1% of battery lost on boot, even when plugged in

[gumbyx84]

I am currently running into a slight problem with my MBP (Early 2008). A few months back I replaced the stock HD with a 7200RPM drive. Install and cloning went fine. I didn't run into problem until recently. I have noticed that when I boot the MBP, I seem to loss exactly 1% of battery power, even when the system in plugged in. It wouldn't bother me so much except after 4+ days of during it on and off (daily use) my battery will start charging at ~96%. I did calibrate the battery a few weeks after installing the new drive, so I don't think that will "fix" the problem.

Has anyone run into this problem before, with or without a 7200RPM drive installed? If so, were you able to fix it? If so, how? Thought I would ask here before going to the Apple Store because I know some (if not most) users here have upgraded to 7200 RPM drives in their MB(P)s. Thanks ahead of time for any help you can give me.

 

[iLog.Genius]

Are you sure it's charging and not staying at 96%? I know if I fully charge the late-2008 MacBook Pro to 100%, turn off and then restart, it will be at 99% but won't charge until it's at 95% or lower. I think this also applies to the early-2008 that from 95-100%, the battery should not charge.

 

[brosmooth]

i think your worrying over nothing, apple does this to batteries to help them charge better by not letting them be full all the time, mine does it too.

 

[alphaod]

That's nothing to worry about. I had 97% on first boot, then over a few months went down to 93%. A few weeks ago crawled up all the way to 104%.

 

[gumbyx84]

Are you sure it's charging and not staying at 96%? I know if I fully charge the late-2008 MacBook Pro to 100%, turn off and then restart, it will be at 99% but won't charge until it's at 95% or lower. I think this also applies to the early-2008 that from 95-100%, the battery should not charge.

Well, looks like I remembered wrong. It starts charging at 95% or less.

i think your worrying over nothing, apple does this to batteries to help them charge better by not letting them be full all the time, mine does it too.

I understand what you are getting at, but I never had this issue before I swapped hard drives. I'm worried about wasting charge cycles and screwing up the battery. Also, its hard not to get worried when you had 99% battery life when you shut down and unplug your laptop in the morning and have 96% when you turned it back on (plugged in again) when you come home at night (which is what happened to me today). Its been happening more often now that I have started to use it like a desktop at home (always plugged in when in use).

Edit: I did forget to mention that when the laptop is on, the battery level never fluctuates. Meaning my laptop will stay at 96% until the next time I power it down and back on.

 

[portent]

I understand what you are getting at, but I never had this issue before I swapped hard drives.

Never had, or never noticed?

MacBooks will occasionally pull extra "surge" power from battery even while they're plugged in, if demand goes up. Starting up may indeed demand a little extra power. Maybe the new HD requires some extra spin-up power compared to your old one.

I'm worried about wasting charge cycles and screwing up the battery.

If you're loosing an extra 1% at startup, and you start up your Mac once a day, you'll accumulate a grand total of three and a half extra cycles a year at that rate.

Also, its hard not to get worried when you had 99% battery life when you shut down and unplug your laptop in the morning and have 96% when you turned it back on (plugged in again) when you come home at night (which is what happened to me today). Its been happening more often now that I have started to use it like a desktop at home (always plugged in when in use).

Edit: I did forget to mention that when the laptop is on, the battery level never fluctuates. Meaning my laptop will stay at 96% until the next time I power it down and back on.

Look, batteries lose charge over time. This is a fact of life. You can have a brand-new, fully-charged, never-used battery, and it'll lose some charge if it's out of the laptop on a shelf. Or upside down. Or if you draw little hearts on it. Or if you dedicate blood sacrifices to it. Batteries are always losing charge; it's called "self discharge." This is true of MacBook batteries, cell phone batteries, and Ray-O-Vac double-As.

3% in a day is a more than I'd expect, but certainly not worth peeing your pants over. Calibrate it, ignore it for a week, and then do some more testing.

 

[gumbyx84]

3% in a day is a more than I'd expect, but certainly not worth peeing your pants over. Calibrate it, ignore it for a week, and then do some more testing.

Ok I did over-panic a bit ... OK, a lot. Just worried about it as I have never noticed it before on any other laptops I have used. Also, its been a "fun" week, so I've been a little over sensitive when it comes to my tech. I'll follow your advice and try re-calibrate it tonight and see how things work out over the next week. If it happens again or gets worse, I'll be heading to the Apple Store.n Need to buy AppleCare for the MBP soon anyway. Might as well get a new battery out of it.

 

[Aaleck]

I don't think it's a problem... Stuff like that happens all of the time... Like right now, my battery is at 99% and its been like that for a couple hours

 

[Illicit]

I don't think it's a problem... Stuff like that happens all of the time... Like right now, my battery is at 99% and its been like that for a couple hours

Nothing to be worried about. Just got a brand new battery. Ran CoconutBattery as soon as I put the battery in:
5559 mAh out of a total 5600 mAh. and this was brand new. 0 Loadcycles.

 

[uiop.]

A few weeks ago crawled up all the way to 104%.

Woah. So the battery had more charge than it could store? Interesting. I was impressed when I was pulling 5 hours, 55 minutes as my battery charge remaining.

 

[Illicit]

Woah. So the battery had more charge than it could store? Interesting. I was impressed when I was pulling 5 hours, 55 minutes as my battery charge remaining.

unlikely that the battery actually had >5600 mAh. it was probably a calibration issue.

 

[Annafox]

Can someone help me? my battery recently lost power and swelled up, it actually got stuck in the computer, however i did get it out. I read that the computer should power up without the battery in it, but i cant get it to.....im scared!(by the way it never has powered up without battery in it, it wasnt damaged by it) im also going to force a new free battery out of apple but in the meantime need to use it without battery....its a macbookpro 17" 2.4ghz, dual core, 2007 model. im in the uk

 

[AppleNewton]

using the new 2009 uMBP i turned my system off last night at 100% unplugged everything and when booted showed 99% *shrugs* the battery still retains its full capacity charge and the variable between ~95% - ~100% charging is sufficient still.