PB battery drained overnight while lid closed....any thoughts?

Question

This was the first time I've experienced any problems with my PB. Last night I left the office and closed my lid as always. My PB was unplugged from land power. I watched, as I always do, the Apple light go off and my standby light come on, then I went home.
This morning I came in, opened it, logged in and immediately got a notice that the battery was low. I attached the power cord and noticed I had about 2% battery life left. Now, the only thing I can think of, since all known applications were closed, was that I connected to my network via CAT5 and not wifi. I'm wondering if something was going on over the ethernet??? I have no idea why my battery would have been drained overnite with the lid closed. I searched the logs and nothing strange pops up.
Any thoughts?
Tom

Answer 1

In general there is always a trickle drain happening even with the lid closed. Some applications may leave the Powerbook on, or wake it from sleep on a timed schedule. Turn off the lights to see if the Apple logo is lit to verify it did indeed shut off the screen. There have been known applications to be open that force the machine to keep the screen on even when the lid is closed.
The battery is technically known to last 5 hours on limited charge, that closed as you surmised is able to last longer. But how much longer varies depending on just how full the battery was before you unplugged it. The reading on the menubar of it being full is not necessarily accurate.
I would not leave it on Energy Saver overnight all the time. At least once a month leave it on screen saver instead. Unattended someone could also steal the machine in the middle of the night. I would not leave it unattended. Especially in an office environment it shouldn't be unattended unless under lock and key.