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Apple Says Not To Calibrate...What If I Did?

D

donster28

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 5, 2006
1,726
811
Great White North
This is for the battery experts:

Call me paranoid but I'm just worried I ruined my brand new MBA's batteries by doing a calibration.

Nothing unusual about my batteries at the moment, still getting around 4-5 hours in real battery life per charge (only charged it once since I bought it).

I'm surprised the new MBA batteries have already been pre-calibrated in the factory, as Apple's 'additional information' states. Too bad I didn't read this.

What do you think?...please ease a paranoid mind. :D
 
You really didn't to anything wrong or terribly harmful if you calibrated your battery.

Relax and enjoy :)
 
just keep using it, de- and recharge it once a day if possible.
i'm still at 100% battery health just by decharging and recharging 4-5 times a week. This is on a 2011 17" MBP tho.
 
It won't make any difference

I just stick to a general rule of thumb

Let it drain completely once a month, all other times keep it topped up

I let it drain when i first get it. My first full charge gave me 8 hours battery with approx 1 hour standby for lunch
 
mulo said:
just keep using it, de- and recharge it once a day if possible.
i'm still at 100% battery health just by decharging and recharging 4-5 times a week. This is on a 2011 17" MBP tho.
Click to expand...

I am on 99% percent health via not doing this, on a two years old MBP with only 246 cycles.
It is not necessary to daily discharge the MBP, as noted in that FAQ by GGJstudios.
 
simsaladimbamba said:
I am on 99% percent health via not doing this, on a two years old MBP with only 246 cycles.
It is not necessary to daily discharge the MBP, as noted in that FAQ by GGJstudios.
Click to expand...

mulo said:
just keep using it, de- and recharge it once a day if possible.
i'm still at 100% battery health just by decharging and recharging 4-5 times a week. This is on a 2011 17" MBP tho.
Click to expand...

How is it that you guys have better battery health. On my 2010 MBA the health is 95% with 96 cycles
 
I calibrated my battery about a week after getting my new MBA and my battery health has gained 1% so I'm happy.
 
Just don't let it happen again, OP! Otherwise silent black helicopters will cruise over your house in attack formation, while jackbooted vegetarian black turtlenecked thugs rappel out the sides and gain entry into your residence.

One operative team will find and liberate the Air, and the other will find YOU.

When Steve Jobs says to not do something with your computer, you'd best listen.
 
I calibrated it too when I first got it, this is confusing. Should I drain the battery once a month and then recharge to 100%, or, do the calibration of Apple every two months?
 
lyrrad721 said:
I calibrated it too when I first got it, this is confusing. Should I drain the battery once a month and then recharge to 100%, or, do the calibration of Apple every two months?
Click to expand...

Every one to two months to calibrate is okay.
Have you taken a look at that FAQ in the first reply yet?
 
simsaladimbamba said:
Every one to two months to calibrate is okay.
Have you taken a look at that FAQ in the first reply yet?
Click to expand...

Of course, that's what I used to calibrate my MBA the first day I got it. But the title of this thread states that Apple says not to calibrate, which was confusing.
 
donster28 said:
What do you think?...please ease a paranoid mind. :D
Click to expand...

Can't help you there. You are paranoid. Being paranoid will lead to making bad decision, being unable to live in a healthy relationship, and general unhappiness. The battery, which will explode within hours of you reading this post, is the least of your problems.


mulo said:
just keep using it, de- and recharge it once a day if possible.
i'm still at 100% battery health just by decharging and recharging 4-5 times a week. This is on a 2011 17" MBP tho.
Click to expand...

Good method of limiting your battery life unnecessarily. The battery has a lifetime of about 1000 charges, so every week you destroy five of your 1000 charges. That's fine if you _need_ to use your MacBook on batteries, but totally wasteful otherwise.
 
Last edited:
3bs said:
How is it that you guys have better battery health. On my 2010 MBA the health is 95% with 96 cycles
Click to expand...

Luck of the draw in terms of what the system reports back. My 4 year old Macbook is at 100% health with over 350 cycles whilst my similarly aged Macbook Pro is at 72% health with fewer cycles. Real battery life bears no relation to these figures, obviously, and people just get too hung up on them.
 
gnasher729 said:
Good method of limiting your battery life unnecessarily. The battery has a lifetime of about 1000 charges, so every week you destroy five of your 1000 charges. That's fine if you _need_ to use your MacBook on batteries, but totally wasteful otherwise.
Click to expand...

So you suggest to just keep it plugged in unless you need to take it somewhere?
 
3bs said:
So you suggest to just keep it plugged in unless you need to take it somewhere?
Click to expand...

Since it has the deep sleep mode, it makes sense to unplug it when it is fully charged and you aren't using it (e.g. overnight), but, yes, it makes sense to keep it plugged in while you are using it. A full battery cycle is a complete charge and discharge (though I notice the meter in System Preferences in Lion seems to log a new cycle every time it drops below 50% or so).
 
To OP: don't worry all is fine.
To everyone else:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

Gawd, I hate seeing all these FUD comments on the internet regarding Lithium chemistry.

In short - for optimal battery health:
1. Don't run the battery flat on a regular basis
2. Don't make the battery warm on a regular basis
3. Don't keep the battery at 100% charge the whole time (e.g >3months)

Your battery life will fluctuate by a few %. This is normal.

Battery health (actually charge capacity) is likely to be >100% initially, as the capacity spec is a supplier min. spec.
The monitoring circuitry for measuring the capacity is not accurate to the n-th decimal point. I would estimate +/-2% is normal accuracy.

Thank you.

Drive through.
 
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