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Using your MBP at home

I

ibizarocks

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 2, 2007
198
7
Hi I'd just like to see how all of you lot treat your batteries on your MBPs to get maximum usage out of them. At the moment I'm charging it to full then letting it go down to shutting itself into sleep mode, charging to full and then doing the same again.

Ive done this 3 times since purchase and i was just wondering if it would make any difference if I just left the mbp on charge whilst in the house? I had heard that doing this can reduce your overall battery life over time but wasn't sure if this was true or not?

cheers guys

PS MBP 4 days old, not a single problem! loving every minute of it!
 
I grew up on a PowerBook 5300cs, back in the day when NiMH batteries were the thing (nickel metal hydride). Those suffered memory effect if you tried to recharge them when partially depleted.

I have just gotten in the habit of full-charging my MBP, and then using it until it's completely zero'd/nowake, then charging it up again. When I am at work though I always operate on AC adapter.
 
WardC said:
I grew up on a PowerBook 5300cs, back in the day when NiMH batteries were the thing (nickel metal hydride). Those suffered memory effect if you tried to recharge them when partially depleted.

I have just gotten in the habit of full-charging my MBP, and then using it until it's completely zero'd/nowake, then charging it up again. When I am at work though I always operate on AC adapter.
Click to expand...

With the introduction of lithium those memory effect days are over!! With lithium you can charge them whenever without worrying about memory effects. However, due to the onboard micro processor contained within the battery, we have to calibrate them monthly... Keeping the ions flowing also keeps the battery stable.
 
UltraNEO* said:
With the introduction of lithium those memory effect days are over!! With lithium you can charge them whenever without worrying about memory effects. However, due to the onboard micro processor contained within the battery, we have to calibrate them monthly... Keeping the ions flowing also keeps the battery stable.
Click to expand...

thanks for this piece of advice guys, but i am new here, can u tell me how to calibrate them monthly??

Thanks alot
 
register8 said:
thanks for this piece of advice guys, but i am new here, can u tell me how to calibrate them monthly??

Thanks alot
Click to expand...

It's really simple...

Charge your Mac till it's full, disconnect the MagSafe adapter from your Mac and use it till it goes to sleep. You'll encounter a couple of warning messages, just click OK and continue using the system.

When the battery is sufficiently drained to the state it won't wake up but the sleep light is still on.. Reattach the charger and recharge it back to full! Congrats, you've just calibrated your battery!!!

Do it every month and your battery should stay in tip top condition.

FYI: During recharging you can continue to use the Mac as normal. :)
 
Calibrating once a month is not a bad idea, but you do not need to discharge you battery completely before recharging. I recommend plugging in whenever possible, if you don't move it very often, you might want to unplug it every once in a while to keep the battery active. I've kept my laptops plugged in a lot and never suffered anything negative occurring as long as I use the battery.
 
Well, the same practice I use with my iPods and iPhone, I only charge them (and charge to full 100%) when they are completely gone to zero. I have a 5G iPod from 2005 that is still giving me over 5 hours of charge, maybe more. And I use it routinely. Simply amazing.
 
iToaster said:
Calibrating once a month is not a bad idea, but you do not need to discharge you battery completely before recharging. I recommend plugging in whenever possible, if you don't move it very often, you might want to unplug it every once in a while to keep the battery active. I've kept my laptops plugged in a lot and never suffered anything negative occurring as long as I use the battery.
Click to expand...

before i purchased my 17" mbp, i had a viao that i kept plugged in literally all the time. now it won't even boot unless i have it plugged in. i think it had a lot to do with the fact that it was never off the ac adapter...adaptor? adapter?
 
Lithium battery chemistry really does not work like that. Everyone gets this confused with the older chemistry. There is no negative effect from leaving it plugged in all of the time. Lithium batteries eventually die like all batteries. Calibration itself is mainly concerned with the battery circuitry and making sure that its "fuel gauge" is accurate.
 
ibizarocks said:
Ive done this 3 times since purchase and i was just wondering if it would make any difference if I just left the mbp on charge whilst in the house?
Click to expand...

Leave it plugged in whenever you can, there will be no side effects unless there is an underlying problem that causes something.


ibizarocks said:
I had heard that doing this can reduce your overall battery life over time but wasn't sure if this was true or not?
Click to expand...

Yes, battery life will reduce. You are using the battery and therefore it won't last as long.



*Side note to Mods*
How about a Battery Sub-Forum?
 
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