Trackpad battery life
I have a Trackpad that I use pretty heavily for software development and use the Apple rechargeable batteries/charger to power it. I seem to be "always" changing the batteries so I put a voltmeter on the batteries. A theoretically fully charged battery right off the charger measures 1.36 v. A nearly expired battery according to Preferences/Trackpad measures 1.26 v. This seems like an awfully narrow range. I would have expected operation down to 1 volt or so. It almost makes me want to use regular alkaline batteries.
Has anyone else been anal/crazy enough to note the voltage and/or life of recharged batteries?
That's a little short for the trackpad but since it was the factory batteries, it's hard to tell if they truly had a full charge before you started using them. I typically get about 6 months on standard AA batteries for my trackpad. I've had my iMac for about a year now and I just replaced the batteries in my keyboard while I've replaced the batteries in the trackpad twice.
I'm not an egineer but thinking about it, it kind of makes sense that the trackpad would use batteries faster than the keyboard. With the keyboard, nothing really happens until you press a key. That completes a circuit on the board and sends data out the bluetooth radio. With the trackpad, it has to continually sense touches on it's surface. It's continually checking for a touch whether a touch is happening or not. Again, I'm not an engineer but that's what makes sense to me.
Similar Messages
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I'm adding this question to the group in spite of the several existing inquiries that have been submitted over the year or so since the TrackPad has been introduced by Apple because none of them have received a suitable response to the original question.
There appears to be a common theme and after my 3rd TrackPad (yes three), I have drawn the conclusion that this is a design and not a manufacturing defect causing these TrackPads to consume battery life very rapidly. In the past there was a firmware update that I thought would fix the issue but it never really did. I can't seem to find any other details on this from the Apple site and hope someone from Apple are reviewing this to provide further guidance.
Here's what I'm wondering:
Is there some way to help those of us who really enjoy using the TrackPad, to change some settings, or perhaps some CLI in Terminal to help reduce the rapid consumption of power by the TrackPad?
Is there an unadvertised firmware update that maybe we're missing?
Fortunately I had to move to rechargeable batteries because I just couldn't afford to keep regular batteries in the TrackPad. But that said, has anyone have recommendations for a great rechargeable battery that maybe holds a charge longer than others?
Thanks in advance for your responses.
RegardsHappens all the time. The various means of reading battery strength are notorious for their inaccuracy. I put a new pair of rechargeable batteries in (100%) this morning and they are already down to 80% after about four hours work. But that of course is the value of the rechargeable batteries; you take out the expired ones and re-charge them immediately, so you always have batteries available.
If you have a few £s/$s/€s on hand, why not buy a respectable battery reader and compare the differences. -
Trackpad battery life/death
Hello All,
My magic trackpad is eating my batteries quicker than I can buy them.
I just put in two brand new Duracell Plus Power Alkaine batteries and it is immediatly showing only 76% battery life.
Anyone else having this problem?
SteveThat's a little short for the trackpad but since it was the factory batteries, it's hard to tell if they truly had a full charge before you started using them. I typically get about 6 months on standard AA batteries for my trackpad. I've had my iMac for about a year now and I just replaced the batteries in my keyboard while I've replaced the batteries in the trackpad twice.
I'm not an egineer but thinking about it, it kind of makes sense that the trackpad would use batteries faster than the keyboard. With the keyboard, nothing really happens until you press a key. That completes a circuit on the board and sends data out the bluetooth radio. With the trackpad, it has to continually sense touches on it's surface. It's continually checking for a touch whether a touch is happening or not. Again, I'm not an engineer but that's what makes sense to me. -
Mid-2010 unibody 15-inch macbook pro battery life
The battery on my son's mid-2010 15-inch unibody macbook pro has a cycle count of 360 and shows its condition is "normal." What is the normal battery life on this computer? The reason I'm asking is that the trackpad is malfunctioning and he was told the battery could be the cause of the problem.
