Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with battery

Watch adjustment

Proginoskes — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:43:41 -0800

I have this type of watch. The manual suggests that I should get Timex to repair the battery. I'm hoping to be able to do it myself and save a few bucks. However, I don't really see any way to get the back off. I also want to adjust the band as it's too large for my wrist. But, again, I really have no idea how to do this. Hoping someone here can tell me if this is something I'd be able to do from home (and tell me how to do it) or whether I should take it to a jeweler.

Is it a bad idea to keep a MacBook Pro plugged in while charged?

carter — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:06:59 -0800

I recently acquired a new MacBook Pro, with a retina display. It's a sealed unit, with no user-replaceable battery, so I'm obviously interested in maintaining the battery life. I noticed that the new T-shape mag safe connector is not very grippy, and falls out all the time. So I called Apple to see whether the constant unplugging/plugging was a bad idea, and the rep actually said at one point that it was a bad idea to keep the laptop plugged in when it was charged (with the green LED showing in the adapter). I confirmed that this was what he was saying. So does anyone know if this is true? Because I've always kept my laptops plugged in, all the time. I always find battery issues to be very hard to get any clear information about. Thanks for any input.

MacBook Pro Battery Life Question

dbirchum — Fri, 03 May 2013 04:13:52 -0800

Greetings - I "inherited" a MacBook Pro last year. It was a Apple MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz from Spring 2008. So it was 4 years old when I got it and I was told that the battery was dead and as long as I kept it plugged in, it worked fine, however, I would need a new one. So last year, I purchased a new battery and installed it. However, I am still noticing that the battery life is horrible. It seems like when I am using it to type a document or check emails and surf the web, etc, I literally can watch the battery drain. I would assume that it might hold a charge of about an hour and a half maybe? Is there any way I can "test" it to see what my actual battery life if? To ensure there isn't something else going on? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks,

Samsung Transfrom Ultra Battery Problems

Snyder — Wed, 01 May 2013 21:38:59 -0800

Transform Ultra with an overheating, fast-discharging, spontaneously-turning-off battery. I bought a Samsung Transform Ultra phone from Boost Mobile a little over a year ago. Phone worked great, no battery problems at all until about January this year. First noticed when I either turned the phone off or on while charging the percentage charged would jump up, sometimes 40% or more. When using the internet the battery would drain noticeably. Talking or texting wasn't as bad, but still a quick drain. It got worse and worse. By the end it killed the cells in my battery, and could not hold a charge for more than several hours of non-use, or a minute or two of use.

I bought a new battery, same model, at a Boost distributor. When I went to charge the phone while off, it displayed a nearly full charge indicator, but I let it finish charging, and it seemed all right for a day or so, but then it was back to draining really fast, as well as the aforementioned problems. I can fully charge it, and after using the internet will cause it to drain in about an hour and a half. The battery will get really hot, almost uncomfortable to touch through the case and cover. I believe it might be effecting the cells already. As mentioned, it will also sometimes turn off when still holding a moderate, say 40%, charge. When I turn it back on, it will be at about 1% and power off on it's own. (This time with the "Powering off" screen.

Android version is 2.3.6, Kernal 2.6.35.7 Build # Gingerbread.FF27, Hardware version M930.02

I have Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, background data and sync off nearly all the time. My battery use breakdown is currently:

Android System: 80%, Voice calls: 10%, Cell Standby 5%, Display 4%, Phone Idle 3%

What can I do?

Why is my laptop now choosy about sockets and what do I do about it?

mister_kaupungister — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 06:15:02 -0800

My Acer 5742 has become choosy about which plug sockets it will charge from. Why? Do I need a new battery? I am running an Acer 5742 laptop in the UK (various places in my university). The battery and laptop are about 3 years old. The battery holds very little charge now but I haven't ever replaced it because I can always plug it in where I need to use it.

Lately the laptop has refused to charge at all the plugs in a certain room - "that room" of my university. It still charges fine at home, and in another room of the university.

I don't think it's the charger because I have two chargers, and I experience the same problem in "that room" with either charger. At home and in the other room, charging works with either charger. So I'm guessing it's the battery or something to do with the sockets in "that room", or some combination of the two. I was recently able to charge my laptop in "that room" - so something has happened recently.

Can someone tell me why this might be happening? And, what do I do about it? I could avoid "that room", but if the laptop is soon going to stop charging everywhere because of the battery then I think it would make sense to buy a new battery.

