8 hours charging time

[ant043]

Well guys

This is my first post on macrumors so hello everybody. I bought a macbook air just over a month ago and am loving it. Last week i let the battery run until the computer shut down and since then it is taking me 8 plus hours to recharge the battery. Before that it was not taking any longer than 4 hours. I'm worried that battery may be permanently damaged. Is emptying the battery completely of charge bad ?

Thanks for the help.

[Sesshi]

No. It's not your machine.

Or - well, to put it another way mine does exactly the same thing. Because of the short battery life for an 'ultra'portable, I run it down every time I take it out.

According to Apple, this is 'normal', although none of the staff nor Applecare were able to point me to any documentation in this regard. That doesn't surprise me given Apple's complete inability to engineer solid products for anyone other than the sort of people who sit in Starbucks twittering or blogging - but you'll notice that the charging time is shorter if you keep the machine powered up (i.e. not slept).

[maestrokev]

You're supposed to completely drain your battery once a month to maintain it. After it fully recharges I don't let my laptop drain to sleep until next month so I don't have the 8hr charge times.

[miniConvert]

My 1.8/SSD charges fine, certainly doesn't take 8 hours a pop. I've run it flat several times. I get great battery life.

Some people have had issues - if you're not happy, contact Apple.

[ant043]

thanks for the replies guys. we don't even have an apple store in ireland and i don't want to lose the machine for a few days. I think i'll leave it a week before deciding to contact apple.

[mhnajjar]

thanks for the replies guys. we don't even have an apple store in ireland and i don't want to lose the machine for a few days. I think i'll leave it a week before deciding to contact apple.

Get a PC since many of them are assembled in Ireland :p

[ant043]

no way ! I'm never going back to windows again. I am definitely a convert. Is it better to charge the air while it is awake, asleep or just powered off ?

Thanks

[iHerzeleid]

My fully powered MBA loses 13% battery life overnight just sleeping. Takes one hour to recharge all that =\

[mhnajjar]

So why is it so slow? :confused:

[spacecadet610]

yep my MBA takes forever to charge. annoying. couldn't get a straight answer about why either. Some people have the problem. some don't.

[n0de]

Mine did this before I reset the PRAM. Now it takes about 1 hour to get to 80% and another 1.5 hours to 100% (if on and plugged in). For some reason it seems to charge to 100% faster if it is asleep instead of shutdown.

[eXan]

My fully powered MBA loses 13% battery life overnight just sleeping. Takes one hour to recharge all that =\

And why do you leave it unplugged overnight?

[iHerzeleid]

And why do you leave it unplugged overnight?

I did this just to test how much it loses.

[eXan]

I did this just to test how much it loses.

aa ok :)

[ant043]

how do you reset the pram ? complete noobie here

[mhnajjar]

how do you reset the pram ? complete noobie here

Hold Command + Option + R (I think :rolleyes:) upon starting the machine and release them when the machine restarts (you will hear a noise).

[Alkiera]

The reason it takes so long is due to the MBA trickle charging the las 20-25%, and the first 20% or so. If you get it down very low, it takes forever to charge.

You can watch this using a tool like MiniBatteryLogger, which shows the charge amperage; normally it's 1.6a, but when the battery is very low, or nearly full, it only uses 0.52 amps; or about 1/3 full power. Lithium Ion batteries are fairly sensitive to such things, it wouldn't surprise me if that extended battery life.

[NC MacGuy]

Mine will take an inordinate amount of time to charge the first time after a total draining. After that it'll be about 4 hrs. Two to 80% and two to get to 100%. I think it's the Apple battery/power recalibration process that happens like when new repeats when battery goes into deep sleep or total depletion mode. My experience anyway...

[ant043]

also my battery health according to istat pro is 94 percent after 30 cycles. Should i be worried or is this normal ??

Thanks

[ant043]

make that 93 percent, its gone down again. coconut battery also has it at 93. My macbook is through 100 cycles and still at 100 percent.

[magid]

Hold Command + Option + R + P (I think :rolleyes:) upon starting the machine and release them when you hear the startup chime three times.

Fixed

[PLin]

For those of you who are experiencing long charge times for the MacBook Air, do you eventually reach 100% though?

I used my MBA to about 7% and plugged in the charger the other night, and after 12 hours, it still didn't reach 100%. The LED was still orange, and the MBA was stuck in the Finishing Charge stage at 99%.

[magid]

For those of you who are experiencing long charge times for the MacBook Air, do you eventually reach 100% though?

