Battery life & other questions

Should I not use it on mains, or should I not recharge it fully when I use it on mains?
Jaakko Saari wrote on :

I read from: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm that it's bad to keep the battery fully heated in hot environment, and the article also refers: "Running a laptop computer on the mains has a similar temperature problem. While the battery is kept fully charged, the inside temperature during operation rises to 45C (113F). "

How am I supposed to prevent this on happening on my iBook when I use it on desk with mains, perhaps by using the CRT on my desk? I want to take full advantage of my iBook also as a desktop machine and I want to make sure that I dont damage the battery beyond repair in few months.

Should I not use it on mains, or should I not recharge it fully when I use it on mains? Can I decide not charge a battery while I use the laptop plugged to a wall outlet?

I understand that it's good to let the battery to discharge fully every 30 recharge cycles to calibrate the cauge of the battery.

Is there anything else usefull to know?

Then how does OSX behave when battery is near to empty and eventually becomes empty? Will it just shut down? That's not nice for the OS I know from experience. Will it save the work left in middle?

Is it ideal to put the iBook to sleep while travelling? How much energy the sleep mode will consume?

And to end for this series of amateurish questions I will ask final one; Is it possible to recharge the battery while the iBook is asleep?

I would appreciate your answer and experiences.

Kind regards, Jason

=== Shima Media www.shimamedia.com

Jaakko Saari replied on :

And, I suppose iBook won't overcharge the battery if it's let on mains?

"Jaakko Saari" nothing@redacted.invalid wrote in message news:WZ9wb.377$Sj.6@redacted.invalid

I read from: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm that it's bad to keep the battery fully heated in hot environment, and the article also refers: "Running a laptop computer on the mains has a similar temperature problem. While the battery is kept fully charged, the inside temperature during operation rises to 45C (113F). "

How am I supposed to prevent this on happening on my iBook when I use it on desk with mains, perhaps by using the CRT on my desk? I want to take full advantage of my iBook also as a desktop machine and I want to make sure that I dont damage the battery beyond repair in few months.

Should I not use it on mains, or should I not recharge it fully when I use it on mains? Can I decide not charge a battery while I use the laptop plugged to a wall outlet?

I understand that it's good to let the battery to discharge fully every 30 recharge cycles to calibrate the cauge of the battery.

Is there anything else usefull to know?

Then how does OSX behave when battery is near to empty and eventually becomes empty? Will it just shut down? That's not nice for the OS I know from experience. Will it save the work left in middle?

Is it ideal to put the iBook to sleep while travelling? How much energy the sleep mode will consume?

And to end for this series of amateurish questions I will ask final one; Is it possible to recharge the battery while the iBook is asleep?

I would appreciate your answer and experiences.

Kind regards, Jason

=== Shima Media www.shimamedia.com

John Johnson replied on :

In article WZ9wb.377$Sj.6@redacted.invalid, "Jaakko Saari" nothing@redacted.invalid wrote:

I read from: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm that it's bad to keep the battery fully heated in hot environment, and the article also refers: "Running a laptop computer on the mains has a similar temperature problem. While the battery is kept fully charged, the inside temperature during operation rises to 45C (113F). "

I don't know how hot the iBooks get inside, but note that most non-Mac portables get significantly hotter in normal operation than most Macs (this may be changing with the latest generation of both, but...).

How am I supposed to prevent this on happening on my iBook when I use it on desk with mains, perhaps by using the CRT on my desk? I want to take full advantage of my iBook also as a desktop machine and I want to make sure that I dont damage the battery beyond repair in few months.

You won't. Use it how you like, IMO. There's plenty of discussion on this exact subject in the archives of this group, search them for the entire range of opinionsl, anecdotes, etc.

Should I not use it on mains, or should I not recharge it fully when I use it on mains? Can I decide not charge a battery while I use the laptop plugged to a wall outlet?