-ArturoTry posting in the forum for MacBook Pros
MacBook Pro
MacBook Pro Apple Support -
I have a mid-2012 Macbook air and I've noticed recently my battery life is horrible. I've read every single other thread about this issue but nothing really helped and even the most recent is from a couple of years ago. Obviously now it's 2015 and my macbook is running on Yosemite, so its not the battery issue that everyone seemed to have with Mavericks.
Just writing that small section I went from 73% to 68% and at the current 68% I only get an estimated 2 hours and 10 minutes remaining. I've also had only Safari running this whole time.
Option clicking the battery icon reveals that the condition is normal, as well as the power system report. It also has gone through only 441 cycles, no where near its 1000 cycle "limit" and its health is already down to 77%. While obviously the condition is normal and doesn't say I need to replace the battery I feel that I should, based off of everything else.Have macbook air from mid 2012 - I installed Yosemite November 2014 and since then I'm having problem with my battery - it has been draining super fast - 4hrs battery life now compared to earlier 8hrs.
I reinstalled Yosemite, didn’t help and then made a clean reinstallation of Yosemite about 5 days ago and there is still the same drain issue.
Thank you in advance!
Here is the Etre Check Report:
Problem description:
The battery has been draining super fast - 4hrs battery life now compared to earlier 8hrs.
EtreCheck version: 2.2 (132)
Report generated 5/2/15, 8:02 PM
Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck
Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.
Hardware Information: ℹ️
MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012) (Technical Specifications)
MacBook Air - model: MacBookAir5,2
1 1.8 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core
8 GB RAM Not upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported
Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 341 - SN = D8622840AXXDKRNAA
Video Information: ℹ️
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Color LCD 1440 x 900
System Software: ℹ️
OS X 10.10.3 (14D136) - Time since boot: 10:53:27
Disk Information: ℹ️
APPLE SSD TS128E disk0 : (121.33 GB)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 120.11 GB (105.35 GB free)
Encrypted AES-XTS Unlocked
Core Storage: disk0s2 120.47 GB Online
USB Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
Mac App Store and identified developers
Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[failed] com.apple.mtrecorder.plist
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]
[failed] com.apple.spirecorder.plist
User Login Items: ℹ️
iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 17.0.0.169 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
Flash Player: Version: 17.0.0.169 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
Flash Player [Click for support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
6% WindowServer
4% fontd
3% hidd
1% configd
1% powerd
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
519 MB kernel_task
156 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
66 MB Safari
57 MB mdworker(7)
57 MB Pages
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
5.28 GB Free RAM
2.72 GB Used RAM
72 MB Swap Used -
Improve battery life on 10.8.2
After showing much patience with Mountain Lion I've had enough of waiting for a fix for the poor battery life issue. Yesterday I decided to take matters into my own hands and investiate the issue myself. I installed the 250Gb hard drive (Hitachi 5400rpm) that was supplied with my 13" Macbook Pro 7,1 (Mid 2010 - you know, the one with the 10 hour battery life ) and performed a Clean install of Mountain Lion, then patched to 10.8.2. At this point I installed a smart battery monitor, and took notes on the power drain from the battery sitting at idle. Notes pasted below, not that these are definative proof of what is causing excessive power draw however and are merely notes of what I have tried so far. Goal was to get the power draw as low as possible when sitting at idle.
Kill Dashboard: Open Terminal.app, Type in: defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES;killall Dock - Hit Enter.
Install ClicktoPlugin and ClicktoFlash Safari Extensions
Turn Off Hibernation. sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
Install Glimmerblocker
Set noatime flag - sudo mount -vuwo noatime /
Disable Java in Safari
Switch to Chrome
Sign out from iCloud Power consumption drops from 15.4w to 8.91w. All NIC's where disabled
re enable bluetooth and plug in eth0 power consumption rises to 10.11w
Sign in to iCloud - 16.01W. Turn all sync off - 14.63w.
Enable Find My Mac - 14.5W.
Enable Safari - 14.3W
Enable Contacts - 14.92W
Disable iCloud.
Shutdown macbook - remove Super Drive
Startup - all NIC's and external devices disabled.
