in a warm or hot space, that will further decrease battery efficiency. I still stand behind what I posted but I'm no going to argue if folks want to dig deeper into the OP's situation.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by Mahjik:

Originally posted by Prezidentas:

yeah, for periods of like half a year, not a few days lol

I used to be heavy into R/C racing. In that sport, you put your lipos into storage mode after a race, even if the next race was the next weekend.

I always recommend to put the Deck on a charger or into storage mode if you aren't someone who uses it regularly. Ideally the next Deck has circuity to prevent a full discharge but fully depleting a lipo battery is not a good thing.

storage mode is literally designed to be used for shipping purposes after manufacturing. it wasn't designed to be used by end user at all, with decks bricking when storage mode used with higher battery charge levels, etc. it's not something you should using regularly at all.

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by Prezidentas:

Originally posted by Mahjik:

I used to be heavy into R/C racing. In that sport, you put your lipos into storage mode after a race, even if the next race was the next weekend.

I always recommend to put the Deck on a charger or into storage mode if you aren't someone who uses it regularly. Ideally the next Deck has circuity to prevent a full discharge but fully depleting a lipo battery is not a good thing.

storage mode is literally designed to be used for shipping purposes after manufacturing. it wasn't designed to be used by end user at all, with decks bricking when storage mode used with higher battery charge levels, etc. it's not something you should using regularly at all.

It's literally in the FAQ. They wouldn't include it in the FAQ if they didn't intend it to be used by end users.

[invision2212]

It does sound like you may be using sleep mode rather than power down. When I power down the deck, I’ve let it sit for a month before checking it and there was still 80% battery left from a 95% charge.

[xyz]

I turn off the deck every time, I don't put it to sleep.
STEAM button > Power > Turn off
I turn on the console once every two weeks, once a month at most.

[Prezidentas]

it should not drop to 0 in a month. contact support

[6h057_f10w]

Originally posted by xyz:

I turn off the deck every time, I don't put it to sleep.
STEAM button > Power > Turn off
I turn on the console once every two weeks, once a month at most.

yeah power drains in sleep mode

[JJSpaceman]

I barely use my steam deck, and when I do I shut it down properly via the shutdown option and the battery still completely drains within a few days.