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Very useful app for 'book owners.
- Thread starter lordmac
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I had the same result as ITASOR-- my ibook is 8 days old; it was not charged on at least 2 of those days-- it says 9 charges. Inaccurate. Still, a cool app if it is generally correct. Coming from the world of always plugged-in PC notebooks, I'm glad to be using the battery at all. 
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rosalindavenue said:I had the same result as ITASOR-- my ibook is 8 days old; it was not charged on at least 2 of those days-- it says 9 charges. Inaccurate. Still, a cool app if it is generally correct. Coming from the world of always plugged-in PC notebooks, I'm glad to be using the battery at all.
Is it possible that the battery went through a couple charge cycles before you got it? I don't know Apple's pre-shipping policies... Also, if you primed your battery when you got it, that's a charge cycle there... not trying to apologize for the app, but I wonder if maybe it's right.
devilot76 said:I thought that a "cycle" was just any time you plugged it and unplugged it from your laptop... ?
From Apple
(Caption: Charge Cycle. Using and recharging 100% of battery capacity equals one full charge cycle.)
Not quite sure what that picture means, but Apple seems to think it's relevant... If anybody understands it, please explain...
Hmm, thanks for that info. Yes, I'm afraid that graph and its mini caption (the gray text showing cycles) doesn't make any sense to me. But I was wrong, because I just tried plugging and unplugging my PB and the cycle # on coconut hasn't changed.stridey said:
stridey said:
(Caption: Charge Cycle. Using and recharging 100% of battery capacity equals one full charge cycle.)
I understand it but not sure how to explain it. Forget the numbers meaning % of battery charge left and think of the bars as representing 'charge bits of a cycle if your battery had a capacity of 100' and different times of use. For argument's sake, let's say that each unit is a minute.
Let's assume we're starting with a full battery and use up 40 green units in 40 minutes in session 1, then you charge it a little by 20 pink units/minutes in session 2, then you use it again for 30 minutes/units in session 3, then you start charging it again into the blue sector for 20 minutes/units. 10 minutes/units into that session, you've used 100 units and one cycle. You keep going in session 4 but now the next 10 units are part of the next cycle. Session 5 uses up 50 units and then 40 units into session 6, you hit cycle 2. The remaining 20 units of that session go into cycle 3.
Having said all that, I'm not sure how it works in real life since here's my coconut battery information and I can't believe I've only done 46 cycles in 20 months!
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goodtimes5 said:
Sorry, I think I got you there.
68 Load Cycles
2 months
I go everywhere with my ibook and I don't leave it attached to the wall very often when it's fully charged. I've always been under the impression that it's healthier for the battery if you let it charge and discharge. Perhaps I should consider leaving it charged more often. At this rate my battery will be toast real fast!
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zv470 said:
I suppose so I still haven't really thought out fully the best way to show the collected results, suggestion for that are welcome. lol and *tear* everyone has better batteries then me
I did not know that this info was in t he tiger system profiler now thats cool. I suppose how u get the info doesn't really matter much but its rather fun to see what everyone's capacity is.
Sorry, I think i've got all of you with this, over 1 load cycle a day!!!
Surprised my battery is still in good condition seeing as though I use it until it runs out at college, must be why I have so many loadcycles. But hey my battery is still in good condition so i'l continue using it this way.
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Sorry newbie question, but how do i just get a thumbnail as the picture instead of a huge picture embedded in the post?
Edit: Sorry ignore that. I'm an idiot!!
Edit: Sorry ignore that. I'm an idiot!!
According to the Terminal command on a brand spankin' new PB 15" 1.5GHz:
Original Max Capacity: 4400
Current Max Capacity: 4417
Charge Cycles: 2
(Yes, my current max is about 0.4% above the theoretical original "full", but that's not surprising for an unused battery. The 2 charge cycles is correct--one charge when it came out of the box, then one full cycle to "condition" the battery, even though that's probably unnecessary)
In actuality, each of the sections on the graph is both down and up, as if you'd used that much of the battery then recharged it fully. Actually, you might not recharge it fully before discharging it some more, but the totals would be the same and the graph would be even more confusing that way.
