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MBP Battery Health

Maldini said:
off topic what is your rc car model?:D
I have a Tamiya TNX 5.2 and this car is a beast..but its loud and heavy.. in Germany the nearest nitro car track is 100 miles away..but if i had an electric car i can use one just around the corner :cool:...so i'm thinking about switching to electric
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I had an Associated RC18T with about 3 3cell 1800mah Lipo packs, but only bought that to try offroad. My current weekly vehicle is in my signature, and if you check out the link to my track (SBRCCA.org) the vehicle in the banner is mine, however that is nitro powered. Now I run an onroad Associated TC5 with an Orion 3200mah 2 cell lipo running a Novak 13.5 brushless motor. I didn't want to use NIMH because youll pay $50-$100 for a good pack that only gets maybe 20 good cycles before it is a practice pack. With my $100 lipo, I should get 100-200 cycles, possibly more, but for me, thats a year of racing electric.

100 miles isn't bad to get to another track. Thats about how far the electric onroad track is which also has a small offroad track. My favorite offroad track is about 300 miles from me in Ontario CA, Ill drive that in a heartbeat. About 200 people show up every weekend for those races. (revrace.com)

BTW, my MBP batt is @ 93% @ 39 cycles according to iStat pro. I am going to compare it to some more battery info programs.
 
chimi said:
After a year and a half, my MB battery health was 67% and 161 cycles. I called up Apple and they overnighted me a new battery for free! I just have to mail back (postage paid by Apple) my old one or they charge me for it.

If anyone is under 80% health AND under 300 cycles, call Apple! You will get a new battery.
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this is true. i got a new battery in october because my old battery's health was horrible. they had me read off some numbers from my computer and shipped me a new battery right away. it was by far the best customer service experience i've ever had with apple.
 
jmpmntwnty3 said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you drain your battery (until your mb/mbpro shuts itself off and goes into sleep mode) and then stick it on the charger and let it charge overnight without touching it.
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I think you are 90% right about that.


jmpmntwnty3 said:
I've heard the best way to use your mb/mbpro is to use the battery whenever possible. It keeps the health above 90% longer. Don't attach it to the adapter unless you absolutely have to.
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This part, I'm pretty sure you are wrong.
 
My new MBP should be here tomorrow and I am looking at how I should charge this thing. Should I discharge it everyday? I will certainly be using it for atleast 5 maybe even 12 hours a day(on some days). I am not sure weather to leave it plugged in or use those preciouse charge cycles.
 
Nakamura said:
My new MBP should be here tomorrow and I am looking at how I should charge this thing. Should I discharge it everyday? I will certainly be using it for atleast 5 maybe even 12 hours a day(on some days). I am not sure weather to leave it plugged in or use those preciouse charge cycles.
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If you fully discharge it every day. The life of battery will not be longer than 1 year before down to 80% health.
 
rezenclowd3 said:
Does anyone know where Apple gets their cells from? These numbers seem pretty inconsistent.
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APPLE will never admit the result of coconutbattery. Trust me, I just try it. I got the coconutbattery result of 99% after 4 cycle in my 2 week new MB. They said the result of third part software didn't mean anything.
 
feyn-man said:
APPLE will never admit the result of coconutbattery. Trust me, I just try it. I got the coconutbattery result of 99% after 4 cycle in my 2 week new MB. They said the result of third part software didn't mean anything.
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You can just as easily get this information from System Profiler. In fact, that is the first thing an Applecare tech will check if you complain about poor battery life.
 
aquajet said:
You can just as easily get this information from System Profiler. In fact, that is the first thing an Applecare tech will check if you complain about poor battery life.
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I know. But system profile said it is "good". It don't give you an number about how "good" it is. So......., you know
 
Coconut battery listing - Health 97%, Cycles 152. I have 1:34 hrs. remaining and have been using my Mac for more than 2 1/2 hours.
I recalibrate as per Apple instructions (see in Help > recalibrate battery) about once a month for the year that owned my MacBookPro.
 
jmpmntwnty3 said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you drain your battery (until your mb/mbpro shuts itself off and goes into sleep mode) and then stick it on the charger and let it charge overnight without touching it.

I've heard the best way to use your mb/mbpro is to use the battery whenever possible. It keeps the health above 90% longer. Don't attach it to the adapter unless you absolutely have to.
Click to expand...

YOU ARE wrong????
 
tMac85 said:
DONT take the battery out while using it plugged in. Apples computers are designed to use some of the battery while plugged in. If you take out the battery your computer is not getting enough energy to run properly.
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you are kidding, I hope.... Mac runs fine with or without. just at a lower CPU rate.
 
markie said:
"DONT take the battery out while using it plugged in. Apples computers are designed to use some of the battery while plugged in. If you take out the battery your computer is not getting enough energy to run properly."

