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Is it bad that I've gone through 87 battery cycles..

Virgo

Virgo

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 7, 2011
514
155
Los Angeles, CA
..and I've only had my MBP since April 25? I was shocked to see it has been that many. I basically live on my computer. It hasn't even been 2 months and I'm down to 94% of my original battery capacity. Screen shot:

333a26d.png


My friend suggested that I take the battery out and use it plugged in, in order to preserve it. I opted not to, because I like to take it from room to room when I need to. But if this is what I'm dealing with, I'll gladly keep it stationary for long periods of time.

Do you suggest I remove the battery for a while?
 
If I had a MBP from april, can I download coconut battery now and get all the imformation about how many battery cycles its used and the capacity since I had bought it?
 
miles01110 said:
It does not matter. Use your computer how you want instead of worrying about artificial concerns like battery life.
Click to expand...
Exactly, just use it until it doesn't hold a sufficient charge for what you need then buy a replacement. They're not that expensive.
 
I've had my MBP since November '09 and it's only gone through 57 cycles. I do use my MBP mostly at work and it's almost always plugged in. About once a month, I'll use it unplugged, drain the battery, and then fully charge it. My recommendation would be to plug your MBP in more when you can. If it's sitting on your desk, plug it in before using it.

For those who don't know, a "cycle" on a Li-Ion battery refers to the total number of charges that equal 100%. So, if you charge your MBP twice when it has a 50% battery left, that equals one "cycle". Or, if you charge your MBP ten times when it has 90% battery left, that is one "cycle". Or, if you charge it once when the battery is totally drained, that is one "cycle".
 
See, I would always unplug my charger when the battery obtained full power, because I was under the impression that it was bad for a fully-charged battery to remain on the charger long afterwards. Is this the case with MBPs?

This is the main culprit for my high amount of cycles. There have been many circumstances where I could have easily left it plugged in to A/C, but ironically I may have been wearing out my battery when I was trying to save it.

Out of curiosity, I removed my bottom cover for the first time to inspect the battery, but I am faced with this horrible sticker.

2csiav4.jpg


I don't get it.. does replacing the battery void the warranty or something? Or must it be replaced only by Apple?
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Can they do battery replacement on the 2011 mbp's in the apple stores or do you have to ship it like a repair?
 
Virgo said:
See, I would always unplug my charger when the battery obtained full power, because I was under the impression that it was bad for a fully-charged battery to remain on the charger long afterwards. Is this the case with MBPs?
Click to expand...
That is not the case with any notebook that has been sold in the last decade or two. It stops charging when full and simply takes all the power from the wall and it won't start charging until it gets drained by a significant amount like 5%.
The only difference if it was outside is that it will be cooler(especially when kept in the fridge) and high temps make it age faster.

They do it onsite afaik.
 
dusk007 said:
That is not the case with any notebook that has been sold in the last decade or two. It stops charging when full and simply takes all the power from the wall and it won't start charging until it gets drained by a significant amount like 5%.
The only difference if it was outside is that it will be cooler(especially when kept in the fridge) and high temps make it age faster.

They do it onsite afaik.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Wish I had known this earlier, but better late than never! Gonna keep it on the charger most of the time from now on.
 
dusk007 said:
That is not the case with any notebook that has been sold in the last decade or two. It stops charging when full and simply takes all the power from the wall and it won't start charging until it gets drained by a significant amount like 5%.
The only difference if it was outside is that it will be cooler(especially when kept in the fridge) and high temps make it age faster.

They do it onsite afaik.
Click to expand...

^This

It is still good practice to completely drain the battery and fully recharge it from time to time (about once a month). This is done so that the battery won't retain a memory, although Li-Ion batteries are mostly immune to the memory problem.

At this time, I wouldn't be too concerned about the number of cycles you've already put on your battery. I think the total number of cycles a Li-Ion battery can sustain in its lifetime is around 1,000. So, at 87, you well under that.
 
It's fine that you've used that many, if you're worried about it keep your mac charged all the time when using it and only cycle say 1x every 2weeks.
 
Virgo said:
See, I would always unplug my charger when the battery obtained full power, because I was under the impression that it was bad for a fully-charged battery to remain on the charger long afterwards. Is this the case with MBPs?

