How to tell if a new battery is needed.

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How to tell if a new battery is needed.

The battery lasts about 5 minutes after disconnected from the power source even thoughhh the battery screen shows it's charged 100%. The battery is a couple years old, it use to last about an hour.

Is there a way to tell if a new battery is needed or is there another solution?

Any suggestions appreciated.

powerbook g4, Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Posted on Jan 7, 2006 6:35 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 7, 2006 2:52 PM in response to MacMichele

Battery that lasted a couple of years is about the right service life for Li-ion. It's time to replace it.

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Answer 2

Jan 8, 2006 6:24 AM in response to MacMichele

Michele

I suggest you went to :

Apple menu
About this Mac
More info

You will find something like : power, click on that link and you will see the number of cycles of your battery, different specifications and more important the maximum capacity. If the max Capacity is below 1000 mw, which is probably the case, your battery has to be changed.

Before doing this, you may try to recalibrate the battery.

See :

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86284

Or

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=298854&tstart=0

Luc

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