No More Low Battery Warning

I used to get a friendly warning that my battery was running low. Now my MacBook just turns off abruptly, losing all my unsaved data. Similarly, once upon a time it would go into a deep sleep and last for hours in that state, no longer. Are these known issues? Or is the solution "buy a new battery" even though this thing is just a year old?

As an addendum to my 12 March posting, a battery re-cal didn't work.
The bundles inc BatteryUpdater and PowerManagement are still .bundle files but are listed under 'Kind' as iDVD 2 files instead of bundle files. (Uh???)
I upgraded my HDD to 250GB in Sept 07 so it has loads more stuff on now. I tried putting the old disc back in, but not allowing a s/w update and all was well. I made a copy of the .bundles. I then s/w updated the old HDD and things were still OK. Now I've swapped the HDDs back, I've got the same old problem, abrupt power down, no battery alert. I trashed the BatteryUpdater bundle and tried copying a 'good' one back into SystemConfiguration but it wouldn't let me do it without authentication. Did a s/w update to get 1.2 back but still turned out to be an iDVD 2 kind.
I thought it would be wise to stop at this point and see if anyone had any ideas?
Does the 'kind' matter?
I see Johan Kool in his link recommends his actions to ALL MacBook users; is this OK when running Tiger 10.4.11 Johan?
Cheers
Mike

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Turns out I was having more problems than just the indicator... after replacing my power adapter everything worked fine.

N97 Low Battery Warning

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I know I can use the music player, camera, video etc to help discharge the battery. But is there a more specific and faster way?

You should not let the battery discharge completely. It can damage the battery. The battery prefere to have as much juice as possible on it all the time. Once a month you could discharge it to like 10-20 percent.

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I was able to use my iPhone to listen to music for about an hour between the time it said 15% and from the time it just shut off. It probably just depends on what you are doing on the phone. 59 hours is a very long time on standby and it's possible that your battery reading wasn't accurate at that point.

[SOLVED] Low battery warning form acpi

Hello!
I hope you could help me out, as I am stuck.
I am trying to automate pm-utils stuff on my laptop, that I have until now been doing by hand with CLI. I installed acpid and I really like how it works as it is very easy and clean to add event handling for closing laptop lid etc.
But I was unable to use /etc/acpi/handler.sh to detect low battery warning. Only event that is received under "battery" is when the AC adapter is plugged in or battery is removed/inserted, but not when battery is low.
I tried to find more info on this, but discovered only that it is supposedly possible to configure alarm level in /proc/acpi/battery/BAT1/alarm, but that file seams to be depreciated and it's replacement (?) /sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/alarm contains a number resulting in about 3% charge, that should have been sufficient for at least writing to log file if any event was received from the battery, but nothing was. (And anyway, I don't know how to configure it using this file, as I am not allowed to write to it and it gets overwriten by something.)
So I could really use some pointers on why the acpi event for low battery doesn't get generated (or why I am missing it) or what alternatives I have.
I really would not like to run a cron job for checking battery level, as the acpi event method seams much more beautiful to me and would allow me to sleep better.
Thanks a lot!
Last edited by beatle (2012-01-06 01:20:29)

