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Stop charging while plugged

elsoja

elsoja

macrumors newbie
Original poster
My macbook's battery is lasting for about 2 hours, so, constantly, I have to use it plugged.

I'm worried because I'm losing battery cycles. Is there a way of stop charging my macbook while on power to extend it's battery life?

*Mid 2010 version
 
leaving your MBP on the charger is not bad for the battery. The SMC keeps anything from being damaged. In this way it is extending battery life because you're not putting additional cycles on the battery. You just need to use the battery every once in a while...

I'm curious: how many cycles are on your battery? that's exceptionally low battery life...
 
I can't see how many cycles are on it because i dont have my macbook here with me. I will see as soon as possible.

Anyway, can I use it normally? I thought that while I was using it plugged I was adding more cycles.
 
You add cycles if you let it discharge.

You can leave your macbook plugged in all the time. When the battery is full, the macbook stops charging it and uses power from the cable.

The only thing one should not do is to never use the battery, i.e. keep it plugged in for several month without ever discharging.
 
it's not a problem then. i need to use the battery, and this is the reason i was worried.

the problem was that i thought that even when the charging was over, the macbook would get it's energy from the battery, and not from the cable.

Another question: this mechanism is from the battery itself or it's from OSX? I was thinking in installing ubuntu on dual boot.
 
I don't know if it's from OSX or built into the hardware.

Any particular reason why you would install ubuntu? You have most benefits of a UNIX based system in OSX. If you need specific Linux programs, many of them have been ported:

http://www.macports.org/
http://www.finkproject.org/

I'm just curious, I was a linux user myself, but I was able to get most things I needed to work natively in OSX.
 
I just like Ubuntu and Unity and i support FOSS. 😛

But if this power management is build in OSX i will preserve it as the only system in my computer.
 
elsoja said:
My macbook's battery is lasting for about 2 hours, so, constantly, I have to use it plugged.

I'm worried because I'm losing battery cycles. Is there a way of stop charging my macbook while on power to extend it's battery life?
Click to expand...
Once your battery is charged, it stops charging, even if you leave it plugged in. It will not overcharge and doesn't hurt your battery to run on AC power. When it's plugged in, it draws power only from AC and not the battery, except during periods of extreme demands, when it may draw on both. However, you shouldn't leave it plugged in all the time, as your battery needs to be used regularly to stay healthy.

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
 
elsoja said:
I just like Ubuntu and Unity and i support FOSS. 😛

But if this power management is build in OSX i will preserve it as the only system in my computer.
Click to expand...

Hmm, the new screenshots look nice. I've installed a 2009 version of ubuntu in VirtualBox, but obviously it evolved quite a bit since then. Actually that was a funny setup: I always work with multiple desktops, and the virtualbox would completely take over one of the desktops, so by switching to that desktop I would switch to a full screen ubuntu environment 🙂

I never liked Gnome, and I didn't like the changes from KDE 3 to 4. I'm happy they got something new and fresh.
 
i couldn't find the answer of my question regarding the operating system. 🙁
 
You could try an ubuntu forum to find out how well macbooks are supported there. I don't think apple provides drivers for linux systems through bootcamp.
 
elsoja said:
it's not a problem then. i need to use the battery, and this is the reason i was worried.

the problem was that i thought that even when the charging was over, the macbook would get it's energy from the battery, and not from the cable.

Another question: this mechanism is from the battery itself or it's from OSX? I was thinking in installing ubuntu on dual boot.
Click to expand...

it's controlled by the System Management Controller. IIRC this is part of the EFI, which is comparable to the BIOS on a MBP, so although specific power management is controlled by the OS, basic battery and charging function is in the EFI.
 
So, the basic power management is controlled by the OS, but this mechanism of using the cable when the battery is fully charged is controlled by the SMC? Does this mean i will keep this functionality even if i change the OS?
 
elsoja said:
So, the basic power management is controlled by the OS, but this mechanism of using the cable when the battery is fully charged is controlled by the SMC? Does this mean i will keep this functionality even if i change the OS?
Click to expand...

I would assume so. You notice how when you have the computer off the light on the charger indicates if it's charged? that leads me to believe it's like any other comptuer/ combination of OS's in that regard.
 
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