Starter woes?

ambient2 — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 02:58:55 -0800

Car was starting intermittently (power to the dash lights, etc., but zero activity from the starter) as the battery reached the expected end of its life. So, new battery. Same problem. The shop that has the car tells me that a new battery sends a relatively high amount of power to the starter and that this can cause problems with it (gears, etc.) This doesn't sound ludicrous, but I know enough about cars to know how much I don't know. Here's hoping the knowledgeable people (for whom I have vast respect and gratitude) 'round here can share their thoughts. Thanks! By the way, for the gearheads out there, the car is an Aussie-built RWD 4-door Chevrolet Lumina SS with a 5.7 V8 (and gas here in Dubai is about $1.90 per gallon). It's reasonably similar to a RWD Dodge Charger, about 8 inches shorter than the current model.

Laptop / Netbook that runs cool and has long battery life

gilast — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:08:05 -0800

Interested in a Netbook or lower power laptop that runs cool (doesn't require external cooling like this) and has long (6-8 hour) battery life. Would like to run Windows 7 so Chromebook is not a good candidate for me. And of course want to come in around $200. I know there a lot of candidates here but would really appreciate user's real life experience. Thanks.

Mountain Lion, New SSD - what's destroying my battery life?

running order squabble fest — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 08:53:08 -0800

So, I've made the fatal mistake of performing several upgrades at once, and I could do with some advice on where to go now... is my problem with charging time and battery life my new SSDs, my new OS, or something else entirely? Generic snowflake details to follow: Recently, I've been experiencing excessive hard drive spin noise in my (Early 2011) 15" MacBook Pro, along with what felt like excessive fan spin-up. Hoping to kill two birds with one stone, I decided to swap the HDD out for an SSD. After due consideration, I bought the Samsung 840 basic model (500GB).

Then, since I was going to be taking the bottom off the laptop anyway, I thought why not also put an SSD in the little-used optical drive bay? I had a 256GB Crucial M4 SSD kicking around from the death of my last laptop, which had up until that point been doing duty as a very expensive sneakernet solution, so I bought an OWC OptiBay drive caddy and installed that also.

To save time, I cloned my old 500GB HDD onto the 500GB SSD using SuperDuper, and did a straight swap.

So far so normal, but when I booted back up, after a long and slightly terrifying pause, it booted as normal, indexed the new drive and I was back in business.

However, I then got cocky, and decided, since I was making changes, to upgrade the OS as well, from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion, right after booting up.

This all happened yesterday. Everything was fine until I unplugged the laptop, at which point it registered one hour of battery life (although actually it lasted for more like two, and that figure jumped up to 1:24 and froze in place at various points). Although the Early 2011 Pro is not supposed to have a user-replaceable battery, and thus also is not supposed to need calibration, I let it run down overnight (using Caffeine) and am now charging it - a process which the system is telling me is going to take a full day (it's at 32% now, and saying it will be 3 1/2 hours until the charge is complete, but again that needle is sticking and jumping - in fact, a few hours later, it is at 65% but still saying 3 hours, so...).

I don't know what the run-down time will then be, because I want to give it a full charge before I try it, but at this point I'm not optimistic.

Now, because I used SuperDuper I still have the (bootable) mechanical Hard Drive, with Snow Leopard and all my files, currently one day out of date. I am wondering if it would be sensible to either admit defeat and swap that back in, or to swap it in, reclone the HDD onto the SSD and then swap the drives again (thus rolling back to pre-Mountain Lion, since it seems impossible to roll it back without restoring the cloned HDD), leaving me with the SSD in the machine. However, because I was an idiot and made three changes without stopping and benchmarking, I am not sure where the problem lies, and I'd like to minimize my corrective steps. I'm also wondering if this is something weird about SSDs, and I would be better off with a clean install and the back-aching procedure of redownloading and installing my applications from there...

So, does anyone have experience of this kind of issue? What is most likely to be the issue, and is there any chance it will sort itself out over a few charges? I expected that taking the HDD motor out of the system would _increase_ battery life, but am I missing something obvious? As it is, I figure the problem is logically either the new hardware, the new OS or (outside chance) failing to reconnect the battery properly (but I can't see how that would cause this, rather than a total failure to power up). There seem to be a number of complaints online about Mountain Lion borking power management, and because I bought it a while ago and never got around to installing it I am on 10.8.1, but 10.8.2 would need to be a dramatic update to make this workable... does anyone have experience/secret knowledge of this kind of situation, before I start making and testing further system changes?

