MacBookPro battery charging question

[improvpaul]

I checked out Apples page descirbing how you should take care of your notebook properly and they said they suggest not keeping it plugged in all the time.
My MBP which I just got will be my main at home computer... how do you guys suggest I go about charging it...
Is it bad to charge, disconnect when full, drain, connect again, repeat a couple times a day?

thanks

paul

 

[Warranty Voider]

You should cycle the battery at least 2 times a month, but honestly, just use however you like. I don't pay any special attention to my battery (It's plugged in except when I'm at school) and it has great health (102%).

 

[improvpaul]

thank you.

what's the health % and how do I check this out?

 

[MarkMS]

You should cycle the battery at least 2 times a month, but honestly, just use however you like. I don't pay any special attention to my battery (It's plugged in except when I'm at school) and it has great health (102%).

Wow! 102%?

thank you.

what's the health % and how do I check this out?

Click on the battery icon in the menubar>Show>Percentage.

 

[Shawn Parr]

Click on the battery icon in the menubar>Show>Percentage.

That shows how much charge is in the battery, not what it's health is.

To see the health as a percentage I use the iStat Pro widget for dashboard. My battery on my Macbook shows as 100% with 224 cycles. In System Profiler under Power you can see a 'Condition' field which states 'Good' on my system right now. It also shows the charge remaining and the full charge capacity in mah, which is used to create the percentage health some other apps show.

 

[MarkMS]

That shows how much charge is in the battery, not what it's health is.

To see the health as a percentage I use the iStat Pro widget for dashboard. My battery on my Macbook shows as 100% with 224 cycles. In System Profiler under Power you can see a 'Condition' field which states 'Good' on my system right now. It also shows the charge remaining and the full charge capacity in mah, which is used to create the percentage health some other apps show.

Ah, my bad! Thanks for correcting me.

 

[improvpaul]

where can i get the istat widget?

 

[DAAAAAAAVE]

you can also use coconutBattery which seems to be what everyone on here is using when asking for battery health. Just google it. It is a good little program

 

[Shawn Parr]

where can i get the istat widget?

http://islayer.com/apps/istatpro/

I like this widget a lot as it shows CPU load, memory usage, drive stats, network stats, fan and heat, plus running apps and such, all in one not terribly resource intensive widget.

 

[Warranty Voider]

I use coconut battery, but it doesn't give a percentage if it is above 100%. It does give you the current mAh, and with that, you can calculate the percentage.

 

[DAAAAAAAVE]

I use coconut battery, but it doesn't give a percentage if it is above 100%. It does give you the current mAh, and with that, you can calculate the percentage.

How do you get health above 100%? I don't know much about batteries but logically wouldn't 100% = full health = best?

 

[Warranty Voider]

How do you get health above 100%? I don't know much about batteries but logically wouldn't 100% = full health = best?

The health of a battery is its mili-amp hours (mAh). This fluctuates depending on how you use your battery. Apple states that the battery is 50 watt hours, and 10.8 volts. To convert this to mili-amp hours, you do this.

50Wh / 10.8V = 4.63 Ah
4.63Ah = 4630mAh

Even though the math says it's 4630mAh, coconut battery says the original battery capacity is 4600mAh. Currently (according to coconut battery) my battery's mAh is 4702 which is about 102% of 4600.