Never Calibrated battery (1 month old) , wrong?

[5eif]

hey guys um new to the mac family so i never knew about the battery calibration thing until today and my MBP 15 2.8ghz is 1 month old, is it wron that i never did the calibration before? please reply, thanks

 

[GGJstudios]

Calibration makes the reporting of your battery condition accurate. It has no bearing on your battery life.

 

[Hopsdaballa04]

Calibration makes the reporting of your battery condition accurate. It has no bearing on your battery life.

I agree and disagree with you. I think it is good practice to deplete your battery from time to time. This will help keep the internal fluid of the battery moving allowing all particles to charge and discharge.

Check this URL

http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

This article will show you how to calibrate your battery.

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

 

[m85476585]

I agree and disagree with you. I think it is good practice to deplete your battery from time to time. This will help keep the internal fluid of the battery moving allowing all particles to charge and discharge.

Aside from not making any sense (you are interpreting "juice" a little too literally, and particles don't typically change charge--charged particles (electrons) move around), I don't know if that's true. If you are regularly using the laptop on battery power (you don't have it plugged in all the time), a full discharge cycle might do more harm than good. In other words, discharging once to 0% might be worse than discharging twice to 50%.

 

[GGJstudios]

I agree and disagree with you. I think it is good practice to deplete your battery from time to time. This will help keep the internal fluid of the battery moving allowing all particles to charge and discharge.
Check this URL
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

Depleting the battery from time to time, otherwise known as cycling the battery, is not the same as calibration. Yes, it's important to cycle the battery to keep electrons moving. (There IS no fluid in the batteries.) This contributes to battery health. Calibration has a different purpose.

For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time. An ideal use would be a commuter who uses her MacBook Pro on the train, then plugs it in at the office to charge. This keeps the battery juices flowing. If on the other hand, you use a desktop computer at work, and save a notebook for infrequent travel, Apple recommends charging and discharging its battery at least once per month.

This article will show you how to calibrate your battery.

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

... and it says:

The battery has an internal microprocessor that provides an estimate of the amount of energy in the battery as it charges and discharges. The battery needs to be recalibrated from time to time to keep the onscreen battery time and percent display accurate and to keep the battery operating at maximum efficiency.

 

[Hopsdaballa04]

Depleting the battery from time to time, otherwise known as cycling the battery, is not the same as calibration. Yes, it's important to cycle the battery to keep electrons moving. (There IS no fluid in the batteries.) This contributes to battery health. Calibration has a different purpose.




... and it says:

Your correct there is not any fluid in the battery. The reason I said I agree and disagree was because of the cycling and that it is good to do on a routine basis. Following those calibration steps will take care of both. But upon further research it looks as if there is no need for you to deplete the battery since it does not suffer from the memory effect.

m85476585 - I'm sorry that I didn't break it down in scientific terms. I will try harder next time.

I also used the word fluid because it is stated that way in the following url under standard maintenance.
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

 

[GGJstudios]

...
I also used the word fluid because it is stated that way in the following url under standard maintenance.
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

Nowhere does it mention fluid. It says "This keeps the battery juices flowing.", which is more informal jargon referring to the battery's energy, or more specifically, electrons moving.

 

[Hopsdaballa04]

I guess it comes down to a matter of interpretation. I interpret the word juice differently than you. I see where you are coming from and stand corrected. Next time I will make sure to do more research before trying to help someone.

 

[Hopsdaballa04]

Aside from not making any sense (you are interpreting "juice" a little too literally, and particles don't typically change charge--charged particles (electrons) move around), I don't know if that's true. If you are regularly using the laptop on battery power (you don't have it plugged in all the time), a full discharge cycle might do more harm than good. In other words, discharging once to 0% might be worse than discharging twice to 50%.

You're not making since either, a discharge to 0% is a cycle. Just like 2, 50% discharges would make up one cycle.

To answer your question OP, no you have not made a mistake, just make sure to calibrate it now. Follow those steps in the calibration guide and your good to go.

 

[Jaro65]

Nowhere does it mention fluid. It says "This keeps the battery juices flowing.", which is more informal jargon referring to the battery's energy, or more specifically, electrons moving.

Just as it was stated before, there is no fluid anywhere there. There is, obviously, in lead-acid batteries, but I thankfully we don't have those powering our laptops. The batteries we're dealing with in our MBPs are lithium-ion or lithium-polymer - referring to lithium, which is a metal.

 

[GGJstudios]

Just as it was stated before, there is no fluid anywhere there. There is, obviously, in lead-acid batteries, but I thankfully we don't have those powering our laptops. The batteries we're dealing with in our MBPs are lithium-ion or lithium-polymer - referring to lithium, which is a metal.

Yes, I'm well aware that there is no fluid in MBP batteries, as I've already stated.

 

[m85476585]

You're not making since either, a discharge to 0% is a cycle. Just like 2, 50% discharges would make up one cycle.

I know the battery *counts* 2 50% discharges the same as 1 0% discharge, but my point it that the might not have the same impact on the health of the battery. 2 discharges to 50% is likely to be better for the battery's health since a full deep-cycle discharge can degrade the battery somewhat. I can't find any sources to back this up specifically, but this is my understanding based on what I know about how Lithium-type batteries work.

Don't worry about using nonscientific terms. The Apple page is misleading using the word juice, but the point is to understand how to use and maintain the battery, not understand the internal workings. We can't expect everyone to be experts on battery chemistry, and I don't claim to be an expert myself.

 

[Hopsdaballa04]

I know the battery *counts* 2 50% discharges the same as 1 0% discharge, but my point it that the might not have the same impact on the health of the battery. 2 discharges to 50% is likely to be better for the battery's health since a full deep-cycle discharge can degrade the battery somewhat. I can't find any sources to back this up specifically, but this is my understanding based on what I know about how Lithium-type batteries work.

Don't worry about using nonscientific terms. The Apple page is misleading using the word juice, but the point is to understand how to use and maintain the battery, not understand the internal workings. We can't expect everyone to be experts on battery chemistry, and I don't claim to be an expert myself.

Thanks for being understanding. It is a shame that we all use this forum to bash each other. I include myself in that group of people that always want to be right. I am going to try to focus more on answering the OP question then worry about what others write.

 

[GGJstudios]

Thanks for being understanding. It is a shame that we all use this forum to bash each other. I include myself in that group of people that always want to be right. I am going to try to focus more on answering the OP question then worry about what others write.

While bashing does happen, I don't think that's the case here. We just all want to make sure we're not giving out inaccurate information.