Battery "fix" at Genius Bar tonight!

[MRU]

The amount of people experiencing these long charge times seems to cry 'software bug' to me. Either that or it cost apple a fortune in replacement units.

I'm going to wait till 10.5.2 before I make a decision whether to return my MBA for a replacement.

I've done the SMU reset and still it takes 6-8 hours to charge.

What's irksome, is that apple simply doesn't come out and give us an estimation of how long it should take the MBA to charge from empty.

It could in the end be a simple case that the MBA battery really does take this long to charge fully

 

[MazingerZ]

The amount of people experiencing these long charge times seems to cry 'software bug' to me. Either that or it cost apple a fortune in replacement units.

I'm going to wait till 10.5.2 before I make a decision whether to return my MBA for a replacement.

I've done the SMU reset and still it takes 6-8 hours to charge.

What's irksome, is that apple simply doesn't come out and give us an estimation of how long it should take the MBA to charge from empty.

It could in the end be a simple case that the MBA battery really does take this long to charge fully

These problems are weird...my MBA charges to full in 3 to 3.5 hours. And I have not done anything such as the SMU reset. For the first few days though, I made sure I drain the battery all the way down and then recharge while using the MBA.

 

[teerexx52]

The amount of people experiencing these long charge times seems to cry 'software bug' to me. Either that or it cost apple a fortune in replacement units.

I'm going to wait till 10.5.2 before I make a decision whether to return my MBA for a replacement.

I've done the SMU reset and still it takes 6-8 hours to charge.

What's irksome, is that apple simply doesn't come out and give us an estimation of how long it should take the MBA to charge from empty.

It could in the end be a simple case that the MBA battery really does take this long to charge fully

I agree. With the smaller power adapter we really don't know what is normal charge time. It is strange though than some people are not experiencing this and some are.

 

[sirozha]

Guys,

How do you "calibrate" your battery? I can't find any reference to this.

Also, where do you see your battery health and the number of charge cycles it has gone through?

Thanks

 

[MRU]

Guys,

How do you "calibrate" your battery? I can't find any reference to this.

Also, where do you see your battery health and the number of charge cycles it has gone through?

Thanks

From Apples support site http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86284

:

1)Plug in the power adapter and fully charge your PowerBook's battery until the light ring or LED on the power adapter plug changes to green and the onscreen meter in the menu bar indicates that the battery is fully charged.
2)Allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for at least two hours. You may use your computer during this time as long as the adapter is plugged in.
3)Disconnect the power adapter with the computer still on and start running the computer off battery power. You may use your computer during this time. When your battery gets low, you will see the low battery warning dialog on the screen.
4)Continue to keep your computer on until it goes to sleep. Save all your work and close all applications when the battery gets very low, before the computer goes to sleep.
5)Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or more.
6)Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged again.

 

[PDE]

Just wanted to add that I've had three MBAs (two went back because of defects) and they all charged in about 3 hours. This latest one first showed 9 hours to full charge right after I had let it deplete to sleep and rest for 5 hours. However, within a few minutes it jumped from 9 hours to just under 3 hours and since then it shows approx 3 hours to charge after I've run the battery down completely. Haven't done any reset or anything.


Just to add to the pool of information/experiences.

 

[sirozha]

From Apples support site http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86284

Thanks. So, how do I see the battery health andi the number of charge cycles it has undergone?

Thanks

 

[prominence]

Just wanted to add that I've had three MBAs (two went back because of defects) and they all charged in about 3 hours. This latest one first showed 9 hours to full charge right after I had let it deplete to sleep and rest for 5 hours. However, within a few minutes it jumped from 9 hours to just under 3 hours and since then it shows approx 3 hours to charge after I've run the battery down completely. Haven't done any reset or anything.


Just to add to the pool of information/experiences.

What were the defects?

 

[dahcheet]

Thanks. So, how do I see the battery health andi the number of charge cycles it has undergone?

Thanks

I use iState Pro which puts a nice widget on Dashboard for you. Gives you a bunch of other information as well including CPU usage/temp, fanspeed, RAM, network, etc.

 

[PDE]

What were the defects?

The first one had a white/bright streak going diagonally across the screen. The second one had a lesser degree of the same thing plus the display frame around the LCD was warping and detaching in the bottom right. Everything else was perfect on those machines.

 

[queshy]

I've tried all the techniques in the book to do an SMC reset and my date/time never resets! Advice,anyone? BTW my mba is now taking 9 hrs to charge.

 

[designed]

Oh great. Got two MBAs. Other seems to run hotter than the other, other had the "8 hours to recharge". Zapped the SMC on the battery issue MBA -> no effect. Zapped the SMC on the fan-fan (it loves its fan) MBA -> now it's taking the 8 hours to recharge too.

How brilliant is that

 

[NC MacGuy]

Oh great. Got two MBAs. Other seems to run hotter than the other, other had the "8 hours to recharge". Zapped the SMC on the battery issue MBA -> no effect. Zapped the SMC on the fan-fan (it loves its fan) MBA -> now it's taking the 8 hours to recharge too.

How brilliant is that

I'm not sure about yours but mine took a few cycles to figure out its charging time. After about a week of inconsistency it has settled to about 3:45 to 4:15 for a full charge. I'm on cycle 38. Very different than my MB/MBP's. I just decided to use it and see what happened.

 

[jameskohn]

just use it...

Oh great. Got two MBAs. Other seems to run hotter than the other, other had the "8 hours to recharge". Zapped the SMC on the battery issue MBA -> no effect. Zapped the SMC on the fan-fan (it loves its fan) MBA -> now it's taking the 8 hours to recharge too.

How brilliant is that

Just use it... I'm not sure about the fan issues, but all of the battery issues seem to sort themselves out over time; about 2 hours to get to 80%, and almost the same to get from 80% the rest of the way to 100%. Under 4 hours total.

 

[BWhaler]

I am on my 5th or so battery cycle, and things seems pretty normal now with the battery.

I get about 4 -5 hours of battery life, and charges take about 5 hours.

I originally had the 10 hour charge cycles, the wide swings in battery life, etc. COPS, et al., did nothing to solve nothing to solve the problem.

But then for some reason, my battery became "normal." I hope it stays this way.