I used my MBA to about 7% and plugged in the charger the other night, and after 12 hours, it still didn't reach 100%. The LED was still orange, and the MBA was stuck in the Finishing Charge stage at 99%.

Yeah, there are def some funky battery issues with the mba.

[n0de]

For those not getting to 100%; use your MBA on battery only until it gets to 75%, then plug it in. Now it will get to 100%.

I have noticed that if I use mine plugged in all the time, eventually it will start to drop from 100 down to about 95 and will only charge back up to 99 - unless I run it down a bit without AC.

I am guessing it is some sort of poorly implemented charging/heat management gone awry.

[ntrigue]

I logged-in to understand why the light is still amber after 9+ hours. Am I going to make the calibration null and void to turn it on now? I've got work to do...

[Evolesque]

hey,

I've had the eight hour charge occur to me too, however it seemed to have gone away after a couple of charges. Not to make any speculation so I'll just post what happened to me. At first when I bought it, it charges fine. Then about a couple days later it started taking forever to charge 8hrs...Now it's back to normal another week later. I also notice my battery went from 4819 now to around 5000 in charge at full. I also notice now the battery will stop the charging sometimes at 96 or 100 percent but it's not consistent. But no major battery issues now except for inconsistent full charge. Maybe your going through the same thing?

[alphaod]

Well guys

This is my first post on macrumors so hello everybody. I bought a macbook air just over a month ago and am loving it. Last week i let the battery run until the computer shut down and since then it is taking me 8 plus hours to recharge the battery. Before that it was not taking any longer than 4 hours. I'm worried that battery may be permanently damaged. Is emptying the battery completely of charge bad ?

Thanks for the help.

Since the wattage of the adapter is so low, and if you are using your computer, the computer has to devote more of the AC power to powering the machine than charging it; if you shut it down and charge it, I'm willing bet it will be a much faster recharge.

no way ! I'm never going back to windows again. I am definitely a convert. Is it better to charge the air while it is awake, asleep or just powered off ?

Thanks

He said go back to a PC, not go back to Windows; there is always Linux to go to ;)

[zendog]

Hold Command + Option + R (I think :rolleyes:) upon starting the machine and release them when the machine restarts (you will hear a noise).

that's not correct. must hold P also

[zendog]

seems to me like it takes forever to charge. then after sleeping all night there's no battery in themorning, but I haven't calibrated it yet.

[Molopo]

Since the wattage of the adapter is so low, and if you are using your computer, the computer has to devote more of the AC power to powering the machine than charging it; if you shut it down and charge it, I'm willing bet it will be a much faster recharge.



He said go back to a PC, not go back to Windows; there is always Linux to go to ;)

Linux: The unsung hero of the computing world. :[

I think when I get my MBA I will be putting Linux on it before windows XP.

[Marconelly]

It takes long time to charge here as well. I didn't bother timing, but it's always very long from discharged battery to full. I suspect the A/C adapter is quite weak and made like that only so it can be as small as possible. I wish they'd release a bigger one that I could keep at home and charge the battery quicker.

[ant043]

problem solved I think guys. Basicly don't let the battery go below 10 percent and it charges normal for me anyway. Thanks for all the help.

[yoomy]

i had the problem for the first month, sometimes it charged quick (4 hours) but most of the times it took at least 8 if not 10 hours to charge. apple finally replaced my battery and it always charges fast now, no exceptions.

[darngooddesign]

If it really annoys you buy one of the regular high-power chargers from apple and use that to more quickly charge the battery

[Sesshi]

If it really annoys you buy one of the regular high-power chargers from apple and use that to more quickly charge the battery

Is that actual advice? I'm curious.

problem solved I think guys. Basicly don't let the battery go below 10 percent and it charges normal for me anyway. Thanks for all the help.

Yes, but it means you actually have a 90% usable charge on top of the wildly optimistic '5 hours of wireless productivity' nonsense. I cannot understand why so many people rate this piece of @#$£ which even stands above the other pieces of @#$£ I own from Apple so highly. Do that many people think purely with their eyes, I wonder.

[ant043]

just a quick question guys. I'm bringing my first gen macbook air in to genius bar tomorrow. It takes more than 8 hours to recharge it. I can't stand it anymore. Is there any chance they'll do anything to rectify situation or am i just wasting my time. Thanks

[iann1982]

Mine took about that for its first few charges, but it was quickly down to 3-4 hours after a few charges... I don't think the battery should take longer to charge than it does to dis-charge? surely that's not right?

