Macbook & Battery concern.

[Fouster]

Well I was concerned about my battery lasting not as long as i first got my macbook.
To be more precise at first I had around 3.45 to 4.15 hours and now i have one hour less. 2.45 to 3.15 hours.
So i downloaded cocconutbattery to check it out.

Cocconutbattery shows that I have only 77% of my battery left!!

My macbook is 3 months old although cocconutbattery shows iti is 5
And I have 85 loadcycles.

These 3 months ,almost every time I left the macbook to full discharge & then full charge it again.
And also I never shut it down ,cause I prefer to put it in sleep mode.


Is this normal?
77% after 3 months use?
Should I call apple?

 

[Sly]

You should NOT drain your battery down each time you use it, draining it completely each time will kill your battery as quick as anything. Drain it completely about once every 30 cycles only. if you NEED to use the battery a lot so that it drains completely every day, you have two options: 1. accept that you will need to buy a new battery every 6 months or 2. Buy a second battery and drain each to 50%, doing this should make your batteries last at least 300 cycles.

Coconut battery is reading correctly, it takes the batteries age from its serial number. The battery may not be made at the same time as you Macbook, it probably sat in stock at the factory for a bit.

 

[Fouster]

Damn it!!
I didn't know that!
Is there anyway to fix this now?
I know it's impossible to get to it's original capacity , but an improvement of 10% wo uld be good.

 

[Sly]

Its unlikely you will be able to get any capacity back. In the past I have got a bit back by giving the battery a rest in a cool place for a couple of days with a 45% charge. Worth a try, but don't hold out too much hope. Sorry

 

[Nicolasdec]

in 3 months my mac has done 28 battery-loadcycle and its at 97%

 

[Fouster]

Well Sly thanks I'll give it a try!
Should the battery be empty or half charged when I'll have it stored somewhere for 3-4days?

 

[Mac'Mo]

can anyone explain what a battery cycle is?

 

[Cybergypsy]

when i had my macbook, my batt. was going down fast, Apple sent me a replacement batt,,,,that stayed close to 99% after 100 cycles...in my heart i think they inproved the batt. now....

 

[Sly]

Well Sly thanks I'll give it a try!
Should the battery be empty or half charged when I'll have it stored somewhere for 3-4days?

Store it at around 45% charge, this is the perfect storage charge for Li-ion batteries. When you by anything new with a Li-ion battery in in it you will find it comes 45% charged.

 

[Sly]

can anyone explain what a battery cycle is?

A battery cycle is one full round of charge and discharge. If for instance the battery is fully charged, one cycle is a full discharge and full recharge. One Cycle can be made up of any number of small charges and discharges. If for instance a battery is discharged from full to 90% the recharged back to 100% 10 times this would amount to one cycle.

 

[EvryDayImShufln]

Does applecare cover these batteries long term? I'm thinking if they do, you could cntinue doing this until the battery has less than 50% capacity, then send it in and get a new one, however I'm not sure if this happens.

By the way that's alot of charge cycles!!

 

[Fouster]

Well I'll try to contact Apple to see if I can change the battery.
I'll let you know.