Problem with macbook battery/charger

[sappleton]

It lasts 3-4 hours which is fine but when it gets low it won't charge.

The only way seems to be by either leaving it unplugged and turned off for a few hours, or by switching to a different plug everytime it stops charging.

Becuase of this I tend to leave it plugged in all the time. But the charger either shows green, no light, or a faint flashing orange light.

The cycle count is only 53, any ideas?

 

[Whitehill]

How old is the MacBook? Original battery? It sounds like the battery is warning you it's about to die.

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Either that, or perhaps your charger is faulty.

 

[sappleton]

macbook is a 2009 model, original battery too.

 

[DeltaMac]

... But the charger either shows green, no light, or a faint flashing orange light.
...

The power adapter, when attached, will never be 'no light', other than a couple seconds at most, when first plugged in. The light will be green, unless the battery is charging, when the light will be orange/amber. There's also a bright red, which is an error in the adapter.
If the light flashes (which is not normal), then you most likely have a bad adapter. You need to find someone with a MacBook, or MacBook Pro. Any magsafe adapter can be used for testing. If another adapter, which works OK on another Macbook, also has the same flashing indication, then the adapter might be good, and you have an internal problem, and you should try a different battery.