Ginevra Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 Specifically thinking of my iPad, but I know this can happen with other things, too. What do you do when the device battery starts operating inefficiently? Now the charge wears down after a few hours and I know this is a situation that tends not to improve. :( I really hope this will not mean my iPad needs to be replaced within a few months because I personally think they should last indefinitely, like Grandma's Frigedaire did. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 I own an original iPad that I have loved to death that has the same battery problem. Lifespan on batteries just really isn't the same thing as lifespan on refrigerators. For a battery to hold out for three years of heavy use is wonderful. There was a time when I could have taken it to Apple to have the battery replaced. I think it's probably too old now, but maybe yours is newer? My solution was to turn it into my bedside alarm clock and leave it plugged in 99% of the time unless I am reading in bed. It still works great for that use. DD15 uses an old iPhone 4 as her alarm clock. I have an old iPhone 4 that I use in my car as a music device and I plug it into the charger when I use it so no big deal. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 You can calibrate the battery. I'm not sure if this actually improves performance or simply improves the way the ipad reads the battery's charge, but it's what my engineer dh told me to try with my phone. There's an explanation here: http://katiefloyd.com/blog/my-experience-with-the-ipad-battery Or you might have to pay to get the battery replaced: https://support.apple.com/ipad/repair/battery-power 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 The Used Dell Precision M4500 Mobile Workstation I won on eBay, and received 5 days ago, was produced on 10/11/2010 The original Dell battery is in it and still holds a charge, but I can't run the laptop on it very long. I replaced it with a battery I bought for $12 from laptopz-outlet on eBay. IMO, the real problem is with devices with non removable batteries. Batteries that can only be replaced by OEM service people, at OEM prices. My wife bought a Motorola Turbo phone at the end of January. When the battery needs to be replaced, my fear is that the cost will be so high that she will end up buying a new phone. Hopefully, that battery will last for many years... In the Motorola Turbo phone, I suspect it will cost about USD $100 or $200, for the Battery and the Service (Labor), assuming they can get a replacement Motorola battery for it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 You can calibrate the battery. I'm not sure if this actually improves performance or simply improves the way the ipad reads the battery's charge, but it's what my engineer dh told me to try with my phone. There's an explanation here: http://katiefloyd.com/blog/my-experience-with-the-ipad-battery Or you might have to pay to get the battery replaced: https://support.apple.com/ipad/repair/battery-power +1 When you get a new battery for a laptop, put it into the laptop and charge it to 100% Then, disconnect the laptop from AC power and run it on the battery until you get a warning that the battery is down to about 10% Then charge it up to 100% Do that 2 or 3 times. I try to remember, about the first of each month, to discharge my laptop battery (the laptop is on AC power the vast majority of the time) and then charge it back up, to try to keep it "Calibrated". That may extend the life of the batteries that are used in modern electronic devices now. I was running one of my laptops on the first $12 battery I bought from laptopz-outlet on eBay, a week or so ago. It came during April 2014 and works fine. I think a laptop battery should last for several years (possibly more) but I think if one buys an OEM battery (Dell, etc.) the warranty is for 12 months and they cost about 10X or 12X what I paid laptopz-outlet. Possibly our laptops would run longer on a Dell OEM battery, but I'm not sure of that and I can't afford to buy a Dell OEM battery... Not a good way to spend ones money. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 I think I read, in the description or specs of a Lithium Ion battery for one of the Dell Laptop models we have in our house, that one might expect the battery to last for approximately 300 cycles? That is for a 6 cell laptop battery that sells on Dell.com for $136 or $150, which is 10 or 12 times more than what I pay for a non OEM battery from laptopz-outlet on eBay. If the device in question has been discharged and recharged approximately 300 times, that is probably a good life for an Li-Ion technology battery. Probably that varies, within different device types, and whether or not the battery is fully discharged (as the one in my Android phone was this morning) or partially discharged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Geek Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Order a new battery for amazon or eBay and ask dh to replace it. He worked on computers for a while right out of high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Take it to the Apple store and pay for a new one. I had to do that with my Mac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 I googled for "ipad replacement battery" (without the quote marks. This is the URL for the Google SERPs: https://www.google.com.co/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=ipad%20replacement%20battery This is what it says, at the top of the above URL: When the battery no longer holds a sufficient charge, you are required officially to send any iPad to Apple for replacement. Apple charges US$99 for servicing plus US$6.95 for shipping (US$105.95 plus tax). Note: If that is correct, backup your personal stuff, in case they send a different iPad to you... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Quill: If you send your iPad to Apple, BEFORE doing that, Backup your Data. Then, Wipe it. Set it back to the Factory Settings, before you send it to Apple. From what I've read, I am almost positive they will not send you the same unit you sent t o them. I believe they will send you another iPad. Backup and then set it back to the original Factory Settings. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Or lookup battery replacement videos for your device on YouTube. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Take it to the Apple store and pay for a new one. I had to do that with my Mac. Part of the reason I am skeptical about this is because I did do this with my MacBook Pro last year. It was over $100, and did not make an impressive difference. My MacBook runs out of juice within a few hours. As we speak, I am wearing it down. It is at 10% and I am planning to fully discharge it tonight. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 I would look around for someone else to replace the battery. There's a guy in my town that replaces batteries, screens, and other components for much, much less than the Apple Store charges. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Part of the reason I am skeptical about this is because I did do this with my MacBook Pro last year. It was over $100, and did not make an impressive difference. My MacBook runs out of juice within a few hours. As we speak, I am wearing it down. It is at 10% and I am planning to fully discharge it tonight. In our Windows laptops I let them go down to about 10 or 12% and then I get a warning from Windows that the battery is very low and I connect the AC charger and begin charging the battery back up to 100% Yesterday, my Android phone went down so low that it wouldn't run. It took about 3 hours to get the battery charged up to 100% I have one spare battery (not OEM) for the Android phone that I bought from our cell phone "doctor". It went down so low that I need to take it to him to get him to use a more powerful charger on it, to get it up to the point where I can charge it with the charger I normally use. Not encouraging, your experience with your MacBook Pro and a new battery. Did they give you a warranty on the battery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Or lookup battery replacement videos for your device on YouTube. I watched one of those on YouTube yesterday, because I was curious about this. He used a few special tiny little tools and aids and I think he did it in about 10 minutes. The iPad needs to be completely taken apart. The battery is the last thing that is removed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Darn apple device batteries. My iPad won't charge at all now and my phone runs half a day. We've had them 2 1/2 years. Grrrr People talk about being extravagant with new tech toys all the time but the reality is they don't last long. There is a battery place near us but I'm not sure how good it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 The other thing to do is get a tech to check you don't have too much background junk running. Some apps automatically check for updates ridiculously often unless you specify otherwise and it can really run your battery down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 The other thing to do is get a tech to check you don't have too much background junk running. Some apps automatically check for updates ridiculously often unless you specify otherwise and it can really run your battery down. Yeah, this is probably not a problem for my iPad; we have limited data at home, so I am Queen Data Miser. I use few aps. But I do know my MacBook needs drastic cleaning and a large amount of the functionality is being gobbled up (I think) by photos, especially RAW photo files, and Adobe Creative Cloud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 I watched one of those on YouTube yesterday, because I was curious about this. He used a few special tiny little tools and aids and I think he did it in about 10 minutes. The iPad needs to be completely taken apart. The battery is the last thing that is removed. Yeah and I imagine that is intentional. Planned obsolescence. They do not WANT us to use the same device for five years, let alone more than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 I watched one of those on YouTube yesterday, because I was curious about this. He used a few special tiny little tools and aids and I think he did it in about 10 minutes. The iPad needs to be completely taken apart. The battery is the last thing that is removed. I needed to replace a battery in an old ipod shuffle. I watched a couple of videos in which they used special little plastic tools to open the case. The videos were made by a company which sells the batteries. I went to their website to place the order, and the batteries come with the plastic tools for about ~$5-10. The most complicated part with the ipod was that the battery had to actually be soldered, but thankfully I know how to do that so it wasn't an issue. It took me, an untrained person, about 1/2 hour to fully repair the ipod back assembled working condition. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 (edited) ifixit.com will sell you the tools, but depending on the device you may wish to pay someone else. Apple seems to delight in making their products harder to service with each new generation. DH tried to fix an iPad mini and broke more parts in the process and eventually gave up. When DD broke her iPhone screen he just paid a shop to replace it. Edited June 28, 2016 by JanetC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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