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#1 2007-06-08 3:39 am
Battery Woes
I just bought a new off-brand battery for my 12" PowerBook (867Mhz) and it's giving me trouble. After a few minutes of charging, the charge indicator will change from something like 10% right up to 100%. The AC adapter will turn green, and the lights on the battery itself all light up. Then, after a relatively short period of use, the charge will drop from something like 80% right down to 0% or sometimes the laptop will just go to sleep. So, I'll plug it in, and after a few minutes it's back up to 100% again. I've reset the PRAM, NVRAM, and PMU. Every once in a while it'll charge correctly; but most of the time it doesn't.
So, my question is, before I try to get it warrantied, is there any chance that the AC adapter (I mention this, because the AC adapter sometimes turns green while the battery is still charging, or will change green/orange through the charge) or the computer itself is at fault? My old battery did something similar, but I chalked it up to being an old battery (had some 500+ charge cycles on it)
_Nik
Last edited by GreenAlge (2007-06-08 3:50 am)
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#2 2007-06-08 4:36 am
- D'Eyncourt
- OMGDICTATOR
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Re: Battery Woes
What exactly do you mean that "it'll charge correctly"? You mean that it will take 1 or 2 hours to charge to 100% and then your PB will last for an hour or two after such a charging? Does this (a long charging time) happen when your PB isn't under any sort of power strain such as letting it charge while in sleep mode or such?
BOYCOTT SONY
"I think the question now is not whether you went to Vietnam or whether you didn't, whether you fought in the war or fought against the war. I think the only question is whether we can find a president smart enough never to make a mistake like that again"--Molly Ivins, way back in 1992
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#3 2007-06-08 9:24 am
- Graphic Autist
- Scumdog of the Universe
- From: Antarctica
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Re: Battery Woes
My PowerBook does the 80% to sleep drop as well.
Same model as yours, but original battery.
But I almost never use it unplugged. Is keeping it plugged in all the time bad for the battery?
Mac Pro 2.66 ghz Quad Core - 9 GB RAM - Mac OS X 10.6.2 & 10.5.8
MacBook Pro 2.4 ghz Intel Core 2 Duo - 4 GB RAM - Mac OS X 10.6.2
G4 MDD Dual 1.25 ghz - 2 GB RAM - Mac OS X 10.5.8
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#4 2007-06-08 6:17 pm
Re: Battery Woes
D'Eyncourt wrote:
What exactly do you mean that "it'll charge correctly"? You mean that it will take 1 or 2 hours to charge to 100% and then your PB will last for an hour or two after such a charging? Does this (a long charging time) happen when your PB isn't under any sort of power strain such as letting it charge while in sleep mode or such?
Yes, when it charges "correctly" it works as you described. Whether the 'Book is on/off/closed seems to make no difference; sometimes it'll work, most of the time it doesn't.
_Nik
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#5 2007-06-08 6:18 pm
Re: Battery Woes
Graphic Autist wrote:
My PowerBook does the 80% to sleep drop as well.
Same model as yours, but original battery.
But I almost never use it unplugged. Is keeping it plugged in all the time bad for the battery?
I've heard that... dunno if it's true or not. 
_Nik
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#6 2007-06-08 6:36 pm
- D'Eyncourt
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Re: Battery Woes
Graphic Autist wrote:
My PowerBook does the 80% to sleep drop as well.
Same model as yours, but original battery.
But I almost never use it unplugged. Is keeping it plugged in all the time bad for the battery?
The worse thing you can do to a lithium-based battery is let it discharge too much. The *Books are set up in such a way that they will power down if the battery is below a certain level which is well above this critical point, but one could discharge a lithium-based battery too much by repeatedly restarting the computer without letting the battery recharge. I'm not sure what happens after that point, but at best the battery will no longer hold a charge (at least not for long).
As I understand it: it does no real harm to keep a lithium-based battery plugged in all of the time. All new laptops will allow a small discharge to occur when the battery is full to prevent overcharging, which is why you will sometimes see the light on the power cord go into to charge mode even though you haven't unplugged the laptop. Yes, you are using at least part of a recharge cycle by having it do so, but it will be doing such in any case.
