Can I leave my ibook plugged in?

nicholas greconicholas greco
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hi,



I've recently had some battery problems with my ibook battery (700mhz - Spring 2002). The problems were like those described on these boards a while ago, where the battery would drop from 60% power to 0% suddenly. Anyway, I have a new battery coming to me and I wonder if keeping the machine plugged in for a while might have done this. My ibook is standing in as a desktop machine and I often have it plugged in days at a time.



Any information would be appreciated as I don't want to wreck another battery, if this in fact was why it was wrecked (although I don't think it is).



Thanks,

Nicholas

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    the grimacethe grimace Posts: 71member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Nicholas Greco

    Hi,



    I've recently had some battery problems with my ibook battery (700mhz - Spring 2002). The problems were like those described on these boards a while ago, where the battery would drop from 60% power to 0% suddenly. Anyway, I have a new battery coming to me and I wonder if keeping the machine plugged in for a while might have done this. My ibook is standing in as a desktop machine and I often have it plugged in days at a time.



    Any information would be appreciated as I don't want to wreck another battery, if this in fact was why it was wrecked (although I don't think it is).



    Thanks,

    Nicholas



    Your battery SHOULD be unaffected by leaving it plugged in.



    (tig)
  • Reply 2 of 5
    raimacraimac Posts: 68member
    I been looking for info about the use of the ibook battery. Like tips for taking care of it in order to last longer. If someone have an idea of this or know where I can take a look, please post.

    Thanks
  • Reply 3 of 5
    cinoricinori Posts: 21member
    For any laptop battery it is good to charge it then let it run down... then recharge...

    Good cycling of the battery helps.



    :-)
  • Reply 4 of 5
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,180member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by CiNoRi

    For any laptop battery it is good to charge it then let it run down... then recharge...

    Good cycling of the battery helps.



    :-)



    This REALLY depends on the type of battery ... for the old NiCd batteries this was more or less a necessity ... for NiMh batteries it will make no difference at all....



    I lost interest in the field before the LiIon batteries became popular, so I couldn't say how it affects them.



    In any case, I leave my iBook plugged in for days at a time and have never had any battery problems .... still using the origional battery 3 years later (and it will still let me watch a DVD on the battery with some power left over). And it is rarely allowed to drop below 60%, so it's fair to say that it has never been deep-cycled but maybey half a dozen times in three years.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    nicholas greconicholas greco Posts: 19member
    Thanks for your help. At this point, I think the battery was faulty. I'm not sure how long this new one is lasting, though, since I upgraded to 10.2.8 and it seems that there's some problems with the "power metre" thing. Anyway, thanks for the help. I'll try to cycle the power in the battery a bit more, and other than that, I won't worry about it.



    Nicholas
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