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Battery Update in Software Update.

Huh?

I updated my 15 AL 1.25 PB with a 50% batt life. Like the rest of you after restart it went to 0% with a warning about running on reserve power. I plugged it in to charge and it now says 22% with 6:27 until full. Sorry to be stupid here, but what does that mean? 6 hours 27 minutes until full or I have 6 hours 27 minute capacity (i wish) or 6 minutes and 27 seconds until charged, what does that mean?
 
Bad Batteries

So, will this upgrade fix my battery that was fried by that one Jaguar update?
 
IIRC that the battery updates work by changing configuration data that is stored on a memory chip (EEPROM?) inside the battery. This update most likely forces a battery recalibration followed by changing the configuration of the APM, the circuitry that determines how much battery the system has left, the source of power, etc.

This update might benifit from the following:

TIL 58616
" To ensure the indication of remaining battery life is as accurate as possible, the battery should be fully discharged in your computer and then fully recharged. Simply use the PowerBook without the AC power connected until it shuts itself down, then plug in AC power and recharge the battery"
 
Huh, too bad Apple can't release something like this to improve the iPods battery life.
 
try a short charge and unplug, repeat a few times. make sure you are getting the battery reset. in fact, try running the battery to dead and recharging before you get real excited.

right now, after some playing around, i am getting 45 minutes more than pre-update by the meter....
 
Originally posted by AppleMatt
Before Update: 3.04
After Update: 2.08

Really, what the f**k?

AppleMatt
Click to expand...

Well if you gave it 5-10 minutes to update the time after you restarted..... geez!

After I restarted I had 2hrs on a full charge let it sit while I did a little bit of web browsing and got 4hrs when I checked later.
 
I used to be lucky to get 2hours with my new 15" albook, now I have 1hr 37mins max.

Thanks for NOTHING Apple :(
 
how long before the fluctuating time amount levels off after installing the update?

also, how do you go about recalibrating the battery?
 
For all of you complaining about battery life below 2hrs that is probably due to the fact that you have the power setting to max CPU and HD.

change the settings a little and dim the screen a few notches, you should be able to get above 3hrs.

I have an Al powerbook and get 1hr30min at max CPU and about 3hrs by making some adjustments.

And please stop posting "after the battery update my meter says 50% and before it said 75% I lost battery life blah blah blah"

The only way to really tell if it made a difference is if you timed the battery from full charge to empty and then timed it again from full to empty after the update under the same use conditions. I doubt anyone has done this.

The battery % or Time bar are just an estimate and hardly scientific or accurate
 
OK PEOPLE Calibrate your battery by letting the battery drain completely without using the computer. Let it charge back up 'till its down. Maybe this will help
 
After running in a fairly low-drain situation (BT/wireless off, reduced cpu) for 70 minutes, my 15" Al powerbook is at 71%. At that rate, it shoud be good for a solid 4 hours. The battery icon seems to think that there is another 3 hours of life left in the batter. While it is a little better than before the update, it doesn't feel like much of a drastic improvement. All in all, I'm appreciative of the extra 30 minutes of time. Thanks Apple!
 
calibrate: use the machine till it dies out from under you. literally shuts down from lack of power. plug it back in and charge it back up!

and FWIW, i always use highest CPU, and have 3 to 3 1/2 hours easy. i also do the above once a month. go figure.
 
For all those posting that you have less battery time after the update might want to stop and think about what this update does.
It resets and re-calibrates your computer and your battery to more accurately determine the battery's charged state. When your battery is being charged the charge cycle will stop when the battery reports a full charge. If it falsely reports full when it's not then you get a shorter use time. Because the last time your battery was charged/cycled was before the update it's likely your battery wasn't really fully charged, even though the system thought it was. Now that you are using the new software you are seeing just how much of a difference there was. Until you have had time to cycle a battery there is no way you can tell if this update has had any impact at all.

FYI, I have been using this update since Monday on a test iBook and it gained roughly 40 minutes (average) of life between charges. I didn't really see any difference the first time it was charged, but the next charge was like having a new battery again.
(I didn't just break an NDA saying installed on Monday, and no, I did not get it illegally)
 
I've done calculations, and letting my 800 FW 15" Powerbook sleep for 24 hours only used 12% of the battery. However, I must echo that the battery life is unusually short. I get like 2 hours out of the battery. Yay!
 
Fantastic!

I'd been worried about erratic battery performance on my Rev A 12" PB.

So far, I've been able to cycle the battery (partway to empty, empty to full, draining again now) and I'm getting about 25% longer life out of a 10-month old battery.

In my "travel mode" (dim screen, airport extreme off, bluetooth off, reduced processor), I am now seeing a report of 5 hours of battery life, something I've never seen out of my little PB.

If the PB even lasts the 4 hours my iBook lasted, I'll be more than happy.

Up until this update, I never saw more than 3 hours out of the battery.
 
better energy management

I think that the Energy Saver tab is terrible. I cannot tell the differences between the modes. For example, I'm not sure that the only difference between 'dvd playback' and 'highest performance' is just in the screen/sleep times. Ditto presentations. Does automatic adjusts your CPU performance automatically? If not, what's the actual difference with Highest performance? I think that there's more going on under the hood than what the configurator suggests.
 
I think re-calibrating might be a good thing.
ALSO TO ADD: I would charge back up (after draining it by using it) WITHOUT using it at the same time. That wrecked one of my batteries before. So, drain it, and just plug it back in with lid closed.

I have a 12" rev. B.
Was: 2:30 on high and bright scree, airport and average of 5 applications running.

NOW: 3hours

Dimming the screen a bit really saves battery life, so does turning the airport off.

The above timings are using AUTOMATIC setting and running airport, full screen light and running Safari, Mail, iChat, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Virus things, podquest, weather drop, Remote Desktop, isync, Norton AntiVirus.
 

The only way to really tell if it made a difference is if you timed the battery from full charge to empty and then timed it again from full to empty after the update under the same use conditions. I doubt anyone has done this.

The battery % or Time bar are just an estimate and hardly scientific or accurate [/B]
Click to expand...


Huh, that's funny. I thought by having a full charge, running the update, then having it say 0% and shutting down I could tell that I had lost battery life, but I guess you're the expert!
 
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