[olePigeon]

I've seen a lot of reports regarding new batteries not getting the most out of the charge as they should with only a few months use. For those of you who don't read the instructions on a new lithium-ion battery (or it came factory installed without instructions) this is how you get the most out of the battery:

Step 1: Completely drain the battery of all juice. Then recharge.
Step 2: Repeat step 1 for a total of 3 times.
Step 3: Continue with normal use.

Your battery will die in about 2 years if you don't do this. In fact, you might want to do this about once every 6 months. I's recommended by most lithium-ion manufacturers as the best way to prolong the life of your battery and help keep the charge.

[cloudaj]

Apple recommends doing that only once, not 3 times. Not sure if you have a particular source / reasoning for what you said, not saying i'm doubting you but a source or explanation on why 3 times and not just once would be nice

[olePigeon]

Originally posted by cloudaj:
Apple recommends doing that only once, not 3 times. Not sure if you have a particular source / reasoning for what you said, not saying i'm doubting you but a source or explanation on why 3 times and not just once would be nice

This comes from my dad who just recently bought a new battery. He's also gone through about 50 laptops, gets a new one about every 8 months from his work. It's pretty much standard procedure for him.

Don't know if that's credible enough for you. Don't know who the manufacturer of his battery was, though.

[MrForgetable]

i did it 3 times because my mac friend stumped me.

i asked him- "why do it 3 times when the apple manual only says 1?"
he responded-"why not do it 3 times?"

[mrgaskell]

How would your dad know if this works if he gets a new laptop every 8 months?

[bimmerphile]

misread what you wrote. damn. my apologies.

[RayX]

"Notebook Battery Life and Battery Calibration Procedures"

[t4r1q]

Once is enough. Apple and several manufacturers recommend doing it once. Sounds like if someone came along and told you they do it five times, you'd follow that advice. I mean, "why not?" 5 times is surely better than 3 times!

[Dr.Michael]

Originally posted by olePigeon:
I've seen a lot of reports regarding new batteries not getting the most out of the charge as they should with only a few months use. For those of you who don't read the instructions on a new lithium-ion battery (or it came factory installed without instructions) this is how you get the most out of the battery:

Step 1: Completely drain the battery of all juice. Then recharge.
Step 2: Repeat step 1 for a total of 3 times.
Step 3: Continue with normal use.

Your battery will die in about 2 years if you don't do this. In fact, you might want to do this about once every 6 months. I's recommended by most lithium-ion manufacturers as the best way to prolong the life of your battery and help keep the charge.

I am really tired to read these schoolboy advices again and again. Why do you spread the rumors you hear without the slightes check if there is at least a little truth in them?

These battery discussions have been done hundreds of times in this forum and elsewhere. Please do a google search or read this, before you ruin your batteries:

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

Michael

[cszar2001]

I�ve had my PB 17 Rev. A for a year now and the battery is still good for at least 2 1/2 hours. And that`s without any kind of special treatment.

[olePigeon]

Originally posted by t4r1q:
Once is enough. Apple and several manufacturers recommend doing it once. Sounds like if someone came along and told you they do it five times, you'd follow that advice. I mean, "why not?" 5 times is surely better than 3 times!

No, my dad's a computer engineer and is a VP for Cisco's security department. I think he's a credible source, especially after owning 40+ laptops. He has what I might call... experience. Plus, this is in his users' manual.

Originally posted by Dr.Michael:
I am really tired to read these schoolboy advices again and again. Why do you spread the rumors you hear without the slightes check if there is at least a little truth in them?

No sh*t, try reading the article for yourself. About once every 30 charges, they recommend discharging your battery past the turn off point. This corrects problems with the "digital memory." So discharging every 6 months seems average. Of course it varies greatly depending on how often you have access to a wall socket instead of running off the battery. For my dad, he's on a plane or on the road 90% of the time, so he probably discharges once every two months.

Funny, I didn't know they offered doctorates at beauticians' school.

