MacBook Pro... To Charge or not to Charge

Pffff.

LexShelling, hello.

I have been reading all the recommendations so far and will try to follow as much as possible. I do have one questions/comment on LiPo batteries.

I owned LiPo Powered R/C Cars for competition, the cars themselves has a safety electronic module that shuts the battery off to protect it from fully discharging, just when it feels the voltage -which is almost flat all along the discharging process- going down it kills the power supply to protect it.

Taking this as an example, don't the MacBook's all have this same system? From a LiPo perspective, doesn't this mean that 0%-5% of battery "juice" in the system should refer to 15%-20% in really battery power? Otherwise, as in the R/C LiPo's, batteries could explode.

Appreciate your support and knowledge on this!

Regards,

There is no switch off to "save" the battery. There is only a warning when it is almost empty.

A lot about the batteries in the Mac is said in this thread already; read it again. If you want more on Li-Ion batteries read here:

http://batteryuniversity.com

Lex

Thanks for the quick response LexSchellings. I did read all the threads on the batteries and did learn some stuff.

Maybe I did not explain myself correctly on my question / doubt comparing the R/C LiPo with the Mac's. A LiPo discharge rate is very flat all along the way, something like this (Opposite to others such as NiMh):

where the red dots represent when the system (electronic module on R/C cars for example) kills the power supply so the system shuts off and the battery never drains completely, but leaves about 10-15% of juice in it.

Comparing this to the Mac's, wouldn't 0% of battery should be where the red dots connects the discharge graph? To protect the battery from damage or explosion.

Thanks again.

Regards,

Well, in the Mac batteries the line is comparable maybe even more flat, but has the same type of "fall-off" at the end.

In the mac the health of a battery is indicated in Applications->Utililies->SystemInformation:

indicated are the health: "normal", "check battery" (aged and not fit anymore), "service" (needs to be replaced).

and also is indicated cycles: in modern MBP's when you near 1000 cycles you have to replace the battery even when health is "normal".

If you do not replace the battery when it says service after awhile the battery may be swelling (causing issues by pressing the keyboard underside or other components) eventually leading to bursting open and leaking. Perhaps this dying-dead period is not so acute as in your Li-po.

Anyway the battery status is peeped to you when sinking below about 10% capacity, which you should observe very well because it is very bad for (every Li-on) battery when depleted completely: in such cases it loses part of the total capacity (this is as important in iPhone and iPad).

There is no safety auto switch-off security nor is there a possibility to set it. Obviously useable battery capacity is an important item (marketed as "battery life" in hours of use...).

Lex

well for me, i use my mbp 20 hours everyday because after im done during the day, i let my friend use it too. when my mbp reaches 100% charge i still leave it at that for 30 minutes or 1 hour maximum, then i leave it to discharge down to 50% or sometimes 75% as recommended on a website. so when ever i let it discharge down to 20% i still get 7 hours browsing the internet and playing songs on it for like 1 hour in between the 7 hours..i recommend letting the battery do its job every day, thats what they are made for. the capacity is around 96.5% with just 3 cycles on it..i havent re-calibrated yet. but i dont know if that normal.

Just leave it plugged in to reduce battery cycles. As already said, the computer will not overcharge.

Can I charge my mackbook pro in a carrying case.