MacBook Late '08 Battery Issues

[HIMAN1998]

My late '08 MacBook has been showing 84% health in iStat Pro about 95% of the time. The past few days it's shown "Service Battery" for a few minutes, but then it cuts off. It just said that for me, and it shows 78% health in iStat Pro. Could it have something to do with me using an 85W charger today instead of my 60W? (I left mine at home and borrowed someone's at my school) If I need to replace my battery soon, I have one question. Are the Anker batteries that are on Amazon decent enough to use?

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Now iStat Pro shows 56% health. This battery only has 54 charge cycles on it (original battery, this MacBook wasn't used much at all by previous owner)

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OK what the heck... I unplugged the Magsafe and plugged it back in, the warning went away and 78% health shows again.

 

[MeUnix]

I would highly recommend using a genuine Apple battery when you replace your battery. I've read horror stories about people using generic, off brand batteries and they have ruined their systems. It's a little more expensive to get an Apple battery, but worth it if you don't want to risk your MacBook getting messed up. Also, using a higher wattage charger is not a good idea either. It is very possible that that's what making your battery act funny.

Did you try resetting the SMC? If not, this article will explain how to.

Hope this helps!

Edit: Before I replaced my battery, it was showing 4% health through iStat Pro. When I reset the SMC the health went up to 90%.

 

[HIMAN1998]

I'll try that later today when I get home from school.

 

[BrettApple]

I recently replaced the original battery in my Late '08 MacBook because it was shutting off at about 20 percent, not lasting more than an hour, and most importantly, it was bulging in the case causing the trackpad not to click

I was going to go with an Apple battery, but after reading so many negative reviews I went with a NuPower battery from OWC. The original one I got from OWC was only lasting about an hour to an hour and a half, but I sent it back a couple weeks ago and got my replacement in yesterday. Today I did a first time run down and managed a little over 4 hours of use, mostly Chrome, Word, and iTunes doing homework with WiFi on and 50-75% brightness. So I'm pretty happy with this new battery.

This is the one I got: OWC Battery

Regardless of what iStat or the system thinks of your battery health, even if the cycle count is fairly low, the battery is at least 4.5 years old and deserving of a replacement. Even the new batteries that can go 1,000 cycles, and have adaptive charging are rated "up to 5 years".

 

[HIMAN1998]

I recently replaced the original battery in my Late '08 MacBook because it was shutting off at about 20 percent, not lasting more than an hour, and most importantly, it was bulging in the case causing the trackpad not to click

I was going to go with an Apple battery, but after reading so many negative reviews I went with a NuPower battery from OWC. The original one I got from OWC was only lasting about an hour to an hour and a half, but I sent it back a couple weeks ago and got my replacement in yesterday. Today I did a first time run down and managed a little over 4 hours of use, mostly Chrome, Word, and iTunes doing homework with WiFi on and 50-75% brightness. So I'm pretty happy with this new battery.

This is the one I got: OWC Battery

Regardless of what iStat or the system thinks of your battery health, even if the cycle count is fairly low, the battery is at least 4.5 years old and deserving of a replacement. Even the new batteries that can go 1,000 cycles, and have adaptive charging are rated "up to 5 years".

I might buy one of those when I get the money. Hopefully I'll get hired soon so I can actually get the money to do what I want/need, like getting a new battery. Mine isn't bulging at all, and it's working for 3-3.5 hours at most.

 

[MeUnix]

I was going to go with an Apple battery, but after reading so many negative reviews

Sources for this?

 

[BrettApple]

Sources for this?

I was using Apple's own site Late 2008 Battery
But in the end I think it just comes down to batteries being a bit of a hit or a miss, and how they are maintained. Really the NuPower one is just $30 less, and I like OWC and have lots of stuff through them already.

Though the Apple battery is a 45-watt-hour lithium polymer battery, and the NuPower is a 54 watt-hour Lithium-ion battery, for what it's worth. Both have one year warranties as well.

 

[MeUnix]

I was using Apple's own site Late 2008 Battery
But in the end I think it just comes down to batteries being a bit of a hit or a miss, and how they are maintained. Really the NuPower one is just $30 less, and I like OWC and have lots of stuff through them already.

Though the Apple battery is a 45-watt-hour lithium polymer battery, and the NuPower is a 54 watt-hour Lithium-ion battery, for what it's worth. Both have one year warranties as well.

Oh okay. I was just curious, not doubting you or anything. I've just read threads on here where people used off brand batteries and it's messed up their machine. Furthermore, I ultimately agree that batteries are hit or miss regardless.

Thanks for the info from the Apple site.

 

[BrettApple]

Oh okay. I was just curious, not doubting you or anything. I've just read threads on here where people used off brand batteries and it's messed up their machine. Furthermore, I ultimately agree that batteries are hit or miss regardless.

Thanks for the info from the Apple site.

This is very true, and I would not recommend any battery not from a reputable source, or without a good warranty. So either Apple or OWC/NuPower.

Looking into that Anker one, they seem to be alright, as far as the warranty goes (18 mo.) and have mostly positive reviews on Amazon. It is a bit lower capacity than the OWC, but cheaper as well. To each his own.

 

[BrettApple]

I might buy one of those when I get the money. Hopefully I'll get hired soon so I can actually get the money to do what I want/need, like getting a new battery. Mine isn't bulging at all, and it's working for 3-3.5 hours at most.

I hear you there, being a full time college student money can be a bit tight. But I do work part time at a local computer store doing mostly PC repair (hardware + software) and retail however.

And my spending habits are pretty good. Though I may have randomly bought an old '07 MBP for school off Amazon because I hate taking mine. Got some more RAM for it and put in an SSD, soon to replace the thermal paste to get the temps down a bit, and it's good as new.
I will likely give it to the girlfriend as a gift as she goes into college herself, doing Gen Eds then graphic design. Because she only has a little Acer netbook right now. No good for Photoshop

Anyway, good luck on getting hired!

 

[MeUnix]

This is very true, and I would not recommend any battery not from a reputable source, or without a good warranty. So either Apple or OWC/NuPower.

Looking into that Anker one, they seem to be alright, as far as the warranty goes (18 mo.) and have mostly positive reviews on Amazon. It is a bit lower capacity than the OWC, but cheaper as well. To each his own.

Exactly, as long as it's reputable it's worth a shot.

The the OP, I'm a full time college student for software engineering, so I get where you're coming from with money being tight . Luckily, I'm an Apple Certified Mac Tech so I am able to do freelance repair work for other students at my university to make some extra money on the side.