07-19-2010, 08:15 AM

Hey guys im new to the forum
had a look around quickly didnt find a similar question.

Iv had my macbook for around 3 weeks now, but already my battery capacity has gone down to 95%. have i been doing something wrong?

initially i calibrated my macbook when i got it (although software was installed on it by the company i got it from, so they would have used it, maybe it was too late?)

and since then i must have fully drained (and wait 5 hours) and charged (and leave for an extra 2 hours) like apple say to at least 5 times...

should i drain it and the charge it for longer than apple say or is there no point..?

my question is why has it gone down so quick? is this normal?

iv been using coconut battery and says current battery capacity 5520, originally 5570 mAh. so 95%

with calibration will i get it back up? as iv heard of some people getting 105-110% battery capacity because they have treated it right...?

also it says the age of my mac is 2 months on coconut battery, how is that calculated?

sometimes after i calibrate it goes up like 3 mAh but its soon lost again...

thank you for your time

kind regards

sam

07-19-2010, 08:44 AM

Apple - Batteries

That's a good place to read on how to take care of your battery.

Also using search here at Mac-Forums should get you a lot of great information since there have been many previous discussion on battery care and life.

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/search.php

07-19-2010, 10:11 AM

I have now looked though all the battery capacity related posts on here in detail...

it seems you guys think that its odd if it has gone down to 95% so quickly especially if you have been looking after it like i have...

should i take it to the genius bar...?

anyone have any experience of this? will they change it? as the closest one is quite far and don't want to waste my time.

thankss!

x

07-19-2010, 11:27 AM

I think you really don't have anything to worry about. Battery life is affected by all kinds of environmental factors as well as how you use the laptop and how often you use it on battery vs. AC power.

95% is probably fine right now since battery tests can never be 100% accurate anyway.

Now if you were only getting like 50% life out of it after 3 weeks, I'd be concerned.

08-02-2010, 09:11 PM

hmph! still going down...

im now 92%
current battery capacity - 5383
originally - 5770 mAh

is this still not odd when apple say it should keep a capacity of 80% for 1000 charges...?

i am still trying to calibrate and do all the recommenced things, its not getting any better only worse... :/

any ideas guys, still normal

thankss

08-03-2010, 05:30 PM

ahhh...5570 out of 5590 is 99% not 95%!
Also, lipo battery accuracy is known to be more accurate as it get older(around 20 cycles). I would wait a little, and cycle it as often as you can. If it doesn't get better, take it to apple and get it looked at if you are really paranoid.
find my thread, nvm, here it is, My MBP's battery health just got a bit worse
There is some good info in there.

08-03-2010, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by idrinorbarsaku

ahhh...5570 out of 5590 is 99% not 95%!
Also, lipo battery accuracy is known to be more accurate as it get older(around 20 cycles). I would wait a little, and cycle it as often as you can. If it doesn't get better, take it to apple and get it looked at if you are really paranoid.
find my thread, nvm, here it is, My MBP's battery health just got a bit worse
There is some good info in there.

heyy sorry

i meant to write 5570 out of 5790... it was a typo and i didnt know how to correct my post. iv had 22 cycles now.

i have been i must have fully drained and fully charged at least 10-15 times now.

thanks for the reply il check out the link, and wait around a bit then take it to the apple store sometime when its convenient .

thanks alot
sam

08-03-2010, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by sam84

i have been i must have fully drained and fully charged at least 10-15 times now.

The misconception is that calibrating a battery makes it healthier. All it does is make the battery meter more accurate. If you don't care about the accuracy of your battery meter then you technically don't need to calibrate.

You should not be calibrating more than once a month. From what I have read Lithium batteries like being drained partially rather than frequent full drains. I have a PowerBook that is about 7 years old and it's still has the original battery that works. I just don't leave it plugged in all the time. If you use your laptop as a portable then that happens naturally but there are a lot of people who use their laptops as a desktop though.

Originally Posted by sam84

and since then i must have fully drained (and wait 5 hours) and charged (and leave for an extra 2 hours) like apple say to at least 5 times...

I don't believe you have to do that to calibrate the battery. All I do is fully drain the battery and then plug it in right away when it goes to sleep. I then keep it plugged until it is fully charged. My battery meter is pretty accurate when doing so. As mentioned don't do this more than once a month and possibly longer if you notice your battery meter is still accurate.

08-03-2010, 10:28 PM

Originally Posted by EndlessMac

You should not be calibrating more than once a month.

Where in the world did you get this info from?? The minimum calibration, told by apple themselves, is 1 a month!

08-03-2010, 11:30 PM

Originally Posted by idrinorbarsaku

Where in the world did you get this info from??

Base on what I've read about battery technology and my own experience. These type of batteries I'm told don't like being fully discharged all that often. They prefer partial discharges.

Also calibration is for the battery meter accuracy so constantly calibrating I don't believe is going to achieve what the OP wants which is to bring up the battery's health.

08-04-2010, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by EndlessMac

Base on what I've read about battery technology and my own experience. These type of batteries I'm told don't like being fully discharged all that often. They prefer partial discharges.

Also calibration is for the battery meter accuracy so constantly calibrating I don't believe is going to achieve what the OP wants which is to bring up the battery's health.

Sorry, I don't buy that! You're not the only one who has experience with batteries.

08-04-2010, 03:55 PM

Originally Posted by idrinorbarsaku

Where in the world did you get this info from?? The minimum calibration, told by apple themselves, is 1 a month!

Originally Posted by EndlessMac

You should not be calibrating more than once a month.

Straight from Apple:

The battery needs to be recalibrated from time to time to keep the onscreen battery time and percent display accurate and to keep the battery operating at maximum efficiency. You should perform this procedure when you first use your computer and then every few months after that. If you normally leave your Apple portable computer connected to AC power and very rarely use it on battery power you may want to perform this process once a month.

You're both right.

08-04-2010, 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by vansmith

Straight from Apple:You're both right.

Great mediation

08-04-2010, 04:08 PM

ok
My MBP's battery health just got a bit worse

08-04-2010, 07:11 PM

Originally Posted by idrinorbarsaku

Sorry, I don't buy that! You're not the only one who has experience with batteries.

Well I'm not saying my advice is the word of God or anything. I'm just telling you what I have experienced and have done to preserve my battery. It's worked for me so far. I'm not forcing anyone to take my advice. I'm just presenting it and people can choose to do whatever they want with the information.

Since you provided a link to your battery stats here's one from my PowerBook that I mentioned. It's a 7 year old original battery and still works well. We can at least agree that we both like car wallpapers.