Macbook not charging fully.

James Hunt

Hi, I have a mid-2007 Macbook - 2.16, 2gb RAM. Its been fine, although recently I noticed that the power adapter would glow green, indicating a full charge - even thought the display only indicated 98%, and would take no more. Now it's gone down to 96%......and it's the possible continuation of that pattern that I don't like. I use it a fair bit, and use it to power a firewire audio interface, numerous external usb devices and a second monitor all at the same time - maybe that load is too heavy?

Anyone any ideas? Is the battery shagged?

triple h

I am no expert, but this is what i would do.

I would let the battery go down below 50% ( why, i don't know) and then i would let it charge up fully. And if i was not happy after that test i would buy a new battery.

Type 17

Have you conditioned/calibrated the battery? - needs to be done every few months - see here and here. I do it with the wife's Jan 2007 Macbook every two months or so and, according to the Coconut Battery utility, the capacity has gone up to about 103% of the official rating (probably the utility being a bit inaccurate, but the battery still gives over 5 hours with WiFi turned off and the screen dimmed)

James Hunt

Thanks for the quick responses lads.

I've used the battery down to 6% today and I'll charge it up now using the calibration method. I've never calibrated the battery before.....never heard of it to be honest. Seems like the way to go.

Sad Professor

Some PowerBook G4, iBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook computers may not show the battery as 100 percent charged in Mac OS X, even when the power adapter is plugged in. The battery appears to stop charging between 93 percent and 99 percent. (PowerPC-based computers may stop charging between 95 and 99 percent; Intel-based computers may stop charging between 93 and 99 percent.)

This is normal. The batteries used in these computers are designed to avoid short discharge/charge cycles in order to prolong the overall life of the battery. Because of this, when setting the Mac OS X battery status menu bar icon to display charge state by percentage, you may notice that the reported charge stays between 93 or 95 percent and 99 percent. When the battery level eventually drops below 93 or 95 percent, it will charge all the way to 100 percent.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88344-en

James Hunt

Thanks for all the replies lads. It's fine now. I ran through the calibration procedure the other day and have been charging and discharging to 100% and <10% since then.....and the meter reads fine now. Goes to 100% every time. Good to know about the battery calibration technique.

Thanks again.