Idle power consumption with Notes,Activity Monitor and Smart Battery Monitor only 6.7W - Baseline
eth0 enabled - 7.6W
Bluetooth enabled for trackpad - 9.01W
External USB Keyboard connected - 9.1 W
Sign Back into iCloud - 14.62 W
Signed into iCloud but idle (after a few minutes) - 9W
Enable location Services and Find my Mac - 13.37 W
Consumption at idle now 9W
disable all NIC's, remove USB Keyboard and disable bluetooth - 7.15W
So you can see that I managed to get the draw from battery as low as 6.7W. iCloud and removing the super drive appear to have made the biggest difference so far, but it is inconsistent. What other steps do you recommend to try next?There's already a thread discussing the battery issue here. Have a read...probably starting backwards since it's quite long. A completely clean install of Mountain Lion 10.8.2 (not an upgrade, patch or combo udpate) has resolved the issue for many folks. My MacBook Air was suffering severe battery drain after upgrading to ML 10.8 as well. Performing a fresh install of 10.8.2 corrected it.
My advice would be to wipe the hard drive and perform a fresh installation. Everything you need to know can be found here:
How to Clean Install OS X Mountain Lion
It's also advisable to do a manual restore...re-download apps, drag other files in from backups, etc. rather than using a full Time Machine restore or Migration Assistant. That will ensure that if there was a problem it won't migrate back and you'll have a pristine installation.
Hope that helps and best of luck! -
Battery Life Has Certainly Dropped
Hi folks. I'm having yet another issue with my Macbook. This time the battery life is not lasting anywhere near as long as it should be. With a full charge, it usually lasts about 2:30, whereas when I first bought it it lasted a significantly longer time. I'm doing nothing visually strenuous, just typical internet research/ichat. I will do a calibration as recommended by some other posts on here, but I don't know if that will totally fix this issue. The laptop is only 6 months old, so it's a bit bothersome. Any recommendations? Thanks so much in advance! I already had to have the trackpad replaced once, and the ethernet port doesn't even work anymore, so I'm becoming so annoyed with this computer, even though I love it.
How many cycles has it done?
I got my latest one july 10th, heres the battery spec:
Battery Information:
Battery Installed: Yes
First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4647
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 4638
Amperage (mA): -1532
Voltage (mV): 12287
Cycle Count: 169
I close down my bluetooth and try not not have cd's in, at the moment my battery life is 3:07, wifi on, disc in, about 5 programmes open.
I can get this up to over four hours if I close down wifi, etc.
For instance I have just turned down the screen to lowest visible and i now have 3:43.
Thanks
Nick -
Battery life issue - MacBook Air
Hi there,
could you please help me?
I have an issue in my MacBook Air battery life. it doesn't last more 2:30 hours. below is the report of Etresoft application.
Hardware Information:
MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012)
MacBook Air - model: MacBookAir5,2
1 1.8 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2 cores
4 GB RAM
Video Information:
Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: 512 MB
System Software:
OS X 10.8.5 (12F45) - Uptime: 4 days 11:35:24
Disk Information:
APPLE SSD TS128E disk0 : (121.33 GB)
disk0s1 (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /: 120.47 GB (72.72 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
USB Information:
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
FireWire Information:
Thunderbolt Information:
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Kernel Extensions:
Problem System Launch Daemons:
Problem System Launch Agents:
Launch Daemons:
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist
Launch Agents:
User Launch Agents:
User Login Items:
iTunesHelper
BitTorrent
3rd Party Preference Panes:
Flash Player
Internet Plug-ins:
Flash Player.plugin
FlashPlayer-10.6.plugin
JavaAppletPlugin.plugin
QuickTime Plugin.plugin
SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin
User Internet Plug-ins:
Bad Fonts:
None
Top Processes by CPU:
28% WebProcess
4% WindowServer
1% Microsoft Outlook
1% EtreCheck
1% PluginProcess
1% fontd
0% Microsoft Word
0% netbiosd
0% coreservicesd
0% warmd
Top Processes by Memory:
