15 dying MacBooks?

dangerstat said:
To be honest my macbook has been quite useless, I love it to bits but it really has been poor in terms of build quality. The first problem is that I dropped it (accidentally) low a very low hieght and the screen stopped working (which) I managed to fix after dismantling it and reconnecting some lead that connected to the top left of the main board. Then I picked it up by the screen itself (only softly) and the screen cracked which means that only 3/4 of the screen is usable now. Not a huge issue as I use with an external TFT, but all the same think they aren't built to last :(
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If I dropped my dell and picked it up by the screen id fully expect it to break
 
Here are the fields under the 'battery' section. I don't see a 'condition' field :confused:

How do the rest of the figures look? The 'Full Charge Capacity' looks a bit low. On some of the other MacBooks, this is about 3000mAh.

picture1wi4.png
 
Looking at the age of the MacBooks and the cycle counts, it seems that they have had their MagSafe connectors plugged in most of the time?

On Apple's website, there's a page regarding notebook batteries especially standard maintenance:

Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time. An ideal use would be a commuter who uses her MacBook Pro on the train, then plugs it in at the office to charge. This keeps the battery juices flowing. If on the other hand, you use a desktop computer at work, and save a notebook for infrequent travel, Apple recommends charging and discharging its battery at least once per month.
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Yes, the MacBooks are stored in a security trolley where they are more or less constantly plugged in.
 
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If they're constantly plugged in and tied down to a secure trolley, wouldn't it be sensible to unclip the batteries, and run off AC?? :confused:

(Apart from the unibody MBs and MBPs, all previous models weren't limited if you took out the battery.. in fact it was recommended practice for those with near-constant AC usage)

Lol @ dangerstat; you drop the laptop and moan when it breaks? I'll crash my car tonight and let you know how it affects the handling.
 
The laptops aren't constantly run off mains AC, they are simply stored in a secure trolley, which has the secondary purpose of charging them.

EDIT: Upon taking a look at the Apple discussion forums, I see that literally hundreds of people are experiencing these exact same symptoms. yet no one seems to have come up with a solution...
 
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dangerstat said:
To be honest my macbook has been quite useless, I love it to bits but it really has been poor in terms of build quality. The first problem is that I dropped it (accidentally) low a very low hieght and the screen stopped working (which) I managed to fix after dismantling it and reconnecting some lead that connected to the top left of the main board. Then I picked it up by the screen itself (only softly) and the screen cracked which means that only 3/4 of the screen is usable now. Not a huge issue as I use with an external TFT, but all the same think they aren't built to last :(
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lol im sorry, but thats you not looking after it, picking it up by the screen lol.

Sorry.

Agree with the others, explain to apple the situation, as its educational you may get a free batch of batts. sent out even if the machines are out of warranty.
 
tim80bwi said:
The laptops aren't constantly run off mains AC, they are simply stored in a secure trolley, which has the secondary purpose of charging them.

EDIT: Upon taking a look at the Apple discussion forums, I see that literally hundreds of people are experiencing these exact same symptoms. yet no one seems to have come up with a solution...
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Have you missed my first post in this thread? :p

It seems to me that the symptoms shown by the batteries is a case of them not being calibrated and also the age of the batteries. It's nearly impossible to maintain the lifetime of Lithium-ion batteries to their original capacity since it decreases over time. It looks like the only solution to your problem is to get new batteries :o
 
Sorry mate, I wasn't ignoring you. But I only get to work on the laptops when I'm at work, and there are 15 of them! I'm calibrating one as we speak, and I'll just have to see what happens.

I agree, the batteries most definately need replacing. However, I don't see why this would be causing the laptops to go into what appears to be 'emergency sleep' with a good 60% life remaining.

Battery health is showing as 40% by the way.
 
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Calibrating a Li-Ion battery (e.g. letting it drain completely, then do a full charge) is a bad idea.

Have a look on these very forums.. there are cases where people have killed new batteries because the battery drained so far it wouldn't accept a charge.
 
How to prolong lithium-based batteries (BU34)

Battery research is focusing heavily on lithium chemistries, so much so that one could presume that all portable devices will be powered with lithium-ion batteries in the future. In many ways, lithium-ion is superior to nickel and lead-based chemistries and the applications for lithium-ion batteries are growing as a result.

Lithium-ion has not yet fully matured and is being improved continuously. New metal and chemical combinations are being tried every six months to increase energy density and prolong service life. The improvements in longevity after each change will not be known for a few years.

A lithium-ion battery provides 300-500 discharge/charge cycles. The battery prefers a partial rather than a full discharge. Frequent full discharges should be avoided when possible. Instead, charge the battery more often or use a larger battery. There is no concern of memory when applying unscheduled charges.
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http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

I'm not saying it's a complete no-no, but for newer batteries it shouldn't be needed. Worth a shot in this instance as he has nothing to lose, but doing it on a new battery for a new machine is unnessecary :cool:
 
EVH said:
Calibrating a Li-Ion battery (e.g. letting it drain completely, then do a full charge) is a bad idea.

Have a look on these very forums.. there are cases where people have killed new batteries because the battery drained so far it wouldn't accept a charge.
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Li-ion batteries should have an inbuilt protection circuit to stop this happening...
 
MikeHunt79 said:
Li-ion batteries should have an inbuilt protection circuit to stop this happening...
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Correct, they do.

However, I have seen a few people who killed their batteries, so it's a gamble like anything else :o

I'll do a before and after calibration of my new MBP tonight to test the theory in a real world environment (currently have used 1 cycle.. so it's as near OTB as you can get).

BEFORE


AFTER


It appears that a calibration has made things worse? Although, I suspect the numbers are lower now because they're a more accurate reflection of "true" values.
 
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