Battery Calibration isnt changing anything!!

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Sup Guys,

Ive calibrated twice in the last week because battery capacity has dropped by 12% or more. I never have more than 89%. I did the calibration process correctly, and even he application Watts said it is now calibrated. However it is not changing anything about my battery capacity. NO difference at all.

Whyyy?????? im confused

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bobtomay

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Confused on what??? Have you read a guarantee any where that says a calibration will increase the capacity of a battery? The calibration only helps keep the battery functioning at it's current best potential. That may sometimes increase after a calibration, sometimes not.
 
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well i calibrated my friends MBP which was being used for 2 years, has 520 load cycles and had a battery capacity of 63%. Now its at 84%

Ive read lots of forums where people say that calibration will increase the battery capacity to an extent, or back to normal. And also several people posted screenshots after their calibration, even of older machines, where capacity nearly went back up to the original/design capacity
 

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That can indeed occur. No guarantees as I've said.

My current battery is below 40% and a calibration does nothing.
Have a new one on the way. This will be my third battery in my MBP.
 
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yeh kk, jus read a couple more aritcles, clarify's stuff some more :D

how old is your MBP??
so i guess there is no way to get the battery back up?

maybe in a year or two ill get another battery :p

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My MBP is just over 4 yrs old. Definitely not the battery Apple has in the newer models. These only get 4 hour max brand new.

I just use my Mac the way I want. I calibrate or not when I think about it. I really do not take care of it at all. I do not consider it at all - period.

My wife's MB, is now 3 1/2 yrs old and has been calibrated I think 2 times now, is connected to power 100% of the time except when I borrow it. Hers is still sitting at 104% of original capacity.

They are batteries. They wear out. They are not an exact science. If it costs me $50 a year for a battery, considering what these batteries do in a notebook - so be it. I am not going to concern myself with spending some inordinate amount of time worrying about it, thinking about it, checking it, or anything else to maybe save $15 a year in battery cost. When it gets down to less than 2 hours battery life, then I replace it. End of story.
 
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My battery is 88% with 177 cycles (7 months old). Calibration usually raises it to about 92%, but it only stays there for a few days. I realize that my usage is harder on a battery than most and I will just be replacing it quicker that others have to. How many cycles do you have on your battery?
 

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yeh kk, jus read a couple more aritcles, clarify's stuff some more :D

Just remember...when you "read things" make sure that they're coming from a reputable source.

If you're reading say 100 different postings from various internet forums...and 25 of them happen to agree with what you want to hear (in this case that calibrating your battery will increase it's capacity)...all 25 of those posts (or a majority) could be wrong!;)

Also...even if calibrating your battery does help improve battery capacity slightly (the FIRST time you do it...NOT every time)...all users laptop batteries are not in the same condition or have been used exactly the same before performing the calibration...so the effect of the battery calibration will not always be predictable or the same for every user.

Thus...your "mileage" may vary!;)

- Nick
 
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@ brairden, I got 219 cycles, 9 months old. the health is perfectly fine considering. i use mine more than other people aswell i guess, usually 1 cycle a day. and fairly heavy usage constantly.

@ pigoo3, yeh i noticed that after a while of reading forums, lol. I mainly tried to get up my battery capacity again, of it dosnt, then oh well. Im still happy with it :)

Thanks all you people
 

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@ pigoo3, yeh i noticed that after a while of reading forums, lol. I mainly tried to get up my battery capacity again, of it dosnt, then oh well. Im still happy with it :)

Let me share a bit more info. We get so many threads regarding laptop batteries here on Mac-Forums...that sometimes I feel that my head will EXPLODE with what folks say "they've read"!!!:(

There is so much bad information out there about laptop batteries:

- should the battery be drained completely before being recharged
- should it be drained to 50% before being recharged
- should I leave my laptop plugged in all the time or not
- should I calibrate my battery or not
- etc. etc. etc.

I am very very scientific & logical with most of the info I share...since I HATE to support any "rumors" or theories out there about laptop batteries which don't have any data behind them to support the theory. Many of these "theories" are what users "feel"...and not what they're actually experiencing. The problem with users "feelings"...is they choose to "remember" the bad...and many times not the good.;)

With this being said...laptop batteries simply wear out. Every full load cycle that is used...is one less load cycle left in a battery's "lifetime".

Here is my personal situation. I have a 17" MacBook Pro. My current battery is 2 years & 5 months old. I have an:

- original battery capacity of 6300mAh
- current battery capacity is 6472mAh
- so current battery capacity is 100%+
- if I run my laptop on the battery I get 4-5 hours (exactly what this battery should do given it's 100% capacity)
- and I only have 26 load cycles on the battery

...I keep my MacBook Pro plugged in 99.8% of the time...and as battery "maintenance" step so to speak...I run my MacBook Pro on battery power about 2 hours each month. I have NEVER calibrated my battery. I'm not saying folks shouldn't...but so far I haven't needed to...and with 100%+ capacity after almost 2.5 years...I don't want to "jinx" myself!;)

My main point is...for folks that leave their laptops plugging most of the time...leaving your laptop plugged in basically 100% of the time (at least in my experience) has had no negative effects on battery life or battery longevity (knock on wood)!;)

Of course if I ran my laptop off the battery more...I would have more load cycles...and thus my battery capacity would most likely be much lower...just as it's supposed to happen.

As myself & others have mentioned many times here on Mac-Forums. If you take the cost of a replacement battery...and divide it by the number of days of use you get in the lifetime of the average laptop battery (let's say 3 years)...it works out to be something like $.12 cents/day! So folks should just stop stressing over laptop batteries.

Good luck,

- Nick

p.s. Of course with my current battery being almost 2.5 years old (26 load cycles & 100%+ capacity)...I should get way more than 3 years from my battery.:)
 

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