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MacBook Pro Normal Battery Health?

M

MrMan112

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 4, 2005
70
0
I have a 14 month old MBP. After full charge, I am left with only alittle above an hour of battery life. iStatPro tells me that my battery is at 31% usage and has been through 310 cycles. I probably could have been much better about calibrating the battery (I've only done this about a handful of times). Is this normal battery health given the # of cycles and usage? Thanks!
 
Some more info:

Battery Information:

Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0003
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 1322
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 1654
Health Information:
Cycle count: 310
Condition: Good
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1659
Voltage (mV): 11747
 
MrMan112 said:
I have a 14 month old MBP. After full charge, I am left with only alittle above an hour of battery life. iStatPro tells me that my battery is at 31% usage and has been through 310 cycles. I probably could have been much better about calibrating the battery (I've only done this about a handful of times). Is this normal battery health given the # of cycles and usage? Thanks!
Click to expand...


What do you mean by "calibrating the battery"?

Joe
 
jdzialak said:
What do you mean by "calibrating the battery"?

Joe
Click to expand...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490

PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD), MacBook (all models), MacBook Pro (all models), and MacBook Pro (17-inch) (all models)

The battery calibration for the PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD) and any model of MacBook or MacBook Pro has been updated because of a new battery released with this computer. With these computers, follow these steps to calibrate your battery:

1. Plug in the power adapter and fully charge your PowerBook's battery until the light ring or LED on the power adapter plug changes to green and the onscreen meter in the menu bar indicates that the battery is fully charged.
2. Allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for at least two hours. You may use your computer during this time as long as the adapter is plugged in.
3. Disconnect the power adapter with the computer still on and start running the computer off battery power. You may use your computer during this time. When your battery gets low, you will see the low battery warning dialog on the screen.
4. Continue to keep your computer on until it goes to sleep. Save all your work and close all applications when the battery gets very low, before the computer goes to sleep.
5. Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or more.
6. Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged again.
 
Mr. Man, I am having the same thing happen. My battery was down to 35% with only 25 cycles! I "calibrated" it last night and now the health says 23%! What is going on? This seems like an overnight phenomenon for me. As you can see with only 25 cycles my computer is mostly plugged in, so the battery should not be dead. My old iBook G3 still had 80% life after 5 years of diligent service.

I'm worried that even though this seems like a defective battery, it won't be replaced because I don't have apple care. Mine is also 14 months old.

Are there any other suggestions for battery maintenance?

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Serial Number: Sony-ASMB012-36dd-11b
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0003
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 1262
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 1262
Health Information:
Cycle count: 25
Condition: Check battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12366


MBP, 2.2 ghz santa rosa, 4 GB ram, 320 GB WD hard drive
 
Apple only covers batteries for 1 year or 300 charge cycles (whichever comes first). I would say to call Apple to see if they think it's defective, but since you don't have Apple Care, they might just tell you what I just did.
 
Calibrating won't help a defective (or good) battery last longer. All the calibration does is help the battery know its own high and low limit so it can tell you an accurate % and time remaining.

Apple says that a battery should hold around 80% health up to 300 cycles. Since you are barely over the 300 cycles and well under the 80%, call Apple and see what they can do for you.
 
My MBP is only 4 months old.
My health is 94% with 40 cycles.
Should I use it plugged in more? Or am I in the normal usage range.
Is 40 cycles a lot for 5 months?


Joe
 
jdzialak said:
My MBP is only 4 months old.
My health is 94% with 40 cycles.
Should I use it plugged in more? Or am I in the normal usage range.
Is 40 cycles a lot for 5 months?


Joe
Click to expand...

Mine is 89% with 174 Cycles in 11 Months.
I think yours is fine.
 
jdzialak: you're in the normal range, I believe.

to the OP: you're battery is obviously defective. I had a battery that was out of warranty, but I took it to an Apple Store anyway. the genius saw the battery stats in the system profiler and offered to swap it for free. definitely give it a try... because your cycle count is so low, you have a chance they'll give you a new battery
 
Apple rocks

I checked the recall serial numbers and my battery was not in that range.

Update: I just got off the phone with apple. They are replacing my battery free of charge without even having to talk to a manager. And even more impressive the guy worked his ass off trying to figure out how to get the battery out to me (I live in Thailand) and for me to get the battery back within 30 days. I luckily have a friend visiting soon and I'm going to do the exchange through him, but what great service!

For at least this moment I'm letting myself off the hook for being a day late on buying apple care. The first thing to go wrong outside of service was still covered!

Thanks everyone
 
oops, probably should have searched...

I just found this thread. I actually posted a similar thread this morning here -- https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/560254/ -- but it looks like you guys are having the same problems i am now! Ridiculously low battery life for only a 1 year old computer! I'm going home to my mbp to see how it compares and i'll take it to the apple store if it looks really bad!

Hope you guys get lucky and find a battery that doesn't blow!

BTW, does anyone have a link to this battery recall? does it apply to santa rosa mbp?

Thanks!
 
A cycle is any combination of 100% discharge + 100% charge. Meaning if you let the battery run down from a full charge to 0 then charge back to full, it is one cycle. It can also be 10 discharges of 100% to 90% and charging back to 100%.

As for my question, how have you managed so many cycles in such a short time?
 
thats what i thought but then i dont know how i have so many cycles. i do use my laptop everyday pretty much all day.
 
Battery Information:

Model Information:
Serial Number: Sony-ASMB012-38a5-66
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0000
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0110
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4670
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4835
Health Information:
Cycle count: 37
Condition: Good
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12402

86% for 4 months and 37 cycles are too little or not ?
 
Just had mine replaced...

Here's the guts:

Model Information:
Serial Number: Sony-ASMB012-3566-eab0
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0003
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0400
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 535
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 2456
Health Information:
Cycle count: 195
Condition: Check battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 1895
Voltage (mV): 12294


I've had it since new (nearly 2 years, it's a 2.16 C2D), and usually use the laptop til its empty, charge it, repeat. In the last week or so, the battery has dropped to just over an hour full-empty, and started to bulge at the bottom...

Replacement (on an apple care swap-out) is on the way.
 
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