[AIRniloc]

Well guys

This is my first post on macrumors so hello everybody. I bought a macbook air just over a month ago and am loving it. Last week i let the battery run until the computer shut down and since then it is taking me 8 plus hours to recharge the battery. Before that it was not taking any longer than 4 hours. I'm worried that battery may be permanently damaged. Is emptying the battery completely of charge bad ?

Thanks for the help.

go to the apple store and ask for a new power adapter...this is the issue 9 times out of 10

[AIRniloc]

just a quick question guys. I'm bringing my first gen macbook air in to genius bar tomorrow. It takes more than 8 hours to recharge it. I can't stand it anymore. Is there any chance they'll do anything to rectify situation or am i just wasting my time. Thanks

again, take it to the gbar and tell them its taking 8 hours to charge your MBAir battery...they'll give you a new charger ;)

[Sesshi]

again, take it to the gbar and tell them its taking 8 hours to charge your MBAir battery...they'll give you a new charger ;)

So at least three of my chargers purchased at different times in different continents were faulty? Either way it's :rolleyes:

[AIRniloc]

So at least three of my chargers purchased at different times in different continents were faulty? Either way it's :rolleyes:

if you've gone through 3 different chargers then you're that 1 out of 10..

you need your magsafe assembly replaced...simple repair for the gbar, if they have it in stock...if they don't, tell them you wish to do a 'service non-repair' so you can keep your machine while they order the part ;)

[Sesshi]

if you've gone through 3 different chargers then you're that 1 out of 10..

you need your magsafe assembly replaced...simple repair for the gbar, if they have it in stock...if they don't, tell them you wish to do a 'service non-repair' so you can keep your machine while they order the part ;)

No - not through. Simultaneously, and more in fact. Due to the pathetic battery life of the Air and the whole point of an ultraportable meaning that I don't have to walk around with supporting paraphenalia (at least as far as my Sony's are concerned), I had chargers liberally scattered around the place. The three I refer to were just my home and one of the places I work at, and I had the same issues with all - on both of the Rev A Airs I had, both of which were booked in to the Genius Bar of four Apple Stores in three different countries several times for this and stability issues, on every occasion the machines being pronounced 'working OK'. The Rev B didn't go in for power exercises as I encountered similar stability issues in warm ambients and I ditched it with much less patience than the A.

It should be pointed out that due to aforementioned pathetic real-life endurance of the Air, I ended up fully discharging it every time I went out with one and this was when I frequently got the 8+ hour charging times. Given that, I somehow doubt it was an individual lemony issue. If it was, Apple QC is even worse than my current shoe-sole-level impression of it ;)

[AIRniloc]

No - not through. Simultaneously, and more in fact. Due to the pathetic battery life of the Air and the whole point of an ultraportable meaning that I don't have to walk around with supporting paraphenalia (at least as far as my Sony's are concerned), I had chargers liberally scattered around the place. The three I refer to were just my home and one of the places I work at, and I had the same issues with all - on both of the Rev A Airs I had, both of which were booked in to the Genius Bar of four Apple Stores in three different countries several times for this and stability issues, on every occasion the machines being pronounced 'working OK'. The Rev B didn't go in for power exercises as I encountered similar stability issues in warm ambients and I ditched it with much less patience than the A.

It should be pointed out that due to aforementioned pathetic real-life endurance of the Air, I ended up fully discharging it every time I went out with one and this was when I frequently got the 8+ hour charging times. Given that, I somehow doubt it was an individual lemony issue. If it was, Apple QC is even worse than my current shoe-sole-level impression of it ;)

seems like the air wasn't the machine for you lol

that and coolbook might have helped a bit with battery life...but yeah, if your air is taking 8+ hours to charge, with multiple power adapters...you need a new magsafe assembly...end of story

whether the gbar techs caught this or not is another story...

[Sesshi]

In fact, I'm in a position to see what they do pick up this time. One of my erstwhile Airs is baaaaaaaaaack :p and will be hitting Applecare with a vengeance.

(Personally, I'll be angling for a refund - although I will probably settle for a Macbook replacement + vouchers for rest - to likely spend on 60W adapters instead of 45W :D )

Nevertheless, I'll take your advice on board and mention it if the situation warrants, thanks.

I usually don't actually say anything beyond describing the symptoms - and it has to be said that the Airs are one of the few occasions on which they have repeatedly not replaced any parts and declared it meeting spec, despite the issues occuring. On most Macbook Pro related issues they have replaced parts, which it has to be said in many cases made things actually worse, without (sometimes) solving the original problem. After a few times of that, I sometimes get directed to an AASP who in some cases have better luck. But they have at least changed out bits to see if that makes a difference. It's the lack of this effort on the part of the Airs which I thought was uncharacteristic of my repair experiences.

