Macbook Pro Early 2008 Battery

[Apple Inc.]

I have a Macbook Pro of the early 2008 revision and have been experiencing problems with the battery. It does not hold too good of a charge nowhere near the advertised 5 Hours. I went and checked the information in About this Mac and got these results:
Health Information:
Cycle count: 178
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1837
Voltage (mV): 11559

 

[Juliacoolo]

Re-boot the system, and take out the battery id it tis the kind that can be taken out. Then re-do everything. That should help.

 

[Gerri Shin]

Try calibrating your battery. If the odd stats persist after that, I would advise making an appointment with your nearest genius bar or call the AppleCare hotline. AFAIK if your battery is under 2000mAh with less than 300 charge cycles then they should just give you a new battery.

Also the part of the system profiler section with the battery that is slightly more important that what you posted is this:

Charge Information:
  Charge remaining (mAh):	2053
  Fully charged:	No
  Charging:	Yes
  Full charge capacity (mAh):	2098
  Health Information:
  Cycle count:	439
  Condition:	Fair
  Battery Installed:	Yes

 

[Alistair]

It's a Lithium ion battery, correct? Have you been using the battery until it fully dies, or have you been using it until about 10-17% remains?

If you have been using it until the battery dies, that is why. The Lithium ion battery should only be drained to about 10-17%, then charged, with a full draining every once in a while (about every 30 or so charge cycles). If you haven't used your battery at all, there could be some corrosion in the anode of the battery.

If you have been properly draining and charging your battery, I cannot tell you.

 

[Eureka1]

If you've do not let a rechargable battery "empty" once every like two weeks, then it will begin to lose charge. People who leave their laptops on the mains adaptor for months and then complain when their batteries aren't at max capacity, this is why.

My HP 2133 has lost about 5% charge since February, and my iPod has lost about 7% charge in the 3 years I've owned it.

 

[Apple Inc.]

Hmm the battery seems to be getting better. but an hour and a half doesnt sound right.
Here is the rest of the info.
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 2205
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3062
Health Information:
Cycle count: 179
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1625
Voltage (mV): 11763

 

[Gerri Shin]

If your Full Charge Capacity goes below 2900 before you hit 300 charge cycles call Applecare or schedule a Genius bar appointment. It appears that your battery is deteriorating more rapidly than it should be. You should be able to get a new one.

 

[Apple Inc.]

I just refreshed it and it went down 60 mAh since i posted that for the maximum charge.

 

[twocows]

If you've do not let a rechargable battery "empty" once every like two weeks, then it will begin to lose charge. People who leave their laptops on the mains adaptor for months and then complain when their batteries aren't at max capacity, this is why.

My HP 2133 has lost about 5% charge since February, and my iPod has lost about 7% charge in the 3 years I've owned it.

Incorrect. This was true for the old Nickle Cadmium batteries, but not for the more modern Lithium Ion batteries. LiIon batteries prefer only a partial discharge (source in case you don't believe me).

 

[Apple Inc.]

OKay this battery is going down fast in maximum charge. Its almost underneath 2900 for the mAh.

 

[bluecherry]

Yeah there is definitely something wrong with your battery. I had a similar problem with my MBP, but waited and apple didnt fix it.

 

[Apple Inc.]

Figure this out. Heres what it says now:
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 3104
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3152
Health Information:
Cycle count: 181
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -112
Voltage (mV): 12418

 

[Gerri Shin]

Your battery is being odd, keep using it. If you see it dip down below 2900 mAh for the full charge capacity for an extended period of time before you hit the 300 charge cycle count, get Apple to check it out and see if they will issue you a new battery.

 

[Apple Inc.]

I am making a journey to the Apple Genius Bar tomorrow. Just to see what they are gonna do about it. I'm gonna make use of this thread for proof its being crazy. Just gonna print it out.

 

[Gerri Shin]

They usually wont accept stuff like this thread as evidence, if you had a screenshot of your system profiler when the battery was whacking out it would be better. (especially since I can pretty much guarantee that the first thing they do is look in your System Profiler at your battery stats.) They also won't accept any third party battery tools that determine the status of your battery.

 

[Apple Inc.]

Great news! I am currently posting this at the Apple Store and they just replaced my battery at no charge. They plugged in an iPod nano which had diagnostic software and right away the words BAD BATTERY came up and the man replaced it no problem. Wonderful service. I would recommend it to anyone.

So now my Battery specs are as follows:
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 5156
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5572
Health Information:
Cycle count: 0
Condition: Good
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 669
Voltage (mV): 12568