[doctorb]

Hey everyone,

This is a freakin' sweet message board for n00bs like me. I appreciate this fantastic resource.

Anyway, I understand that the thing that kills Li-Ion batteries isn't memory (like in NiMH batteries), but heat. I've read (from www.batteryuniversity.com) that to preserve your battery the longest, after it fully charges, to remove it from the powerbook to keep it away from heat (with the AC adapter still plugged in of course!)

Any truth in this?

My second question is... why does the 15" superdrive DL have a different calibration protocol than any other powerbook, even the new 17" superdrive DL.

Thanks a bunch!

[11011001]

Welcome noob. We pawnzor you.

The battery is pretty far away from the processor, so I don't think it gets that hot. Besides, it's kinda easy to knock the AC plug out of the thing, which would turn it off.

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[11011001]

Boo everyone ignored you.

[psk-ele]

Actually, that is a good point. Indeed, excessive heat will cause the battery to deteriorate. Remember, heat is the killer of all things electronic ( well, all liquids and a good drop on the floor does the same thing). The heat will cause a slow decay of the electrolyte within the battery's cells over a period of time (like years). Under normal use, this shouldn't be an issue, especially since charging your battery increases the temperature as well as during a good discharge.

While it is interesting you pointed that out, I think for most common uses, the battery being left in will not adversely affect its life. I posted in another thread about Li_Ion batteries, but in general, they don't last forever and depending on the abuse it takes (discharge/recharge) they will start to lose a their ability to hold charge in after a year or so (if you normally keep it plugged in and periodically calibrate, it could last longer, I'm not an expert).

If you normally use your powerbook as a desktop replacement, taking out the battery and just using the power adapter is good idea, but probably not necessary.

[doctorb]

Thanks psk-ele for the info. I just noticed playing WoW how hot the underside the PB gets so I was just worried about damage. So far, the battery life seems ok, but no where near the 5hr 30 min that Apple claims.

[psk-ele]

Yeah, to get apple's claimed battery life you need to do the following:
-turn off the backllight
-set all the power settings to low
-turn off wireless everything
-have nothing plugged into any ports
-no cd in the drive
-be operating the powerbook in 72F temperatures
-most likely, do nothing except some really lite app such as writing a paper

Depending on usage you could possibly get close to the 5.5 hrs of battery life writing a paper, but its the same with the iPod battery life claims, no backlighting, same song on loop (or is it one playlist?), which means the only song playing is that already in the SDRAM chip requiring no read/writes from the flash/HD. Pretty un-realistic for some of us, I usually am happy with 3 hrs, but since my battery is so old (almost 2 years), I'm just happy with one hour (need to get a new one).

[Jawbone54]

Battery life claims are always bogus. Luckily, I don't need it to last more than 3 1/2 hours or so without plugging in to a power source somewhere.

I have to say that now I'm a little curious about the original question asked. It seems like way too much trouble, but maybe not if it substantially increases the life span of your battery.