(Further totally generic snowflake addenda - the battery is a standard came-with-the-machine Apple battery, which originally had 6900 mAh, and is now registering 6199 after 342 cycles, according to Battery Health. The MBP is a 15" unibody: was on 10.6.8, now on 10.8.1. Both SATA connectors are Intel 6 Series, enabling 6 gigabit throughput, and both SSD are 6 gigabit models.)

Is it wise to replace the dead battery in my MacBook?

nanook — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 14:44:25 -0800

I have an older MacBook I use when travelling (four or five times a year), and then the odd occasion when I am away from my office desktop. The battery on the MacBook died a few months ago, and I am guessing partially because I haven't been using it frequently enough. I am hesitant to replace the battery, figuring the same thing will happen again, is that right? Is there a downside to not having a working battery on the computer itself? And lastly, is there a problem with leaving the dead battery in the computer?

Which is the best website to purchase a new phone battery from?

Solomon — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 14:29:41 -0800

I have a Orange San Francisco smartphone. It's also sold as the ZTE Blade. I'd like a new, more powerful battery for it. Where is the best place to purchase one from? I can find lots of sites selling them, but I'm having difficulty picking out the non-sketchy one(s) from the sketchy ones.

New battery, no power?

griseus — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:32:10 -0800

Please help me think through this car battery problem. I have a new battery, but no car power. Details inside. We just moved to Indiana from Florida and are experiencing single digit temperatures for the first time. Our 2003 Buick Rendezvous was having trouble starting, so I replaced the battery today.

After replacing the battery, I turned the key, it clicked twice and then started. I turned off the car and went about my business.

A couple of hours later, I went to start the car and nothing happened. No clicking noise, no internal lights, nothing. Absolutely no battery power as far as I could tell.

I hooked up the battery to a battery charger/jump starter. As soon as I did this, the interior lights came on. The battery charger said that the battery was fully charged, but when I turned the key, nothing happened. No starting, no clicking sound, nothing. As soon as I disconnected the battery charger, the internal lights went off.

So I'm at a loss. It seems like if the battery weren't making a good connection, then hooking the charger up wouldn't power the internal lights. If the battery were totally dead, then the charger wouldn't indicate that it's fully charged. What am I missing?

Help me with my iPhone 4 Battery Life!

dbirchum — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 05:15:06 -0800

I have an iPhone 4 and since the iOS 6 update, my battery life is horrible! Help! Ok, I have an iPhone 4 (White, 8GB, iOS 6.0.1). Since the iOS update back in the Fall of 2012 I have been having serious issues with my battery life. In the past, the battery usage with my iPhone 4 was perfect. With the amount that I use it, I could easily get a couple of days with one charge. However, since the update, I can’t make it through the day on a charge. I never make phone calls on the phone, I am not a games user, so I basically use it for listening to podcasts on the way to work and texting during the day. For most of the day, it sits in my pocket. Also, whatever happens to my iPhone in the night, it kills the battery, as I see significant battery usage overnight.

I have Googled this and it’s evident that I am not the only one with this issue, but there doesn’t seem to be any solution that provides a decent fix.

I haven’t downloaded anything since the update (apps, etc), so I know it was the actual iOS update that is causing this issue with my phone.

This is becoming a huge pain in the butt. Recently, we had a power outage for 36 hours and my phone was just sitting there doing nothing (wifi was down, etc) and I can’t believe how fast I lost battery life power and my phone died. Before, it was an inconvenience, but this really got me concerned as I needed to use the phone for ac couple of emergency calls during this time and had to borrow my neighbours. Now, I need to get this rectified.

Any suggestions? Advice?

Thanks so much!

Knife the Mac

mudpuppie — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 16:04:49 -0800

The Apple Store Genius fixed my Macbook's problem while I was in the store, but now that I'm home again I'm back to square one. Help. My computer battery drained overnight and I couldn't get it to start this morning, even after it was plugged in for an hour. (Tried removing the battery, resetting the SMC, doing ctrl+opt+P+R, nothing worked.) Took it to the Apple Store ~30 minutes away. It was unplugged and not charging for that travel time.

When I got there, Genius plugged the computer in, pushed the power button, and it started right up.

