PowerBook Battery conditioner

[Slrman]

I have an older PC tablet (Walkabout HH3) that has software included to condition the battery. When you go to the software, it gives you some information about the battery (type, charge, condition, etc.) and has options to charge, quick condition, or deep condition. As expected, deep conditioning takes hours, but does a very nice job. I usually start it at night and it's done by morning.

My question is, does anyone know of something similar for Apple laptops? Especially PowerBook G4 models? This would not only improve battery life, but be a lot easier than the Apple standard practice as all this requires is to start it and go away for a while.

Any ideas Gurus?

 

[Jamie-Jamie]

I know that Mac OS 8.6 and earlier included "Battery Recondition." If you can start your G4 to 9.x you can likely run the old Battery Recondition app. I wouldn't suggest running it in Classic, though. I still use that tool on my Powerbook 3400 and I've been using the same three batteries since around 2000. They're still fine!

 

[chas_m]

Battery technology has improved to the point that this sort of thing isn't as necessary, but if you actually want to waste time thinking about it, you should download the free Coconut Battery and read this article:
Apple Portables: Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance

 

[Slrman]

Thanks. I had downloaded the coconut battery software and find it gives nice information. The Apple site about batter conditioning was very useful, too. Having said all that, I would still like to have software that works like on the HH3 tablet. It gives far more information and does the conditioning automatically. It even tells me when conditioning isn't necessary based on the over-all condition of the battery, its age and the number of cycles on it. Really a nice piece of software.

If I were a programming wizard, I'd try to write something like that for Apple. There are a lot more Mac laptops out there than there are from Walkabout. Although I understand they have done a very nice business with the military. Those things are almost indestructible Well, except for having Windows on them