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Apple Wireless Keyboard Eating Batteries

I have a year old wireless apple keyboard (the small aluminum one) and lately it has been eating batteries.
This did not happen before I installed snow leopard however that might not be the cause.

Is anyone else having these problems?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Persol

MBP 15" 2.2 Santa Rosa, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Nov 12, 2009 1:34 AM

Reply
534 replies

Apr 18, 2017 10:22 PM in response to persol19

Same problem. No updates that could have caused it either. I used to get ~6 months out of the keyboard but now the batteries don't last a day. This appears to be something that a lot of people have seen but I haven't found a solution yet - will take by Apple store when I have a few moments and report back what they say - I predict it's "dunno, you could buy a new one" which seems to be the standard response.

Nov 12, 2009 5:48 AM in response to persol19

Hello p:

One of my two BT keyboards is doing the same thing - very little use, but using lots of battery power. That one is attached to a G5 running OS X 10.5.8 so OS X 10.6 is not the cause.

Candidly, I have ignored the issue as I use rechargeable batteries (2650 mAh Duracells) and a 15 minute recharger (both quite reasonable new on eBay). I have a drawer full of rechargeable batteries so I am never more than 15 minutes from replacement. Rechargeable batteries do not last as long as Lithium ones (voltage difference, I think), but that makes no difference to me.

Barry

Nov 18, 2009 8:55 AM in response to persol19

I also have experienced this problem. I have a wireless aluminum keyboard (short style) that has been eating batteries since I upgraded to Snow Leopard. Two sets of batteries (six) since the upgrade. I also noticed my wireless mighty mouse also using batteries. I have since gone to the new magic mouse, so we will see if the new mouse has an appetite.

Nov 18, 2009 5:19 PM in response to persol19

I can't exactly pin point when this started happening but it was either after a keyboard firmware update or the installation of the new driver for my magic mouse. But I barely use my keyboard and had the same batteries in it for over 6 months. Now since one of these update (2 to 3 weeks ago) I have had to replace the batteries twice, with no more than 30 minutes of usage a day.

Hopefully Apple can get the ball rolling on a fix.

Nov 18, 2009 11:42 PM in response to persol19

Thanks for the replies everyone. Im going to look in getting some rechargeable batteries asap.

I doubt I would be able to have the keyboard replaced at this point because it is already at least a year old. I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

I hope this problem can be resolved although I doubt it will be anytime soon because of the bluetooth update needed to use the new magic mouse.

Thanks again,
Persol

Nov 19, 2009 9:36 AM in response to persol19

I'm having the same issue. I picked up a Magic Mouse right when they became available. At the time, I was using my USB keyboard but I also had the short aluminum (3 battery) bluetooth keyboard in my closet. Since my new mouse is wireless I decided to start using the BT keyboard as well to go all wireless. Since then, the batteries in the mouse have been fine and still report 75% charge but the batteries in my keyboard have needed to be replaced 3 times already. I'm using normal Energizer batteries (not rechargeables). I do use the keyboard quite a bit (probably 8 hours a day) but I remember when I used this keyboard in the past the batteries lasted for many months, not the few days they are lasting now. I put in new batteries in the keyboard yesterday and today I see it is reporting only a 77% charge already.

I am running Snow Leopard on a Mac Pro.

Apple Wireless Keyboard Eating Batteries

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