I believed this would extend the battery's life and have been doing this since I got this MacBook. I never connect the charger unless the capacity drops below 5%. My charging habits: I always unplug the charger directly whenever the light turns green. Is it possible the Coconut reading could be incorrect because of this? Note: I have never really calibrated my battery ever.
Wtf? Could the Coconut app really be wrong or is my old battery still fine and dandy? It's not like I paid the full €120 for the battery, but I feel kind of stupid for buying a new battery while the old one is still healthy. 1371 cycles, 90% health and 54 months of age. I spotted a nice enough deal: a dude from Shenzen, China was selling genuine Apple batteries for 1/3 of the price the real Apple Store is asking! So I bought the battery and used the Coconut battery app again today, just to see how the old battery is doing. So I went ahead and bought a replacement battery on Ebay. I remembered Apple's guidelines: a battery will last about 3 years or 1000 cycles. I noticed the stamina of the battery decreased a bit and figured the battery would be pretty busted by now. I've been using and charging it like crazy over the past 4 or 5 years. It's in sleep mode almost all the time I'm not using it. I use my laptop in the morning until the battery gets low, then plug it in and use it the rest of the day while charging. On the second battery, I've used it like that less frequently, but it still tends to work out to the same pattern. I used the battery in class and then charged it between classes, usually going from a low charge to full. On the first battery, I was taking it to college classes pretty often. I don't consciously take care of my battery. That battery, the current one, now has 939 cycles with 99% health.
They said they'd never seen one with cycles that high, and I think just because they were impressed, replaced my battery free of charge. My AppleCare warranty was about to expire, so I went to the Apple Store to see if they'd replace my battery. The first battery got me beyond 1500 cycles in three years and maintained above 90% health consistently. I have a mid-2007 white MacBook with the 2.16GHz processor, 160GB hard drive, and originally 2GB of RAM (now 4). Kind of an old thread, but my stats are too awesome not to share.
I personally wouldn't recommend going out of your way to do this every month with all your devices. But in this scenario it's not really making a difference in the health of the battery (though it could change the health that's shown in software). If it's calibrated properly then the battery meter should be more accurate, and it may last a bit longer before it automatically shuts off. The logic there is that if you're constantly doing short discharges and then recharging it, it's harder for the device to keep track of its own capacity. I don't think Apple has ever recommended it themselves, but some also recommend doing a full battery cycle occasionally to recalibrate the battery meter.
But if you actually use the battery on a regular basis, that's not necessary. In that case you're helping to maintain the battery health. Click to expand.It wasn't ever needed with lithium ion batteries.Īs mentioned above, Apple has long recommended doing a monthly battery cycle if you're not using the battery-like if you keep your laptop plugged in all the time, or shut it down and don't use it for months.