Hey
MacBook laptop batteries die. Until we find a battery material that can keep its capacity for the length of its life we will have to do with getting the most out of out Lithium ion friends. You will probably know that over time Lithium and its chemical friends slowly but surely lose there hold on the electron world and reduce in the amount of electrical capacity they hold. I don’t no the in’s and out’s but I know its not that good. That is where battery calibration comes in. Calibration helps your battery stay in tip top shape and will hopefully keep its charge longer.
Calibration is easy. It only takes a couple of steps done in the right order (more difficult than it sounds).
1) Charge your battery all the way up. Kind of obvious. You want to get your battery to its peak.
2) Keep your battery charged at full for a couple of hours. Usually by keeping it plugged in. This is so it knows what full charge is like.
3) Use your computer until it runs down. Take it out of a binary jog, get those CPU cycles working. I recommend just using it normally and nothing to intensive.
4) Remember to save your work before it goes to sleep. Vital step, forgot to do this before mine died.
5) Turn your computer off or left it sleep for 5 hours or longer. After a hard day of computering it needs its rest, wouldn’t you.
6) Reconnect the battery and charge er’ all the way up.
7) Repeat once or every couple of months. Or in my case every day because I don’t bring my power adapter with me. Do this with other batteries if you have bought some.
Although calibrating your battery is a bit boring it is a very good way to keep it in tip top shape. I think the internals work out how much time over CPU it has used for a given battery. As a result it can adjust how it works. All I know is that it improves performance. Currently (and this makes me sad) I have had 109 charges for a 66% battery health, lasting approximately under 2 hours with normal to semi intensive work. You can find out your battery health through my favourite widget iStat menus. If you feel inclined, leave a comment below with your battery stats and we can see how the MacBook batteries are slowly leading to their battery grave.
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I certainly hope the battery doesn’t die as fast as it seems to be… I bought my MacBook in Nov07 and the Battery Health Monitor says I already “used up” 48% of my battery life, after 191 charge cycles (though when fully charged it still goes for in between 3 and 4 hours with normal use) . That means that within some 5 months I’d have to buy a new battery! I almost always charge and ‘drain’ the battery completely, which is supposed to be the way it has to be done. I’ll sure take into account your post to try to extend my battery’s life!
I hope they don’t die as quick as they seem to. Hopefully they will last a bit longer.
On my MacBook Pro I only have 4 cycles. I’ve had it for 10 months and my battery still holds a 100% charge. Using CoconutBattery it claims to have it’s full original battery capacity…actually its higher than original..doesn’t make sense there.
Anyway, I get a good 2.5-3 hours out of my battery.
2 years 356 cycles 66% left on my battery ;)
when discharging, your mac will be in sleep mode. don’t forget to restart it in mode “target” (press “t” when booting) and wait :) still enough power for 8 or 10 min. battery completely discharged ;)
Nice one zed. I wish I got that battery life. Mine is used constantly so it is slowly dieing.
My battery is brand new with 3 load cycles and at 100% battery life it holds a charge for 2 hours
Thats pretty good. I wish mine had that.