/dev/zero wrote:No worries :-) If you can think of any ways to improve the script, I'd be interested to know. It isn't perfect because output from "acpi -b" is unpredictable.
I did adapt your script a bit to suite my needs (Thanks for showing how to write deamon scripts! I haven't thought that it is so straightforward and beauty full.) , but I wouldn't say I improved it as I am basically illiterate in bash.
For now I deal with the output of "acbi -b" by searching for the "NN%" (with grep, as I know not of a better way) - remaining percent of battery charge - in it, as I suspect this sub string would allays appear in "acbi -b" output even when the 'remaining time' part is unpredictable (haven't checked it though!).
Also, my laptop is usually on mute so I changed the text-to-speech warning to a i3-nagbar popping up. (And along the way learned how to control spawned processes in bash! I love just GNU/Linux!).
/usr/sbin/battery_monitor_loop
#! /bin/bash
SLEEP_TIME=5 # Default time between checks.
SAFE_PERCENT=30 # Still safe at this level.
DANGER_PERCENT=15 # Warn when battery at this level.
CRITICAL_PERCENT=5 # Hibernate when battery at this level.
NAGBAR_PID=0
export DISPLAY=:0.0
function launchNagBar
i3-nagbar -m 'Battery low!' -b 'Hibernate!' 'pm-hibernate' >/dev/null 2>&1 &
NAGBAR_PID=$!
function killNagBar
if [[ $NAGBAR_PID -ne 0 ]]; then
ps -p $NAGBAR_PID | grep "i3-nagbar"
if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]; then
kill $NAGBAR_PID
fi
NAGBAR_PID=0
fi
while [ true ]; do
killNagBar
if [[ -n $(acpi -b | grep -i discharging) ]]; then
rem_bat=$(acpi -b | grep -Eo "[0-9]+%" | grep -Eo "[0-9]+")
if [[ $rem_bat -gt $SAFE_PERCENT ]]; then
SLEEP_TIME=10
else
SLEEP_TIME=5
if [[ $rem_bat -le $DANGER_PERCENT ]]; then
SLEEP_TIME=2
launchNagBar
fi
if [[ $rem_bat -le $CRITICAL_PERCENT ]]; then
SLEEP_TIME=1
pm-hibernate
fi
fi
else
SLEEP_TIME=10
fi
sleep ${SLEEP_TIME}m
done
Hm, and just now I got an idea, that, in order to avoid the unpredictable "acpi -b" I could use the acpi information form /sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/* directly as I already have a deamon running. Will try that out.
Last edited by beatle (2012-01-06 18:17:41)

Is it possible to disable the low battery warning?

Hi,
Is it possible to disable the low battery warning that I get at 20% and 10% power remaining on the iPod Touch? I find it annoying that I get the low power messages when I am in the middle of playing a game.
Thanks

I don't think you can disable it. It'd probably be more annoying to have your iPod die while you're making progress in a game though, just a thought.

Abrupt loss of power, no low battery warning

a familiar story, but haven't been able to dig up a solid solution in past discussions--so perhaps a fresh suggestion...? (thanks in advance!)
okay, so one moment the battery indicator shows 45 minutes remaining; the next, my tibook puts itself to sleep or shuts down entirely. and when i plug it back in--yep, the battery indicator shows a 0% charge.
this is actually my 2nd battery for this tibook, a replacement i purchased from apple after the 1st died as expected. for the life of that 1st battery, i would always see a low battery warning before shut-down, and the charge indicator generally was on target. but as for the current battery, even though it's relatively new (maybe just over a year old, 193 cycles) and still holds a decent charge (lasts a couple of hours), i can't even recall the last time i saw that warning message before the computer went dark on me. i tend to stay plugged in, but when running on battery power the charge indicator seems pretty accurate--unless i dare to get anywhere near depletion as described above, and then suddenly it's way off the mark and the screen is dark.
i've tried messing with power settings, follow tips for maintaining battery life, etc.--no luck. surely the battery can't be dead already!
...though that would figure since i can't return it anymore... and since my extended applecare plan expired a week ago, maybe now my (replacement) adapter will explode and almost burn the house down like the 1st one did. sheesh.
anyways, big-time thanks for any insight or suggestions, much appreciated.
PowerBook G4 (ti) Mac OS X (10.3.9)

maybe the power mangement unit on your logic board is broken?
The more people experience the same symptoms, the more I doubt it.
did you do all the resets pram etc?
Yes, of course. To no effect.
While I am trying the "trick" described above by SuperSizeIt (discharge until forced sleep + sleep for another whole day + recharge to maximum), please: everybody go to SystemProfiler and check their capacity. Is it going down from charge cycle to charge cycle, as in my case?
Initially I had: 4200 mAh
After just six cycles in three weeks: 3176 mAh
So the drop is more than ~170 mAh/cycle. I would consider a few mAh normal, but certainly not this much!
Now, I would like to know whether this symptom is just part of the problem described in this thread, or an additional one.
Powerbook G4 400 Mhz Mac OS X (10.4.4)

No low battery warning, just shuts off

I have an Core Due Macbook back from September 06, and recently I've stopped getting that low battery warning message. Now my laptop will just shut off at 20min (sometimes even 30min) without any warning. I tried recalibrating the battery, it solved the problem for one charge (I saw the warning message once) but after that it went back to shutting off at 20min again. I've heard that Apple has extended their battery coverage, but my laptop is at 315 cycles now. I do have the extended warranty though-will that cover a replacement battery?

