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    Plugged in while at 100% battery?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by maxwellJF, Aug 23, 2011.

  1. maxwellJF

    maxwellJF Notebook Consultant

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    any thoughts on whether this might do long-term damage to the battery?

    at the moment, i unplug as soon as the battery hits 100% and mostly use the thing unplugged. but the result of this is that i'm running the battery up and down a little too often.

    can you get tired batteries replaced under applecare?
     
    maxwellJF, Aug 23, 2011
    #1
  2. Budding

    Budding Notebook Virtuoso

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    Most modern laptops do not run on the battery when plugged in. So you need not worry about the battery constantly being recharged when it's plugged in.
     
    Budding, Aug 23, 2011
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  3. doh123

    doh123 Without ME its just AWESO

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    When the light on the connector is amber, its charging. If its green, its not using or charging the battery, its sitting there unused. Use the battery fully up and down about once a month to get the best life out of the battery... but running on battery almost all the time when you could be plugged in is a waste of your battery's life.
     
    doh123, Aug 23, 2011
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  4. AppleUsr

    AppleUsr Notebook Deity

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    I have had my 2010 mbp for about 5 months. I use the battery almost daily and i have 4% wear after 5 months. I dont run it from full charge until dead every time just use it for about 4 or 5 hours a day on battery. I get about 9 with low brightness. the battery life on this 2010 is flat out awesome. anyway you can keep it plugged in the light turns green which means its not charging. dont be afraid to use the battery though you should at least use it a couple times a month to keep it healthy.
     
    AppleUsr, Aug 23, 2011
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  5. ral

    ral Notebook Evangelist

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    The HP I have in my signature has spent most of its time plugged to the wall. It it is four years old and the battery is a bit below 50% of the original capacity.
     
    ral, Aug 23, 2011
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  6. shriek11

    shriek11 Notebook Deity

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    Macbooks do run on battery even if you are plugged in. I have heard it is to maintain the battery by swapping some charge in and out.

    Try a program like coconut battery or battery health monitor and you can see if your computer is using 0.0 mAh or 200 - 651 mAh of battery power while plugged in.

    Charging or no charging, I have never seen a color difference in my adapter. An SMC reset also didn't blink my adapter like it says on the apple website that it could happen.
     
    shriek11, Aug 23, 2011
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  7. debaucher

    debaucher Notebook Deity

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    Mine sits at green when plugged in until the battery hits about 95% (since it will use a little battery even when plugged in).
    Once at ~95% it turns amber and charges it up to 100% then turns green again..

    All modern laptops have protection to keep your battery from getting too low or from charging when at ~100%... so leaving it plugged in will not hurt your battery.

    D.
     
    debaucher, Aug 23, 2011
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  8. ajaidev

    ajaidev Notebook Consultant

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    Humm while gaming my MBP with 6750m pulls more than the adapter can provide so the laptop pulls from both the battery and the adapter...
     
    ajaidev, Aug 26, 2011
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  9. kornchild2002

    kornchild2002 Notebook Deity

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    That is while you are gaming stressing the CPU and GPU and not representative of average computing.
     
    kornchild2002, Aug 26, 2011
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  10. preview

    preview Notebook Evangelist

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    Correct. This is the official Apple recommendation.

    https://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
     
    preview, Aug 27, 2011
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