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agentmouthwash · Dec 17, 2003, 06:19 PM

Apple just posted a battery update for the 15"Powerbook. Anybody have positive results yet?
I would update mine right now, but I am in the middle of burning a DVD so I can't restart my computer yet. Hopefully this will increase my battery.

nick_coday · Dec 17, 2003, 06:32 PM

I just downloaded and applied the update to my 15.2" 1.25ghz AlPb.

I was getting 1:45 on a full charge.

It had been sitting on a "full" charge.

Now after the update, it says "2:28 until full charge", cool!!

I would love to get a huge increase in battery power!

s4iscool · Dec 17, 2003, 06:33 PM

thanks for theheads up, i just dl'd it and ill report later.

s4iscool · Dec 17, 2003, 06:40 PM

wacky. I had about 30% left on my battery before the restart.. after restarting, I have 2% wtf

s0litude · Dec 17, 2003, 06:46 PM

5 hours of battery TIME WOW!

s4iscool · Dec 17, 2003, 06:48 PM

Now im wondering what they are truly changing to make this increase happen?

s4iscool · Dec 17, 2003, 06:50 PM

interestingly my battery capacity has jumped to 4400, near the original amoutn when I did the first ioreg -l | grep -i IOBatteryInfo test.

In the last few days before the update the bat capacity had dropped to 4100 area.

Weird, but good!

Oracle · Dec 17, 2003, 06:53 PM

So this isn't available for titanium powerbooks?

aapljack · Dec 17, 2003, 06:58 PM

This is interesting. Please post more before and after capacity. My capacity is at 3.1Ah right now and I would love to see that improve to the 4.4Ah level. I won't be able to try it out until after work. I'll post when I do though!

-b

Buck_W · Dec 17, 2003, 07:00 PM

Originally posted by Oracle:
So this isn't available for titanium powerbooks?

I was wondering the same thing because I can't find the update anywhere. It hasn't shown up in my Software Update. Anybody else having any problems finding it?

s4iscool · Dec 17, 2003, 07:03 PM

might be just a alum15 thing. i think the update said 15" FW800 I didnt think the Ti's had battery problems like the Alum15's?

Oracle · Dec 17, 2003, 07:09 PM

well my tibook battery has had a problem ever since the 10.2.8 update and not even panther fixed it.

justinf77 · Dec 17, 2003, 07:09 PM

Weird. Had a full battery and was getting 3:30 on it with regular use, now my light is amber and it says 5%. I think this will jump up to 100% soon, but hopefully I can now get 4 hours on this machine! Then it would be perfect!

aapljack · Dec 17, 2003, 07:15 PM

Originally posted by Oracle:
well my tibook battery has had a problem ever since the 10.2.8 update and not even panther fixed it.

Sounds like a call to Apple is in order. Is it still under warranty or do you have AppleCare?

The good thing about batteries is that even if they do jack up beyond repair and aren't covered, that a new one is only $130. That is a bargin next to what we pay for Powerbooks.

-b

s4iscool · Dec 17, 2003, 07:38 PM

Originally posted by justinf77:
Weird. Had a full battery and was getting 3:30 on it with regular use, now my light is amber and it says 5%. I think this will jump up to 100% soon, but hopefully I can now get 4 hours on this machine! Then it would be perfect!

actually im still charging mine, almost like it was completely discharged after the update, and its rebuilding its power.

Im looking forward to pulling the power cable once its fully changed and seeing how much time is on the battery...hopefully over 4hrs! Im getting 2:50 to 3 even now on a full charge now (pre update).

Spheric Harlot · Dec 17, 2003, 07:59 PM

The Terminal command sees my 12" Rev A battery as 3.5Ah after the update.

What's it supposed to be - anybody know?

-s*

aapljack · Dec 17, 2003, 08:16 PM

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:
The Terminal command sees my 12" Rev A battery as 3.5Ah after the update.

What's it supposed to be - anybody know?

-s*

Apparantly new batteries are suppose to be at 4.4Ah. Check this thread for more info.

-b

KidKit · Dec 17, 2003, 08:20 PM

I've had my 12" PB for a month or so now...

my battery capacity after initial calibration (out of the box) was 4.230Ah. Reading all the nightmare stories about batteries on these forums, I've been deligently keeping track of my battery status with Xbattery.

The capacity has been fluctuating up and down a bit the last couple of weeks between ~4.080-4.180 ... after the software update, it now reads 4.200 So what's all that mean? I'm not convinced that a software update will actually change the battery life physically...

Anyways, with the built in battery meter, my computer reports approximately the same time at full charge before and after the update, ~3:20. (settings are: backlight set to 3/4 max, AP & BT off, ethernet connected, hdd set to spin down, automatic processor performance).