[Turmoil]

Is that actual advice? I'm curious.



Yes, but it means you actually have a 90% usable charge on top of the wildly optimistic '5 hours of wireless productivity' nonsense. I cannot understand why so many people rate this piece of @#$£ which even stands above the other pieces of @#$£ I own from Apple so highly. Do that many people think purely with their eyes, I wonder.

Naw, we just use it on a daily basis and it works beautifully for us. It's a great machine that works great for many of us.

[Sesshi]

Naw, we just use it on a daily basis and it works beautifully for us. It's a great machine that works great for many of us.

Yes - and I'm sure netbooks with 2-hour runtimes may seem to work great for many people too. That isn't necessarily the point.

[Turmoil]

Yes - and I'm sure netbooks with 2-hour runtimes may seem to work great for many people too. That isn't necessarily the point.

Of course it's not the point. We are not talking about netbooks. We're talking about an incredible piece of computer wizardry called The MacBook Air.

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience.

But, it's YOUR experience.

It has not been mine, it has not been many other folks. And it doesn't just "seem" to work great. It works fantastically.

Good luck in the future.

[Sesshi]

We're talking about an incredible piece of computer wizardry called The MacBook Air.

No YOU are. I'm talking about the incredible piece of flawed form over function called the Macbook Air.

Clearly we arrive at our conclusions from different paths. I leave you to your completely undemanding Mac ownership.

[Turmoil]

No YOU are. I'm talking about the incredible piece of flawed form over function called the Macbook Air.

Clearly we arrive at our conclusions from different paths.
.

That is the point. You had a bad experience with a computer. 1000's of others have had a great experience.



>I leave you to your completely undemanding Mac ownership.


The point went right over your head. You are wrong, I am a demanding Mac owner. Your experience is only your own. You do not get to speak for others.

Good luck.

[dubhe]

Read this thread yesterday and decided it was about time to condition my battery. It has shown 97% health from Day 1.

So, ran it down yesterday evening web browsing, reading .pdf files, working in Numbers and listening to music, lasted about three and a half hours. Just before it died I closed all programs and then let it send itself to sleep.

I then did the same and left it unplugged overnight.

Plugged in at 7am, still in sleep, and by midday it was charged, opened the lid and woke it up ten minutes ago and still my battery shows 97% health! Only 6 cycles and one conditioning cycle in three weeks :confused:

[AIRniloc]

No YOU are. I'm talking about the incredible piece of flawed form over function called the Macbook Air.

Clearly we arrive at our conclusions from different paths. I leave you to your completely undemanding Mac ownership.


OK, you have made your point...you dislike the air.

not everyone has shared the poor experiences with their machines that you have...so move along. you certainly won't sway anyone's opinion in a macbook air thread.

just drop it

[kinkster]

Does the 65wh charger of the normal macbook charge it much faster then the MBA one?

[Sesshi]

No. Plus the 60/90W Magsafes are straight plugs, not right-angled - which was the reason for my reaction a few posts back, as I have actually tried it and wasn't fishing around in the dark.

@AIRniloc: I haven't dropped it. But I have dropped Sony's, a couple even lighter than the Air, and they've fared considerably better ;)

As for the subject, unless anyone else comes in with anything lucid apart from the usual 'what I own is best' talk, consider it dropped - it's not worth it. The erstwhile Air has been dropped off at an AASP which is also looking at two other MBP's of mine at the moment - did I mention that out of every Apple notebook I've had over the last year, all but one UB Macbook has been in for repairs? - where hopefully they can actually do something.

[AIRniloc]

No. Plus the 60/90W Magsafes are straight plugs, not right-angled - which was the reason for my reaction a few posts back, as I have actually tried it and wasn't fishing around in the dark.

@AIRniloc: I haven't dropped it. But I have dropped Sony's, a couple even lighter than the Air, and they've fared considerably better ;)

As for the subject, unless anyone else comes in with anything lucid apart from the usual 'what I own is best' talk, consider it dropped - it's not worth it. The erstwhile Air has been dropped off at an AASP which is also looking at two other MBP's of mine at the moment - did I mention that out of every Apple notebook I've had over the last year, all but one UB Macbook has been in for repairs? - where hopefully they can actually do something.

OK buddy, have fun with your dropped sony machines ;)