Charging problem on G4 powerbook

[gingerbeer]

I'm hoping someone may have experience of an strange problem i'm having on a titanium powerbook.

The battery is only charging up to 94% on the meter. Also the coloured led's in the charging cable are showing amber when charging is not taking place, and green when it is.

I've sent the computer and charger to an authorised mac place, and they couldn't find anything wrong. I got it back the other day, and it was fine for a while before going back to its old behavior. Sometimes it charges, sometimes not.

Could this be a problem with the mac or do i just need a new charger?

Thanks for reading.

 

[JOD8FY]

I'm not sure why the light on the cable is backwards, but as for it only charging up to 94%, I may have a solution. Have you tried calibrating the battery recently? To do this, drain your battery all the way until it forces the computer to fall asleep. Don't let it shutdown. After it falls asleep, plug it back in, turn it off, and charge it up. This may even give you some improved battery performance! Hope this helps.

JOD8FY

 

[gingerbeer]

Thanks for the reply

 

[JOD8FY]

Any luck?

 

[jeremy.king]

Be wary of running a battery all the way down to no power. Lithium ion batteries do not experience the so-called "memory-effect" of the old NiCd batteries, so there is no reason to drain the battery and can actually be a bad thing.

For a good read, see http://www.dansdata.com/gz011.htm