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Battery cycle count

R

Retops

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 10, 2008
214
108
Oklahoma
Realize many of the readers of this board don't travel that much and probably don't cycle the battery as often as heavy travelers do, but I was wondering how many cycles the real road warriors out there have racked up so far on their Macbook Air? I am at 72 and all is well.

I use the MBA several times a day at various locations where I work. Lots of booting up since I don't like to carry the computer in sleep mode. I am really loving the lighter weight, so much so that I ditched my leather case for an even lighter ballistic nylon case.
 
Mhaddy

Mhaddy

macrumors 6502
Oct 26, 2005
445
1
Canada
What's your health at? I currently have 9 cycles and am running at 94% health... this has dropped from 99% in a little over a week...
 
D

Darge13

macrumors newbie
Feb 18, 2008
28
0
NC MacGuy said:
Mines at 61 cycles and health 98%. Sometimes shows 97%. It actually started at 94%. Quite surprised.
Click to expand...

Did the health come up after a few charge cycles or did it take awhile? I'm at 30 and the battery health reads 94% (4800mAh) but it has dipped as low as 91%...
 
bence8810

bence8810

macrumors member
Mar 1, 2008
77
0
Tokyo, Japan
I just got my MBA yesterday night, put it on charge while reinstalled the OS via Remote Install. This morning, i took it off the charger and started using it. I installed iStat Pro, and I saw the following:

My battery health is on 95%, not bad for a brand new machine :)
Charge Cycle: 1

and the weird thing happened just a few minutes ago. I again checked iStat Pro, and my charge cycle just climbed to 2. Wow, I mean, I havent even gone close to a charger and using the MBA from battery since morning, but my cycle counter went from 1 to 2, and as far as I am concerned, it should still be sitting on 0.......

Anyways, did someone else see this? Charge cycle goes up while not even being on charger?

Ben
 
JAdmiral

JAdmiral

macrumors member
Mar 26, 2008
40
31
So, I'm the kind of person that charges the battery whenever I have an opportunity. SHOULD I be?

Is it wrong to give the battery a lot of little charges, or does it matter?

Is there a way to condition or otherwise IMPROVE the battery health?
 
R

Retops

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 10, 2008
214
108
Oklahoma
JAdmiral said:
So, I'm the kind of person that charges the battery whenever I have an opportunity. SHOULD I be?

Is it wrong to give the battery a lot of little charges, or does it matter?

Is there a way to condition or otherwise IMPROVE the battery health?
Click to expand...


These kinds of questions always generate a lot of responses (often contradictory) but I will give you my experience. I recharge every chance I get because I use the machine a lot. My old laptops lasted years using this method. I have had no "memory" problems because normal use means that I occasionally run the battery all the way down and then do a full recharge. I have a six year old ibook that is still running on its original battery. It no longer lasts as long as it did when it was new, but it still works OK for a couple of hours.

Right now, for example, I am posting this on AC power even though my battery was above 50% when I started.
 
ayeying

ayeying

macrumors 601
Dec 5, 2007
4,547
13
Yay Area, CA
I'd say, just use it however you like. If you wanna plug it in more, then plug it in more. If you're a road warrior and almost never plugs it in except for charging, then be that person. I use it on battery whenever I'm away from my room and when I get back to my room, I plug it back in regardless if I've only used 1% or the entire battery. But that's just me.

To be constantly worrying abotu the battery life... well, if you can't shell out 130 bucks for a new battery after a long period, its time to save up the pennies cause no matter what, if you plan on keeping the system for a long time, the battery would have to be replaced. Same to go for cars. You don't worry abotu the tread life of your tires constantly do you?
 
T

tweety3537

macrumors newbie
Aug 20, 2008
2
0
im doing fine...

im not too heavy a traveler, but i suppose i do take mine with me whenever i do travel. im at 73 cycles - hah - and 100% health - macbook 4g (i think - i know thats sounds dumb) 2gb ram 2.2 GHz processor core two duo
 
W

wolfie

macrumors regular
Apr 11, 2008
166
43
I'm at 106 cycles, and changes between 90-95 per cent health. About 40 cycles in I stopped caring about health and it's much more blissful this way. I use it however I want, regardless of charge.
 
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