Battery Indicator Erratic After New Battery?

Question

Level 1

16 points

Battery Indicator Erratic After New Battery?

The battery life was dwindling on the original battery in my G4 1.67 GHz 15" Aluminum. I replaced it with an after market battery touting a 25% capacity (5000 MAHz) increase. It does seem to have an increased capacity but the battery indicator has become erratic. Today, with a gradual decrease from full charge to 62%, suddenly the notice came on warning that it was running on reserve power and it showed 4% charge. I have twice let it run down to shutdown and then recharged it. The indicator still is erratic??

PB G4 15", 2 G5 2.0Ghz, Mac OS X (10.4.11), Apple for 30 years and counting!

Posted on Dec 26, 2010 6:10 PM

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Answer 1

louie

Level 4

2,950 points

Dec 26, 2010 6:36 PM in response to GeneMike

My first thought is that the replacement battery is simply bad. I would be suspicious of claims of 25% increase at a low price. Have you contacted the vendor about warranty or tech support?

Can you try the behavior on the old battery? Did you reset the PRAM? What is the battery info in System Profiler/power?

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Answer 2

GeneMike Author

Level 1

16 points

Dec 27, 2010 6:01 AM in response to louie

I don't recall saying anything about a "low price??" The battery information looks like this:

Battery Information:

Battery Installed: Yes
First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4688
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 4688
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12430
Cycle Count: 13

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Answer 3

louie

Level 4

2,950 points

Dec 27, 2010 9:56 AM in response to GeneMike

Fair enough! Regardless of the cost, you probably just have a bad battery. Sudden drops in capacity are typical of a bad cell in the pack.

-Try the old battery and see if it behaves erratically. If not, the computer is probably OK.
-Reset the power management unit and PRAM, just in case the computer has be reset for the different battery:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1431?viewlocale=en_US#faq11
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
-Ask your battery vendor for tech advice on this issue or warranty service.

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Answer 4

GeneMike Author

Level 1

16 points

Dec 27, 2010 2:09 PM in response to louie

The battery is a NewerTech from OWC. The tech there had suggested - first, a PMU reset and, if not resolved, an nvram reset. If that didn't do it, I should call Customer Support for an RMA.

I did a PMU reset and it seems to have done the trick - afterward, I ran CD's on the machine (something I don't normally do!) constantly for well over 4 hours. Airport was also on and I was connected to the internet! My old Apple battery would never have gone anywhere near that long with that or any other load. The battery indicator went down gradually until it shut down at 0%.

It's only one cycle and I will be watching it closely but looks good for now.

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Answer 5

louie

Level 4

2,950 points

Dec 27, 2010 9:07 PM in response to GeneMike

Sounds good. If you have not already done so, I suggest reviewing Apple's battery calibration notes
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490
and battery notes
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
unless Newertech advice is different.

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