Macbook Pro - Snow Leopard Battery Life - Service Battery
 

The battery in my Macbook Pro has been in for about 18 months.

It can still hold about 2 hours of charge and has done 222 cycles.

System profiler states the battery status as 'Check Condition'.

Power management keeps coming up with a message stating 'Service Battery' and then not charging it correctly. I had to reset the SMC to resolve this. Does 'Service Battery' simply mean, get a new one?!

I regularly fully charge and then fully discharge the battery as per recommendation.

This error status seems to be an SL thing (Google search and my own experience).

Any thoughts from the fanboys?

I'm at 300 cycles and condition is normal. This is my second battery in a 3 year old Macbook. Mine was replaced free under a recall - although I didn't know it was recalled - might be worth you checking, quick call to Apple Store should do the trick.

I do remember there being, at first, a silent recall for MBP batteries in 2006, which Apple then made public, obviously didn't want the bad press initially.

I'm not sure about newer machines' batteries though. A quick search did not turn anything up.

It could well be that there has been a recall and Apple has built in something to SL which can check what model/age of battery you have and if it meets the parameters for the recall, display the message you are seeing to prompt/force you to get it replaced.

I agree with Jack, give the store a call and see if you are effected by a recall.

This is a replacement battery - my Macbook is a late(ish) version I and so I guess might have qualified for a replacement under recall.

I guess as a recall they could care less! Given the battery will hold a lot of charge it seems odd I am getting this message.

I am not alone and can't blame my network for this one ;)

I'm pretty sure this was the one I benefitted from Apple - Support - MacBook and MacBook Pro Battery Update - Closed closed now.

Thanks Jack.

My impression is that the battery strategy on my machine changed when I uploaded SL. For example with Leopard - the green light on my magsafe stayed on all the time it is fully charged. With SL, as soon as it reaches full charge the light goes off (I assume not charging). I have seen this strategy deployed on non-Apple products.

It is the switching between this charging/non-charging mode that seems to be causing/related to the problem. Since getting the Service Battery message it does not always shift from light off mode to charging mode. I need to disconnect it a couple of times to get it to trigger.

I also guess the battery updater will be superseded by Leopard and SL anyway?

My light stays on all the time.