MacBook Pro, battery weirdness

[Evangelion]

About 98% of the time, my MBP stays at my desk, constantly hooked up to power. But a while ago I picked it up, and did some couch-surfing on battery-power. As I was using the computer, it suddently switched off. Just like that. I tried restarting the machine, and it started for 2-3 seconds and then turned off again. I removed the batter, and checked the battery-charge, and sure enough, it showed 2 leds. I tried turning the machine on again, but again it swithed off immediately.

I took it back to my desk, hooked it up to power, and it worked just fine. It's recharging as we speak (it was down to about 40% charge, so there was plenty of power left). But as I check the battery health in iStat, it shows that it's down to 67%??

Any ideas?

 

[iShater]

It should not be switching off like that. If it truly thought the battery was drained, it would go to deep sleep and won't wake up until you plug it back in.

Did you calibrate the battery?

 

[rychencop]

dude i had this same issue. do NOT leave your laptop plugged in all of the time. it will destroy your health. mine was just over 1 year old and went from 96-98% health to 16% in just over a month. how many cycles do you have?

calibrate it once a month and use the battery several times a week. they exchanged mine after a brief struggle. mine had 100% charge, 26 cycles, and 16% health. on battery power it would last about 15 minutes and just turn off without warning.

 

[soberbrain]

How long have you had the MBP and it's battery?

Keeping it plugged in constantly can decrease the batteries health.

Apple recommends draining the battery and charging it completely once a month.

http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

If the battery is under 300 cycles and under 80%, Apple may exchange the battery for free.

 

[Evangelion]

dude i had this same issue. do NOT leave your laptop plugged in all of the time. it will destroy your health. mine was just over 1 year old and went from 96-98% health to 16% in just over a month. how many cycles do you have?

21

How long have you had the MBP and it's battery?

I bought this laptop in July 2007, so it's been about 15 months.

Keeping it plugged in constantly can decrease the batteries health.

I used to check the health of the battery regularly, but it never seemed to change, so I stopped doing it.

If the battery is under 300 cycles and under 80%, Apple may exchange the battery for free.

Well that's good to know . But then again, I'm out ot warranty....

 

[rosh325]

Recent battery replacement experience

Hi,
I kind of want to mention this in every battery thread ever, but I just had a great replacement experience.

My batter was being weird healthwise and dropped down to 40% health despite an SMC reset and calibration. I brought it to the apple store in Chicago (which was crazy busy) and after explaining the situation, the flustered employee said "wait, your battery is the only thing wrong? I'll go get a new one". There you go, new battery, no questions asked....no paperwork. Crazy!

Anyway, Apple is aware of their battery problems (technically, Sony's battery problems) and doesn't seem to put up an argument. Even if you are out of warranty, they have modified their warranty in terms of the battery such that it's covered for two years if I am not mistaken. It's worth a visit/phone call

 

[4y4m]

Hi,
jst wondering is it alright to take the battery out and just run the mbp from just power source??
so that the battery wouldn't lose it's battery life when we're just using it at home.
i used to do that with my pc laptop, and there's nothing wrong with it and my battery still last about the same time as when i first got it. but haven't tried it with my mbp.

has any one tried it??

cheers