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Apple's line of laptops for professional and power users. To date, the MacBook Pro line includes 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17-inch variants, with major revisions defined by Pre-unibody(Original), unibody, Retina display, Touch Bar, and SOC (system-on-a-chip) designs.

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Managing multiple batteries to keep them healthy and happy

I have an old MacBook Pro with a removable battery, and just bought 2 non-Apple batteries (since Apple aren't making them anymore). I travel about a bit, and wanted to extend my time between charges. So I now have 2 new batteries, and the old one which works for about 3 hours still.

I have been using Watts to tell me when I need to run down and recharge the battery, but this app doesn't recognise multiple batteries, so is not going to be all that useful when I swap around between 3 batteries.

Does anyone have suggestions about the best way to manage these multiple batteries so they get evenly worn, discharged and recharged often enough etc.

Cheers

Miriam

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Hi,

Batteries of this type like to have room for the electrons to spin around ;-) pun intended.

In other words, when you store them, they should be at around 50% capacity; not empty, and of course not 100% full.

When you use them, charge till 100% in one go (keep the device on the charger until full. You can use it in the meantime, just don't disconnect from the charger). After they are full, keep them on the charger for 30 minutes more. We say let them "trickle" for 30 minutes.

Then use the device till normally, just without charging in the meantime, until you reach near empty state. Not empty, just near. Then recharge to full again in one go, +30 minutes trickle. This way you calibrate the charging of that particular battery.

Then use as desired, until you need to store the battery, which you need to do while it's 50% charged.

Additional notes:

Batteries age, whether you store them away or use them.

Batteries are measured by the number of times they've been cycled. One cycle = empty to full to empty, or vice versa.

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2 Comments:

Thanks so much for this helpful advice on looking after a battery.

What I'm after is suggestions on managing *multiple* batteries. I have to swap them around on some kind of schedule, keep some kind of record about them.

I am really hoping for a piece of software like Watts that can recognise different batteries and know that *this* battery was last discharged/recharged 2 months ago. Currently Watts knows only that I discharged/recharged a battery one month ago - not which battery, not how long since the current battery was conditioned.

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Os, sorry now I understand.. If I get it right, those kind of battery management softwares would have been developed to manage one battery: the one installed on your laptop. I believe it will not be easy to find one to manage multiple batteries. And for sure (in my opinion) none that can recognize the battery installed unless you feed it the info that this is battery A or B..

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Miriam Richardson will be eternally grateful.
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