Will post again when I've more data...

s4iscool · Dec 17, 2003, 08:28 PM

im finding that its taking forever to charge the battery. befor ethe update, I could get the fast charge up to 90% area within an hour, WITH use. But ive been charging close to an hour an im only at 50%. So definetly something has changed. Will report later.

CrackedButter · Dec 17, 2003, 08:49 PM

Before this update my mAH was 3428 and it had dropped from 3600 mAH, now after update it is 4200mAH with 18% left to charge. But before the update it was reporting as fully charge.

My battery life is normally 3:12 with everything dimmed and turned off.

I wonder what it will be after i have charged this?

slider · Dec 17, 2003, 09:01 PM

I am currently getting 4 hours with screen dimmed down and airport on and BT off. This is a really good length so I am nervous about upgrading until I see more positive feed back. One guy is saying 5 hours, that's awesome.

CrackedButter · Dec 17, 2003, 09:06 PM

I am getting 4 hours battery now...50 minutes extra!

aapljack · Dec 17, 2003, 09:16 PM

Capacity before the update: 3.1
Capacity after the update: 4.2

Didn't look at what percent charge I was at before, but it is showing 1:17 to charge from 30% now.

Interested to see what amount of battery life I get with real use.

-b

s4iscool · Dec 17, 2003, 09:18 PM

ok the last 50% went by pretty fast charge wise, and now that ive pulled the plug, its showing 3:30 with BT off, airport on. Screen with two blocks brightness.

Not too much of a change here, but it is a positive bump by about 30 min so it it something worth doing.

jcb9 · Dec 17, 2003, 09:29 PM

Originally posted by aapljack:
This is interesting. Please post more before and after capacity. My capacity is at 3.1Ah right now and I would love to see that improve to the 4.4Ah level. I won't be able to try it out until after work. I'll post when I do though!

-b

Pardon my ignorance, but how do you find your battery's capacity in Ah?

Spheric Harlot · Dec 17, 2003, 09:40 PM

Originally posted by jcb9:
Pardon my ignorance, but how do you find your battery's capacity in Ah?

Open Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities)

copy and paste the following text:

ioreg -l | grep -i IOBatteryInfo

hit return.

The first value is the capacity in mAh.

-s*

poppa kristof · Dec 17, 2003, 09:59 PM

On my AL PB 1.25 running on battery mode with reduced screen bumped my time remaining from 2:10 before to 3:10 after.
A gain of close to an hour.

guigo · Dec 17, 2003, 10:21 PM

In mine, after use the terminal command, indicates:

"capacity"=5400
"Amperage"=1125

Is this good? I don't know because everyone else talks about 4400

just for the record, mine is a PB 17" 1.33

thanks a lot

Guilherme
Brazil

aapljack · Dec 17, 2003, 10:29 PM

Originally posted by jcb9:
Pardon my ignorance, but how do you find your battery's capacity in Ah?

You can also use an app called XBattery.

-b

KraziKid · Dec 17, 2003, 10:35 PM

Hmm, before the battery update I had 5723 Capacity, now I have 5400. This is on a 1.33 GHz 17 inch powerbook.

Oneota · Dec 17, 2003, 10:39 PM

Sweet! My battery was full when I installed it, and after reboot, my battery is at 78% and charging back to full. Whoopee!

MountainMac · Dec 17, 2003, 11:34 PM

5.4 Ah

PB 17" 1.33GHz

Tomster · Dec 17, 2003, 11:34 PM

Originally posted by KraziKid:
Hmm, before the battery update I had 5723 Capacity, now I have 5400. This is on a 1.33 GHz 17 inch powerbook.

Same set up here. Started off with 5587 and ended up with 5400 capacity. Wow. What an interesting coincidence, us both ending up with the same freaking capacity! Think that we either got hosed on the update, or that the ioreg now only displays what apple wants.

mrfoxxman · Dec 17, 2003, 11:50 PM

Wow.... check out my battery life indicator after charging! [it went back down to a normal 3 hours after about 5 minutes or so.]

I was really excited for a minute!

cdhostage · Dec 18, 2003, 12:17 AM

I'm letting mine drop down to emergency sleep and then plugging it in again. I experienced a similar thing : fully charged (plugged-in) when running update, restart and it says I'm only 85% full. Fine and good, I'll let it run down and recalibrate, and have my full five hours

jcb9 · Dec 18, 2003, 12:25 AM

Originally posted by aapljack:
You can also use an app called XBattery.

-b

Interesting; XBattery lists my capacity as 4.200Ah, and my charge as 4.055Ah. Meanwhile, my battery menu says that (a) my charge is 96%, and (b) my battery is fully charged.

Is this sort of conflicting information normal? Is it fully charged or isn't it?