479 MB WebProcess
229 MB Microsoft Outlook
147 MB Safari
123 MB PluginProcess
66 MB mds
66 MB WindowServer
49 MB Finder
20 MB iTunes
20 MB loginwindow
20 MB SystemUIServer
Virtual Memory Statistics
865 MB Free RAM
1.76 GB Active RAM
325 MB Inactive RAM
1.08 GB Wired RAM
2.45 GB Page-ins
624 KB Page-outs1. Your problem is not the battery, but a memory leak: you do not have enough free ram.
SystemPreferences/Users&Groups LoginItems tab: remove the line BitTorrent with the minus sign underneath.
Use BitTorrent sparsely : start manually, and Quit (from the menu) immediately when the download is ready.
If you do not need a torrent app, uninstall it.
2. Did you do already the machine update of last week: Apple Menu/ Software Updates.
Fine machine otherwise.
Lex -
Poor battery life since Yosemite upgrade
Hi all,
Since upgrading to Yosemite I have noticed that I only get about 5 hours of battery life, even when just running Safari and Mail. I have checked the battery life and it is reporting as good. I have also reset PRAM and SMC but that didn't seem to change anything. Here is a dump from EtreCheck but I couldn't find anything obvious there either. Does anyone have any ideas or is this battery life as good as to be expected?
EtreCheck version: 2.1.6 (109)
Report generated 16 January 2015 10:03:43 pm AEDT
Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck
Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.
Click the [Adware] links for help removing adware.
Hardware Information: ℹ️
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013) (Technical Specifications)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro10,1
1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4-core
16 GB RAM Not upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported
Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Battery Health: Normal - Cycle count 156
Video Information: ℹ️
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Color LCD spdisplays_2880x1800Retina
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M - VRAM: 1024 MB
System Software: ℹ️
OS X 10.10.1 (14B25) - Time since boot: one day 0:6:44
Disk Information: ℹ️
APPLE SSD SD512E disk0 : (500.28 GB)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 499.05 GB (320.69 GB free)
Core Storage: disk0s2 499.42 GB Online
USB Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox
[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (4.3.12) [Support]
[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (4.3.12) [Support]
[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (4.3.12) [Support]
[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (4.3.12) [Support]
/System/Library/Extensions
[not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTEUSBCDCACMData (1.3.12) [Support]
[not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTEUSBMassStorageFilter (1.3.12) [Support]
[not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraDIPSupport (1.0.0) [Support]
[not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraFSRSupport (3.0.0) [Support]
[not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraHSRSupport (3.0.0) [Support]
[not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraIPDirect (1.1.5) [Support]
Launch Agents: ℹ️
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Support]
[running] com.sierrawireless.SwitchTool.plist [Support]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist [Support]
[not loaded] org.virtualbox.startup.plist [Support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
[not loaded] org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist [Support]
User Login Items: ℹ️
iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
iTerm Application (/Applications/iTerm.app)
Sony Ericsson Bridge Helper Application (/Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/Sony Ericsson Bridge for Mac/Sony Ericsson Bridge Helper.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 16.0.0.257 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
Flash Player: Version: 16.0.0.257 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.38.6.0 - SDK 10.8 [Support]
googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.38.6.0 - SDK 10.8 [Support]
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 71 Check version
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
Adblock Plus [Installed]
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
Flash Player [Support]
Java [Support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
Skip System Files: NO
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 499.05 GB Disk used: 178.36 GB
Destinations:
Elements [Local]
Total size: 999.83 GB
Total number of backups: 7
Oldest backup: 2014-11-08 00:36:51 +0000
Last backup: 2015-01-14 10:41:24 +0000
Size of backup disk: Adequate
Backup size 999.83 GB > (Disk used 178.36 GB X 3)
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
6% systemstats
3% WindowServer
2% Safari
1% Activity Monitor
1% hidd
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
498 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
429 MB Safari
189 MB mds_stores
172 MB WindowServer
155 MB Dock
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
7.67 GB Free RAM
7.43 GB Active RAM
683 MB Inactive RAM
1.39 GB Wired RAM
1.30 GB Page-ins
0 B Page-outs
Diagnostics Information: ℹ️
Jan 15, 2015, 09:57:31 PM Self test - passed
Cheers, JasonA SMC reset may help:
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
Ciao. -
HT4275 how to increase battery life
My battery life suddenly decreased substantially. Just in the last couple of days
I've seen the same phenomenon as well. The trackpad batteries sometimes last a month or more and then suddenly they only last 3 days. I haven't pinned down what's causing the devices not to go into low power mode yet, but certainly a software bug. Until then I use rechargeables and always have some ready.
