How do I know if I calibrated my battery properly?

[EchoPure]

I just calibrated my battery. But, how do I know if I calibrated my battery properly?

I followed apple's instructions for calibrating. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=mac/10.4/en/mh2339.html

But, coconutBattery says I only have 96% battery capacity.

 

[Adgeman]

I was in the Apple store last week talking to a Genius about this and he said the MBA battery doesn't need to be calibrated. In fact; he advised me against it.

 

[bizzle]

Quit worrying about it. It's normal for a battery's full charge capacity to vary ±5%.

 

[Cynicalone]

Your doing it the right way if you followed that document.

Apple will say that the new batteries don't need to be calibrated.

Just cycle the battery occasionally and you'll be fine.

Here is mine after about 24 days of use.



Yesterday it was at 98% Battery Capacity and today it is backup to 99%.

 

[EchoPure]

Your doing it the right way if you followed that document.

Apple will say that the new batteries don't need to be calibrated.

Just cycle the battery occasionally and you'll be fine.

Here is mine after about 24 days of use.

View attachment 298985

Yesterday it was at 98% Battery Capacity and today it is backup to 99%.

My capacity has never increased though

 

[Spacemarine]

OMG, your MBA draws 431.9 watts of power? How is this possible? A power like this should melt it after a while!

 

[wallny]

My capacity has never increased though

never bothered to check...

just treat it as ur iPhone, forget about the "capacity" stuff. it'll serve u well in a few years.

 

[EchoPure]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

OMG, your MBA draws 431.9 watts of power? How is this possible? A power like this should melt it after a while!

??

 

[GGJstudios]

I just calibrated my battery. But, how do I know if I calibrated my battery properly?

If you followed the steps, you did it properly.

But, coconutBattery says I only have 96% battery capacity.

It's completely normal for your battery health to fluctuate up and down over time. Calibration doesn't change your health; it only makes the reporting more accurate.

My capacity has never increased though

Give it time. It will go up and down, but will trend downward overall, as all batteries die a fast or slow death. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

 

[joelseph7]

I calibrated my battery on friday and used it normally since (used it on and off the charger). I just unplugged it from the wall now.. Is this normal or even possible?

 

[bizzle]

It's normal. I've had plenty of batteries float around 100-107% of the design full charge capacity.

 

[GGJstudios]

I calibrated my battery on friday and used it normally since (used it on and off the charger). I just unplugged it from the wall now.. Is this normal or even possible?

Normal, but I see you only have one cycle after 20 weeks of use, which may indicate that you don't use your computer much, or it may mean that you run on AC power all the time. If the latter is true, that's not good for your battery. I encourage you to read the Battery FAQ for proper care and use of your battery.

 

[joelseph7]

Normal, but I see you only have one cycle after 20 weeks of use, which may indicate that you don't use your computer much, or it may mean that you run on AC power all the time. If the latter is true, that's not good for your battery. I encourage you to read the Battery FAQ for proper care and use of your battery.

Alright thanks bizzle & GGJstudios.

I just bought my MBA on thursday so I've only had it for 3 days. My previous laptop which was windows based had to be kept on AC power otherwise it would shut off in less than 10mins so it will be difficult for me not to be tempted to have my MBA plugged in all the time, lol. And thank you for linking the Battery FAQ.

 

[bizzle]

Last time I checked my girlfriend's MacBook she had 103% of the design capacity and over 600 cycles.. she always uses it on battery and it's the original battery from her Late 2007 MacBook. Even if you use it on AC power often, as long as you drain it once in a while, it'll last a while.

Also, there is no way his MacBook Air 2011 is 20 weeks old. CoconutBattery bases age on manufacturing date (decoded by serial number) and I sometimes question exactly how accurate that is. I highly doubt Apple was manufacturing the 2011 MacBook Air that long ago. They are known for waiting until the absolute last minute.

 

[joelseph7]

Last time I checked my girlfriend's MacBook she had 103% of the design capacity and over 600 cycles.. she always uses it on battery and it's the original battery from her Late 2007 MacBook. Even if you use it on AC power often, as long as you drain it once in a while, it'll last a while.

Also, there is no way his MacBook Air 2011 is 20 weeks old. CoconutBattery bases age on manufacturing date (decoded by serial number) and I sometimes question exactly how accurate that is.

Yea I didn't really understand how my MBA could be 20 weeks old. Is there another way I can find an accurate reading? Is there something else similar and better to CoconutBattery?

I do plan on fully draining the batter at least a couple times a month and calibrating it during one of those times.

 

[GGJstudios]

Yea I didn't really understand how my MBA could be 20 weeks old. Is there another way I can find an accurate reading? Is there something else similar and better to CoconutBattery?

Yes, coconut battery is known to sometimes be inaccurate on the age calculation. Here's two links for calculating your manufacture date:

Older Macs. Newer Macs.​

 

[Cynicalone]

Also, there is no way his MacBook Air 2011 is 20 weeks old. CoconutBattery bases age on manufacturing date (decoded by serial number) and I sometimes question exactly how accurate that is. I highly doubt Apple was manufacturing the 2011 MacBook Air that long ago. They are known for waiting until the absolute last minute.

Yeah my 13" i7 MacBook Air is somehow 28 weeks old. I think Coconut Battery needs an update.

Mine was purchased on July 21st.