Advice at the Battery Inn...

Hello theerreee,

So, basically i just got a couple of questions - well, mainly one main question - about the battery in my MBPro :batman:

Now, i've searched and didnt really find a propper answer, so i thought that seeing(sp?) as everybody here is very nice i might be able to ask
Since i got my Mac i have charged it once when i first used it out of its excitingly black box - with the system charging whilst i was setting it up. The second time i charged it, the battery level went down to 3% so i turned it off and plugged it in to charge until the light on the MagSafe wire turned green.

Therefore, i am wondering if i am doing the right thing by letting the battery run down to 0% and the system then going into 'sleep mode' for a few hours, and then charging it from there?

also, with the little white light flashing on the front of the MBP, indicating 'sleep', should i press the power switch to turn it off, or wait for the white light to stop pulsing on its own?

I'm sorry for the rant and ramble above, and i want to apologise in advance if it makes little - or no - sense to you people at all...


Thanks for reading,

MJC

Just try to wake it from sleep a few times and then start charging again as normal.

Do this once or twice in the first month of using it and just charge it normally the rest of the time (i.e. just plug it in when you're near a power socket).

Thanks!

just tried to wake it up, and it wont but the sleep light at the front is still pulsing...should i just plug it in to charge now? or wait until it stops pulsing?


Thanks

MJC

MJC said:

Thanks!

just tried to wake it up, and it wont but the sleep light at the front is still pulsing...should i just plug it in to charge now? or wait until it stops pulsing?


Thanks

MJC

Click to expand...

plug it in. you want to drain it and charge it. you're doing it right.

lith ion batteries like being used and draining it resets it, so do this once a month

Hey, thanks a lot. This forum is spot on!

I shall plug it in

I also wondered just out of general interest - at the moment my sleep light has been pulsing for over an hour now, since the mac put itself to sleep on 0% battery. Now, how long will this continue to pulse if i were to leave it? And should it ever be left to the point where the pulsing stops when the battery is drained or not? (i feel stupid with a new laptop, im used to desktops)

Thanks again,

MJC

MJC said:

Hey, thanks a lot. This forum is spot on!

I shall plug it in

I also wondered just out of general interest - at the moment my sleep light has been pulsing for over an hour now, since the mac put itself to sleep on 0% battery. Now, how long will this continue to pulse if i were to leave it? And should it ever be left to the point where the pulsing stops when the battery is drained or not? (i feel stupid with a new laptop, im used to desktops)

Thanks again,

MJC

Click to expand...

well... i've been using laptops for a while now... i've never let it run that low.

with my dell D400 that i've had for like 3 years now, i have two batteries and i switch them once a month, doing the draining and charging thing before i swap them out and they both still run great giving me 3 1/2 hours +

i haven't done much different with the MacBook. there's a lot of room for error, you don't have to run it down to absolutely nothing; if it won't turn on, its definately low enough to be considered a 'full drain'.
as far as how long you have with the light? i have no idea honestly.

OK, thanks a lot 'kevin_msu', i really appreciate all your help!

My MBP is now charging, after its first 'full drain'...

and you reccomend that i do this about once a month? excellent, i can manage that, haha. I'm slowly getting used to using a notebook and also a Mac! So far, i am enjoying every minute of it!

thanks a lot, if anybody has anymore advice or tips on battery life and charging, etc. Feel free to throw them at me, i'd love to know

-MJC-

do it to your iPod too.

MJC said:

just tried to wake it up, and it wont but the sleep light at the front is still pulsing...should i just plug it in to charge now? or wait until it stops pulsing?

Click to expand...

You probably won't want to do this because even though the battery is already mostly drained, I doubt the pulsing light will stop too soon. If that stops pulsing and you haven't awakened the computer, it means the battery is completely drained. You might as well plug it in when it goes to sleep. You also don't really need to drain it once a month. It is recommended but I never think about it. In fact, I have kept my laptop plugged in for probably 90% of its life and its still gets the advertised 4-5 hr battery life. In short, if you think about it, go ahead and let it drain once a month, if you forget, don't worry about it.

Thanks, i understand this now.

Haha, a lot is just common sense, although when yu have been given something so expensive as a gift, you really want to make sure it works as well as it should, when it should. And as i'm enjoying the Mac so much, i really just want to not mess a single thing up on it. Hence the rediculous, tedious questions.

Thank you very much to all who responded.


MJC

what will happen is your battery will completely drain after about a day and the next time you turn it on it will think that it is 1990 and your calendar will be all messed up and youll be back on western time zone etc.etc.etc.....btw im not joking i do this to my powerbook all the time


my best suggestion to you is to do a few things, things i did to my powerbook when i first got it.

1) read the manual - it tells you how to properly maintain your battery and whole lot of other useful information

2) if your using it as a desktop for about 5 days straight, or even 2 hours, charge the battery and then take it out and just run it from the power adaptor

3) dont go out of your way to drain your battery once a week or even once a month, you will run out of battery one day and then it will be cycled again and you didnt have to bother with it

4) just use it however you want, if your battery fails in 3 years it will only cost 30 bucks to replace

enjoy!
-chris

Read this

That's everything you'll ever need to know about Li-ion Batteries.

"Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.) Short battery life in a laptop is mainly cause by heat rather than charge / discharge patterns."