AppleCare "Cycle" Policy for MacBook Battery...

[mixmacface]

Here are some good links from the Apple Website about batteries.

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

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

thanks for the links! they really helped!
apple suggests storing your battery with 50% charge. .

but i was reading on how to maximize battery usage on the ipod and the website said,

Use iPod Regularly

For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month. If you use your iPod infrequently (gasp), you might want to add a reminder to your calendar program.

that just tickles me. maybe those running the apple website aren't robots afterall.

 

[Jimbo Slice]

One very good thing to know--

To check your amount of cycles go to--

1. Apple icon very top right
2. About This Mac
3. More Info...
4. Go down to Power under Hardware
5. Then under Health Information, it says a Cycle Count

I will check this every month or so and just see where I am at before it is too late to get a new battery. Good luck trying to get a new battery but your worst case is paying $129 for a new battery.

Ok so I did this and it says 160 charge cycles... good right? No, I think its a lie because I'm using a PB G4 from '03
iStat Pro says my battery health is 58%

 

[applehockey]

Ok so I did this and it says 160 charge cycles... good right? No, I think its a lie because I'm using a PB G4 from '03
iStat Pro says my battery health is 58%

I don't that the amount of cycles is the only important number. And, all this is a approximate estimate of that amount of cycles used.

 

[WPB2]

Charge Cycle. Using and recharging 100% of battery capacity equals one full charge cycle.

A charge cycle means using all of the battery’s power, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a single charge. For instance, you could listen to your iPod for a few hours one day, using half its power, and then recharge it fully. If you did the same thing the next day, it would count as one charge cycle, not two, so you may take several days to complete a cycle. Each time you complete a charge cycle, it diminishes battery capacity slightly, but you can put notebook, iPod, and iPhone batteries through many charge cycles before they will only hold 80% of original battery capacity. As with other rechargeable batteries, you may eventually need to replace your battery.

Right from apple.com

Thats pretty good.

 

[Insulin Junkie]

Wow. My Mac's 3 months old and has 27 loadcycles. I can't understand how one would manage to accumulate 550 cycles in a year!

 

[macmeoff]

My MacBook battery may have come with cycles on it already but I can't confirm that and neither could customer service.

But I need to clarify something about my post.

My battery did not slowly degrade and begin to hold less and less of a charge. Just 2 days ago I was using it off the charger for many hours then the next morning it simply would not run without the charger.

When the charger is plugged in it says my battery has 100% of a charge. When I push on the back of the battery it has full green lights. What gives?

If it's designed to hold 80% capacity after 300 cycles, shouldn't it at least hold 20% at 600 cycles...

My PowerBook G4 that I've had for 5 years works fine on the same battery. My MacBook of one year get's nothing. Can someone explain how this isn't a defect?

The Mac Store guy used the analogy of tires, they go bald over time and then blow out. But wouldn't a battery slowly lose it's capacity, or like a tire give some kind of warning that it's about to go bust? Mine worked just as good as the day I got it, then suddenly stopped functioning.

And for those of you who are siding with Apple, "cycles" shouldn't be the only factor taken into consideration. That's just their way of copping out and forcing the consumer to eat the cost of a poorly manufactured product.

If that's not enough for you, there are countless other complaints on the Apple Website...

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA561LL/A?fnode=home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/power&mco=MTI5Mzc5Ng

 

[alphaod]

If you use around 10 cycles a week, you'll easily get 540 cycles. I do that myself. Sorry tis life of batteries; they only last so long.

 

[m1ss1ontomars]

My MacBook battery may have come with cycles on it already but I can't confirm that and neither could customer service.

But I need to clarify something about my post.

My battery did not slowly degrade and begin to hold less and less of a charge. Just 2 days ago I was using it off the charger for many hours then the next morning it simply would not run without the charger.

When the charger is plugged in it says my battery has 100% of a charge. When I push on the back of the battery it has full green lights. What gives?

If it's designed to hold 80% capacity after 300 cycles, shouldn't it at least hold 20% at 600 cycles...

My PowerBook G4 that I've had for 5 years works fine on the same battery. My MacBook of one year get's nothing. Can someone explain how this isn't a defect?

The Mac Store guy used the analogy of tires, they go bald over time and then blow out. But wouldn't a battery slowly lose it's capacity, or like a tire give some kind of warning that it's about to go bust? Mine worked just as good as the day I got it, then suddenly stopped functioning.