What the graph is trying to show is that you first discharge the battery by 40% (to 60% of full), then recharge it all the way. That's 40% of a charge cycle. You then use it a little, draining it by 20% (down to 80% of full), and recharge it to full again. That's another 20% of a cycle. You then discharge and recharge another 30%, and finally use it for another 20% and recharge that, which totals 110%, and brings you into the 2nd charge cycle.
To extend the example, if you use your 'Book until the battery is almost dead (100% of capacity), then recharge it halfway, drain that down to almost dead again, then charge it all the way, you've just used 1.5 charge cycles. 100% down, 50% up, 50% down, then 100% up. Total: 150% down, 150% up = 1.5 full charge cycles. It looks a little weird, but the math has to work out in the end, since you can't use more than you charge.
Original Max Capacity: 4400
Current Max Capacity: 4417
Charge Cycles: 2
(Yes, my current max is about 0.4% above the theoretical original "full", but that's not surprising for an unused battery. The 2 charge cycles is correct--one charge when it came out of the box, then one full cycle to "condition" the battery, even though that's probably unnecessary)
Thanks for helping explain a really confusing graph, but I don't think you're quite correct. The way you explain it, if I'm reading correctly, one "charge cycle" would be a total of 50% down and 50% back up--in your example it sounds like it'd only be going down 100% and back up 100%, which would be one charge cycle, not two.Applespider said:
In actuality, each of the sections on the graph is both down and up, as if you'd used that much of the battery then recharged it fully. Actually, you might not recharge it fully before discharging it some more, but the totals would be the same and the graph would be even more confusing that way.
What the graph is trying to show is that you first discharge the battery by 40% (to 60% of full), then recharge it all the way. That's 40% of a charge cycle. You then use it a little, draining it by 20% (down to 80% of full), and recharge it to full again. That's another 20% of a cycle. You then discharge and recharge another 30%, and finally use it for another 20% and recharge that, which totals 110%, and brings you into the 2nd charge cycle.
To extend the example, if you use your 'Book until the battery is almost dead (100% of capacity), then recharge it halfway, drain that down to almost dead again, then charge it all the way, you've just used 1.5 charge cycles. 100% down, 50% up, 50% down, then 100% up. Total: 150% down, 150% up = 1.5 full charge cycles. It looks a little weird, but the math has to work out in the end, since you can't use more than you charge.
A tip for those with less than perfect batteries.
This is something I was taught to do with new batteries to break them in and with old batteries (ipod batteries too) that just aren't holding their charge like the used to.
1) Drain the battery completely... every last drop. After your computer puts itself to sleep it still isn't dead. Best way to drain the last bit is to start up in single user mode (hold down apple-s when starting up).
2) When the battery is completely dead, charge it back up with the computer off.
Now until I read this thread I never had a way of knowing that this actually did anything. Sort of one of those things I had always wondered if it was just a myth (still had my doubts even after rescuing a few ipod batteries).
So I just tried it with this app. Before draining it showed 93% max capacity. After draining completely and recharging it shows 99% max capacity. Cool, it actually works.
This is something I was taught to do with new batteries to break them in and with old batteries (ipod batteries too) that just aren't holding their charge like the used to.
1) Drain the battery completely... every last drop. After your computer puts itself to sleep it still isn't dead. Best way to drain the last bit is to start up in single user mode (hold down apple-s when starting up).
2) When the battery is completely dead, charge it back up with the computer off.
Now until I read this thread I never had a way of knowing that this actually did anything. Sort of one of those things I had always wondered if it was just a myth (still had my doubts even after rescuing a few ipod batteries).
So I just tried it with this app. Before draining it showed 93% max capacity. After draining completely and recharging it shows 99% max capacity. Cool, it actually works.
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zv470 said:
Not if you boot up in single user mode. Just boot up in single user mode after you have drained it enough to have it do that shutdown and then let it sit until the last little bit is drained.