His explanation, which I only partly remember, is that removing the power cord and letting it sit for a while essentially 'reset' the power supply. Or something like that. He did a bunch of other diagnostic stuff -- 45 minutes worth or so -- and sent me home.

Now that I'm back home, I can't get the computer to start.

What did he do that worked, and how can I boot it up again? (Already tried all the same things I listed above.)

VADO HD Battery - Help Needed Please

watercarrier — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 00:07:12 -0800

Where can I find a replacement generic battery for VADO HD? I need a replacement battery for Creative's VADO HD videocam. It's a 9v rectangular lithium. All my searches come up that the NP-60 is the equivalent. I purchased one and it's not the correct size. Arh. The clincher is that it needs to be shipped internationally.

Where can I get the right battery that will also ship overseas? Thanks for any help!!

Need a hobbyist electronics shop in Toronto

PercussivePaul — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 13:23:25 -0800

Where in Toronto can I buy small cylindrical rechargeable 3.7V Li-ion batteries like the UltraFire, hopefully at a reasonable price? (or maybe they were 3.6V, I can't recall) I made a little electronic thing for a Christmas present, bought the batteries at a hobbyist shop in Vancouver where I live (the kind of place that sells Arduinos and such), currently home with the present in Toronto and I'm pretty sure one of the batteries is bad. Sometime in the next week while I'm in town I want to buy a new set of batteries. No time to have it shipped so I have to buy local. I'm based near Bloor/Ossington at the moment but can travel. Thanks.

Reduce 12v to 9v or 5v

powpow — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 09:26:05 -0800

How can I control/reduce the amount of power from a 12v battery? I have a 12v battery that powers small fans in a camper. Depending on how cold it is, I'd like to be able to reduce power to the fans so they don't move as much air.

Fans are cheapo computer fans, so there's no controller that I'm aware of (actually I snipped off the extra wires, which are probably how they'd be controlled if used in a computer).

I'm looking for something cheap and easy since my technical skills are pretty limited. I can splice a wire, but that's about it.

I'm imagining something like a model railroad controller perhaps, but I don't even know if that will do the trick. Can I just walk into Radio Shack and get something that does this?

Thank you.

Best Low-Drain, Long-Life Battery

xod — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 09:10:03 -0800

How can I continuously run a 3W - or less - LED light with +/- 350 lumens as long as possible (1 year minimum) with a relatively compact battery source? Objective: To continuously run a 3W - or less - LED lamp with +/- 350 lumens as long as possible (1 year minimum) with a relatively compact battery source.

Restrictions: Protected, enclosed, exterior application. 8" x 8" x 10" space. Battery should be relatively easy to purchase and replace. No exterior or remote parts or sources allowed. Therefore no photovoltaic panels, et cetera.

Latitude: Does not need to be pretty.

Proposed light fixture or similar.

Alternate (with simple screw mount fixture).

Help assuage my concerns about my little old car!

schmoo — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:19:58 -0800

Please help me determine what happened to my car recently - was it the battery, the alternator, or something else? A week ago I was driving to work and everything was fine as normal. I had been driving for about five minutes with the heaters, radio, lights etc on.

Suddenly, with no warning (no gradual loss of power, no warning lights) the car lost power totally and utterly. Everything went off, and I couldn't even put the hazard lights on. Attempts to restart the car were unsuccessful, and the radio and lights etc didn't work either.

My husband arranged for it to be towed to a local garage, but not our normal one.

The garage said that the problem was the battery. We had noticed previously that there was quite a bit of corrosion on top of the terminals - what looked like set frothy green stuff - but we'd stupidly neglected to get it checked. My husband thinks that the garage explained that the corrosion was making the battery unable to connect to whatever it connects to (as you can tell, I am incredibly clueless about cars, as is my husband!), and this was what caused the breakdown. They fitted a brand new battery and since having this fitted the car has run fine.

However I am concerned because everyone I have told has said that it sounds much more like the alternator dying than the battery, and people have said that batteries just don't 'die' like that once you've got going - that if it was a battery problem you'd simply be unable to start the car. I am really worried that the garage have not fixed the actual problem, and that if it is a faulty alternator the same thing will happen again. I was lucky it happened when I was only travelling at about 10mph, coming up to some lights - I'm terrified it will happen again when I'm on the motorway or something.