LOL. No, just no. Not true at all! They use more power with the battery in - to charge it.
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thank you.:rolleyes:
 
Ok, I keep reading about batteries and battery health and how to keep a good battery health and how not to keep a good battery health, and I'm never completely satisfied with what I read when I compare it with my battery..... I always think I'm missing something.

Maybe someone can help me out here..... so, my MBP is 1 year old (Happy birthday!.... or something.) and it's at 219 cycles. However! I definitely did NOT discharge it completely that many times. I do use the battery almost every day, though. And I charge it up almost every day. On average I guess it's every 2 to 3 days that I use the battery and charge it back up, but I only let it go down to 0% about once a month. Also, unless it goes down to 0%, I don't always have it go back up to 100%, but I usually do.

I read that 1 cycle is going down to 0% and back up to 100%. So if that's one cycle, and I charge it up to 100% from around 30% very often, does that add up to a bunch of cycles when you add them together? Say I discharge to 50% and charge it back up, and then do the same thing the next day. Those 2 50% drains and recharges count as 1 cycle right?

Right now my battery health is hovering around 82%. I'm guessing there's no way to get it back up, since I do use the battery often.

So I guess what I'm saying with all this... is ... am I using my battery right, and in a healthy way? Or too much?? Because I also read that leaving it plugged in is bad for it too. So... what the hell? What's a good amount of battery usage? Once every other day? Every 3 days? Every day? Never??
 
i think i am beating everyone out here i got 96% 5341mAh with 7 cycles, this computer is only 2 weeks old. I'm also not exactly sure if I am plugged in for long period of time is it best to pull the battery to avoid wear from heat? and I read shorter charge and discharge is waay better than running it down? This is my first laptop and first apple computer and so far im not impressed with battery life also can bad life be affected by leopard?
 
Mine has always been poor ... 263 cycles ... and 81% ... but when the computer was new, i had 98%, and in the first week it was down to 89% ... and since it goes up and down. I am disappointed ... but Apple said it was fine so I couldn't get a replacement (that was 87% on 67 cycles):confused:
 
damn your gunna just squeeze out the 80% on 300 cycles. 87% on 61 cycles sounds terrible pretty amazing it stayed right there for 200 cycles. I'll just not worry about it unless it starts not lasting 2 hours, or hits 80% before 300 cycles.
 
motorazr said:
Mine has always been poor ... 263 cycles ... and 81% ... but when the computer was new, i had 98%, and in the first week it was down to 89% ... and since it goes up and down. I am disappointed ... but Apple said it was fine so I couldn't get a replacement (that was 87% on 67 cycles):confused:
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For a standard LiPO cell, those numbers are what most should see. If the battery EVER gets overheated, or even discharged too fast (the C rate, most good LiPO cells are now around 20C-25C) the life and capacity plummet. With the LiPOs that I buy, I make sure they are rated at 20C or more, but like I said, I use them in a much harsher environment than a computer battery, and can drain them in 10minutes or less. A friend has a 3 cell 5000mah LiPO, and he drains his at about the 19minute mark (just before the race ends)

I wish that one could charge the battery at 1C, which is standard for LiPOs. That means that any size LiPO charges in 1 hour. I hate charging for 2+ hours, many times more.
 
rezenclowd3 said:
I had an Associated RC18T with about 3 3cell 1800mah Lipo packs, but only bought that to try offroad. My current weekly vehicle is in my signature, and if you check out the link to my track (SBRCCA.org) the vehicle in the banner is mine, however that is nitro powered. Now I run an onroad Associated TC5 with an Orion 3200mah 2 cell lipo running a Novak 13.5 brushless motor. I didn't want to use NIMH because youll pay $50-$100 for a good pack that only gets maybe 20 good cycles before it is a practice pack. With my $100 lipo, I should get 100-200 cycles, possibly more, but for me, thats a year of racing electric.

100 miles isn't bad to get to another track. Thats about how far the electric onroad track is which also has a small offroad track. My favorite offroad track is about 300 miles from me in Ontario CA, Ill drive that in a heartbeat. About 200 people show up every weekend for those races. (revrace.com)

BTW, my MBP batt is @ 93% @ 39 cycles according to iStat pro. I am going to compare it to some more battery info programs.
Click to expand...

I just saw a video of the TA TC5 and its pretty impressive, is it an RTR model?
That Revrace track is huge... if we got 50 ppl showing up in weekends then i consider it an achievement :cool:
and thanx for the battery advice since i dont have enough experience with them :D
 
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