Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Battery Calibration Questions

N

neteng101

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 7, 2009
1,148
163
So I have read this...

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

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 while 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, the low battery warning dialog appears on the screen.
4. At this point, save your work. Continue to use your computer; when the battery gets very low, the computer will automatically go 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.

Tip: When the battery reaches "empty", the computer is forced into sleep mode. The battery actually keeps back a reserve beyond "empty", to maintain the computer in sleep for a period of time. Once the battery is truly exhausted, the computer is forced to shut down. At this point, with the safe sleep function introduced in the PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD) computers, the computer's memory contents have been saved to the hard drive. When power is restored, the computer returns itself to its pre-sleep state using the safe sleep image on the hard drive.
Click to expand...

For step 1 - the battery meter must read 100%? My battery isn't charging but normally drops from 100% over time to 95% then recharges. So I need to get it to 100% before starting calibration? Right now its at 98% and not charging.

For step 5 - what do people do? Wait a whole 5 hours with the machine sleeping? Or what do they mean by turn it off? I was thinking (since I can) of yanking the battery while its in Safe Sleep, which will turn it off but still retain my sleep status, without requiring a whole 5 hours of waiting?
 
neteng101 said:
So I have read this...



For step 1 - the battery meter must read 100%? My battery isn't charging but normally drops from 100% over time to 95% then recharges. So I need to get it to 100% before starting calibration? Right now its at 98% and not charging.

For step 5 - what do people do? Wait a whole 5 hours with the machine sleeping? Or what do they mean by turn it off? I was thinking (since I can) of yanking the battery while its in Safe Sleep, which will turn it off but still retain my sleep status, without requiring a whole 5 hours of waiting?
Click to expand...

For step one: If it is at less than 95 percent it should charge to 100%. If it doesn't show 100%, maybe that's because it needs to be calibrated.;)

Step 5 makes no sense at all the way it is worded. Once it automatically goes to sleep the only way to turn it off is to first plug it in again. But there is still some juice left in the battery, so I wouldn't turn it off and then plug it in again right away.
What I do is leave it in an unplugged state for at least 5 more hours (usually overnight) after it goes to sleep automatically to make sure the battery has drained completely.
 
Step 5 is a big pain - I'd be out of the machine for a while in order to do the calibration.

It does charge when it hits 95% but I suppose the way to do it is to unplug it, let it drop below 95%, plug it back in, wait for 100%, wait for 2 hours, the move on.

Its no wonder that a lot of people don't bother, the process is just rather lousy and tedious to do.
 
neteng101 said:
Step 5 is a big pain - I'd be out of the machine for a while in order to do the calibration.
Click to expand...
I just put a DVD movie in before going to bed and mute the sound. Do this on a night where you don't need to be mobile the next day.

Or... just load any Adobe application. :D
 
Richard1028 said:
I just put a DVD movie in before going to bed and mute the sound. Do this on a night where you don't need to be mobile the next day.
Click to expand...

Genius! That would work for me - just put on some long Youtube video or something with a mostly drained battery - I can time draining the battery down somewhat, but still be able to use it till I go to sleep and let it die on its own. Plug in charger in morning, off to work, and then back home, its all done. :cool:
 
I usually don't do step five. I boot into Windows and play WoW or some sort of 3D gaming, this will drain your battery completely in no time without waiting 5 hours. You'll know it worked because once the machine shuts down, you won't be able to turn it back on =). Then allow it to fully recharge, done!
 
elmz said:
I usually don't do step five. I boot into Windows and play WoW or some sort of 3D gaming, this will drain your battery completely in no time without waiting 5 hours. You'll know it worked because once the machine shuts down, you won't be able to turn it back on =). Then allow it to fully recharge, done!
Click to expand...

Well if you haven't calibrated your battery then! Step five is there for a reason.
You've only completed step four: "when the battery gets very low, the computer will automatically go to sleep".
You can't turn the computer on after that, without plugging it in. But the battery still has some juice left that it keeps as a reserve. Hence the five hours it needs to be left unplugged in step five.
 
neteng101 said:
just put on some long Youtube video or something with a mostly drained battery
Click to expand...
I've done this too. Load up a dozen video pages at once and watch the juice disappear from your battery right before your eyes.

Make sure you're using the King of all cpu-sucking-flash-hating browsers (Safari).
 
Considering that I leave my plug in most of the time, I simply let the laptop run completely dry and charging it back up once a month.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back