[t4r1q]

Originally posted by olePigeon:

No sh*t, try reading the article for yourself. About once every 30 charges, they recommend discharging your battery past the turn off point. This corrects problems with the "digital memory." So discharging every 6 months seems average. Of course it varies greatly depending on how often you have access to a wall socket instead of running off the battery. For my dad, he's on a plane or on the road 90% of the time, so he probably discharges once every two months.

Funny, I didn't know they offered doctorates at beauticians' school. [/B]

Keep it civil, no need to get nasty. I'm sure he agrees with what was in that article, the entire recalibration procedure, and that it should be done regularly. He was disputing (as was I) the fact that you recommend doing step 1 three times in a row as per your dad's advice whereas Apple et al. state to do this once.

[MrForgetable]

i didn't do it in a row, i did in a span of a week

[Dr.Michael]

Originally posted by olePigeon:

No sh*t, try reading the article for yourself. About once every 30 charges, they recommend discharging your battery past the turn off point. etc. pp.

olePigeon:

The article tells you:
1. completely draining only calibrates the charge display.
2. completely draining a battery does shorten a batteries life.

Thus for exact and frequent calibration you pay with capacity LOSS.

3. the most important thing is to keep the battery cool. Heat is the main reason for loss of capacity because of faster internal corrosion of the conducting contacts. So remove your battery partially charged ( if possible ) and store it in your drawer.

I did this for years now and after 3 years of use my TiBook battery for example still had 90% of its capacity. No dead bat after 2 years.

You find these rules in many reputable magazines/websites/forums and they work.

So compare with your advice and find out yourself whats true in your posting.

And no, although you can buy a doctor I got mine from my scientific work in atomic physics.

[simonjames]

Please post fact that you can back up with credible links. Reading this topic has not only been a waste of time it has had the added dis-pleasure of being really annoying.

And quoting crap like 'he has had 40+ laptops' - given the date when the first laptops appeared (late 80s) you're saying that every 4 months he has a new laptop? yeah, right.

[olePigeon]

First, sorry for any confustion. It wasn't my intention to hurt anyone's laptop battery. So, I called my dad again to ask where he got the "three" discharging thing from. He said that it was in the instructions manual for his IBM ThinkPad. So I jumped onto IBM's webpage, and low and behold, that's where my schoolboy rumors, unsubstantiated facts, and non-credible links came from:

http://www-3.ibm.com/pc/support/site...id=PFAN-3QNQJN

When purchasing a new battery, you may find that the battery is at or near 0% capacity. This will be due to the length of time the battery has been in stock and does not affect the quality of the battery. If the battery is at 0%, it may take up to 12 hours of continuous charging or, cycling the battery three times (see the Battery conditioning section below) to wake up the battery.

IBM suggests that when you get a new battery should try cycling (discharging/charging) the battery three times.

[tigas]

Well, I have an Electrovaya Powerpad battery that discharged too much and can't be recharged at all. The internal resistance protection came in and according to Electrovaya, there's no way of reviving it.

So of course, if they are capable of designing a battery that dies like this 13 months after it was bought for lack of proper protection (500 US dollars, no less, and fresh out of warranty), I'll use every chance I get to badmouth them.

DO NOT SUPPORT BAD ENGINEERING.

And be careful when discharging your batteries to "recalibrate". Don't go too far. My battery was just sitting in the laptop bag while the laptop was out for repairs, and it died.

[meatyocre]

We have a year old PB 12" battery that works for about 2 hours then... while showing 30%-25% capacity and competely dies. Any chance this discharging cycle will revive this?

[t4r1q]

Sure, that sounds like an inaccurate sensor. The process of recalibrating the battery is is meant to correct and maintain the battery sensor.

Read and follow steps: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86284

[Synotic]

Originally posted by simonjames:
Please post fact that you can back up with credible links. Reading this topic has not only been a waste of time it has had the added dis-pleasure of being really annoying.

And quoting crap like 'he has had 40+ laptops' - given the date when the first laptops appeared (late 80s) you're saying that every 4 months he has a new laptop? yeah, right.

Also someone made a good point above, how would he know how this affects the battery if he only keeps his laptops for 8 months? And if the above is true, for 4 months? If anything he has no experience regarding using a laptop's battery for a sustained amount of time (+2 years).

