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My laptop battery has a Lithium Polymer batter which "needs replacing soon". Is there anything I can do to the battery to make think its a new battery? Like with lead acid batteries you add distilled water.

P.S. Im not spending another £100 on a apple battery for it to last me 8 months.

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If your battery died in 8 months it may still be under warrantee. If it's not factory defective then your usage pattern is killing it. – Chris Nava Apr 2 '11 at 3:21
Apple won't replace it as they say its my fault. Its also treated as a consumable. – Dean Apr 2 '11 at 8:47

migrated from electronics.stackexchange.com Apr 1 '11 at 23:51

2 Answers

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Been there, done that. My 2007 MBP is on its third battery, which is currently at the "Service battery" point.

If you don't discharge it deeply very often, make sure to calibrate it occasionally by letting it run through an entire charge-discharge-recharge cycle. This will improve your computer's estimate of your battery life, which has usually been a good thing in my experience. Here are Apple's instructions:

Calibrating your battery ensures you get the longest possible running time from it. Calibrate your battery during the first week you own it, and then recalibrate it every two months. If you use your computer infrequently, it’s best to recalibrate it at least once a month.

Whenever you purchase new batteries, calibrate them as well. To calibrate a portable computer battery:

  1. Plug in the MagSafe Power Adapter and fully charge the battery.

  2. When the battery is fully charged, the light on the MagSafe Power Adapter connector changes to green and the Battery icon in the menu bar indicates that the battery is charged.

  3. Allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for two hours or longer.

  4. You can use your computer during this time as long as the power adapter is plugged in.

  5. With the computer still on, disconnect the power adapter and continue to use your computer.

  6. When you see the low battery warning, save your work and close all applications. Keep your computer turned on until it goes to sleep.

  7. After your computer goes to sleep, turn it off or allow it to sleep for five hours or longer.

  8. Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged.

  9. You can use your computer during this time.

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This looks like I will have downtime which I can't afford to have. :/ Damn apple stopping you from using your computer :@ you would think they would implement something to do this for you after paying so much. – Dean Apr 3 '11 at 9:04
It still works when it's plugged in. It even works on wall power when the battery is removed entirely! You shouldn't have downtime unless it's impossible to access an outlet where you need to work. – Kevin Vermeer Apr 3 '11 at 20:41
After your computer goes to sleep, turn it off or allow it to sleep for five hours or longer. <- note number 7. Ahh your saying take the battery out for 5 hours and run it off a socket. – Dean Apr 3 '11 at 22:07
@Dean - Erm, no, that's not what I was saying, but I suppose that would probably work. Check the capacity ratings (with System Profiler) before and after to see that you were successful. I assumed you were human and had to sleep occasionally, so 5 hours of downtime wouldn't matter. My bad! If you're a robot or cyborg, just run it off a socket until you do have some downtime. Not sure what to do if you're running a server or something from your laptop, though. – Kevin Vermeer Apr 4 '11 at 2:37
not much at the moment too stressed about work. – Dean Apr 4 '11 at 20:48
up vote 3 down vote

No, you can't. If you were to make it "think" it was a new battery, the battery would still be low capacity.

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