iBook G4 actual battery capacity

The data used by Coconut and iBatt on your battery's capacity, current charge and current power input/output is available in Tiger's System Profiler under "Power". I would be surprised if the 12" iBook battery could have a maximum capacity of 6245mAh since my new (replaced under warranty) 12" Powerbook battery has a capacity of 4400mAh.

I have finally gotten a new battery for my PowerBook. And I've got
some issues with it, or at least some questions.

My original battery was down to 51% of its original capacity. I was
getting less than 90 minutes per charge. So I ordered a new one.
(From DuracellDirect.com)

The new battery was supposed to be 4800mAh, but I never saw that.
Instead, it reported its original capacity was 4700, but current
capacity was 4500. I tried to discharge and recharge it a few times
(4) but it immediately went down to 4500 and then barely went up. So,
I returned it for a new battery.

This second replacement is acting a lot like the first.

                   Original Current Current
                   Capacity Capacity Charge

Original 4200 mAh 2152 mAh 2151 mAh

Replacement 1 4700 mAh 4500 mAh 2827 mAh
out of the box

Replacement 1 4700 mAh 4527 mAh 4527 mAh
after discharge cycle

Replacement 1 4700 mAh 4127 mAh 4126 mAh
after 4 cycles

Replacement 2 4700 mAh 4700 mAh 3687 mAh
out of box

Replacement 2 4700 mAh 4586 mAh 4586 mAh
after discharge cycle

What is the deal here? Is this an issue with all batteries, that
their listed original capacity is a fantasy? I know that they wear
down, but after losing 3% after one cycle and another 10% after 3
more cycles seems wrong. Furthermore, the battery has never claimed
to be a 4800 mAh battery, even though it was sold as such (and the
packaging listed it as such).

Does anyone out there have a new powerbook g4 who can check their
battery? Anyone have a NewerTech battery? Any share to drop some
knowledge on me?

--
=alex hoffman

On Apr 4, 2006, at 9:26 PM, Alexander Hoffman wrote:

> Does anyone out there have a new powerbook g4 who can check their
> battery? Anyone have a NewerTech battery? Any share to drop some
> knowledge on me?

I used a PB with a NewerTech battery for a while. I no longer have
the Coconut Battery logs, so I can't tell you for certain, but I
recall the following:

- Fresh out of the box, the NewerTech battery showed a charge of more
than the specification value (by a very small margin of a few mAh).
Not enough to make a difference, but enough to indicate that the
battery was indeed holding a full charge.

- Somewhere in the first month of use (with daily partial discharge
cycles), the capacity dropped to about 90-92%% when fully charged.

Also note that I followed the procedure outlined by Newertech with
respect to battery conditioning (which Newer claims is essential for
getting the full rated charge from the batteries):

http://www.newertech.com/support
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86284

And I don't know if this applies to your PB, but if I remember
correctly, Apple released a battery firmware update for some PBs a
few months back.

Tomoharu

On 4/5/06, Alexander Hoffman <ahoffmanaledev.com> wrote:
> Does anyone out there have a new powerbook g4 who can check their
> battery? Anyone have a NewerTech battery? Any share to drop some
> knowledge on me?

Well my PowerBook isn't that new, 18 months, but you got me curious so
I thought I'd grab a utility and have a look.

                  Original Current Current
                  Capacity Capacity Charge

Original 4400 mAh 3726 mAh 3715 mAh
Battery-Loadcycles : 131

Christopher Appell
European Market
FreeRecruiting.com
JobMart.com

I recently replaced my Titanium Powerbook battery with a 4800 mAH battery from NewerTech. After one recalibration cycle CoconutBattery reported the capacity as 4800 mAH and after 21 load cycles it still reports 4800 mAH.

Roy Patience

>Alex -- what tool did you use to get these current capacities? Something
>that comes with PowerBook only? Haven't seen anything to do this on my
>iBook.

CoconutBattery.

<http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/>

My experience with my iBook is that you need work or business that pays for new batteries; for 3 years of AppleCare and, finally, for a new Book during the 4th year.

This is realistic -- note books of any kind are cutting edge and we only hurt ourselves by pretending otherwise.

I did enjoy my iBook a lot the first year. Still enjoy it with it's umbilical cord. Am looking forward to parking it as a stand by machine as soon as possible.

And what will I get next ? A Mini. When business picks up I'll get a MacBook.

At 7:52 AM -0700 4/6/06, georgewade1981 wrote:
>My experience with my iBook is that you need work or business that pays
>for new batteries; for 3 years of AppleCare and, finally, for a new Book
>during the 4th year.

        My parents were pleasantly surprised to find that AppleCare covered
their iBook G4's battery, which was down to under a 30 minute charge, when
they called about getting their second new keyboard (the key letters rubbed
off again). And the keyboard was a user-replaceable item this time while
last time they needed to bring the computer into the shop.

--
* Johann Beda - contact link: <http://xri.net/=j-beda> *
* Johann's MostlyMac Computer Consulting - <http://mmcc.beda.ca/> *