Service battery in System Preferences?

[MasterHowl]

I noticed this in System Preferences today when I was switching from low performance to high performance... what does it mean?!

Or was it there in Snow Leopard too and I just didn't notice it?...

 

[rcanpolat]

Download this and check your battery current max capacity. Coconut Battery Download

Its normal for it to deteriorate. It just means your battery doesn't hold the amount of charge it held when you first got it.

I had something like that in Snow Leopard and i still have it now in Lion. Mine has said "replace soon" for about a year and a half and its still going fine.

 

[MasterHowl]

Great app, thank you! Here's what it said:

along with the battery icon in my menu bar:

I hope it hangs in there for a while... I'm low on cash at the moment! How much would a new battery be?

 

[RedRaven571]

I just checked by battery with Coconut battery and it said my Battery Capacity was 61% with 233 cycles

It was something like 83% with SL, I reset PRAM and did SMC reset and it now says 52% capacity.

Then, I look in About This Mac and it says "Condition: Service Battery"; anyone else having this weird stuff with battery?

 

[RedRaven571]

I erased my hdd, reinstalled SL and all my files and programs, and the battery indicator still said "service battery". So, I repaired permissions, deleted the caches, and did a PRAM reset and my battery condition is normal and Coconut Battery now shows battery capacity back at 83%. YAY!

I won't be installing Lion again until 10.7.2 or 10.7.3.