"Battery time remaining" going crazy

[kinkster]

I have a Rev A 1.6/80.

Just running on battery, the estimated time remaining is normal. About 4:00 with a 97% charge.

But when I have it plugged in, it goes really low. About 20-14 minutes. I know I have an almost full charge and the battery isn't shot or anything because I just used it for about 3 hours yesterday without plugging in. Even with the innacurate estimate it still reports the % correctly.

The iStat widget reports similar numbers, but not exactly the same. 16 on it, as opposed to 13 in the menu bar.

 

[tingly]

That could be the charging time, up to 100% charged in 14-20 minutes

 

[kinkster]

I was thinking that before but it's always showed the time remaining before. Or maybe when it's plugged in it would just show "charged" I don't remember really.

It slowly went down to 5% then went back up to 9%, with iStat saying "remaining: unknown"

 

[Constantinos]

COPS !!! (google it)

 

[clawanhex]

It's not to be unexpected...

This is an acknowledged problem (or feature, I'm not sure) of the MacBook batteries. The MacBook batteries don't charge unless they're around 95% charge, and the machines tend to get funny readings when they're at this high mark - the machine rarely takes an accurate reading.

If you're still worried, you can try:

• Calibrating the battery
• Resetting the SMC (System Management Controller).

Instructions for either can be found with a quick Google search.

 

[kinkster]

oh good to hear. thought i was going to have to mention it if I try to resell it some day.