And for those of you who are siding with Apple, "cycles" shouldn't be the only factor taken into consideration. That's just their way of copping out and forcing the consumer to eat the cost of a poorly manufactured product.

If that's not enough for you, there are countless other complaints on the Apple Website...

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA561LL/A?fnode=home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/power&mco=MTI5Mzc5Ng

Ahh, I was hoping I'd find that you posted information about the battery health. I think you really do have a problem with your battery, as it still has 4000 something mAh, but it isn't powering your laptop at all. I don't know what the problem would be--try cleaning the connectors with compressed air?

As the Genius said, he doesn't have the authority to replace this battery; he's just going by the rules. I'm sure if you do something like call or some such you can get it replaced, depending on what the AppleCare contract says.

Just so you know, my battery reports thusly:

Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 3818
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5073
Health Information:
Cycle count: 149
Condition: Good
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 1648
Voltage (mV): 12249

Perhaps the amperage (yours is 0) has something to do with it?

 

[LondonGooner]

Wow. My Mac's 3 months old and has 27 loadcycles. I can't understand how one would manage to accumulate 550 cycles in a year!

I play World of Warcraft which kills the battery in 2 hours or so. I play for 6+ hours at times

 

[jackiecanev2]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5A347 Safari/525.20)

has anyone noticed that the op has 87% health? You should definately be able to get more than a minute if indeed that is correct. Proper calibration is required for battery health though. All of this said, you've gotten 500+ cycles out of your battery. Apple covers faulty batteries, and after that many cycles it's just used and dead. You've almost doubled the number of cycles expected to have your battery at the "fault" point. It's time to buy a new one. Try eBay.

 

[SailorTom]

ok, so I'm going slightly hijack this thread; I have a similar problem.

In the past few days (maybe a week) my battery health has dropped dramatically. Today the capacity is 1836mAh about 33% health.

Full story:
core duo MBP, bought referb in sep 06 worked perfectly until oct 07 when apple released battery update 1.2, which killed my perfect battery. I promptly got that replaced under the extended battery warrenty at the apple store. I haven't had a problem with the new battery (although it did lose some life faster than i was expecting) until now. I noticed my battery life had got significantly shorter so I did a calibration in an attempt to breathe some life back into it, but i think it turned itself off completely during sleep probably because it didn't have enough power so i don't know how successful that operation was.
I've been keeping an eye on the stats. yesterday the health was 47%. This morning it had dropped to 29%. this afternoon it's a bit better at 33%. Another problem is that it doesn't like finishing the charge. I've plugged it in and it doesn't charge even though it's only at 95%, so I unplug run a bit of charge then plug back in to get the charge, but then the capacity has dropped to what the battery was holding. So now in the space of half an hour my capacity has gone down to 1723mAh (~31% health).

Sorry for the ramble. Summarizing,
My 9 month old battery seems to be dying very quickly. Stats are:
Capacity 1723mAh (maybe 1699 now)
health 31%
cycle count 87!

So what do i do? i can still get around an hour of life out of it. Do you think apple will replace it, bearing in mind i've already had a battery replaced once. My MBP is out of warrenty, according to the repair receipt, the battery only has limited 3 month warrenty, but i found this article http://www.apple.com/uk/support/macbook_macbookpro/batteryupdate/
which suggests the battery is still covered under the extended warrenty, but like i say I've already had one replaced under that warrenty.

FYI i installed flash CS3 the other day, but i don't see that only installing something would kill the battery

also having written all this now, i think my best option is to at least try and get apple to replace it, worst they can say is no. Still i'd appreciate any comments

 

[stone315]

Perhaps the amperage (yours is 0) has something to do with it?

That is definitely the problem. I don't know why it's happening, but your battery isn't running any current through your Macbook. Since the battery works fine on your Powerbook, I would take both back to the Apple store and explain what's happening. I think it's a problem with the Macbook (possibly battery connectors or circuitry), not the battery.

 

[livelaughlove]

I just checked my cycles and I am at 65.
Should I take my macbook into apple and have it looked at?

 

[ddeadserious]

Man, you guys are making my MBP feel old.

It's got 687 cycles! It is 2.5 years old though, one of the first generation, Core Duo ones. Right now my battery is at 76% and says I have 1 hour remaining. I've probably actually got 45 minutes.

