cadetapplesauce Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 i have a macbook pro and lately my battery life has been pretty crappy. it's died because of low battery a lot more times, recently (maybe 5 times this week). i don't know if it has anything to do with it. but when it's fully charged, it only has a battery life of 1 hour (normally, it's 2 and a half to three hours)... i know i didn't change any energy saving settings, because i would have remembered. it just started acting this way. also, i've been using my laptop cooler, but i've never had problems with it before. i'm not even using it right now and it still only charges to 1 hour. i don't know. maybe it's an easy ass fix and i'm too dumb to look to figure it out. help, anybody? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmythescumbag Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 From what I understand, if you leave your laptop plugged in all the time, or do not allow it to drain fully before recharging, the battery will develop a "memory" in which it "thinks" it is at full capacity, even though it isn't. I read/heard that you are supposed to charge it fully, unplug it, use it until it needs to be recharged, then let it charge without using it until it is fully recharged, then repeat. This is much easier said than done, hell my laptop (1.5 GHz G4 Powerbook, pre-Intel...I bought it new in early 2005) only holds a charge for 30 minutes now before it needs to be plugged in. I think a new battery could solve your problem (and mine), or, to a lesser extent, a new AC adapter (I am on my 2nd one now, but not because of this issue, my first one fell apart)...if the adapter is bad, it would not provide a proper charge, thus leading to shortened battery life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronniethebear Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 From what I understand, if you leave your laptop plugged in all the time, or do not allow it to drain fully before recharging, the battery will develop a "memory" in which it "thinks" it is at full capacity, even though it isn't. I read/heard that you are supposed to charge it fully, unplug it, use it until it needs to be recharged, then let it charge without using it until it is fully recharged, then repeat. This is much easier said than done, hell my laptop (1.5 GHz G4 Powerbook, pre-Intel...I bought it new in early 2005) only holds a charge for 30 minutes now before it needs to be plugged in. I think a new battery could solve your problem (and mine), or, to a lesser extent, a new AC adapter (I am on my 2nd one now, but not because of this issue, my first one fell apart)...if the adapter is bad, it would not provide a proper charge, thus leading to shortened battery life. You are exactly right. It's called the "memory effect", and it can happen with any rechargeable battery. It's always best to use up the battery, charge it, unplug it as soon as it's done, repeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
william Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 yeah....what they said... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadetapplesauce Posted July 27, 2008 Author Share Posted July 27, 2008 sweet. thanks guys. i'll try it out today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
takingchase Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 you're lucky for an hour of time. My battery drains in like 15 minutes. Its just always plugged in if I want to use it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtmanner Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 Battery "memory" was probably the hardest thing to explain to people, especially old ones, when I worked at Radio Shack. People just don't get the concept. They'd bring in phone batteries saying they died in under a month or two and the first question I'd ask would be "Did you put the phone back on it's stand every night?" The reply was always "YES, OF COURSE I DID!" and then from there they would try to cover themselves when I started talking about how they shouldn't. I made some people feel pretty small over a battery, but that's what you get for trying to make me look like an asshole for selling you a a bad battery. Anyways, this is most likely your problem. Sometimes batteries do also freak out a little bit and seem to develop their own memory even if you wait til its almost dead to charge it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgoodcore Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 Check the Apple help site, they have a section on battery conditioning. You might be able to do a deep condition on the battery and get back a lot of life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jercjast Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 The battery on my macbook pro has been doing the same exact thing. I really need to get around to doing something about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattramone Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 i have a macbook pro and lately my battery life has been pretty crappy. it's died because of low battery a lot more times, recently (maybe 5 times this week). i don't know if it has anything to do with it. but when it's fully charged, it only has a battery life of 1 hour (normally, it's 2 and a half to three hours)... i know i didn't change any energy saving settings, because i would have remembered. it just started acting this way. also, i've been using my laptop cooler, but i've never had problems with it before. i'm not even using it right now and it still only charges to 1 hour.i don't know. maybe it's an easy ass fix and i'm too dumb to look to figure it out. help, anybody? The problem is obvious - you bought a Mac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgoodcore Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 i have a macbook pro and lately my battery life has been pretty crappy. it's died because of low battery a lot more times, recently (maybe 5 times this week). i don't know if it has anything to do with it. but when it's fully charged, it only has a battery life of 1 hour (normally, it's 2 and a half to three hours)... i know i didn't change any energy saving settings, because i would have remembered. it just started acting this way. also, i've been using my laptop cooler, but i've never had problems with it before. i'm not even using it right now and it still only charges to 1 hour.i don't know. maybe it's an easy ass fix and i'm too dumb to look to figure it out. help, anybody? The problem is obvious - you bought a Mac. Yay, what a dumbass for wanting a computer that works well. Jerk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmythescumbag Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 i have a macbook pro and lately my battery life