Captfred -
Diminished battery life since 10.6.5 update
I updated my computer with the OS X 10.6.5 update when it came out a week or two ago and since the update, my battery life has gotten incredibly short compared to what it used to be. Normally, without having Airport on, just using Microsoft word, I would easily get 7 hours of battery life. Since the update, with 100% battery I'm getting 3.5 hours at the most and it's down to 75% within 20 to 30 minutes. Oh and I've had the computer for about 3 months. Battery health is already down to 92%
I'm beginning to think I just got a buggy computer because I've been having trackpad issues, and my USB ports don't recognize printers, no matter what I do.
Any idea's on my battery problem? I have searched and searched the internet and have found nothing so it may be an isolated issue.This sounds exactly like what My 13 inch (mid-2010) MBP is doing.
From day one (about 4 months ago), the battery showed that it was down to 92% with coconut battery? I've never gotten over about 6 hours of battery life; after this latest update to .5, I'm lucky if I get 3.5 hours of battery life.
I've checked the activity monitor and nothing is running the CPU excessively, except when I'm watching something in flash, but even if I block all flash, I still get the same battery life. Also, it's always warm on the bottom (even with flash blocked) and the fan runs all the time, too.
I'm not doing anything differently than I did before the update - just have chrome open all the time.
I swear apple is getting lazy with everything software related lately. -
Why is there an X in my battery life icon
I have been trying to charge my MacBook but the percentage won't change and there is just an X in the battery sign. I've tried to restart, to charge when the computer is off, but the x won't go away. What should I do, so it will charge again?
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.6)Along with Lorne, I noticed this when I was running on the AC adapter without my battery installed. Try taking the battery out and putting it back in again. If it appears to be installed properly, check for any bulging parts. I had a bulging battery, which was why I had my battery out and running on the AC adapter in the first place. The bulging battery problem (a subject of several other threads) is also characterized by reduced battery life, random shutdowns, and bizarre trackpad behavior before the bulge becomes noticeable from the outside of the computer.
Question: did your computer work without the AC adapter before you noticed this problem? If it did, than your battery was contacting, and I have no idea what is going on, unless there was a change in battery contact.
Good luck. -
Hello Apple Discussions,
I am a brand new Magic Trackapd user (since 13th of August 2010), but I already noticed something strange. My battery power dropped from 100% to 89% for less than 4 days of continuous usage. My trackpad has been delivered with Energizer Alkaline batteries. I hope that situation will be better with Energizer Lithium batteries, but most of all should like to see a firmware update that is fixing the issue as soon as possible.
I also have Apple Wireless Keyboard (latest two battery release) which consumes less power. There are almost two months since I got the keyboard and battery dropped with only 1%. Hope to see the same with the Magic Trackpad as this tiny gadget is really working one of my favorite things having the Apple logo.
Anyone of you noticed the same higher consummation of power with the Magic Trackpad or it is just me?chillvisio wrote:
Hello Apple Discussions,
I am a brand new Magic Trackapd user (since 13th of August 2010), but I already noticed something strange. My battery power dropped from 100% to 89% for less than 4 days of continuous usage. My trackpad has been delivered with Energizer Alkaline batteries.
Here's my battery life story.
Obviously, days between battery changes depend on use. I started with Alkaline batteries (Duracell) when I got the MT (Magic Trackpad) working. Battery life was about a month on the first set. I use the trackpad exclusively (of my three different devices- Magic Trackpad, Wacom tablet, Logitech S530 wireless mouse+keyboard) now, on my desktop MacPro.