To the OP, your battery issue is clearly a physical failure though, if it was working fine one day and not the next. Not sure if apple is required to do anything about it. Some things just break, and generally, they break right outside of the warranty period. It's a bummer, but it happens.

 

[noodle654]

Yeah you pushed it with 550 cycles....thats A TON!! I use my battery all the time and I am at 50 and my MBP will be 1 year old in 4 months.

 

[applehockey]

If you call AppleCare and explain that your battery life is not what it was originally was. I called and even though my computer is 9 months old and has 160 cycles and the battery health isn't very good... the guy said it isn't eligible for the battery replacement program. He said most of the people that do get a free replacement-- there battery was originally defective and they must report it within the first few months. I also have the AppleCare which also could help you get the replacement (only if you have a defective battery though!!).

But it doesn't hurt to call... But don't wait too long!

 

[SheDevilBiker]

MacRookie - advance apologies for the length

Okay, reading through the posts, I am starting to see the problem with my battery. I got my first MacBook, secondhand, and the girl I bought it from said it gave her about 4 hours of life (which she revised to 2 or 3 when I complained that it did not live up to what she said).

So, anyway, is it possible that Battery Update screwed it up? What is it actually supposed to do?

This is what the battery information says:

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 1129
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 1120
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12416
Cycle Count: 151


The low capacity could be a problem, also? I get an hour, maybe, and then blacks out on me.

Also, I have a chance to buy a used one really cheap, with 24 cycles. Is that all I need to know about it, or do I need to know capacity?

Any help/answers/explanations gratefully accepted. I am still getting used to the beast, so everything I can learn, the better.

 

[m1ss1ontomars]

Okay, reading through the posts, I am starting to see the problem with my battery. I got my first MacBook, secondhand, and the girl I bought it from said it gave her about 4 hours of life (which she revised to 2 or 3 when I complained that it did not live up to what she said).

So, anyway, is it possible that Battery Update screwed it up? What is it actually supposed to do?

No, it's not possible for the Battery Update to screw it up. 4 hours is typical for a new MacBook and I still get that out of my nearly 2-year-old MacBook. However, batteries of this age rarely are in such good condition still.

This is what the battery information says:

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 1129
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 1120
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12416
Cycle Count: 151


The low capacity could be a problem, also? I get an hour, maybe, and then blacks out on me.

The low capacity is pretty much the only problem--the normal capacity is over 5000 mAh.

Also, I have a chance to buy a used one really cheap, with 24 cycles. Is that all I need to know about it, or do I need to know capacity?

Any help/answers/explanations gratefully accepted. I am still getting used to the beast, so everything I can learn, the better.

You only really need to know the capacity; the number of cycles is less important. The age of battery is also important; batteries degrade on the shelf if they're not being used and not stored properly.

 

[SheDevilBiker]

One confused MacRookie

Now it says this...

First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 3798
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 3704
Amperage (mA): -116
Voltage (mV): 11966
Cycle Count: 151

How could the capacity have gone up?
I like my laptop (we haven't been together long enough for love), but it's making me feel like a real idiot because I don't understand.

 

[emt1]

Wow, some people are really cheap.

 

[TyloBedo]

i am siding with you on this one for a few reasons.

1. it doesn't say anywhere battery cycle count
2. 550 cycles? i don't think you could even hit 550 cycles unless you used it 24/7
3. if you battery dies in 2 seconds then you plug it in wouldn't that count as one charge? so basically your battery being defective made your charge cycle go up?


just go into the apple store again and just explain to them you weren't able to get in to an apple store for 3 weeks, because you live far away. So bassically every time you unplugged it for that 3 weeks it wasted a cycle. so just say in 3 weeks you wasted 250+ cycles just bringing your macbook from place to place in your house and traveling. know if you move 12 times or so a day around your house traveling just plugging it ect that would add up to 250+ cycles in 3 weeks from a defective battery

 

[Purple Pelican]

I bought a new battery for my 12" PB three months ago. Popping in my old battery, it gives me 442 charge cycles... and 34% health. In real-world use, it lasts me 2 hours with the brightness all the way down and with Safari running.

 

[mattyb240]

Well, I keep my laptop charged at full charge for only up to a few hours at a time. You shouldn't ever leave your laptop charging overnight or at long time periods like this either.

Why not? When it reaches full charge it no longers powers off the battery it goes straight off the mains. So as long as you actually do use your battery once a week or so it is fine!!