has been pretty crappy. it's died because of low battery a lot more times, recently (maybe 5 times this week). i don't know if it has anything to do with it. but when it's fully charged, it only has a battery life of 1 hour (normally, it's 2 and a half to three hours)... i know i didn't change any energy saving settings, because i would have remembered. it just started acting this way. also, i've been using my laptop cooler, but i've never had problems with it before. i'm not even using it right now and it still only charges to 1 hour.i don't know. maybe it's an easy ass fix and i'm too dumb to look to figure it out. help, anybody? The problem is obvious - you bought a Mac. Salty hater tots anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicker Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 here we go again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattramone Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 The problem is obvious - you bought a Mac. Yay, what a dumbass for wanting a computer that works well. Jerk. My iPod is a portable tape deck that I spray painted black and carved "U2" into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronniethebear Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 i have a macbook pro and lately my battery life has been pretty crappy. it's died because of low battery a lot more times, recently (maybe 5 times this week). i don't know if it has anything to do with it. but when it's fully charged, it only has a battery life of 1 hour (normally, it's 2 and a half to three hours)... i know i didn't change any energy saving settings, because i would have remembered. it just started acting this way. also, i've been using my laptop cooler, but i've never had problems with it before. i'm not even using it right now and it still only charges to 1 hour.i don't know. maybe it's an easy ass fix and i'm too dumb to look to figure it out. help, anybody? The problem is obvious - you bought a Mac. ITT: mattramone proving he's either having a shitty day or is just an asshole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicker Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 The problem is obvious - you bought a Mac. ITT: mattramone proving he's either not funny or is just not funny. fxd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronniethebear Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 ITT: mattramone proving he's either not funny or is just not funny. fxd. Also this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattramone Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 The problem is obvious - you bought a Mac. ITT: mattramone proving he's either having a shitty day or is just an asshole. I just drunk and spent 8 hours in a hot car with the world's most annoying, badly spoken 13 year old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronniethebear Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 WELL DON'T TAKE IT OUT ON US, YA PRICK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattramone Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 WELL DON'T TAKE IT OUT ON US, YA PRICK. My Full Sail Pale Ale says fuck common sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbet Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 Battery "memory" was probably the hardest thing to explain to people, especially old ones, when I worked at Radio Shack. People just don't get the concept. They'd bring in phone batteries saying they died in under a month or two and the first question I'd ask would be "Did you put the phone back on it's stand every night?" The reply was always "YES, OF COURSE I DID!" and then from there they would try to cover themselves when I started talking about how they shouldn't. I made some people feel pretty small over a battery, but that's what you get for trying to make me look like an asshole for selling you a a bad battery.Anyways, this is most likely your problem. Sometimes batteries do also freak out a little bit and seem to develop their own memory even if you wait til its almost dead to charge it. Charging your battery more frequently is actually better than letting it die every time. They just need to fully drain it then charge it again like the people above said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cptchaos Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 The battery in your Macbook is a Lithium Polymer battery. Li-Po batteries don't suffer from "memory" effects (which is an incorrectly labeling of several problems, but we'll leave it at that for simplicity) . In fact, it's better to store li-po's with about half a charge in them. How old is the laptop? A battery has a limited amount of charge cycles. Your battery could also have suffered damage from over discharge, over charging, or extreme temperatures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derbsauce Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 Once mine shit the bed after a year, got a new one for free (thank god), and started doing the whole "fill the battery, unplug and drain, repeat" thing, which has worked extremely well. Battery has lasted over a year with zero problems. Not sure what you should do now that the batter is already dying, but if you do get a new one, heed this advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benchwarmer Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 there's a widget you can download called "istat pro" I use it and it tells you about the health of your battery, may be helpful! http://islayer.com/index.php?op=item&id=7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadetapplesauce Posted July 28, 2008 Author Share Posted July 28, 2008 The battery in your Macbook is a Lithium Polymer battery. Li-Po batteries don't suffer from "memory" effects (which is an incorrectly labeling of several problems, but we'll leave it at that for simplicity) . In fact, it's better to store li-po's with about half a charge in them. How old is the laptop? A battery has a limited amount of charge cycles. Your battery could also have suffered damage from over discharge, over charging, or extreme temperatures. it's only 13 months old, so it's still very new. it looks like i'd either have to get used to charging it up for however long it takes, use it for 45 minutes, and charge it back up again. it's weird because before, it would go to reserve battery at around 9 minutes, now it's more likely to go to reserve around 13 minutes. when i charge it back up, is it ok to have it on with the screen brightness all the way down? so far i've been trying this charge, drain, charge thing, and i've left it on during the times i've charged it. chris, i will look into that widget! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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