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Macbook pro 13 service battery
- Thread starter cpuguy18
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1. Plug in the power adapter and fully charge your PowerBook's battery until the light ring or LED on the power adapter plug changes to green and the onscreen meter in the menu bar indicates that the battery is fully charged.
2. Allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for at least two hours. You may use your computer during this time as long as the adapter is plugged in.
3. Disconnect the power adapter while the computer still on and start running the computer off battery power. You may use your computer during this time. When your battery gets low, the low battery warning dialog appears on the screen.
4. At this point, save your work. Continue to use your computer; when the battery gets very low, the computer will automatically go to sleep.
5. Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or more.
6. Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged again.
Which when simplified basically says:
1. Plug it in and fully charge the battery
2. Let the battery sit in the fully charged state for a while
3./4. Disconnect AC adapter and use the battery until it dies
5. Let computer sit for a while
6. Fully charge it
All I'm seeing that is missing is step 2. Is there another key step which I'm missing? Genuinely curious here.
You were missing step 2 and "for a while" doesn't equate to "at least 2 hours" or "5 hours or more". Those durations are important and without adhering to them, you haven't calibrated.
To say that calibration wasn't performed without following those steps to the dot is a slight exaggeration though. If it does what calibration is supposed to do (i.e. make the battery meter more accurate), then it's a calibration.
That's the point. Those durations are important in making sure the calibration is accurate. Without adhering to those steps, you have no way of knowing if the changed readings are more accurate or less accurate. There's a reason why Apple specified "2 hours" and "5 or more hours". If you replace those with "1 hour" and with "45 minutes", you have not calibrated, and your readings are not to be trusted as accurate.
That's a good point, I stand corrected.
To my understanding other laptops like HPs use the same type of battery (Li-Ion) so is there any reason why they do not require the battery to sit at either full or empty for a calibration?
There's more to it than just the battery. Apple's charging technology involves the MagSafe adapter, the battery and the logic board. Also, the battery and charging technology that Apple employs is not identical to that used by other computer makers. That's why it's important to follow each computer manufacturer's recommendations for how to handle their particular hardware/software configuration.
Battery health isn't an exact thing; it varies from day to day. By calibrating, you may have gotten a more accurate reading on the health of your battery, but the actual health hasn't changed. It will continue to go up and down over time, and you'll eventually hit 75% where it will give you the "service battery" message again. Replace your battery, or just keep using it. It's completely up to you. If you're happy with how long it runs on the battery then there's no need to replace it.
If you're going to quote, quote in context. You conveniently left out a very important part:
The procedure above, which you partially quoted, does not apply to MacBooks or MacBook Pros.
I never said that it did, in either of my posts in this thread. And I linked to the full article.
The point I was making, that may have gone over your head (so I'll spell it out), is that I found that performing what would be the calibration routine for a removable battery equipped mac helped me fix my problem with my fixed battery mac, and clearly helped the OP fix theirs too.
The point is, if you followed the procedure that you quoted on a MacBook or MacBook Pro, you haven't properly calibrated the battery, as that procedure applies only to iBooks and PowerBooks. While you may have different readings as a result of draining and recharging, there is no assurance that those readings are accurate, as you didn't calibrate the battery; you simply drained and recharged it. So you haven't "fixed" anything. You simply changed your readings, and not necessarily to more accurate ones. If you're happy with that, fine.
In the interest of protecting others who may read this thread from being misled, there is only one proper method of calibrating a MacBook or MacBook Pro battery, and that procedure is clearly described in the Battery FAQ. Any other procedure is not calibrating and is not assured to produce accurate results.