calibrate the battery??

Hello, I just read this website. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490

I am so very confused. Nobody had ever told me that I had to calibrate my battery and I haven't done it yet. I just got my macbook a few days ago. Is it ever too late?
and what does calibrating the battery do??

Don't sweat it maconvert. All that article is saying is to keep your battery in the best condition you should allow the battery to fully charge and de-charge about once a month.
Its basically the same with all rechargeable devices, they need to be completely charged and de-charged occasionally to keep them working optimally.

maconvert said:

Hello, I just read this website. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490

I am so very confused. Nobody had ever told me that I had to calibrate my battery and I haven't done it yet. I just got my macbook a few days ago. Is it ever too late?
and what does calibrating the battery do??

Click to expand...

The sooner the better. It would do it now that you have read that article.

I also do it once a month since my macbook is usually always plugged in.

Actually, the article doesn't specifically state it'll make the battery work better, it just means that OSX will be better able to tell you about how long it'll last on a charge, etc.

"The battery has an internal microprocessor that provides an estimate of the amount of energy in the battery as it charges and discharges. The battery needs to be recalibrated from time to time to keep the onscreen battery time and percent display accurate."

...Having said that I always thought it was a good idea to fully charge/discharge a battery from time to time. We used to recommend that with mobile phones when I was selling them and lithium ion batteries first started appearing (back in the stone age), but I rather suspect batter technology might have moved on a touch since then. Is it still a good idea? Or doesn't it make much difference?

thanks guys!
I do find that my batter life is always overestimated and inaccurate i guess I'll calibrate then.

After calibrating the battery, can we plug the charger in and out as we please with no harm to the battery life?

Wow good thing I checked this thread out I had no idea you had to do this. Thanks so much everyone!

It's a great idea with any type of battery to fully discharge followed by a full recharge once in a while. Even Lithium Ion batteries retain some sort of "memory."

alexknibb said:

...Having said that I always thought it was a good idea to fully charge/discharge a battery from time to time. We used to recommend that with mobile phones when I was selling them and lithium ion batteries first started appearing (back in the stone age)

Click to expand...

ConvoMech08 said:

It's a great idea with any type of battery to fully discharge followed by a full recharge once in a while. Even Lithium Ion batteries retain some sort of "memory."

Click to expand...

No, it isn't, and no, they don't. And they haven't, ever.. Only old NiCD batteries did...never LiIons or NiMH batteries.

alexknibb said:

Actually, the article doesn't specifically state it'll make the battery work better, it just means that OSX will be better able to tell you about how long it'll last on a charge, etc.

Click to expand...

That is entirely correct.

technologist said:

No, it isn't, and no, they don't. And they haven't, ever.. Only old NiCD batteries did...never LiIons or NiMH batteries

Click to expand...

I had a feeling we were talking nonsense! Still, this was a time when everyone was paranoid that mobile phones were cooking their brains.

My brain hasn't been cooked, and I've used a mobile phone for years. Yellow yellow yellow eleven colander gregarious hamster poppyseed bagel.


EDIT: Oh, and just to clarify, this is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion_battery#Guidelines_for_prolonging_Li-ion_battery_life:

"Unlike Ni-Cd batteries, lithium-ion batteries should be charged early and often. However, if they are not used for a long time, they should be brought to a charge level of around 40% - 60%. Lithium-ion batteries should not be frequently fully discharged and recharged ("deep-cycled") like Ni-Cd batteries, but this is necessary after about every 30th recharge to recalibrate any external electronic "fuel gauge" (e.g. State Of Charge meter). This prevents the fuel gauge from showing an incorrect battery charge."

EDIT AGAIN: Oh, but the battery is a 'lithium polymer' battery. Is this the same as Lithium Polymer?

More info:

http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html