Extending the lifespan / battery life of your Macbook battery

Feb 28, 2010 Posted by Admin on Feb 28, 2010 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Extending the lifespan / battery life of your Macbook battery

What’s the Problem?

My Macbook battery used to provide around 4 hours of battery time, but now it lasts for just over and hour. It’s only been one year, why the drastic change?

What Caused The Problem?

Though many variables are responsible for the varying lifespan of Macbook batteries, one particular and often overlooked factor is the effect of overheating and improper management of charging on overall battery life.

My own personal experience with Macbook batteries is at follows (well really, it’s an iBook, but since those are extinct, I’m going to use updated terminology). Upon purchasing my Macbook, my battery supplied around four hours of charge. For simplicity sake, I will refer to this first Macbook battery as G.O.B. (aka George Oscar Bluth). After just over a year of use, a full charge of G.O.B. would show up as around 1.5 hours of charge on my Macbook, though realistically it would last for just under 50 minutes. Apparently, G.O.B. was playing tricks with my Macbook (Sorry, illusions).

I was forced to purchase a new battery at this time, I will refer to that one as Micheal. I was motivated to make sure Micheal worked for a longer period of time than G.O.B. (whose eyes have never stung from the sweet sweat of a hard day’s work). In order to accomplish this, I quickly analyzed how my past use of G.O.B. may have led to his downfall. Upon recognizing these variables, I adjusted my habits towards Micheal.

Two years later, Micheal, which initially supplied around four hours of charge, still supplied me with three hours of charge. A marked improvement. The difference in treatment that allowed Micheal to last so much longer is outlined below.

What’s the solution?

As stated, overheating and improper management of charging leads to a quick decline in battery lifespan. If you’ve already screwed up your battery, you’re best bet is to get a new one. Lithium Ion batteries (the type contained in your Macbook) have ‘dead space’. That is, once it’s gone, you will never get it back. To find out how much dead space is on your battery, download CoconutBattery, a great little program which will compare the current state of your battery to the brand new state. That being said, with your new battery, here are three quick and proven tips which will increase longevity (and increase the amount of money in your pocket!).

Adjust your Macbook usage habits. While lithium ion batteries don’t have a ‘memory’, they still respond better to regular charging cycles. Furthermore, once every 30 charges, they need to be re-calibrated (Apple supplies directions on how to do this here).
Remove your Macbook battery once it is fully charged if you plan on keeping your Macbook plugged in. Since lithium ion batteries are very sensitive to heat, and since Macbooks (especially while charging/plugged in) get extremely hot, once your battery is fully charged, remove it from your Macbook.
To see how important this effect is, check out the image below (also from batteryuniversity.com, a great reference)

A quote from batteryuniversity.com also states,

The worst condition is keeping a fully charged battery at elevated temperatures, which is the case with running laptop batteries. If used on main power, the battery inside a laptop will only last for 12-18 months.

At the time of writing this article (with my battery at full charge and still plugged in), my battery is currently at 35 degrees Celsius (download the dashboard widget iStat pro here to check your computer temperature). It’s clear to see then how leaving your Macbook plugged in all night with the battery in can extremely limit the battery lifespan. Leaving your battery plugged in while fully charged, your battery can reach temperatures of at least 40 degrees, leading to a decrease of 35% of your batteries full charge after just one year.
Don’t let your Macbook battery completely die, ever! Batteries should be stored at about a 40% charge, and it’s very harmful to let your battery hang around dead for any period of time. At the 10% level, you should charge! It’s not uncommon for people to leave there laptop uncharged/dead for a week or two, which is detrimental to the longevity of the battery.