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Battery health--should I be worried?

H

hoffmant

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 13, 2008
80
0
I've had my 13" MBP for a couple of weeks. Coconut Battery tells me that I've had 7 cycles, but it lists the battery health at only 97%--5304 mAh capacity, while the original capacity was 5450.

My black MacBook had close to 200 cycles and always read 100% health or better.

I did a calibration last night, and it's still reading the same results.

Is the 97% health & reduced capacity after 2 weeks something to be concerned about?

Thanks!
 
I'm a newbie wondering about this as well. I have only have my MBP a little over a week. I did the calibration a few days ago. Coconut Battery is only listing my capacity at 95% (5229 mAh). It says I have 10 load cycles. I'm not sure if this is normal or not. I just want to make sure I get the most out of my battery.

Thanks!
 
This seems to be a repeating thing. Ihave a 2008 UMBP that I got in early July as a refurb, and two different batteries have dropped significantly over just a handful of load cycles. This makes me wonder whether or not the batteries are absolutely fine and it's just a software bug making the machine read them strangely. I'll be bringing my machine in for a check-up next week (Apple phone support have no idea what could be causing this and have asked me to bring it in to a service center) and will report back here with nay info I learn from it.
 
Whackintosh said:
This seems to be a repeating thing. Ihave a 2008 UMBP that I got in early July as a refurb, and two different batteries have dropped significantly over just a handful of load cycles. This makes me wonder whether or not the batteries are absolutely fine and it's just a software bug making the machine read them strangely. I'll be bringing my machine in for a check-up next week (Apple phone support have no idea what could be causing this and have asked me to bring it in to a service center) and will report back here with nay info I learn from it.
Click to expand...

I would appreciate any report you can give. The closest Apple store for me is nearly 2-hours away--I bought mine online.

Thanks.
 
You probably have something wrong with your MB. 100% after 200 cycles? That's great.

My 1 week old 13 MBP is only reading 93%. I would love to have your 97% It's not grabbing any readings of 96-97-98-99% at all. Very steady at 93%. I see another Apple Store tiff on the horizon.:rolleyes:

93% battery, do I get a discount?
Did you see the lines for people wanting a 7% tax break on tax free holiday? Obviously that 7% is more a deal than Apple would like to think.

I'm getting a bit tired of Apples non-user replaceable batteries not starting at 100% and staying there for at least the first week of ownership.

2 MBA's Rev.A started at 96%, now at 87%. Rev.B 93%, now at 91%.
08' 15" uMBP actually was pretty good at 98%.
13" MBP 93%.
7 month iPod Nano battery at less than 60% over 7 months
8 month iPod Touch at 60-65% over 8 months.

I just gots the baddest of luck, at least w. Apple batteries.

And they were/are all calibrated. And re-calibrated.
 
I'd also love to hear a report from what the Apple store has to say. I can't believe that my battery is down to 95% capacity after a week.

Thanks
 
I got my macbook pro 13" on friday and coconut battery is showing current battery charge as 87% and original battery capacity as 99% - does this sound about right?

Im not entirely sure if i calibrated it correctly.
I plugged it in when i took it out the box till charged. used it and ran it dry, turned it off and fully charged when light went green i took it off the charger and am now writing this? but it only says 4.5 hours left key lights are off and brightness and only 2 bars. what do you think??
 
I am not sure I trust coconut battery. Heres a current screen grab of what it says about my 13" MBP battery. If you notice the current capacity is actually higher than the original capacity.

Picture1-3.png
 
Adidas Addict said:
I am not sure I trust coconut battery. Heres a current screen grab of what it says about my 13" MBP battery. If you notice the current capacity is actually higher than the original capacity.

Picture1-3.png
Click to expand...

That's what it looked like on my black MacBook for a long time. Current capacity was higher than original.

I checked the blackbook earlier tonight (it's my wife's laptop now). It has over 300 cycles now & is at 95% original capacity. My 2-wk old MBP shows between 96% & 98% on both Coconut Battery & iStat Pro...
 
