Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Calibrating a new LiOn battery: iBook example

Macworld: Secrets: Laptop Battery Smarts

I do this sort of thing unintentionally fairly often, but it's worth knowing about. I suspect a similar procedure might be of value for other LiOn battery devices.
Calibrate the Battery New Apple batteries, those included with a machine and those bought separately, arrive partially charged and need to be calibrated. This procedure provides a baseline for the processor built into the battery, so the processor can effectively regulate power consumption. To calibrate your battery, first plug in the laptop and charge the battery to 100 percent capacity; the light at the end of the Apple-supplied power cable will go from orange to green when the battery is fully charged. Next, unplug the power adapter and let the battery run down. The machine will put itself to sleep and refuse to wake up. Plug the adapter in again and fully recharge the battery. (You can use the laptop as you normally would during the calibration process.) You need to calibrate the battery only once.
The rest of this MacWorld article is excellent. Great advice.

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