Rev B Air Battery @ 95% health (3 days old)

[GoCubsGo]

I bought the 1.6ghz 120gb HDD model Air on Monday. I ran whatever little charge is in the battery down to nothing, left it off for 5 hours, then charged it for a full day, well past the time when the magsafe turned from orange to green as I was at work. Upon turning it on the battery health was 95%. I rebooted and still no change. I calibrated, ran it down playing HD shows on hulu.com, left it off from 8 pm to 6 am, then plugged it into a power source from 6 am to 5 pm. Battery is at 95% health still.

I'm assuming this is not normal, am I correct?

 

[Schtumple]

I thought you were supposed to fully charge it up on first getting it?

Draining it is the exact opposite of what you should do on the first run, I practically killed the battery life of my old mobile by doing using it to death first...

 

[GoCubsGo]

I don't follow to be honest. It shouldn't matter one way or another. It's basically a charge up down up down. Not sure what the first run has to do with it.

 

[andreab35]

Hi jessica.

You are not the only one. My battery health is 95% according to iStat after only having it for four days and only having 5 cycles.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Weird! And I know we have the same MB Air. Wonder if this is something with the HDD models. Hope not, can't stand another "issue" on the LINE!

 

[Schtumple]

Actually they only get charged to 50%, as that's optimal storage charge (something along those lines), I believe by not charging it up it renders a certain amount of the battery dead, hence 95% health.

 

[dehory]

This is pretty normal. Mine (128 SSD/1.86) started out at 96%, dropped to 95% after maybe 4 or 5 charges, and now is up to 97%. I believe that this is a consequence of iStat not being 100% accurate. Take a look at this reassuring post by NC MacGuy.

Congrats on your purchase!

 

[Cynicalone]

I'm not sure it matters much. It might be a problem with how iStat displays the health of your battery. Mine is now about 6 weeks old and it floats in between 94% and 96%. It has never been 100% or even 99% when I first charged it I had it at 97%.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Thanks dehory. Forgot about that post. I am much more impressed with this thing than I thought I would be, that's for sure. I'm thinking I may drop it though because the first night I sneezed and it nearly fell off my lap.

Well I am unsure in terms of Li-ion batteries, but I've yet to read anything about not charging before you discharge.

I've called Apple and reset my SMC (shift+control+cmd+power) and was told to plug it back in and see what happens. I'm not too confident that it'll matter much. The Apple guy said it will never be 100% and 95% is within spec. I hate those two words ... "within spec".

I'm going to hang tight with it because I am not plagued with any issue such as lines or anything else. Hate to return it for something worse. I was just thinking it should be higher due to the fact that my PowerBook never went below 92% the first year and some change that I owned it.

 

[McGilli]

After about 2 weeks my new Rev B went to 90% health after a full charge - can't remember if i posted here or on the apple forums about it... anyways - a few days later - after another full charge it jumped up to %97 health or something like that.

I haven't look at that 'health' meter since.... jumps all over the place for me.

 

[jackiecanev2]

My 1.86/128 was at 94% or so for the first few cycles after calibration... now after 8 cycles it's up to 97% and lasts about 4.5 hours with moderate usage. I think >80% is considered within spec within a specified time period (300 cycles or (1 or 3) years depending on applecare). Anything over 80%, even if its brand new, won't get you very far.

 

[Ironic]

Mine also went down to 95% after Calb. I did each month it back to 98%.

 

[GoCubsGo]

It is up to 96% according to iStat after a SMC reset. Who knows what's up.

 

[Ironic]

wait a week or two and do it again, mine did go up

 

[vtec96]

I have been using my Rev A for 2 months now...
It dropped to 97% after couple days when I just got it
However, it just went back to 100% couple days ago!!!

 

[SummerBoy]

nope

return that thing

 

[Ironic]

Mine now is 99%

 

[Ironic]

Jessica, how is it now?

 

[buccsmf1]

return that thing

WRONG. The health will fluctuate a lot. I've seen mine as high as 99% and as low as 92%..... right now it's at 95%... they WILL NOT allow you to return it. it's fine

 

[Ironic]

WRONG. The health will fluctuate a lot. I've seen mine as high as 99% and as low as 92%..... right now it's at 95%... they WILL NOT allow you to return it. it's fine

I can get almost anything returned

 

[Kan-O-Z]

return that thing

Wow doesn't take much for you to return things. You will always find something that might be a bit off if you look hard enough. I say keep it. Jessica has a good machine...unless she sees her health deteriorating quickly, it's fine.

By the way my health is 95% as well. As someone mentioned, iStat is not very accurate. My MBP showed 100% health when it was 1 year old....a few weeks later it dropped to 70%.

Just make sure you are getting 4+ hours of usage on a charge.

Kan-O-Z

 

[kastenbrust]

I bought the 1.6ghz 120gb HDD model Air on Monday. I ran whatever little charge is in the battery down to nothing, left it off for 5 hours, then charged it for a full day, well past the time when the magsafe turned from orange to green as I was at work. Upon turning it on the battery health was 95%. I rebooted and still no change. I calibrated, ran it down playing HD shows on hulu.com, left it off from 8 pm to 6 am, then plugged it into a power source from 6 am to 5 pm. Battery is at 95% health still.

I'm assuming this is not normal, am I correct?

You shouldnt have fully discharged it when you first got it, that actually damages the battery a little, the thing to do is to fully charge it, then fully discharge it. I did exactly the same thing as you with my new macbook pro, but if you take it to the apple store and complain to the geniuses then they will give you a new one, because it could simply be a restocked battery, they dont know Its true istat does fluctuate though

 

[NC MacGuy]

My first gen. MBA was about 98-99% new. Gen. 2 has only gotten to 97%. Not that it's bad, just different. Usually hovers at 94-96%. Gen. 1 has over 320 cycles and is still around 92%. I tend to not worry about this too much until the 11th month. Unless of course you're in the 80-91% range out of the box.

 

[Kan-O-Z]

You shouldnt have fully discharged it when you first got it, that actually damages the battery a little, the thing to do is to fully charge it, then fully discharge it. I did exactly the same thing as you with my new macbook pro, but if you take it to the apple store and complain to the geniuses then they will give you a new one, because it could simply be a restocked battery, they dont know Its true istat does fluctuate though

I would think that Apple would sell it's computers with pre-conditioned batteries rather than allowing the end user to do it and possibly screw it up. It would be the smart thing to do. This would minimize returns as well as reduce unsatisfied customers.

If it were such a bad thing to use the computer without fully charging it first then there should be a little sticky or note with a warning stating that damage to the battery can occur if not charged fully upon first use.

Kan-O-Z

 

[dogg]

6 weeks old and 92%. Charged it overnight without using when i received it. Since then i always fully discharge the battery before fully recharging. Calibrated numerous times. Battery is rubbish!!!