Powerbook Battery.

[JonTheRvelator]

I notice my powerbook goes down 1% about every 5 minutes when not connected to an ac power adapter.

Should I always connect the ac adapter when I can? Is that ok for the battery.

I just dont want to have it at 85%, charge it, and mess up my battery. So basicly is it ok to do that?

Or just let it die all the way down?

 

[840quadra]

In the case of most battery operated devices. Flowing electrons through it is always a good way to keep it going strong.

Most laptops that have battery problems, are laptops that stay plugged in 90% of the time. A good drain on the battery within 10% of it's capacity is good for it. I believe most laptops will shut down or go to sleep when they reach this 10% mark (showing up as 0% in most power meters on laptops).

If you want to prolong life of the battery between charges, try to use less brightness on the screen, and work on items that need less processor and disk power.

Apple has a good FAQ in regards to iPod and Laptop batteries

 

[JonTheRvelator]

so basicly plug it in as little as possible?

 

[Erendiox]

Its perfectly ok to leave the power adapter plugged into your powerbook when its full. It won't do anything bad to the battery. What you should keep in mind, however, is that leaving the battery fully charged for a very long time could eventually damage its maximum capacity. Every once in a while, (I hear at least once a month is good) unplug your powerbook from the wall and let the battery run dry until it falls asleep. Then plug it back in and it will recharge. Your powerbook needs to be... excersized (sorta ) to maintain good battery health. Of course, if, for instance, you're mobile alot, letting the battery run until it's dry all the time is fine also. Just make sure you don't leave it plugged into the wall and fully charged for a really long time. The charge level needs to move around every so often.

 

[JonTheRvelator]

Its perfectly ok to leave the power adapter plugged into your powerbook when its full. It won't do anything bad to the battery. What you should keep in mind, however, is that leaving the battery fully charged for a very long time could eventually damage its maximum capacity. Every once in a while, (I hear at least once a month is good) unplug your powerbook from the wall and let the battery run dry until it falls asleep. Then plug it back in and it will recharge. Your powerbook needs to be... excersized (sorta ) to maintain good battery health. Of course, if, for instance, you're mobile alot, letting the battery run until it's dry all the time is fine also. Just make sure you don't leave it plugged into the wall and fully charged for a really long time. The charge level needs to move around every so often.

thats what I figured, I mean whats the big deal? I've charged it twice today already because I take it off the wall and use it.

 

[840quadra]

so basicly plug it in as little as possible?

No, and I am sorry if my post made it sound like that.

What Erendiox said is absolutely correct. Make sure that you try to use your battery power every once in a while, and let it go down to empty, or to the point were your powerbook is about to go to sleep. New batteries do not suffer from the "memory" problem that some of the older types did.

If you take your powerbook on the road allot, and or use it without being plugged in every so often, you should be fine, and should enjoy a long life from your battery.

IF you need to store your powerbook for a long period of time, make sure to fully charge your battery, and remove it from the powerbook until you return.

 

[840quadra]

thats what I figured, I mean whats the big deal? I've charged it twice today already because I take it off the wall and use it.

Then you should be fine!

 

[Advance The Man]

Apple actually recommends if you need to store for a long period of time to charge it to 50% and store.

IF you need to store your powerbook for a long period of time, make sure to fully charge your battery, and remove it from the powerbook until you return.

 

[Abstract]

You should actually store it at 40% if you're not going to be using the battery for awhile. Also, just use your laptop on battery power once in a while. No, not once a month. Just do it "once in a while," (use your judgement) and it'll be fine.

You also don't need to use it until its fully drained. Just use it until there's 75% battery life left, or 25%, or any number in between, and then plug your laptop back into the wall and recharge. Only do a full discharge + charge every month or so (or every 15 times you use it on battery power). Doing a full discharge + full charge ALL the time isn't good for Lithium-Ion batteries either. Partial charge-ups are better. People who purposely drain their battery until their PB falls asleep just to make sure they do a full recharge are people who kill their battery the fastest. Also, their battery life/capacity decreases.

It isn't 1991 anymore. You don't need to completely drain Li-Ion batteries before you recharge them. Only do it once per month.

 

[Anna F]

Hi i'm joining in quite late in the thread but i recently got a 15inch PB and as soon as i got it i know something was wrong because the percentage in the status bar was going down every 5 mins. I wasnt even doing anything on it and even whilst it's idle the percentage decreased. I havent seen mine last for more than 2.5 hours.
I took it in the apple store and the guy put one of the stores batteries in and it was depleting as well. So i havent a clue what going on since apple say the maximum usage is about 4.5 hours! anyways they have taken it in to further testing. It's sad coz i spent so much and i didnt expect it to have problems after a few days.

 

[andcraig]

I believe the 4.5 hours is the maximum potential battery life of the powerbook.
So basically..if you run it on all maximum powersaving, turn off airport and bluetooth, and don't do anything more processor intensiave than textedit you'll get that long..
and thats assuming that the last 4 planets of the solar system happen to align on that day and pigs fly.
Saying that you'll get 2.5 hours isn't as impressive as saying 4.5, and they're in the business of selling computers.
And really, 2.5 hours can go a long way, especially since powerbooks wake up from sleep so quickly so putting it to sleep which uses basically no power isn't that disruptive

 

[7254278]

Another thing, my battery only reches 99% never 100% is this normal? 1% isn't a big deal but I'm just curious.

 

[Anna F]

Mine never reaches 100 % as well! only 99% and then the percentage starts dropping like there's no tomorrow. I mentionned it to the genius bar person.....he didnt seem to know what was wrong with it I will hopefully get my PB back on thursday so I'll let you people know what the outcome of their tests have shown, if you would like to know.
And before people start telling me about battery saving tips! I did all that, and nothing made a difference.

 

[Anna F]

I red somewhere about that the new operating system may be a reason why the batteries are running out fast. surely that's a lame excuse. has anyone else heard anything?

 

[cooknwitha]

Not wanting to start up a whole new thread and this is Powerbook battery related, is it okay to charge the battery overnight? So turn it off, plug it into the AC adapter and leave it overnight to charge. Could that cause problems with the battery? Just sometimes I don't get home until late and I often do this with my iPod.

 

[Tilmitt]

If you underclock your GPU you can get alot more battery life out of your PowerBook/iBook. Here.