It seems like the people who use their batteries regularly have better battery health than the people who are connected to AC power the majority of the time. Anyone else notice this?
 
How do I check my battery capacity on istatpro? I can't seem to figure it out.

I wanted to see if it gives me the same rating as Coconut, which has now crept up to 97% after being at 95% all yesterday and today.

Thanks
 
theclipper said:
How do I check my battery capacity on istatpro? I can't seem to figure it out.

I wanted to see if it gives me the same rating as Coconut, which has now crept up to 97% after being at 95% all yesterday and today.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Click on the little "i" for settings, and under "sections," make sure that Battery is set to ON.
 
theclipper said:
How do I check my battery capacity on istatpro? I can't seem to figure it out.

I wanted to see if it gives me the same rating as Coconut, which has now crept up to 97% after being at 95% all yesterday and today.

Thanks
Click to expand...

it doesnt not tell you capacity, just health. go into About this mac->more->battery.
 
hi guys.

got my macbook on friday (3 days ago) and coconut battery is showing 99% current battery capacity! does this sound about right? surely it should still be 100% after only 5 cycles.

i charged my macbook untill green after i got it out of the box, played on it untill it ran out of battery then shut it down. fully charged it again and unplugged it too use. it was my understanding that this procedure calibrated the battery??

it said i had 5 hours battery remaining, with the illuminated keys on 1 bar and brightness mid way..
 
theclipper said:
I'm a newbie wondering about this as well. I have only have my MBP a little over a week. I did the calibration a few days ago. Coconut Battery is only listing my capacity at 95% (5229 mAh). It says I have 10 load cycles. I'm not sure if this is normal or not. I just want to make sure I get the most out of my battery.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I'm in precisely the same condition as "theclipper" except that my battery reading is from iStat Pro
 
theclipper said:
How do I check my battery capacity on istatpro? I can't seem to figure it out.

I wanted to see if it gives me the same rating as Coconut, which has now crept up to 97% after being at 95% all yesterday and today.

Thanks
Click to expand...

istat nano, another widget will give you capacity along with %.
 

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Ive had my macbook pro since friday, hardly used it on saturday and calibrated the battery today (sunday), its currently showing at 99% health with 2 cycles.

Is this good/normal?
 
lol i love how much people are freaking out because their battery health is no longer 100%


mine's 97% after 47 cycles.
 

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Lets sum this up.
Batteries are unpredictable. Their capacity will very over time based on many factors such as age, how often it is used, temperature, and many other things. Basically, as long as your capacity is over 80% for the first 1000 cycles (on these new systems) your battery is fine. My batteries health jumps between 98% and 100%.
When I got my unit, the battery health started at 99%. The health indicator is just a rough estimate because each battery will have a slightly different full charge capacity when it is manufactured.
 
iphonematt said:
Lets sum this up.
Batteries are unpredictable. Their capacity will very over time based on many factors such as age, how often it is used, temperature, and many other things. Basically, as long as your capacity is over 80% for the first 1000 cycles (on these new systems) your battery is fine. My batteries health jumps between 98% and 100%.
When I got my unit, the battery health started at 99%. The health indicator is just a rough estimate because each battery will have a slightly different full charge capacity when it is manufactured.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. I'm on the fence about mine. I would like to have had it at 98-100% but instead it's between 93-95%. It'll be a fight taking it in because it's low but come on, is Apple going to give me a 5-7% discount when I need a replacement sooner than later? This is an up reading:
 

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I'm having the same issue. I've got 3 battery-load cycles, it says 3 weeks but I've only had it running this past week.
Current battery capacity: 5291 mAh
Original battery capacity: 5450 mAh -----> 97% battery health

When does it become a concern? in two days of almost only using the laptop plugged in, it has dropped from 5320 to 5291 mAh.

I guess the real test will be this week when school starts back up and i'm using the battery more. When does one have a legitimate reason to take it back? What will happen if you take it in? Do they send it off to get it replaced?
 
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