My husband is reluctant to ring up the garage and clarify exactly what the problem was because they did it sort of as a favour because they know his dad. He is also happy to accept their explanation and not anyway near as concerned as I. If I need to we will take it to our local garage to be checked out, but we've already spent £300 on the car recently and I can't afford it unless it's absolutely necessary!

So, if you have any car expertise at all, please could you advise me - does it sound like the battery was the problem and I'm ok and worrying for nothing? Are people correct when they object that batteries never just die like mine did? Do you think it is actually the alternator and the garage fitting a new battery was totally wrong?

The car in question is a 12 year old Ford Fiesta, if it makes any difference.
Thanks in advance!

How to choose a replacement scooter battery?

cupcakeninja — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 09:07:29 -0800

Which batteries can I purchase to replace the original from my scooter, a 2007 Honda Metropolitan? My scooter (2007 Honda Metropolitan) has been sitting unused for a couple years. In the interest of time, I want to replace the battery instead of charging it, if that's even possible at this point -- I did not remove it pre-storage. Problem is, I'm not sure which battery to get, Google returns many battery sales websites that I find impenetrable, and the clerk at my local Batteries Plus could not figure out what to recommend based on my scooter's make/model.

I haven't found a previous question about this topic, though I did find one about scooter batteries & alternators.

Any tips about revivifying a currently dormant scooter appreciated. I am planning to take it to a local scooter shop for whatever tuneup/maintenance may be needed. I am not mechanically adept, but I've read over a list of what to do after winter storage and would appreciate any other advice/tips. I've been the primary rider and have done no maintenance to this point -- 1,100 miles. A very minor accident in '07 left the front fender/wheel guard damaged, and I should probably look into replacing it, but the scooter is otherwise mechanically sound, as far as I know.

New Paperweight Anyone?

therewolf — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 12:20:37 -0800

My Android phone, a Samsung Nexus S, operates on Jellybean 4.1.1. Since the latest update, I've noticed a dramatic decline in the battery life--it will go from fully charged to dead within 3 hours of intermittent use, regardless of whether I'm on a 3G or Wifi connection. How can I optimize the battery life on my phone without losing its functionality? I bought the phone in January 2011, almost two years ago. It stays on all day if I put it into airplane mode. The battery usage tracker reports that the exchange services are using almost 60% of my battery life. I've done some research and it seems to be a common problem, though I'm not sure if it's due to the OS upgrade (all devices with Jellybean) or just my model's hardware, since Jellybean was designed to play with the newer Galaxy Nexus.

Things I've done:
-turned off Google Now
-restricted background data
-limited location services (I still need to use Maps)
-turned sync off for every Google service except Calendar, Contacts, Gmail and Reader

I don't want to turn off sync entirely, because that defeats the purpose of having a smartphone for me. Ignoring the other problems I'm having with the upgrade (Maps being finicky with the history function, Google search returning a page with unclickable results, slower response times), I'd like to be able to use my phone with some regularity without being slaved to a charger. The battery can get very hot and recharging takes hours, unless the phone is switched off during charging.

Has anyone else been experiencing similar problems? Is there a way to selectively sync (by location or time interval), or make exchange services stop being stupid and a battery hog? Are there any apps I can download to track my battery life better or diagnose the problem? I used to be able to turn my phone into a wifi hotspot and use it with my notebook...those days are long gone.

My phone's not rooted and I'd prefer not to do that, so simpler solutions are better.

Things I would consider doing but are not ideal:
-downgrading to Ice Cream Sandwich
-deleting and resetting Exchange Services
-performing a factory reset
-buying a backup battery to swap out (I'd rather solve this on the software side)

But I will if I have to, so any directions for those would be very helpful. I'm only a basic computer user, no programming knowledge, but I can find my way around instructions. This is a known issue that I've read up on (here, here, and here, for example), without any clear solutions. Unfortunately I can't really call my mobile carrier for help, because the phone comes straight from Google via Best Buy and there's no support for it through T-Mobile. I do love my phone and will continue to use Android, but I'm struggling to keep my phone relevant! Any feedback would be gratefully accepted.

