cycling a mbp battery monthly?

[zblaxberg]

I read somewhere about how I should be cycling my macbook pro battery monthly..how exactly do I do that? I'm trying to get the most out of the battery and keep it in good shape so when I'm home I usually take the battery out and just run off the power cord to the wall. If this cycling the battery will help than I might as well figure out how to do it.

 

[notsofatjames]

I read somewhere about how I should be cycling my macbook pro battery monthly..how exactly do I do that? I'm trying to get the most out of the battery and keep it in good shape so when I'm home I usually take the battery out and just run off the power cord to the wall. If this cycling the battery will help than I might as well figure out how to do it.

Cycling is just using the battery basically. If you want to go through one cycle every month (which i think the apple site reccommends) you need to use enough battery power to completely drain the battery. But you dont need to completely drain the battery. You can use half the charge, then fully charge it , then use another half a charge. That is one cycle.

Or did you mean calibrating?

 

[zblaxberg]

Or did you mean calibrating?

What would calibrating do for it? and how could I do that?

 

[notsofatjames]

What would calibrating do for it? and how could I do that?

calibrating makes sure that the battery meter shows the right amount, and its more for your convenience than anything else. Theres a guide to do it on the apple support website, it does take some time though. Basically you have to fullly drain, and fully recharge the battery.

theres a good bit of information over on the apple website about cycles and calibration.. http://www.apple.com/batteries/

 

[pcguru83]

I'm trying to get the most out of the battery and keep it in good shape so when I'm home I usually take the battery out and just run off the power cord to the wall,

Is that really necessary? Isn't it "smart" enough to know when the battery is charged and to not direct power to the battery?

I'm kind of curious about this myself, because I vey rarely use the battery in my MBP. It's almost always plugged it (but with the battery inside). I do usually use the battery at least once a month though.