Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog.

Archives By Subject

Stats etc

Maintaining your laptop battery Life

The other day I noticed my current battery capacity was around 65%, which for a MBP under a year old I was a little annoyed at. According to iStat Nano, a [excellent] system monitor widget and confirmed with Coconut Battery the maximum battery charge I could currently hold would be around 3500mAh instead of the factory default of 5500mAh.

After a quick search on the Apple site I have managed to bump it back up into the 90% region. How? Easy, I Calibrated the battery, something you should do every 2 months or so!.

Plug in the MagSafe power adapter and fully charge the MacBook or MacBook Pro battery until the light on the MagSafe connector 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 power adapter is plugged in.
Disconnect the power adapter with the computer on and start using it with battery power. When the battery's charge 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's charge gets low and before the computer goes to sleep.
Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or longer.
Reconnect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged. You may use your computer during this time.

Watching the health go up after this made me breath a sigh of relief!

I know I've got a MBP pro but I believe this should work with most batteries except for Li-Ion where I believe deep charging will actually shorten the life. But before you do try this make sure you consult to the manufacturers guide.

Comments (8)

Send

del.icio.us

Digg It!

Linking Blogs

4318 Views | Posted At : April 25, 2007 12:32 AM | Posted By : Andy Jarrett
Related Categories: Mac, Rough Guide

Comments (Comment Moderation is enabled. Your comment will not appear until approved.)

[Add Comment]

I've got a Dell insiron 700m, the battery just died on me a couple months ago. Not died like it doesn't hold a charge. It won't charge at all... 0% total PIA.

# Posted By Steve Nelson | 4/25/07 3:53 PM

Steve, I've been telling you for a year - get a new laptop you scrooge!

# Posted By Nat Papovich | 4/25/07 4:21 PM

@Steve. I don't think there is anything you can. Your battery has gone on to a better place where it can roam free with chargers everywhere that that he goes.

# Posted By Andy Jarrett | 4/26/07 7:49 AM

got a dell inspiron 6400 been having trouble with battery life using till sleeps now gunna c how things pan out if it work thanx for the advice will reply back at some piont soon

# Posted By paul brear | 8/6/07 1:49 PM

Verizon is about the only place you can get the authentic RIM product and matching door. Most other sites are out of stock and even when they are in stock they have the black battery door which looks like crap.
We supply a large range of rechargeable <a href="http://www.laptopbatterybbs.com">Laptop Battery</a> packs for your Laptop , All Laptop Battery in our www.laptopbatterybbs.com are made with high quality cells.

# Posted By lory | 8/7/07 6:14 PM

I got a laptop battery at simplemicro.com for my Dell Latitude notebook. My old one lasted just 1 hour after just about a year of use. Needed another one, and now things are back to normal.

# Posted By Laptop batteries | 8/31/07 6:29 AM

i tried wot u suggested and it did not work for me hey never mind have u got any other idea's as i begrudge buying another after only a year cheers paul

# Posted By paul brear | 9/12/07 1:10 AM

The Blog Of Andy Jarrett ColdFusion, Google, MySQL, Mac and other ramblings

Subscribe

Recent Comments

Recent Entries

Archives By Subject

Stats etc

Maintaining your laptop battery Life

Comments (Comment Moderation is enabled. Your comment will not appear until approved.)

[Add Comment]