I don't get it.. does replacing the battery void the warranty or something? Or must it be replaced only by Apple?
Click to expand...
There's no need to unplug when your MBP is charged. It's fine to run on AC power, as long as you don't do it all the time. Your battery needs to be used periodically to stay healthy. Also, your battery health will fluctuate over time. Calibrate your battery to make sure your readings are accurate. For replacement of a built-in battery, click the "Replacing the built-in battery in your MacBook Pro" in the following link.

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
 
Hah, I'm in the same boat as you. I guess I'll be buying a $100+ battery from Apple in 1.5 years... (not a fan of third-market batteries)
 
xxBURT0Nxx said:
absolutely horrible, throw your mac out the window immediately before the battery blows you and the computer into pieces... :p
Click to expand...

Hah. I meant "87 battery cycles..in such a short amount of time." Which does seem to be way more than usual. But I'll live; I'll just do the minimum amount of cycling now.

fattire357 said:
Hah, I'm in the same boat as you. I guess I'll be buying a $100+ battery from Apple in 1.5 years... (not a fan of third-market batteries)
Click to expand...

Yeah, $129 +tax for a new battery is a lot for a broke uni student like me... I'd rather prolong that necessity for as long as possible. And yeah I wouldn't trust a 3rd party battery, especially with these special built-in kinds (which of course is the way Apple wants it). Ya live, ya learn.
 
so you buy a laptop for portability but then keep it stationary in one place so the battery lasts longer? lulz, if you're gonna keep it in one place then there's no point in preserving the battery life cos you're never gonna use it anyway
 
KwanMan said:
so you buy a laptop for portability but then keep it stationary in one place so the battery lasts longer? lulz, if you're gonna keep it in one place then there's no point in preserving the battery life cos you're never gonna use it anyway
Click to expand...

most people use their laptops at a desk but want the ability to take it with them when the need it (ie. class, on a plane, to the library, a friends, to work, etc.) Just because you have a portable machine does not mean you should always be moving around with it....
 
KwanMan said:
so you buy a laptop for portability but then keep it stationary in one place so the battery lasts longer? lulz, if you're gonna keep it in one place then there's no point in preserving the battery life cos you're never gonna use it anyway
Click to expand...

Um, I'm a student, so I needed a laptop that I can use if I need to take it to class, the library, to university/easily pack up when going home, vaca, etc.

At the same time, now it is summer, so I mostly use my laptop in my room. Since I first received my MBP in April, there has been a ridiculous amount of times where I've gone out of my way to take it off the charger, in my mind to preserve the battery. Sometimes I need the portability, but a good chunk of the time, I don't. It's good that I know my options, now. =]

xxBURT0Nxx said:
most people use their laptops at a desk but want the ability to take it with them when the need it (ie. class, on a plane, to the library, a friends, to work, etc.) Just because you have a portable machine does not mean you should always be moving around with it....
Click to expand...

^This
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Hey no one chimed in, can they replace batteries at an apple store?
 
KwanMan said:
so you buy a laptop for portability but then keep it stationary in one place so the battery lasts longer? lulz, if you're gonna keep it in one place then there's no point in preserving the battery life cos you're never gonna use it anyway
Click to expand...

After one year and four months, my MBP has seven cycles on it. I only use it on battery once in a while to keep the battery healthy. A few years ago, I had another MBP with about the same amount of cycles after one year. I sold it on eBay and the buyer told me the battery would not hold a charge. I told her well, it was likely because I never really use it on battery. Even though it had low cycles and was no longer in warranty, Apple still replaced the battery for her free of charge. It had a user replaceable battery before Apple had the non user replaceble batteries like now.

I use my Laptops as desktops and always have.
 
hexonxonx said:
After one year and four months, my MBP has seven cycles on it. ... the battery would not hold a charge. I told her well, it was likely because I never really use it on battery. Even though it had low cycles and was no longer in warranty, Apple still replaced the battery for her free of charge. It had a user replaceable battery before Apple had the non user replaceble batteries like now.

I use my Laptops as desktops and always have.
Click to expand...
As you can see from that experience, it's bad for a battery not to use it periodically. Also, don't count on Apple always replacing batteries out of warranty. While they sometimes make exceptions, they are exactly that: exceptions. As a rule, they won't.
 
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