Hi. Recalibrating the battery does not prolong battery life. It will only help in getting a more accurate battery charge when using the computer on battery power alone. What you can do is make sure that you have the battery update and latest software from apple. Also, try resetting the SMC of your computer. Here are the links for more info. Hope these help.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303319
http://www.apple.com/support/macbook_macbookpro/batteryupdate/

Macbook no longer "sleeps" after 'low battery' warning, just suddenly dies

My macbook (just over a year old) used to give me a warning with 10 minutes left that it would sleep so as my data was not lost, if I didn't plug it in. However, recently, it has stopped doing this - instead of sleeping, if I don't get to a power source in time within 10 minutes, it simply cuts out, with the sound of the hard drive stopping - like if you shut down a frozen macbook with the power button.
This is REALLY irritating - what's going on? Why does it not sleep anymore, and is there any way to fix it?
I'm on Tiger 10.4.11, with an intel macbook...

Same Problem here. Tried several calibrations, smc and pram zap (well i guess there is no pram any longer so it zaps something else). Now I found another post where they talk about the battry 1.2 update. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1449128&tstart=60
I remember when trying to do an battery update to 1.3 manually the update told me that it is not for my macbook. But - I found the 1.3 update Bundle in /System/Library/Configuration/BatteryUpdater.bundle
1. I Removed /System/Library/Configuration/BatteryUpdater.bundle from my system
2. rebooted
3. Emptied trash
4. Installed update 1.2 by Softwarupdate.
I will now do an SMC reset an then let the battery run low and watch what happens.
Then do a calibration.
I have the problem here in different ways. Sometimes Macbook shuts down suddenly after low battery warning, sometimes it sleep, almost never it hibernates.
My Battery was replace after showing the x symptome about a year ago but now it looks bad again
Full Capacity (in mAh): 3866
Remaining Capacity (in mAh): 1982
Power Consumtion (in mA): 1564
Voltage (in mV): 11974
Number of cycles: 148

No low battery warning on new Macbook Pro (Mid 2012)

Hello!
I just purchased my macbook pro this saturday and it's my first mac. I've noticed that I do not receive a low battery warning at all. What can I do about this?

Thanks for the battery info, but the steps for calibrating the battery don't apply to current laptop models.
>>
Portables with built-in batteries
Current Apple portable computer batteries are pre-calibrated and do not require the calibration procedure outlined in this article.

No "Low Battery" warning on new (November 07) MacBook - Kernel Panic

Hello,
I'm not sure is this is the right forum for this, but since the problem occurs during a specific battery state, I'm going to post it here.
I just got one of the new November 07 MacBooks. The machine is great, and screams with the pre-installed Leopard.
First thing I did was plug it in to charge as I started configuring software. Once it was fully charged, I pulled the plug, and began using it on battery. My plan was to calibrate the battery, by running it all the way until it forced a sleep, then shutting down and plugging it in again, as Apple recommends.
Problem is, I never got the "Low Battery" warning, or even the sleep warning. At around 10 minutes of power left, I simply got a kernel panic. A few seconds later, the laptop just switched off.
I plugged in again for a few minutes, then ran it down again to see if I could reproduce the error, and I did get the low battery warning.
The next time the battery ran down, it gave me the kernel panic.
Is this happening to anyone else? Is it a new MacBook problem, or a leopard power management problem? I'm having no other issues at all with the MacBook or Leopard. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

I'm a little hesitant to force a firmware update on a MacBook it wasn't meant for. These are brand new models, and I would think Apple didn't ship them with the known faulty batteries or bad firmware.
The frustrating thing is I have no way of knowing who the culprit is. Is it the brand new OS that I'm sure has a fair share of bugs? Is it the new hardware having a power control issue? Or is it a combination of Leopard and the new hardware? I was hoping to find some users who had the same problem so I could narrow it down. Battery drains out, kernel panic, then the machine shuts off after a few seconds. Funny thing is, the indicator says I have like 10 minutes or so left, but it appears that the battery must be completely dead, since it forces a panic and the machine just dies. So it might be a calibration error. The Mac thinks it has some juice, but in reality it's just about dead.
I made an appointment for the Apple store tomorrow, so we'll see what they have to say. It's otherwise running beautifully, thankfully.

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