Q: Magic Mouse keeps losing connection

John, I have Duracell batteries *and* the folded piece of paper. In an active session, the mouse will lose connection/reconnect every 5 minutes. I will try the washer trick, and then I'm done.

I just took a pair of metal washers I happened to have at home.

Those are 0.9 mm thick and the outer diameter is 11 mm. The center hole has no function but the inner diameter should not exceed the diameter of the bottom contacts, 6 mm.

Thanks Hans. I'll pick some up at Ace.

Just to put my 2¢ in again - I was having problems with my 3 MM too. I purchased Apple's rechargeable batteries for them and have not had any real problems since. The connection can get lost briefly when the batteries are almost dead, but otherwise, no worries.

Kort, just googled "Apple rechargable batteries" and found a site claiming they are rebranded Eneloops. True? If so, I have some that I use in one of my cameras. I love them. I guess I'll give them a try and see what happens. I don't want to throw good money after bad and buy a whole Apple battery/charger unit if they're really Eneloops.

I've heard that too Linelle and suspect they are. Try the ones you have and see how they work. And let us know. I ordered mine through work so wasn't fronting the expense, but I can understand why you wouldn't want to pay for more than you need to. I will say the Apple batteries and charger and a nice little kit and do what they are supposed to.

I have the Mobee rechargable mouse and I also found the when batteries are low the connection can get lost breifly.

Linelle

Save your money. They make not a jot of difference. It seems to me it matters not what batteries you use, the result is the same - Death of the Mouse!!

If you look at my response on page 8, 8th May, you'll see what I did to get over the problem. It is effectively reducing the amount of wi-fi units biting at the Apple. Since getting the USB keyboard I don't think I have had one occasion when MM has died.

One small correction to that 8th May missive is:- ...I think that Apple and wireless connections just do not get on!...

But, certainly, I would suggest you save your money regarding buying other makes, I have tried so may different ones available in the UK, including Eneloop and it makes no difference.

Cheers

altv

altv, I respectfully disagree.

I believe it is primarily a physcial conntection problem and using the proper batteries is a viable fix. Or padding the interior in some way so that the connection remainds constant. In my experience anyway, and I have 3 of these mice. Multiple Wi-Fi connections may play a part, but I'm not having that issue myself.

Try the Eneloops Linelle and see if you notice a difference. I concur that the mouse design could be better, but I've got mine working and and happy with them otherwise.

Kort

I accept what I have done appears to be illogical, but the proof is in the pudding, in that since changing to the USB keyboard and getting rid of the extra number pad and using the eneloop rechargeable's along with other rechargeable's that I use, I am not getting the lost connections. I, too, have tried packing, Bluetac, cleaning, different makes of battery, exchanging the MM at an Apple Store and it has all been to no avail. I will stay with what I have now, at least that works!!

Cheers

altv

In my case it was definitely a physical connection problem. I realized that when I turned the mouse upside down and shaked it, the green light went out and the connection was lost, fully repeatable. With the metal washers installed, all my problems have gone.

Previously I had decent contact with a certain brand of alkaline batteries, other brands didn't work. Also had problems with rechargeable batteries. Now with the metal washers added everthing is fine, which confirms the theory about the physical connection problem. No matter how much I'm shaking it, the connection is not lost.

Before I added the washers, I had lost connection every five minutes or so, with two different mice, no problems at all now!

altv - I say go with whatever works for you. It is a shame we have to "jurry-rig" our mice to get them to operate efficiently, but the situation is what it is. I'm glad you found a fix that works for you. I would tend to side with Hans however that the primary issue (there may be more) is the physical connection.

After reading all the posts in this thread, it is obvious that there are several series of the Magic Mouse, with different (or even no) issues. We have 8 Magic Mice active in our family. Only two of them sometimes disconnected. After cleaning the contacts inside the mouse just with alcohol from the pharmacy, as well as the poles of the batteries, no disconnections didn't appear anymore. And I cleaned them only once, nearly a year ago. We use Eneloops exclusively, in all our mice.

You're going to just have to shell out $30 and get the Apple rechargable battery kit. Comes with 6 AA batteries and the charger. The mouse works like a charm now.

Kort, I put a pair of Eneloops in a couple of hours ago and no disconnects...yet. I don't want to celebrate prematurely, but I can say that two hours with a steady connection beats two hours with connection losses every 5 minutes.

Tim, I might have done that if I didn't already have 8 Enneloop batteries and just read that Apple rechargeable batteries are rebranded Sanyo Enneloops. I already have them and the charger. BTW they are wonderful batteries in my little point and shoot.

I have a related question for you guys. You're all referring to wifi. I have my wifi network (Airport Express) for computers, iPads, iPhone, AppleTV, Roku, etc. But I thought these mice were Bluetooth devices. How would multiple devices on my wifi network affect this mouse?