I am now trying the Sanyo brand Eneloop batteries to compare. I didn't even notice the battery warnings until the screen flashed a battery low indicator. I also have been using two Eneloop's in my Logitech keyboard, with I think, excellent results (about three months of constant use, and the charge indicator does gradually falls off in that time until blinking a warning).
When I first inserted the rechargeable batteries their charge level said 83%. So I don't know if the life expectancy of the rechargeables will be close to that of alkaline (which said 98% when first started). Certainly it's more economical to use rechargeables. I use the mouse a lot. I see in this thread that results vary from a week or two to months.
Questions:
Does turning off the Trackpad make a big difference compared with leaving it set unused?
Does a rechargeable give way lower life than an alkaline?
What is the comparable battery life between the types of power sources- Alkaline, Eneloop, NIMH, Lithium?
Is there an app for archiving battery life information on the MT? There is one for the laptop and there is history in Profiler, so it seems there could be a way to get the data. Has anyone done it?
Is the low battery indicator (1.0V??) a false indication?
Henry
about the battery indicator...Message was edited by: HenryS -
Ok I know how if you go into the Trackpad section in the settings you can see how much battery life it has left. But it would be cool if there would be a battery life indicator in the menu bar. Unless there is a way to do that already?
Nice little App to develop if anyone is keen.The Bluetooth menu in the menu bar just shows e.g. "Low Battery" but not the battery percentage shown on the preferences trackpad page. Since the batteries don't last all that long it would be really useful to have the trackpad battery percentage optionally shown in the menubar without having to click anything. An app for this would indeed be welcome.
-
Battery life on brand new 13" retina MBP disappointing
Waited a long time to buy the Haswell retina 13" MBP with improved battery life ('9 hrs wireless web'). So far I'm only managing 5 hrs max. And all I do is browse the web and some text editing. Anyone else disappointed? Not sure if I should go have it looked at or if I just fell for another marketing spin. I imagine being told even 2 hours is still 'up to 9 hours'. Grr.
I've actually noticed this problem. Sometimes I'll have 10-12 hours and then suddenly it'll drop to five. I'll turn off wi-fi, bluetooth, set the brightness to two or three and close all programs, and barely see any change.
Last night I did some investigating and found that the kernal_task was eating up CPU cycles, running at 100-110% non-stop. I restarted the machine and the kernal_task went back to normal and stayed there for a while, and my battery life showed HUGE improvements. I think it might actually be related to the keyboard/trackpad issue others have seen because I've noticed (anecdotally) that the decrease in battery life usually follows the unresponsive spell.
I'm planning to test and document this weekend so that I can report it to Apple. I'd suggest that you look at the Activity Monitor for the kernal_task when you're getting poor battery life and see what percentage it's running at. I suspect you'll see it's high. When it's running normally, I get crazy good battery life. If you find it is, take screen shots and report it to Apple. Runaway kernal_task is not a new probelm with a new OS. It's been reported in most of the other major releases.
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Hello, My phone is not working at all. I had this problem before and I was trying to find a solution. However, at Apple Store in UK I was told to send my phone to Canada due to fact that I bought it there. What should I do and who will cover all my p
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My iPad has a message iCloud not backed up in 5 weeks. I can not get the message to go away so that I can connect to Wi-Fi. I have a full charge on the iPad. Thanks, Maui LL
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Dear all, I need to use in a message mapping a message type imported as an external definition. This message type contains complex types defined as extensions of other types. For example : <xsd:complexType name="ProfessionnelType"> <xsd:annotatio
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With this new update iOS 6.1.3 my battery life seems to wear down very fast are is it just my battery is no good
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HOW TO set the input range for analog in (DAQ)?
How can I set the input range of a - NI DAQ USB 6259 - analog voltage input? I wish to control it directly in my VI. Is it possible to set different ranges for different input channels? Thank you, Roberto