Battery Life Magic Mouse?

Hello:

There is no +"piece of literature"+ as the battery life is a direct function of usage.

I use rechargeable batteries and a 15 minute charger (all from eBay - new). I find rechargeables work very well. They do not last as long as Lithium batteries, but they are environmentally-friendly and quickly available (with a 15 minute charger).

Barry

... piece of literature from Apple ...

Personlly, I'd take first-hand experiences from Apple product users over most marketing material (grin).

Quality, fresh AA cells (Duracell) are lasting three months or more for me. And I never turn it OFF.

You can increase that by turning it OFF overnight, I suppose.

clint,

I think three months is about all you can expect. Mine used to last only 1 month but they put out a fix that improved it to about 3.

well as far as I know magic mouse has cool power saving features that means it might not make a huge diff if you did switch it off over night . I bought mine 2 months ago and have out in 2 duracell's and I don't use my mouse I actually abuse it daily 🙂 I have 60 percent left as I write these

That's the way forward ..cost and environment effective .I have done a little research for my self and it shows rechargeable battery technology came a long way . I found that these days a single AA battery can be as big as 2800 mAh in capacity . ( that's insane ) so I'll get 4 of that kind and a charger. two of those in the magic mouse will equal 5600 mAh which is good to go months I'd say . .

I have a Apple Magic Mouse and also the new Apple Charger. (with 6 supplied Batteries).

My Query is;
After recharging two batteries (to Green Light) and inserting into magic mouse.... the BT Menu states the Apple Wireless Mouse battery Level is only 83% ? Why is that?

Being freshly recharged - should it not be 100%?

I would tend to agree with you--why not drop Apple a line and see if they come up with an answer. I am thining of getting the same unit.

When I recharge batteries with my Apple Charger and the supplied batteries, they come back at 62% upon replacing them into the Mouse.

Pretty terrible performance I'd say!

I imagine that the battery percentage indicator is based on Battery voltage.

When new, an Alkaline AA battery will show ~1.5v, as the battery is exhausted, this voltage creeps downward, and your Mac will reference a table and equate a specific voltage to a particular "percentage used" level. It's this which is displayed in OSX.

Rechargeable batteries have a different "full" voltage, and different voltage drop-off characteristics as they're exhausted, thus when used with these type of batteries, the "percentage used" displayed by your Mac will differ.

The "full" voltage, and drop-off characteristics varies dependant on the battery technology in use (e.g. NiCd vs NiMH vs LiPo vs LiFe), and the rate at which they're exhausted (and voltage drops) will vary based on their capacity (given in mAh, higher being longer life)



In summary, all batteries are not created equal, and the batteries Apple "expects" for their % used report, are unlikely to be the batteries you're using.

G.

Gavin Carey wrote:

created equal, and the batteries Apple "expects" for their % used report, are unlikely to be the batteries you're using.


Gavin - Thanks for that information. If I'm understanding it correctly, I shouldn't be concerned about what percentage is showing up when I replace the batteries in my mouse. But for the record, I'm using the batteries and recharging unit that I purchased from Apple when I purchased my computer last September.

Interesting thing I found when I bought Apple charger and put the batteries in the mouse the mouse lasted several months and showed 100% for several days. But now with 2nd charge (a week ago) and 3rd charge (today) the mouse lasts less and less and now upon full charge it shows only 74%. If it showed 100% before and now it shows only 74 does that mean 3 charge cycles destroyed 1/4 of the battery capacity?

I have a new Magic Mouse and Apple battery charger and I'm going from 100% full-charge to empty in 6 to 7 days. I have tried all the batteries that came with the charger. The keyboard is not draining batteries at all and has remained above 90% for 6 weeks. Apple replaced the original Magic Mouse that came with my iMac because it was also draining rapidly. Anyone have any idea of what is going on? I see others are getting 3 months per charge.

From my experience... Rechargeable batteries don't hold their value forever. Meaning that for a while you might get 100% but then eventually you will get 90% and later 60% until finally you will get a 60% but the charge only lasts a day or two.

This is normal. They will not hold a long charge forever thus the numbers you read. I don't think of those numbers anymore as how much charge they have but more so what the batteries is capable of holding.

The batteries that come with the Apple charger may be old or sitting around for a while. I would not depend on the batteries that come with the charger as you don't know the birthdate of the batteries till you open the product and that's if it's printed on them. As well they are not high end batteries. Think of them like printer cartridges when you buy a new printer... You get samples right? I know it sounds funny but it's true lol - What's the branding and details on them?

My suggestion is shop for some high end rechargeable Duracell's or Energizer"s (Don't be cheap) as they have the dates on them and try to buy from a store that you know cycles through they battery supply fast such as BestBuy so know you have a good chance of finding current birth dates on them.

Like beer man, Budweiser puts birthday's on their bottles so you know you are not buying or about to drink something that is two years old if catch my drift ha ha!

I hope this helps as with this tip, I get about 5 - 6 months on a single charge working my mouse out like a dog chasing a car for a mile 🙂

PS. These are the one's I use for everything http://www.duracell.com/en-US/product/pre-charged-rechargeable-batteries.jspx