TheIceMan · Dec 18, 2003, 12:27 AM

mrfoxxman: I wonder if Apple is over-compensating for the battery life. That is, are they boosting it to an unrealistic number in the hopes of quieting complaints? I mean 8 hours would be miraculous if it were true and then it slipped back down to 3 hrs...hmmmm.

tooki · Dec 18, 2003, 12:44 AM

My 15" AlBook also dropped to 5% charge, but a couple of minutes it jumped back to the 100% it was actually at.

tooki

Daracle · Dec 18, 2003, 12:58 AM

can someone tell me where to get this update?

chessplayer · Dec 18, 2003, 01:15 AM

Originally posted by Daracle:
can someone tell me where to get this update?

In Software Update (from System Preferences or the Apple Menu). The update isn't for all PowerBooks though.

iDaver · Dec 18, 2003, 01:18 AM

Originally posted by Daracle:
can someone tell me where to get this update?

System Preferences: Software Update: Check Now.

If it's not available, you probably don't have a notebook that the update supports.

dgbatchelor · Dec 18, 2003, 02:04 AM

Originally posted by s4iscool:
wacky. I had about 30% left on my battery before the restart.. after restarting, I have 2% wtf

I had a nearly full battery charge (98%+?) and after running the install, it went to 3% with > 8 hours estimated to fully charge?!?!?! I can't believe that the update performed a full discharge in that amount of time... Didn't seem to change the visible energy saving preferences.

Zaffir · Dec 18, 2003, 02:22 AM

When i got my powerbook, my capacity reported by XBattery was 3.432ah. It dropped to 3.176 about 2 weeks ago. After the update, it jumped to 4.200ah.

It was at full charge before i rebooted, now it's at 75% charge. We'll see how things go. This does look promising though

Edit: not 2 minutes after i posted the above, my charge jumped to 100%. XBattery reports the charge as 4.200ah though, so i'll let her drain all the way and report back later.

iDaver · Dec 18, 2003, 02:30 AM

Originally posted by dgbatchelor:
I had a nearly full battery charge (98%+?) and after running the install, it went to 3%

Mine did the same but after about 15 minutes of charging it popped back to 100%. Seems like the update has discovered a bit of extra chargeability there, whereas before, the OS thought the battery was fully charged when it wasn't.

s4iscool · Dec 18, 2003, 02:51 AM

honetly after all this hoopla, and 6 hours of using the laptop...there is no change. im not seeing any greater battery life froma full charge. I even performed a battery calibration, and im still gettting 3 hr even on a full charge with normal use and my usual settings.

Oh well, it got me excited today.

KidKit · Dec 18, 2003, 03:06 AM

I still don't see how the software update could possibly improve on your battery life...

You've either got juice left in the battery or you don't. The discharge curve of a battery would be affected by how much power the PB is using and by physical condition of the batt (ie is it an old battery etc). Any ideas?

btw, further to earlier post, I don't see any real changes to my battery life, prob because I've a pretty new battery to start with.

iDaver · Dec 18, 2003, 03:24 AM

There has to be something in the power management that recognizes when the battery is fully charged. If it thinks the battery is fully charged when it's not, and a power management update fixes this; voila, longer battery life.

With my 17" rev b PowerBook, the percentage indicater NEVER said 100%...only reaching 99% on a full charge. This lead me to believe there was something wrong. Now that it actually says 100% on a full charge, it makes me think things are working properly now and perhaps there will be a slight improvement (hopefully more than 1%) in battery life. Who knows. We can always hope.

dgbatchelor · Dec 18, 2003, 04:12 AM

Originally posted by iDaver:
With my 17" rev b PowerBook, the percentage indicater NEVER said 100%...only reaching 99% on a full charge. This lead me to believe there was something wrong. Now that it actually says 100% on a full charge, it makes me think things are working properly now and perhaps there will be a slight improvement (hopefully more than 1%) in battery life. Who knows. We can always hope.

Not that I'm skeptical or anything, but I'm not holding my breath to see >10% of battery life increase with only 1% full charge delta. (Always willing to be surprised!)

Squozen · Dec 18, 2003, 05:18 AM

I've jumped from 3300 to 4200mA.. very optimistic!

adrianl · Dec 18, 2003, 06:01 AM

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:
Open Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities)

copy and paste the following text:

ioreg -l | grep -i IOBatteryInfo

hit return.

The first value is the capacity in mAh.

-s*

Every time I try this in the Terminal (this time I copied the command in above post) I get:

BatteryInfo
| | | | "IOBatteryInfo" = ({"Voltage"=12389,"Flags"=838860807,"Ampe$

in other words no indication of capacity or anything like what others report!

Using G4 12inch RevB running 10.2.7. Monitoring this thread to decide whether to install the update (currently get just under 3 hours with BT, AP off and screen about a few notches below max using 'Automatic', which I feel is pretty good anyway).

Any ideas why I get odd response in Terminal? All other unix commands I've tried work ok.

Adrian