Battery Life drops when macbook is off

[esadb]

Hi,

I bought my macbook used about 6months ago now, it had a brand new battery in it nearly had only about 40 cycles.

Now that school is out for the summer, i just dont tend to use the macbook every day like i do during school.

The problem i seem to have is that when I let the macbook sit (turned off) and turn it back on the battery life has dropped a few percent.. Now i havnt used the mac in a few days and i just sat down and i realized my battery life dropped to 94% while it was off..

I might be imagining things and totally forgot that last time i used it the battery life wasnt fully charged but im almost sure it was fully charged last time i used it and then shut it off.

Any ideas why this could be happening?

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

just like cell phones or any electronic device that requires an external battery - it loses energy over time. its perfectly normal.

[HLdan]

What's your definition of "turned off"? If it's in sleep mode it's not turned off and the battery does decline but slightly. If it's shut down it's actually off and the battery should remain as it was before you shut it down.

[spinnerlys]

You could use CoconutBattery (http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/) or iStat Pro (http://islayer.com/apps/istatpro/) to see your battery health, and see if it is deteriorated much.

When you mean, you turn off your Mac, do you put it to sleep, or do your really turn it off/shut it down?

Do you calibrate your battery? http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490

[esadb]

What's your definition of "turned off"? If it's in sleep mode it's not turned off and the battery does decline but slightly. If it's shut down it's actually off and the battery should remain as it was before you shut it down.

Turned off - Completely shut down, nothing running.

just like cell phones or any electronic device that requires an external battery - it loses energy over time. its perfectly normal.

I dont see how this is normal? I mean if I left it for a year yah sure the battery life can drop, but for like 4-5days?? I dont understand.

Yes ive calibrated my battery, istart Pro says my battery health is 90%. But thats been my battery health now for a while.

And once again the macbook goes completely off, not sleep mode.

[somewhatvaguely]

Yes, the battery does drain a little over a period of time, but I wouldn't really know as most of the time I keep my macbook plugged in/charging.

[esadb]

So would it be okay if i just left my macbook plugged into the charge for 4-5days even if im not using it?

Even if the battery is fully charged?

[HLdan]

So would it be okay if i just left my macbook plugged into the charge for 4-5days even if im not using it?

Even if the battery is fully charged?

Yes, it doesn't over charge, it's perfectly fine.

[pellets007]

You could try this (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/firmware_hardware/batteryupdate14.html), perhaps.

[esadb]

Well i dont think i need any battery updates since im already running the latest version of leopard.

Well my battery is fully charged now at 100% the charge light is green. Im gonna turn of the mac and leave it off for a few days and see if it drops.

So can someone tell me is it normal that it does or what?

[esadb]

Alright so, the battery was fully charged to 100% last tuesday, i used the laptop on thursday and the battery charge dropped to 99%.

Then the laptop hasnt been used since thursday and i started it today again, once it booted in i saw the battery charge dropped to 96% but the light was still green on the charger and it said the battery was charged.

Any idea why my battery is doing this? The macbook was completely shut off since thursday nothing running.

[pellets007]

The battery will naturally do that. Putting in a refrigerator may slow the process, but I wouldn't recommend it. I suppose you could take the battery out and try it again if you'd like. The MacBook's charger will continue show a green light and not charge the battery until it reaches 94%. So long as a battery is attached to a device and can be turned on/off by either software or hardware, it is in constant use; it is to be expected.