Battery and powerup issues with 2008 MBP

[MacGeekAZ]

I just got my refurbished 15" MBP last week. I am surprised that, although coconut battery shows the battery has only had 30-something cycles, and has good capacity, I only get about 2 hours unplugged.

Also, twice now I have noticed that, if I let the battery run down until it shuts off (actually it was my son who did this), even after being plugged in to the charger, it takes a few minutes before it will start back up. Shouldn't it start back up immediately as long as it's connected to power?

Could the problems be related to the charger? I have an aftermarket charger (85W) that came with it, but we are using the connector (with a long cord) from my old charger (60W). Could this be causing problems?

Any other ideas?

Wendi

 

[GGJstudios]

I just got my refurbished 15" MBP last week. I am surprised that, although coconut battery shows the battery has only had 30-something cycles, and has good capacity, I only get about 2 hours unplugged.

See BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE in the following link.

Also, twice now I have noticed that, if I let the battery run down until it shuts off (actually it was my son who did this), even after being plugged in to the charger, it takes a few minutes before it will start back up. Shouldn't it start back up immediately as long as it's connected to power?

No, if the battery is fully drained, it may take a bit of charging before your Mac can power on.

Could the problems be related to the charger?

You don't have problems. Your battery is functioning normally. Having said that, I wouldn't trust any battery charger that didn't come from Apple. Too many have reported problems with them. You can use any Apple MagSafe adapter with no problems.

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

 

[thundersteele]

This sounds mostly normal. I think the batteries only lasted for about 4 hours on those models originally. With a reduced capacity, and not particularly energy saving use (low brightness etc) you can't expect much more than two hours.

I have a 17'' 2008 MBP, with the LED backlit screen that already reduces power consumption. My battery is around 75% capacity now and I get between 2-3 hours, depending on whether I try to preserve battery power or not.

How are you using it when unplugged? Brightness full? Playing flash videos?


edit:
Unless the battery was replaced at some point, it is still more than three years old, so even the low number of cycles doesn't help it.

 

[MacGeekAZ]

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Thanks, y'all. I'm thinking of replacing the battery. but it's good to know that there's probably nothing wrong.

Wendi