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does the MBA really not need a battery calibration like the Apple site says?

B

Bottomsup

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 10, 2011
205
5
only reason i ask is that i use my MBA every day...all day...love it, however my battery is reporting 88% health :-(

cycles == 94

I bought it the day the 2011 model came out.

Is it worth running from full charge down to absolute zero until it dies despite what this site says?

Thx

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490
 
My battery on my MBA 11 is reporting 93% after 87 cycles, not too bad, i think they will go lower and higher over time, don't worry about it, can always get the battery replaced under warranty if it continues to dive.
 
DenniZ said:
My battery on my MBA 11 is reporting 93% after 87 cycles, not too bad, i think they will go lower and higher over time, don't worry about it, can always get the battery replaced under warranty if it continues to dive.
Click to expand...

what's the warrenty policy on battery replacement? does it need to meet some lower limit to require or can you just walk in and say. "not good enough..please replace"

thanks
 
Calibrate your battery at least once a month, that should be enough.
The battery's reported health does change continuously, don't worry about it.
 
Had my MBA for well over a year, never calibrated the battery and it reports 100%.

Battery calibration is nonsense and the effect it gives the owner is placebo, nothing more.
 
Beanoir said:
Had my MBA for well over a year, never calibrated the battery and it reports 100%.

Battery calibration is nonsense and the effect it gives the owner is placebo, nothing more.
Click to expand...

this raises the question....why is yours at 100 and mine in the 80s? how many cycles do you have?
 
Beanoir said:
No idea, perhaps the battery is faulty? Mine reads the following...

Health Information:
Cycle Count: 173
Condition: Normal
Click to expand...

ok that makes sense. mine is normal too, however i'm checking health via iStat. You are using only 'system info'. Install iStat into the dashboard and let me know what you get.

thx
 
Bottomsup said:
ok that makes sense. mine is normal too, however i'm checking health via iStat. You are using only 'system info'. Install iStat into the dashboard and let me know what you get.

thx
Click to expand...

Ahh...now you see I thought you were talking about battery charge, as that is why a lot of people calibrate their battery when it will no longer report 100% from a full charge.

Anyway, interesting comparison, downloaded it, it's quite a nice little app, I might actually pay for the full version.

In the battery drop down menu it's showing me
Cycles: 173
Health: 94%

Does that help?
 
Beanoir said:
Ahh...now you see I thought you were talking about battery charge, as that is why a lot of people calibrate their battery when it will no longer report 100% from a full charge.

Anyway, interesting comparison, downloaded it, it's quite a nice little app, I might actually pay for the full version.

In the battery drop down menu it's showing me
Cycles: 173
Health: 94%

Does that help?
Click to expand...

it does help thanks. I'm draining my battery right now. :) i wonder if a full drain will improve my 88%. will report back
 
Bottomsup said:
this raises the question....why is yours at 100 and mine in the 80s? how many cycles do you have?
Click to expand...

Battery calibration does not affect how much charge the battery holds. It affects whether the Mac knows correctly what the charge is. So if you go for a long time without calibration, the number displayed is not the truth anymore. After calibration, the display should be correct again.
 
I don't really think the calibration matters anymore.

I bought this Air on July 21st 2011. I'm on the battery almost everyday and this is what mine looks like.

Screen Shot 2012-03-04 at 7.25.51 PM.png

It goes down to 92% then climbs back up to 96%.

It's not uncommon for me to run it down to almost nothing nearly everyday. I make the battery work. :)
 
Bottomsup said:
only reason i ask is that i use my MBA every day...all day...love it, however my battery is reporting 88% health :-(

cycles == 94

I bought it the day the 2011 model came out.

Is it worth running from full charge down to absolute zero until it dies despite what this site says?

Thx

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490
Click to expand...

Weird, I have iStat installed and I have 201 cycles with 91% Health. I think I have only calibrated it once since I got the laptop when it first came out. I would have to agree with the general consensus here that it's not that big of a deal to calibrate it unless you are having problems with the time/percentage being reported incorrectly. It definitely won't improve the battery's overall health.
 

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From what I have read and info gained from GGJ, I run my battery down to 50% every three days or so ( however, I am not strict on this, I am in and out of Uni all the time so it varies), and completely discharge the battery on the first day of every month.
 
LostSoul80 said:
Calibrate your battery at least once a month, that should be enough.
Click to expand...
The built-in batteries in the newer Mac unibody notebooks come pre-calibrated and do not require regular calibration like the removable batteries.
Bottomsup said:
Is it worth running from full charge down to absolute zero until it dies despite what this site says?
Click to expand...
No, it's not.
Bottomsup said:
what's the warrenty policy on battery replacement?
Click to expand...
Bottomsup said:
this raises the question....why is yours at 100 and mine in the 80s? how many cycles do you have?
Click to expand...
This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
boy-better-know said:
From what I have read and info gained from GGJ, I run my battery down to 50% every three days or so ( however, I am not strict on this, I am in and out of Uni all the time so it varies), and completely discharge the battery on the first day of every month.
Click to expand...
You never have to completely discharge the battery. You only need to put cycles on it.
 
TheRealDamager said:
Finally - we've been waiting for you... :)
Click to expand...
LOL! With the Battery FAQ appearing in over 1,000 threads on this forum, you'd think there would be less misinformation and confusion about batteries being posted by now. I'm surprised that more people aren't posting the link to it as their first response.
 
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