Car Battery Conundrum

furious — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:28:17 -0800

I have a brand new car battery. My car has some issue that is (still) draining the battery, after I already had a mechanic look at and fix what was supposedly the issue. What can I do so that my battery doesn't go dead and get ruined over the winter while the car is idle? From what I could see online, you can't just take the battery out or it will go dead. It's a brand new battery - been in the car less than a week. The car starts up, but as each day goes by, it takes slightly longer (.5 more seconds) to start up. Something is draining the battery. Whatever it is drained the previous battery so completely that it ruined it and made it unable to be recharged (and multiple aaa drivers said that). I thought I had the issue fixed and some warning lights that were on are now off. The door light doesn't stay on anymore even after the door is closed. But apparently there is still an issue of some sort that is draining the battery.

So I have a brand new battery now (I put it in a week ago), and I don't want that to happen again.

I can't drive it around (it is in a safe parking place on a street), but I can start it up every few days. It is not near an electrical outlet. In searching, I also read that various car parts could be damaged if the battery is removed for extended periods of time.

What can I do so that the battery doesn't go dead?

Used lithium-ion batteries sold as new?

beniamino — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 01:27:39 -0800

I suspect that unscrupulous dealers buy used Lithium-ion batteries, reset or replace the circuitry so that the capacity and charge cycle count are as-new, and then resell the batteries as new. How can I collect evidence for or against this hypothesis?

Why does my iPone suddenly have horrible battery life?

Tanizaki — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 08:07:51 -0800

What could cause the sharp drop in battery life for my iPhone 4S? Even if fully charged, it will deplete within 5-6 hours of idle time. I noticed this problem about ten days ago when my iPhone did not wake me up. The experiment repeated the next evening, with a fully charged battery, resulted in a drained phone the following morning.

I have made no changes to the phone that correlate with the suddent drop in battery life. I have been running iOS 5.1.1 since last May (jailbroken). I've restarted, resprung, and made every effort to ensure that no battery-draining apps are running in the background. No success. Extensive Googling has yielded no solution.

I suspect that this is probably an issue with the battery itself that will require replacement of the phone. However, I am interested to learn if there are any last-ditch efforts I can take before I need to talk with the geniuses.

Thank you very much.

waterdamaged macbook pro battery difficulties

camdan — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:22:56 -0800

so i "fixed" a relative's water-damaged macbook pro, but it still has issues. here's the story - early 2011 15" macbook pro. one of their kids spilled water on it, they promptly buried it in rice etc., but the thing was dead. after letting it sit around for a couple of months, they gave it to me. i took it to the apple store, they said $1200, i said no. when i got home i opened it up and the thing was still overflowing with rice - obviously these script following masterminds heard "water damage" and immediately went to "money" and didn't even crack open the case.

i read that if you clean off all the corrosion, it may stand a chance. so i did that. still DoA. so i set it aside unthought of and untouched for another couple of months.

finally i got around to reexamine the problem, and plugged it in- and the thing worked! granted it, would shut down randomly, but that was solved by removing the presumably fried battery.

so here i am today. i replaced the battery with a used one i bought online. the computer works, plugged in and unplugged, with no random shutdowns.

UNLESS - when it's put to sleep when unplugged, then plugged back in. it dies, and won't start again until the battery is disconnected. after it's started and reconnected, there are no problems. (until it's put to sleep unplugged again :)

i know this is a unique problem, and there is obviously something wrong with the power or battery connection/regulation system (whatever it's called) causing the computer to do this. i would take it to the apple store, but considering how their answer last time was "we're not checking, but give us money", i'm reticent. they also might flip out when they hear i've been touching their user irreplaceable battery, and especially when they hear i brought a water-damaged computer back to life. at best i expect them to disappear with it and say it's completely friend and worthless to teach me a lesson, at worst i expect them to stone me as a wizard. thank you.

How often do I really need to drive my car?

dizziest — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 10:10:42 -0800

How often do I really need to drive my car? (goal: keeping the battery charged, engine happy, etc.) I really only need to use my car for (semi-frequent) road trips and the occasional (less than once a month) trip to buy an enormous bag of cat food. Otherwise, I am happy taking the bus and walking. Unfortunately, my battery keeps dying, and I am tired of calling AAA every time I need to buy cat food or want to drive somewhere far away. But driving my car just to drive my car seems a little bit silly, so I'd like to do it as little as possible.

What's the minimum amount of driving I can get away with that will keep my car happy and my battery charged?

I know I'll get lots of conflicting answers because I've already gotten lots of conflicting answers from people in the real world, but apparently I'd like some more. And no, selling the car and renting cars for road trips is not a feasible option, for various reasons like "the cat comes on most of the road trips."

(the black and white cat, not the orange one. and he's older now.)