[olePigeon]

Originally posted by Synotic:
Also someone made a good point above, how would he know how this affects the battery if he only keeps his laptops for 8 months? And if the above is true, for 4 months? If anything he has no experience regarding using a laptop's battery for a sustained amount of time (+2 years).

I miscalculated how many laptops he's had and the time period, it's every 18 months. I thought it was 8. So I messed up.

Anyway, scroll up to my previous post and I've put the link to where IBM states recharging your new battery 3 times. It's also in my dad's manual for his ThinkPad, where he got the info from.

[Titanium Man]

Gadzooks, man. You need to read more carefully.

That IBM page is for NiMH batteries. It specifically says at the bottom NOT to deep discharge lithium ion batteries, the kind in Powerbooks and iBooks.

In other words: Don't do this!

[MrForgetable]

well i'm never listening to my mac friends anymore

[LORL]

Apparently, 4000 posts doesn't really say much.

[t4r1q]

lol best thread ever, so much misinformation here its sick

olepiegon: your link states to cycle a new battery 3 times the first time you get your IBM battery, not regularily during ownership, but your dad and yourself can do what you want, i'm finished.

titanium man: deep discharge is completely different than cycling/recalibration which is what we are discussing.

From Apple.com:

Long Term Storage

If you don�t plan on using your notebook for more than six months, Apple recommends that you remove and store the battery with a 50% charge. If you store a battery when it�s fully discharged, it could fall into a deep discharge state, which renders it incapable of holding any charge. Conversely, if you store it fully charged for an extended period of time, the battery may experience some loss of battery capacity, meaning it will have a shorter life. Be sure to store the ejected battery at the proper temperature. (See �Notebook Temperate Zone.�)

Follow Apple's battery care instructions, end of story.
http://www.apple.com/batteries/

[Titanium Man]

Originally posted by t4r1q:
lol best thread ever, so much misinformation here its sick

titanium man: deep discharge is completely different than cycling/recalibration which is what we are discussing.

http://www.apple.com/batteries/

What you might have been discussing. Not what the thread was originally about. Read the very first post with the instructions on draining the battery completely, charging, then repeating. Apple's description of deep discharge is one definition. The definition I was using (both are widely used in the battery industry) is discharging deep into the cycle.

For the record, Apple batteries can't be fully depleted. The 'books shut themselves down before then. Maybe if you put a dead short across the terminals, but otherwise...

There's no dispute about recalibration, but Apple only recommends that once, and a single deep discharge won't seriously damage a LIon battery pack.

[t4r1q]

Originally posted by Titanium Man:
What you might have been discussing. Not what the thread was originally about. Read the very first post with the instructions on draining the battery completely, charging, then repeating. Apple's description of deep discharge is one definition. The definition I was using (both are widely used in the battery industry) is discharging deep into the cycle.

For the record, Apple batteries can't be fully depleted. The 'books shut themselves down before then. Maybe if you put a dead short across the terminals, but otherwise...

There's no dispute about recalibration, but Apple only recommends that once, and a single deep discharge won't seriously damage a LIon battery pack.

Here's a recap of what this thread was about.

The first post was about recalibrating the battery in order to prolong battery life and stated to cycle (discharge then recharge) three times in a row. Apple and other manufacturers recommend cycling only once on a regular basis. We were disputing whether to cycle the battery once or three times. Then you came along and used the term "deep discharge" which has nothing to do with recalibrating the battery.

According to both Apple and IBM, deep discharge is related to storing the battery and leaving it unused for a prolonged period of time.

Refer to my earlier post for Apple's definiton of deep discharge and this is what IBM says

NOTE:
Do not deep-discharge Lithium Ion batteries. Batteries can degrade when they are left unused for long periods of time.

Discharge (when 'books are used until they fall asleep due to low battery) is what we are (or were) dicussing, not deep-discharge.

Cheers

[MrForgetable]

So, what's the concensus?

[t4r1q]

I say follow Apple's instructions (http://www.apple.com/batteries/), but others have their own opinions which is fine.