Mac OS Query Regarding Macbook Pro Battery

S

Srirama

Adept
Guys,

My macbook pro 13" is less than a week old,but using coconut battery,i found out that age of my Mac as 3 months :S

and also a battery capacity of 5700mA,instead of 6350mA.

I am barely getting around 5 hours of battery life :(,the battery meter keeps going haywire,from 8hrs to 4hrs to 5 and half.

Here is a screnshot,is this a used macbook pro?



PLease help me out here guys,i have calibirated the battery once according to the apple website?

Did i do something wrong?

Also,one more thing right now the macbook pro has charged upto 96%,and says 40 minutes until fully charged?

 
Re: Query Reagarding Macbook Pro Battery

Maybe you could try calibrating your battery one or two more times and if it still doesn't work as well as it should, you could get the battery replaced. Apple's after-sales service is excellent, you won't face any issues with it :)
 
Re: Query Reagarding Macbook Pro Battery

i will try to do that,te thing each time i recalibirate battery health goes down by 2% or so.

and also battery strength is shown 5700mA instead of original 63.5Whr(6350mA).

Why is that?
 
Re: Query Reagarding Macbook Pro Battery

Hey, don't panic!
First of all, it shows 3 months because your Mac was manufactured 3 months ago.

About the capacity, well i wouldn't rely completely on a third party app like coconut battery. Its known to report incorrect readings sometimes. Check About this Mac->More info if you want to know how the battery is really doing.

Its normal for a new battery to take a little time to realise its full capacity. So make sure you follow the exact procedure to calibrate the battery as mentioned in the link below.

Mac OS X 10.6 Help: Calibrating a portable computer battery

You can also try resetting your Mac's SMC as it controls some of the battery-management operations.
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
The battery meter fluctuates in realtime according to the current usage. So if you're doing an intensive task it'll show lower hours remaining as opposed to hours remaining in an idle state.

See, the battery life depends on what you're doing, it will not always last 8-10 hours, it depends on several factors including the brightness levels and programs you are currently running etc.

Another important thing to consider when gauging battery life is Flash content. Flash, as we know, is a resource hog so if you're doing anything Flash-enabled like Youtube etc., then you will see a drastic cut in battery life.
When Apple claims a "10-hour battery life", they get those results by doing 'light' (not constantly opening and closing tabs) web browsing, excluding Flash, and running the screen a bit below the half-way mark for brightness.
Hope that's helpful.
 
Re: Query Reagarding Macbook Pro Battery

Srirama said:
Guys,

My macbook pro 13" is less than a week old,but using coconut battery,i found out that age of my Mac as 3 months :S

and also a battery capacity of 5700mA,instead of 6350mA.

I am barely getting around 5 hours of battery life :(,the battery meter keeps going haywire,from 8hrs to 4hrs to 5 and half.

Here is a screnshot,is this a used macbook pro?
Click to expand...
Well, for the battery meter going haywire, it automatically calibrates itself while you're working.. so for example, if your computer is idle, it'll show 8 hours.. if at any particular moment you are using up a lot of CPU, it shall show 2/3 hours (cause thats how long your batt will last in its "current" state i.e when you're running something maxing out your CPU)

Also, the five hour batt thing.. Have you disabled bluetooth if you dont use it? Do you have automatic brightness on? Keyboard Backlight? With normal (Browsing/email/etcetera) usage, I get around 6-7 hours on my MBP, while if by any chance I do end up using Illustrator or PS while on Batt power i'll get around 4/5 hours. I did a marathon session of designing 8 A2 Posters (300dpi, which takes a lot of CPU power to render) on one charge of battery, lasted 4 hours IIRC.

So just keep using your MBP, calibrate it again as Pat/Styx said and you'll be as good as gold.
 
Re: Query Reagarding Macbook Pro Battery

OK guys thanks for the tips,I'll rough it out for another 2-3 days and get back to you guys.

Thanks for the Help :D

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

GUys,something wrong,My battery's charge capacity is on a decline,look at below screenshot.



I don want to recaliberate again as i'm sure battery health will go down.
 
Re: Query Reagarding Macbook Pro Battery

are you using tata photon or something like that.
my mbp drains faster when i have plugged tata photon
 
Re: Query Reagarding Macbook Pro Battery

netwitx said:
are you using tata photon or something like that.

my mbp drains faster when i have plugged tata photon
Click to expand...

No i dont use tata photon,I use wifi,that too only when needed,while doing programming stuff on coda,i switch it off.

My full battery charge seems to be on the decrease :(



Or am i just paranoid :S.

While just doing programming stuff,with no wifi getting around 7 and half hours though :p
 
Re: Query Reagarding Macbook Pro Battery

guys sorry for bumping the thread,but the battery really does seem on the decline,I updated the coconut battery app,and here are the new readings,the battery health is down to 96% now.

It seems like a steady decrease.



I did not re-caliberate the battery,the last time i caliberated the battery charge capacity went down along with the battery health,so i did not want to risk it.

I checked in the system profiler too and they report the same things as the coconut battery app.

Battery life is ok,im getting around 7hrs on wifi,with only chrome open with 10 tabs or so,with brightness at 25%.(Is that normal,i expected closer to the 9 hour mark)i have disabled ads,and flash content using extensions in google chrome(hoping for better battery life,of course :p).

please do reply with your inputs,and please post some screenies of your mac's battery health if its convieninent to you,ofcourse :)

The thing is i really like this macbook pro(bah!,thats an understatement :p),want to keep it in great condition.

Battery max charge down to above figure from 5623mA
 
Re: Query Reagarding Macbook Pro Battery

About a couple of months back I had installed Coconut Battery and it indicated my battery capacity to be 97% and then it showed 96% within a couple of days. I calibrated the battery and it jumped to again 97% and its been at that mark ever since. I dont recommend you to recalibrate over and over again but do it once in a month or two.

My MBP runs most of the time off the power adapter, that could be a reason too. Run it off the battery only when needed or when calibrating.
 
red dragon said:
Do not worry about it,your mbp is just fine.
Click to expand...

Yup,i think i'll give it a pass.

harish_21_10 said:
About a couple of months back I had installed Coconut Battery and it indicated my battery capacity to be 97% and then it showed 96% within a couple of days. I calibrated the battery and it jumped to again 97% and its been at that mark ever since. I dont recommend you to recalibrate over and over again but do it once in a month or two.

My MBP runs most of the time off the power adapter, that could be a reason too. Run it off the battery only when needed or when calibrating.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip :)
 
I just noticed battery health is jumping between 96%~97%.

So I dont think there is anything to worry :)

Is there any app,which can tell the time battery lasted(while running on battery ofcourse).
 
Thread Bump.

Matter is getting quite serious,I'm down to 83% now.

Battery life seems to be spiraling down too.

Constantly going down.

 
Well...

Regarding battery..

My dell XPS 15 having almost same battery went down to 76% of original capacity from Nov to date..

So, I guess yours is correct.. Np
 
That is what I'm concerned about too.

On a normal basis,I use on battery maybe for 5 hours max(in a week),and I plug it in.

No extensive use,Calibration just makes these batteries worse.(IMHO)

Yet I still read experiences of people still having battery health in upper 90's even after 3 years of use.

This really is puzzling me.
 
Back
Top