Monitoring the state of your battery!
Laptop batteries usually degrade rapidly, but it's hard to tell unless you precisely calculate how much time it lasts every time you use it. I used to monitor it using a great application called CoconutBattery. It unfortunately doesn't work in Leopard and it hasn't been updated yet. I found this alternative that was updated recently called "Battery Health Monitor". You will get the "Original Capacity", "Current Capacity", "Current Charge", "Charge Cycles" and "Voltage". One thing to keep an eye on is the number of cycles. According to Apple, the battery should still provide 80% of its original capacity after 300 cycles. You can also check out the "Current Capacity". Depending on what that number is, you might be eligible for a free battery replacement if your Mac is still under warranty. The result for my MacBook came out pretty weird, I didn't know a battery with over a hundred cycles could have more capacity than the original capacity. You can get more info or download Battery Health Monitor here from MacUpdate.
posted by Frederic Tremblay at
12/14/2007
15 Comments:
I have Leopard and Coconut Battery works fine.
It looks like its working, but the number of cycles is totally off.
MacGeek
How is this info better than iStat Pro - is it worth running both??
Mac Dude, can you offer a tip on how to designate certain email addresses if someone has multiple addresses in a distribution list in address book? Whenever I put someone into a distribution list it automatically puts both addresses down and doesn't let me modify it.
My macbook battery has 219 cycles and 79% capacity. It's just over 1 year 3 months old. are these poor numbers?
Austen
Can you give us more info on what might be covered under warranty? I've had my macbookpro for 1 year, and I'm at 74% current capacity after 214 cycles.
I have only 68 cycles and am at 79% health in 17 months. Any remedies?
I run iStat Nano for this, it's a handy little widget cause i get all that info as well processes, CPU usage, temps, network transfers and more. It's similar to it's older brother iStat Pro except in a smaller package.
My MBP is not even a year old and I'm at 57% capacity and 158 cycles. The 57% definitely worries me since it's so young. Any remedies?
Something's not right here - Original capacity was 100% (5,020 mAh), while Current Capacity is 108% (5,398 mAh) ???????????????????
If you have numbers that indicate a charge of lower than 80% in one year, then you qualify for a free battery replacement as long as your computer is under warranty. I am not familiar with the 300 cycle count as a meter, but it is worth a shot. (chances are that 300 is close to one year anyways.... figure 5days in a work week. x52 weeks a year. =260 cycles)
I did this about 10 months into owning my macbook and got a replacement. it was around 70% capacity. i had a new battery the next day because i live somewhat close to Cupertino whee apple is stationed.
one thing they asked me to do was look at the battery stats in the system profiler. go to system profiler and go to "power" and calculate the numbers your self before calling apple... im pretty sure coconutbattery pulls its info from here, but its a good idea to make sure that you see the same numbers as the apple tech does.
one last thought.
- i am pretty sure that close to noone knows about the 80% in one year rule, so if you call, you probably have a good chance of having it replaced. just mention that rule. :)
Chris Anderson
thaflyinsoundman@aim.com
oh and the original capacity of a macbook battery is 5200mAh, so i would guess that tht program is adding a 0 in between the 5 and the 2.
In fact as far as I understand from the article here (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86284) you cannot clearly determine the real battery life unless you follow up the guideline stated there...
Istat nano is a widget that does the same and more.
A good battery will do your computer work without any problem. Time ago i had too much problem with my laptop and after suffer this bad moment finally i found a great battery and now it work very well. Actually i saw a site by internet called costa rica investment opportunities i think it is very interesting i want to share it for you.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home