Battery Reset on an *AlumPB* (AFAIK, never covered)

[Earendil]

Before I start, I'll say that I have yet to see a battery reset thread that has to do with the AlumPB. And as I have yet to get the reset steps for the other PBs to work with my Alum PB, I have to assume that there is something different that needs to be done, or else the steps need to be clarified. I also went through Apple and couldn't find anything that was helpful.

There was a thread started last month brought on by a MacAddict article. The article listed a bunch of battery capacities (though apparently not the Alum, never found the mag to be sure), and how to test the current state of a PB battery by issuing the terminal command
ioreg -l | grep -i iobattery
I'm not sure what the capacity of the Alum is supposed to be (anyone know?) but the previous model was 4200 (if memory serves me). I tested my own PB with this terminal command, and clocked at 3769. A good shot below the 4200 of the older model, but I don't know what the full capacity of these batteries are stock. That test was carried out the 16th of Feb.

Now, a few days before an out of country backpacking trip to Costa Rica, my PB decides to die while playing JUST music for only 1.2-1.4 hours, where I used to get 2 hours. Using the terminal I tested again, this time the capacity was a mere 3311! Yikes!

So I suppose I really have three questions.
How do you reset the AlumPB batteries capacity?
what should the capacity reset to?
Is this a normal amount of capacity loss, 400 in a month, or do I have a bad battery?

Thanks in Advance! (and another thanks after a few replies )

Tyler
Earendil

[edit] If it maters, I'm running Panther.2 [/edit]

 

[Counterfit]

I think the capacity is supposed to be 4100 or 4200, but I checked mine and it came up 3702, definitely not where is should be. When was the last time you calibrated your battery? It should be done every month or so, just to make sure it's accurate. Also, have you done the battery update? Before I ran it, my capacity showed as 3500 or 3600, and after it was the full amount. I also managed to get 4 hours out of my PB by running iTunes and Finder with the backlight completely off.

 

[Earendil]

I think the capacity is supposed to be 4100 or 4200, but I checked mine and it came up 3702, definitely not where is should be. When was the last time you calibrated your battery? It should be done every month or so, just to make sure it's accurate. Also, have you done the battery update? Before I ran it, my capacity showed as 3500 or 3600, and after it was the full amount. I also managed to get 4 hours out of my PB by running iTunes and Finder with the backlight completely off.

Calibrate! That's the word I was beating my head against the desk trying to remember. When I say "reset" the battery, I mean calibrate the battery. To reset it to its full capacity instead of what it "thinks" is the correct capacity.

So how do you "calibrate" an AlumPB battery? draining the battery to nothing and then recharging doesn't do anything for me. In fact I did it last night when I was running iTunes.
"What do you mean my computer just shut off?! I barely unplugged it an hour and a half ago!"
I plugged it back in after a long drive home and it read "0%" battery. it charged all the way up over the night and today the terminal gives me the same readings

A 33% increase in battery capacity would be a God send...
What am I doing wrong?

Tyler
Earendil

 

[titaniumducky]

Calibrate! That's the word I was beating my head against the desk trying to remember. When I say "reset" the battery, I mean calibrate the battery. To reset it to its full capacity instead of what it "thinks" is the correct capacity.

So how do you "calibrate" an AlumPB battery? draining the battery to nothing and then recharging doesn't do anything for me. In fact I did it last night when I was running iTunes.
"What do you mean my computer just shut off?! I barely unplugged it an hour and a half ago!"
I plugged it back in after a long drive home and it read "0%" battery. it charged all the way up over the night and today the terminal gives me the same readings

A 33% increase in battery capacity would be a God send...
What am I doing wrong?

Tyler
Earendil

Calibration is the same for AlBooks. Sounds to me like a battery problem. Call Apple and tell them it just lost capacity or something along those lines. My TiBook's reading for the ioreg command was 4149.

 

[idkew]

5335 for me... 17" though. one week old.

 

[Applespider]

4239 on my 15" AlPB

It's about 6 weeks old.

 

[Earendil]

Calibration is the same for AlBooks. Sounds to me like a battery problem. Call Apple and tell them it just lost capacity or something along those lines. My TiBook's reading for the ioreg command was 4149.

4149? 4239? You guys are going to make me cry

It's the same? What exactly do I do to re-calibrate the battery? step by step directions? maybe I am missing some small step that was obvious to the discussions I read, but that I'm not doing. As far as I know you just drain the battery (however) and charge it back up (however). Is it not that simple? Are there other, maybe more nerdy or difficult, ways of re-calibration?

Thanks for all the replies guys,
Tyler
Earendil

 

[Applespider]

4149? 4239? You guys are going to make me cry

It's the same? What exactly do I do to re-calibrate the battery? step by step directions?

1 Unplug charger
2 Use computer however until it puts itself to sleep (ignore all the warnings about getting low and needing to recharge)
3 Once it puts itself to sleep, plug in the charger again and let it recharge fully. Think it has to be back at 100% to be properly calibrated.

Mine's usually plugged in although I do take it for a wander around the house every other day for a minimum of 40 minutes or so. Then I'll recharge it once it's in its 'home' location.

 

[Earendil]

1 Unplug charger
2 Use computer however until it puts itself to sleep (ignore all the warnings about getting low and needing to recharge)
3 Once it puts itself to sleep, plug in the charger again and let it recharge fully. Think it has to be back at 100% to be properly calibrated.

Mine's usually plugged in although I do take it for a wander around the house every other day for a minimum of 40 minutes or so. Then I'll recharge it once it's in its 'home' location.

Has to be back at 100%? I knew this, but the way you worded that makes me think I'm not supposed to use it while it's recharging? Should the computer be off while gaining its 0-100% ? asleep? I figured it to mean just don't unplug the computer before it's charged.

Best I've done is to use it until it dies, unhook the battery in the morning and then plug the power in so I can use the computer. I then spent the better part of the day hitting the power indictor button (green light display) in hopes of draining it even more, and then plugged everything back in that night to charge over night. Though I played music and kept the computer running. Should it have been completely powered off while recharging?

I could really use another 30-60 minutes while traveling abroad...

Tyler
Earendil