This cant be good..

suggestions?

 

Looks like your batteries on its way out - quite common I believe. see WilliamG's post http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=300860

 

This is a severe degradation in your battery, far more than can be expected after 10 months.

My Macbook is 9 months old, with a similar number of load cycles and it is still consistently hitting 100 percent. Have you been calibrating your battery? It should be done monthly.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490


To prevent the battery to go into an endless charge -> discharge -> charge loop every time the battery goes below 100% (since a typical lithium based battery has a lifespan of about 500 charge cycles), Apple has set it not to start charging before it dips under 95%.


Calibrating Your Battery

To get the longest running time from your battery, calibrate it sometime during the first week you have your MacBook and recalibrate occasionally to keep your battery functioning at its fullest capacity.

To calibrate your battery:

Plug in the power adapter and fully charge your MacBook battery until the light on the power adapter plug changes to green and the Battery icon in the menu bar indicates that the battery is fully charged.
Allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for two hours or longer. You may use your computer during this time as long as the adapter is plugged in.
Disconnect the power adapter with the MacBook on and start running it from the battery. You may use your computer during this time. When your battery gets low, you’ll see the low battery warning dialog on the screen.
Continue to keep your computer turned on until it goes to sleep. Save your work and close all applications when the battery gets low and before the system goes to sleep.
5Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or longer.
6Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged again.

Important: Repeat the calibration process every two months or so to keep your battery fully functioning. If you use your MacBook infrequently, it’s best to recalibrate the battery at least once a month.

More:
Apple - Batteries - Notebooks
( http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html)Apple - Batteries ( http://www.apple.com/batteries/)

You can find information on your battery's performance in System Profiler -> Hardware -> Power.

 

mine shows my battery capacity at 42%, and it's only 13 months old with 107 load-cycles. guess I need to calibrate the battery?

 

Definitely. I do it monthly, even though I don't really use my Macbook all that much. I've gone back to Windows.

In fact, I think I will do it tonight after I get back from the gym.

 

I do mine once a month also, just to be safe.

 

calibrating a li-ion battery isn't good for the life of the battery it improves the accuracy of reading the battery, generally using the battery is better. i just got a replacement battery out of apple too, and it was out of warranty so i would definitely suggest getting yourself a replacement.

 

I'm running mine down right now. At 7 %.

For comparison purposes with the OP, my Macbook is about the same age as his and I had a 100 % charge last night. He should definitely go after Apple for a replacement.

 

While it may not extend the life per se of the battery beyond the normal 500 charges expected of a li-ion battery, it prevents the wasting of those precious 900 charges by helping prevent the battery from going into an endless loop of charge -> discharge -> charge each time the battery goes below 100%.

 

Ok forgive me if I'm a little off here but I believe it is supposed to be at 80% capacity after 100 cycles on the battery, if it is below that it is considered defective by apple.