In theory you should charge then discharge the battery in full cycles, but this is usually unrealistic in most situations (requiring much more maintenance than most people are willing to devote). Just leave it plugged in and realize that the battery will die eventually and that with normal use you will have to replace it after a few years in any case.
Last edited by D'Eyncourt (2007-06-08 6:47 pm)
BOYCOTT SONY
"I think the question now is not whether you went to Vietnam or whether you didn't, whether you fought in the war or fought against the war. I think the only question is whether we can find a president smart enough never to make a mistake like that again"--Molly Ivins, way back in 1992
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#7 2007-06-08 6:46 pm
- D'Eyncourt
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Re: Battery Woes
GreenAlge wrote:
D'Eyncourt wrote:
What exactly do you mean that "it'll charge correctly"? You mean that it will take 1 or 2 hours to charge to 100% and then your PB will last for an hour or two after such a charging? Does this (a long charging time) happen when your PB isn't under any sort of power strain such as letting it charge while in sleep mode or such?
Yes, when it charges "correctly" it works as you described. Whether the 'Book is on/off/closed seems to make no difference; sometimes it'll work, most of the time it doesn't.
_Nik
Then I would have to guess that your battery cells are probably OK.
Could you check the power contacts on the battery and in your PB? There may be either something on them (like corrosion), or perhaps one or more of them may not be seated properly so that you only get a full contact sometimes.
If you can borrow the use of another battery at least temporarily, then you could more easily localize the problem. I suspose there could be a problem in the charging system, but it is hard to tell without further testing.
BOYCOTT SONY
"I think the question now is not whether you went to Vietnam or whether you didn't, whether you fought in the war or fought against the war. I think the only question is whether we can find a president smart enough never to make a mistake like that again"--Molly Ivins, way back in 1992
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#8 2007-06-09 1:05 pm
- Graphic Autist
- Scumdog of the Universe
- From: Antarctica
- Registered: 2003-06-08
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Re: Battery Woes
Thanks, D'Eyncourt.
The battery is 2 months shy of being 4 years old. Maybe time to get a new one, but not a high priority as I don't use it unplugged often enough to worry about it.
Mac Pro 2.66 ghz Quad Core - 9 GB RAM - Mac OS X 10.6.2 & 10.5.8
MacBook Pro 2.4 ghz Intel Core 2 Duo - 4 GB RAM - Mac OS X 10.6.2
G4 MDD Dual 1.25 ghz - 2 GB RAM - Mac OS X 10.5.8
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#9 2007-06-12 3:24 pm
Re: Battery Woes
D'Eyncourt wrote:
GreenAlge wrote:
D'Eyncourt wrote:
What exactly do you mean that "it'll charge correctly"? You mean that it will take 1 or 2 hours to charge to 100% and then your PB will last for an hour or two after such a charging? Does this (a long charging time) happen when your PB isn't under any sort of power strain such as letting it charge while in sleep mode or such?
Yes, when it charges "correctly" it works as you described. Whether the 'Book is on/off/closed seems to make no difference; sometimes it'll work, most of the time it doesn't.
_NikThen I would have to guess that your battery cells are probably OK.
Could you check the power contacts on the battery and in your PB? There may be either something on them (like corrosion), or perhaps one or more of them may not be seated properly so that you only get a full contact sometimes.
If you can borrow the use of another battery at least temporarily, then you could more easily localize the problem. I suspose there could be a problem in the charging system, but it is hard to tell without further testing.
No corrosion. I'm guessing it's some part of the battery at this point, since the old battery with 500+ charge cycles is performing better than the new one at this point.
_Nik
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#10 2007-06-12 3:56 pm
- Daddyo
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- From: the last juke joint
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Re: Battery Woes
BTI battery=bad
NewerTech battery=good
A million seconds is 12 days.
A billion seconds is 31 years.
A trillion seconds is 31,688 years.
Hope and change could be forever.
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