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    Stupid battery

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by iwantamac, Oct 3, 2008.

  1. iwantamac

    iwantamac Notebook Evangelist

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    I can't believe I spent the last 13 hours incommunicado trying to calibrate my battery only to see that my battery's capacity went DOWN by 100 amps. What the hell am I doing wrong? I drained the battery, turned off the computer, left it for 5 hours, and then charged it back up. Shouldn't it be at like 98% health or something? It was at 95% health before.
     
    iwantamac, Oct 3, 2008
    #1
  2. Tinderbox (UK)

    Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING

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    Hi.

    Calibrate only helps you computer calculate how much runtime you have left when you are running on battery, there is a microchip inside your battery that calculates the runtime.

    It will not repair you battery`s health, li-ion battery start to die from the moment they are made and only have a 3-5 year lifespan at most.

    If you really hammer it it might only last 18months or less.

    Doing deep discharges only kills your battery faster, try not to discharge it past 40% and it will live a lot longer!

    Regards

    John.
     
    Tinderbox (UK), Oct 3, 2008
    #2
  3. Underpantman

    Underpantman Notebook Virtuoso

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    Was there an issue with your battery?
    That is was there problem that you noticed like really short life, or stability issues? Cause 95% isn't such a bad figure, and battery meters are never perfect. I would just do as Tinderbox suggests, keep your battery topped up, and until you start to actually notice a real world issue, just try and relax and spend those 13h using your lovely lappie
    a
    :)
     
    Underpantman, Oct 3, 2008
    #3
  4. iwantamac

    iwantamac Notebook Evangelist

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    Well usually health goes UP when I calibrate it. But I could barely get 3 hours battery life out of my laptop so I figured maybe it needs to be calibrated. Grr. That's the only thing I don't like about my macbook pro-the horrendous battery life. I don't know if the LED displays change anything.

    Now if Apple somehow designed the macbook pro to have 8+ hours battery life and can keep the same features, they would have my eternal love (like they don't already :rolleyes:).
     
    iwantamac, Oct 4, 2008
    #4
  5. Underpantman

    Underpantman Notebook Virtuoso

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    Maybe this could help?
    a
    :)
     
    Underpantman, Oct 4, 2008
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  6. Tinderbox (UK)

    Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING

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    It`s just an external battery charger , the last thing you want to do is rack up more cycles on your battery, once the capacity has gone there is no way of getting it back, unless you have a few extra battery packs you want to keep charged, it`s a waist of money.

    You cannot condition an li-ion battery!

    Regards

    John.

     
    Tinderbox (UK), Oct 4, 2008
    #6
  7. Underpantman

    Underpantman Notebook Virtuoso

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    I was thinkin that since he was after 8h+, a dream # for any lapto/battery...then perhaps an extra battery or two could help... thus the charger.
    a
    :)
     
    Underpantman, Oct 5, 2008
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  8. iwantamac

    iwantamac Notebook Evangelist

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    Given the pace at which technology moves, I'm sure 8+ hours is perfectly doable within 5-10 years.
     
    iwantamac, Oct 5, 2008
    #8