major battery issues

i'm afraid that my macbook pro has lost a very significant amount of battery life. i when i take it out of a full charge, i only have just over 3 hours of life, and thats with no sound, and half lit screen. then once i open a few apps it drops to mid 2 hours. Im worried that there is something wrong with the battery. ive done apple's tips for optimizing battery (charge, fully drain, fully recharge) and it didnt work. but then i looked at the widget that has specs on your computer, and found that i when my computer is "charged" (and green light), i am only at 85% battery power.

what is going on? thanks guys! also, i still have the apple care still active so would i be able to get it fixed if i cant do so myself? thanks

any ideas here?

Go get the free Coconut Battery app (coconutBattery 2.6.5 software download - Mac OS X - VersionTracker) and tell us what it reports back on your battery.

How about the SMC - have u tried resetting that here

B.Shniz said:

i'm afraid that my macbook pro has lost a very significant amount of battery life. i when i take it out of a full charge, i only have just over 3 hours of life, and thats with no sound, and half lit screen. then once i open a few apps it drops to mid 2 hours. Im worried that there is something wrong with the battery. ive done apple's tips for optimizing battery (charge, fully drain, fully recharge) and it didnt work. but then i looked at the widget that has specs on your computer, and found that i when my computer is "charged" (and green light), i am only at 85% battery power.

what is going on? thanks guys! also, i still have the apple care still active so would i be able to get it fixed if i cant do so myself? thanks

Click to expand...

How old is your MacBook Pro & battery?

- Nick

VegasGeorge said:

Go get the free Coconut Battery app (coconutBattery 2.6.5 software download - Mac OS X - VersionTracker) and tell us what it reports back on your battery.

Click to expand...

Current Battery Charge: 4726 mAH
Maximum Battery Charge: 4726 mAH
-100%

Current Battery Capacity: 4726 mAH
Original Battey Capacity: 5500 mAH
-85%

Addition info:

Battery-Loadcycles: 141
Age of your mac: 14 months
Charger connected: Yes
Battery is charging: No


**at the green light


-what do i make of this? thanks

That is strange. You can do what Collin Bl suggest which is resetting the SMC (Shutdown, plug in power adapter, press (left) Shift-Control-Option along with the power button, wait for at least 5 seconds, and finally turn the computer back on.

You may want to calibrate the battery as well, if you haven't done so. This will reset the battery's sensor and "correctly" display the current status of the battery's condition 1. Charge battery until green light is on
2. Take off the power adapter and start draining the battery
3. Once you get the "low battery" warning, save your work and shut down
4. Leave your computer off for at least 4 hours (to ensure ALL of the battery charge is drained)
5. Plug back in the power adapter and start charging (I believe according to Apple, it is better NOT to use the computer while charging during this step).

Good luck and let us know!

There is nothing "wrong" with the battery. It's been used for the last 14 months (or less) and you probably have never calibrated it (or not very often).

Calibrate it per the following: Apple Portables: Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance
Your directions are listed in the second section.

Do it about once a week for the next month. This should bring back some of the batteries 'Capacity'. Mine was sitting at 70% of original a month ago. After 3 calibrations, it is now back up to 95% of original.

Then change to once a month to keep your battery running along at it's maximum potential.

bobtomay said:

There is nothing "wrong" with the battery. It's been used for the last 14 months (or less) and you probably have never calibrated it (or not very often).

Calibrate it per the following: Apple Portables: Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance
Your directions are listed in the second section.

Do it about once a week for the next month. This should bring back some of the batteries 'Capacity'. Mine was sitting at 70% of original a month ago. After 3 calibrations, it is now back up to 95% of original.

Then change to once a month to keep your battery running along at it's maximum potential.

Click to expand...

yea i never knew about the calibration thing till the other week. im gonna do what you said about doing it more often until it starts going up then just do it to maintain.

is that basically the only option then? is resetting your SMC harmful to your computer or anything? like ruining your warranty or anything?

and what are these "cycles"? is like a full charge or something? i've read that i dont think i should have it plugged in all the time when it's fully charged, but should i not do full charges or something?
sorry for all the questions! thanks!

any ideas on ^^^^

so what can i do to make my battery better?