I understand that it's good to let the battery to discharge fully every 30 recharge cycles to calibrate the cauge of the battery.

I never did this, and didn't notice any problems. Other people recalibrate religiously. Again, look at the archives (there was a large thread on this quite recently).

Is there anything else usefull to know?

Then how does OSX behave when battery is near to empty and eventually becomes empty?

When you get to approx. 30 min. power remaining, your iBook will go to sleep. If you leave it unplugged and asleep for long enough, it will shut down. This information will be in your user's manual, when you get it.

[snip]

Is it ideal to put the iBook to sleep while travelling? How much energy the sleep mode will consume?

Since the iBook will go to sleep when you close it to put it in a bag, your only options when travelling are asleep, off, or open. IIRC, recent OS X versions have given 10-15 days of sleep on a full battery. I do remember that back in OS 9, I got a month or more in sleep mode on my Pismo; c'est la vie.

And to end for this series of amateurish questions I will ask final one; Is it possible to recharge the battery while the iBook is asleep?

Yup.

Jaakko Saari replied on :

Thank you Mr.Johnson for your very precise answers. I will get back to you if I have more questions.

Best, Jason

"John Johnson" null@redacted.invalid wrote in message news:null-89AC58.23022723112003@redacted.invalid

In article WZ9wb.377$Sj.6@redacted.invalid, "Jaakko Saari" nothing@redacted.invalid wrote:

I read from: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm that it's bad to keep the battery fully heated in hot environment, and the article also refers: "Running a laptop computer on the mains has a similar temperature problem. While the battery is kept fully charged, the inside temperature during operation rises to 45C (113F). "

I don't know how hot the iBooks get inside, but note that most non-Mac portables get significantly hotter in normal operation than most Macs (this may be changing with the latest generation of both, but...).

How am I supposed to prevent this on happening on my iBook when I use it on desk with mains, perhaps by using the CRT on my desk? I want to take full advantage of my iBook also as a desktop machine and I want to make sure that I dont damage the battery beyond repair in few months.

You won't. Use it how you like, IMO. There's plenty of discussion on this exact subject in the archives of this group, search them for the entire range of opinionsl, anecdotes, etc.

Should I not use it on mains, or should I not recharge it fully when I use it on mains? Can I decide not charge a battery while I use the laptop plugged to a wall outlet?

I understand that it's good to let the battery to discharge fully every 30 recharge cycles to calibrate the cauge of the battery.

I never did this, and didn't notice any problems. Other people recalibrate religiously. Again, look at the archives (there was a large thread on this quite recently).

Is there anything else usefull to know?

Then how does OSX behave when battery is near to empty and eventually becomes empty?

When you get to approx. 30 min. power remaining, your iBook will go to sleep. If you leave it unplugged and asleep for long enough, it will shut down. This information will be in your user's manual, when you get it.

[snip]

Is it ideal to put the iBook to sleep while travelling? How much energy the sleep mode will consume?

Since the iBook will go to sleep when you close it to put it in a bag, your only options when travelling are asleep, off, or open. IIRC, recent OS X versions have given 10-15 days of sleep on a full battery. I do remember that back in OS 9, I got a month or more in sleep mode on my Pismo; c'est la vie.

And to end for this series of amateurish questions I will ask final one; Is it possible to recharge the battery while the iBook is asleep?

Yup.

kmc replied on :

While the battery is kept fully charged, the inside temperature during operation rises to 45C (113F). "

How am I supposed to prevent this on happening on my iBook when I use it on desk with mains, perhaps by using the CRT on my desk?

Apparently it won't matter - I've read that unless the insides get as hot as it takes to melt glass, no damage will be done (this was in response to someone who was worried about having an iBook/TiBook on their lap).

Should I not use it on mains, or should I not recharge it fully when I use it on mains? Can I decide not charge a battery while I use the laptop plugged to a wall outlet?

