[JakePNEFC]

Hi, according to this app my battery health is 81% is this bad?

[Strider2112]

Maybe take a screenshot? There is no way to actually access the internal electronics of the battery to be able to determine what the remaining life of it is. But I assume you could do some calculations based on some known data:

The number of times the battery has been charged (this information would only be known to the application since install)

The formula that Battery Guru has for calculating life based on this, it is probably not linear, from what I understand it goes something like this:
0-199 : 100% - 90% = 0.05% per charge
200-399 : 89% - 80% = 0.05% per charge
400-∞ : 79% - 0% = Approaches 0% per charge

So given the above information you can make an informed decision based on how many charges the device has received, since you can't access the electronics of the battery it may or may not be accurate.

This is not anything new to RiM, every battery in the world can only take a certain amount of charges before it won't work anymore, in about 15 years when you've charged it 850 times you'll probably notice it only keeps a quarter the charge it does today.

edit: I believe that charging it using a higher voltage source will also deplete the battery's actual health faster.

[kennyliu]

^^^ I thought the meter uses the remaining max voltage to determine the battery health.

Anyway, if your PB is new 81% seems to be on the low end.

[dugggggg]

It could be a bad battery---but most likely the internal meter is just miscalibrated.

Fully charge your PB, then disconnect the charger and use your PB for several hours until it shuts off by itself. Then fully charge it again before using it again. Wait for a couple of Recharge Counts then please report back to let us know if Battery Health has changed---hopefully for the better.

I'm at 91% with 82 recharge counts. Was at 95% for the first 35 counts, then it dropped 4% after I fooled around with some partial charges and discharges when the battery meter was at/below 0% (but the PB was still running). Hasn't recovered since.

[Chaddface]

Hi, according to this app my battery health is 81% is this bad?

What's your recharge count? Do you have a system to your recharges or just whenever?
That information may help MR. Guru give a better explanation.

I'm at 87% with 235 charges. My reading has fluctuated between 85% and 87% for as long as I have had the app.

[Princepia]

When I got a brand new Playbook (Brand new not refurbished.) from an Advanced Exchange RMA..Battery Guru showed 88%, after a day or so, this went up to 93% and has stayed there steadily.

So if this is your first time using it, give it some time!

[kennyliu]

^^^ Yes, it takes a few recharge cycles for the meter to recalibrate.

[JakePNEFC]

What's your recharge count? Do you have a system to your recharges or just whenever?
That information may help MR. Guru give a better explanation.

I'm at 87% with 235 charges. My reading has fluctuated between 85% and 87% for as long as I have had the app.

I have done 52 recharges. I charge at random as well.

[peter9477]

...

The number of times the battery has been charged (this information would only be known to the application since install)

The formula that Battery Guru has for calculating life based on this, it is probably not linear, from what I understand it goes something like this:
...

Just wanted to address these false claims directly:

1. Lithium-ion batteries have their own tiny microprocessors attached to monitor them, and they keep track of their own data such as recharge counts. The operating system communicates with the chip to retrieve the info. Battery Guru talks to the operating system to get that data. Therefore the recharge count information is correct regardless of when the application is installed. Proving this would be trivial: uninstall the app (thereby losing all your logged data) and then reinstall, and observe that the recharge count does not reset to zero.

2. Battery Guru does not use a "formula... for calculating life". All data which it reports currently is retrieved directly from the operating system and not changed in any way except for example to adjust units for display purposes.

[peter9477]

I have done 52 recharges. I charge at random as well.

Jake, if you do a Battery Guru export and email me the data (at the support email listed in App World), I can take a look at it to see if there's something, for example your charge/discharge patterns, which might explain that.

If you do the "drain test" (http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...6/#post6931987) which is similar to what dugggggg suggested, you'll get hard data on the actual capacity of the battery which you can use to verify that the report Health reading is reasonably accurate. Variation between the two results of +/-3% is within the expected margin of error.

As kennyliu said, 81% is definitely on the low end, but someone has to have the worst unit out there. Maybe it's you. :-(