Fully Charged Battery Lasts Only 25 Minutes!!!

Question

Level 1

1 points

Fully Charged Battery Lasts Only 25 Minutes!!!

Hi,
I have a Macbook Pro, 2.2 GHz, and I've had it for 13 months. My battery when it is fully charged only lasts for appox. 25 or 30 minutes. I have no idea what could possibly be wrong.

Here are my power settings. If anyone has an idea it would greatly be appreciated.
System Power Settings:

AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Automatic Restart On Power Loss: No
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Wake On LAN: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Battery Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 2
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Reduce Brightness: Yes

Battery Information:

Battery Installed: Yes
First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 934
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 900
Amperage (mA): 312
Voltage (mV): 12578
Cycle Count: 173

AC Charger Information:

Connected: Yes
Charging: Yes

Hardware Configuration:

UPS Installed: No

Thanks.

Macbook Pro 15-inch, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Aug 11, 2008 4:43 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Courcoul

Level 6

18,708 points

Aug 11, 2008 5:15 PM in response to Vikes28

A new MBP battery has a full charge capacity between 5000 and 6000 mAh, so yours is clearly way below that. Now, you state that "when fully charged..." but the data you present is inconsistent, since the Charging: state is yes, so this capacity is clearly not under full charge. Why don't you let it charge until the state changes to No and then take a measurement of the capacity. Another thing you neglected to include is the battery Condition: That, together with the *Cycle Count*, is what Apple will probably use to determine whether the battery is a candidate for replacement.

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Answer 2

Aug 11, 2008 7:09 PM in response to Vikes28

My June 2007 MBP's battery is also holding less than 30 minutes of charge. I'm heading to the Genius Bar tomorrow and expect that they will replace it.

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Answer 3

Aug 12, 2008 4:17 AM in response to Courcoul

Courcoul, just FYI, the Battery Information in Tiger (the OP lists 10.4.11) does not report "Condition" - the OP did not neglect to include it - Apple added that field with Leopard.

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Answer 4

Apollo97

Level 1

10 points

Aug 17, 2008 10:21 PM in response to Frank Nospam

Did the genius replace your battery for you? I also have a june 2007 MBP and want some ammunition for my cause when I go in there.

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Answer 5

Aug 19, 2008 12:12 PM in response to Vikes28

I too have the same problem with my battery. Here is my Power settings after a full charge.

System Power Settings:

AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 30
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 15
Automatic Restart On Power Loss: No
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Wake On LAN: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Battery Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 20
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: No
Reduce Brightness: No

Battery Information:

Battery Installed: Yes
First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 1344
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 1321
Amperage (mA): -1768
Voltage (mV): 11794
Cycle Count: 333

AC Charger Information:

Connected: No
Charging: No

Hardware Configuration:

UPS Installed: No

Id really appreciate any feedback/advice given...as long as it's helpful

Reply

Answer 6

Aug 19, 2008 12:20 PM in response to MadMike88

Unfortunately, you don't have exactly the same problem. The big difference is that your cycle count is 333, whereas the original poster's count is <300. Apple spec is 80% health for 300 cycles; since you are >300 cycles, your battery is getting old, and needs to be replaced. The solution is the same - a new battery. What differs is who pays for it, most likely you in this case.

Hope this helps....

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Answer 7

Aug 19, 2008 12:47 PM in response to neuroanatomist

ok thanx...I kind of figured I needed a new one soon seeing as Ive had my MBP since 2006. I have a question tho...Throughout the first 18 months I had my laptop, I rarely turned it off at night. I would mainly just put it to sleep since I used it as my alarm clock at college. Do you think that would be a factor in the diminished battery capacity?

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Answer 8

Aug 19, 2008 1:00 PM in response to MadMike88

No, it wouldn't have that kind of effect. Personally, I never shut my MBP down, and only restart it when a software update forces that (currently at 15 days of uptime since the last security update, have gone a lot longer).

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Answer 9

Aug 21, 2008 12:47 PM in response to neuroanatomist

Ok....but I have another problem now. Two days ago, my laptop started shutting of by itself with around 40% left. Now I can only use it for around 20 mins without connecting to the power adapter. Any explanation for this? Or should I just go out and buy a new battery asap? One more thing, is there any particular battery I should get? What I mean is are there certain ones available that have better life or reliability?

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Answer 10

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,839 points

Aug 22, 2008 7:55 PM in response to MadMike88

Abruptly shutting off is a symptom of a problem either with the battery or your system's power management unit, almost always the former.

The battery charge is supposed to degrade gracefully enough that the system goes to sleep rather than abruptly shuts off, but there seems to be an issue with MBP batteries or the PMU where in the case of a faulty battery the system just shuts off.

Regardless, a new battery should solve the problem for you. I like Apple batteries, but others have had luck with third party solutions.

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Answer 11

Sep 17, 2008 7:56 AM in response to Apollo97

Sadly no. Batteries are not covered under AppleCare, they have a 12 month limit.

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Answer 12

Sep 17, 2008 5:03 PM in response to Frank Nospam

Same here: My battery can be fully charged and in 20 minutes or so it's down to the red. I this a faulty battery or just how it is? Do I hit the Genius Bar for a better battery?

OS X 10.5.4
4gb Ram

Side note: On top of this I have the new iPhone with its own battery issues!!!

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Answer 13

Sep 18, 2008 11:06 AM in response to mabletonga

Yes, if your battery is less than a year old and holds less than an hour of charge, take your laptop to the Genius bar and they'll probably give you a new battery.

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