Where did my battery life go?

[pw1981]

I have an early 08 MBP. I had been seeing 3-4 hours of battery life since I got the thing... until the last few weeks. I don't recall installing or changing any settings of late, but my battery life is suddenly down to 1.5 hours from a full charge.

What can I do to determine what's eating my battery?

 

[iAlexG]

install coconut battery to see the condition of your battery.

 

[pw1981]

install coconut battery to see the condition of your battery.

Ok, I did that.

Current Battery Charge 1248 mAh
Maximum Battery Charge 2052 mAh

Current Battery Capacity 2052 mAh
Original Battery Capacity 5600 mAh

Charge Cycles 186

What does that mean?

 

[Snowbound]

That means that the maximum charge of your battery is less than half of what it was new. You may be able to regain some of that by calibrating the battery.

 

[Vulcan]

How many cycles are on your battery? If you have AppleCare, you can probably get the battery replaced.

 

[FSMBP]

How many cycles are on your battery? If you have AppleCare, you can probably get the battery replaced.

AppleCare doesn't cover battery issues out of the a year of purchase of the Mac.

So if your Mac is under a year old, take it to an AppleStore and they will give you a new one because your battery's life seems funky. (Even if you don't have AppleCare, they will replace faulty batteries under a year old).

 

[pw1981]

I do not have Applecare and I am pretty sure my MBP is over a year old. Would I be wasting my time to make an appointment and have them look at it?

 

[miles01110]

I do not have Applecare and I am pretty sure my MBP is over a year old. Would I be wasting my time to make an appointment and have them look at it?

Yes, especially if you don't have AC.

 

[iBookG4user]

AppleCare doesn't cover battery issues out of the a year of purchase of the Mac.

So if your Mac is under a year old, take it to an AppleStore and they will give you a new one because your battery's life seems funky. (Even if you don't have AppleCare, they will replace faulty batteries under a year old).

I thought that it was that they covered it until it reached 300 cycles or AppleCare coverage ended, whichever came first. I have AppleCare on my MacBook Pro and they replaced the battery after the first year, as it only had ~60 cycles on it.