It's ok to use on mains all the time. Once the battery is charged, it goes out of the power loop - it is checked every now and again, but not recharged if it doesn't need it. That's why in Energy Saver there are settings for working on mains and working from battery.

I understand that it's good to let the battery to discharge fully every 30 recharge cycles to calibrate the cauge of the battery.

Is there anything else usefull to know?

You should discharge the battery really really slow when you want to condition it. Don't condition the battery too often (I've heard every few months - I'm going to do it every 6).

Then how does OSX behave when battery is near to empty and eventually becomes empty? Will it just shut down? That's not nice for the OS I know from experience. Will it save the work left in middle?

OS X cuts in and informs the user it's going to go to sleep, and then it does. I can't remember what OS 9 does.

Is it ideal to put the iBook to sleep while travelling? How much energy the sleep mode will consume?

Negligible amounts. If you're not going to use it within a week, shut down instead. You might want to shut down if you are going to travel internationally perhaps ... though I didn't.

And to end for this series of amateurish questions I will ask final one; Is it possible to recharge the battery while the iBook is asleep?

Yes, you can plug in to the mains and recharge while the iBook is shut and asleep.

If you can access the Help Application (re "battery", "sleep" etc) it might answer more of your questions. Also check out the iBook manual and other iBook websites.

KMc

Jaakko Saari replied on :

Thank you for your kind reply. I will proceed further.

Kind regards, Jason

"kmc" none@redacted.invalid wrote in message news:251120031153206107%none@redacted.invalid

While the battery is kept fully charged, the inside temperature during operation rises to 45C (113F). "

How am I supposed to prevent this on happening on my iBook when I use it on desk with mains, perhaps by using the CRT on my desk?

Apparently it won't matter - I've read that unless the insides get as hot as it takes to melt glass, no damage will be done (this was in response to someone who was worried about having an iBook/TiBook on their lap).

Should I not use it on mains, or should I not recharge it fully when I use it on mains? Can I decide not charge a battery while I use the laptop plugged to a wall outlet?

It's ok to use on mains all the time. Once the battery is charged, it goes out of the power loop - it is checked every now and again, but not recharged if it doesn't need it. That's why in Energy Saver there are settings for working on mains and working from battery.

I understand that it's good to let the battery to discharge fully every 30 recharge cycles to calibrate the cauge of the battery.

Is there anything else usefull to know?

You should discharge the battery really really slow when you want to condition it. Don't condition the battery too often (I've heard every few months - I'm going to do it every 6).

Then how does OSX behave when battery is near to empty and eventually becomes empty? Will it just shut down? That's not nice for the OS I know from experience. Will it save the work left in middle?

OS X cuts in and informs the user it's going to go to sleep, and then it does. I can't remember what OS 9 does.

Is it ideal to put the iBook to sleep while travelling? How much energy the sleep mode will consume?

Negligible amounts. If you're not going to use it within a week, shut down instead. You might want to shut down if you are going to travel internationally perhaps ... though I didn't.

And to end for this series of amateurish questions I will ask final one; Is it possible to recharge the battery while the iBook is asleep?

Yes, you can plug in to the mains and recharge while the iBook is shut and asleep.

If you can access the Help Application (re "battery", "sleep" etc) it might answer more of your questions. Also check out the iBook manual and other iBook websites.

KMc

Peter Renzland replied on :

Is there anything else usefull to know?

You should discharge the battery really really slow when you want to condition it.

Yes. This is what I concluded. Seems that load surges can cause premature coma sleep.

Is it ideal to put the iBook to sleep while travelling? How much energy the sleep mode will consume?

Mine, 384 Mb, 500 MHz Dual USB uses 14mA while sleeping. That means about 10 days on a new 4000 mAh battery. Maybe less if you have more RAM.

I'll be happy to send out my batmon awk script which contains how-to documentation on trickle-calibration to whoever wants it. Especially if you send me feedback on how well it works for you. (134 lines, mostly comments)

-- Pete