Battery life -- Help Needed

Ron:

The average life of a laptop battery is 3 to 5 years. If you press the battery button and all the LEDs don't light up, you battery is on the way out. Since the iBook does not have an internal backup (PRAM) battery loss of power to your computer will not be happy event. I recommend that you purchase and install a new battery.

In terms of monitoring your battery I suggest that you install the widget iStat Pro. It will tell you how many recharge cycles you have on your battery.

😉 cornelius

Ron:

OWC has excellent products for the Mac and are great for service, too. Here is a less expensive battery. You may want to check the specs against the one at OWC and decide from that.

If all the LEDs light up that indicates that your battery is accepting a full charge, and I don't understand why it won't keep the computer going. The iStat Nano will also give you an estimate of the battery health in mAh. Download and check it out.

You might also want to try resetting the PMU and see if that helps.

😉 cornelius

Ron:

Apparently your battery was dead, and resetting the PMU showed it up. That would be why you had to have the computer plugged into household electricity or else it lost all power. The battery had no juice. Whether the battery was not charging because the battery is dead, or the charging system on the computer is not working it is hard to tell. My guess is that the battery is no longer taking a charge.

In terms of the two batteries, the OWC battery 12% greater amperage than the Kahlon battery meaning it is a bit more powerful. Will that make a difference in performance? Not much, if any. They both have identical warranties. Is the difference worth 33% more? That is a matter for you to decide. I would go for the Kahlon battery if it were I. I purchased a Kahlon battery for my daughter's PowerBook G4 a while ago and it works fine for her. Your choice.

😉 cornelius

Hey Ron,
You might want to look at my post about this a while back:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11417939&#11417939
I was pretty amazed at the performance of the Newer Tech battery. I was also amazed that OWC could track the serial number and tell me where and when it was sold. Pretty impressive OWC.
Also impressive that the price hasn't changed since '06.
Richard

Richard:

The newer Tech batteries are good. I put one in my Pismo and it lasted about 4 years, then I bought a second newer tech battery, which is still in my Pismo which is plugged in all the time as I don't travel with it anymore. Incidentally, I paid $149 for mine, both times. The question is not whether it is a good, reliable, powerful battery. It is. The question is whether the difference in power is worth a 33% premium.

😉 cornelius

Cornelius and Ron,

The question is not whether it is a good, reliable, powerful battery. It is. The question is whether the difference in power is worth a 33% premium.

Just a casual Googling brings back this:
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Kahlon
In reading through them I see these:
"I ordered a laptop battery. It went bad within 3 weeks and eventually shut the computer down when plugged in. "
"battery did not recharge after first use."
"The battery I received was defective, would not take any charge. "
That's just the first page. There are 21 more and a lot of complaints about their customer service.
Now at OWC I actually got an email from a person who had snagged that request for the serial number of the battery I was researching. She remembered me and had received donations from me in Milwaukee. She is now working for OWC tech support and loves it. She handled that request personally and that just seems to be indicative of the people that work at OWC. I've never dealt with a sales, tech support or customer service person who wasn't all over my request I needed. I think it's a reflection of that company and how they're treated as employees which reflects how they treat us as customers.
Richard

I am not an apologist for Kahlon, nor am I trying to sell their products. I have dealt with them, and my dealings have been as good as with any other online retailer. I bought my daughter's battery about a year ago and it is still functioning as it should. I have purchased RAM from them for my Pismo, as have one of my other daughters for her iBook G4; no complaint either way. Does that mean that other people have no difficulties with the products they sell? I would not say so. Is it possible to receive defective products from them? Absolutely, just like one could from any other retailer.

I also purchase and use products from OWC, and I have been in contact both with Customer Service and Tech Support from time to time both for myself and researching for posters in these forums. They are excellent. Their products are top quality. I recently purchased 6 GB (1 x 2 GB and 1 x 4 GB) of RAM from them, as well as a 1 TB external FW HDD. I purchased my Seagate 500 GB SATA HDD from another vendor because of a significant price difference. I am not putting OWC or their products down. I am offering options for the cost conscious consumer.

😉 cornelius