Swelling battery?

D

DUNKYD

Registered
My trackpad button has started giving trouble ie seems stuck down. After fiddling for a few days I find that when I tighten the battery hold down screw the trouble starts. I read now that swelling could be the cause?
Macbook bought September '08,details as follows;
Full charge capacity 4950
cycle count 774
condition normal
amperage 405
voltage12575
Do I need a new one?
13" white macbook
Thanks all
 
IMHO, you've gotten far more cycles than the battery was designed for.

Get a new battery ASAP, because it will swell far more than it now is.
 
The cycle count should still be fine, the (unibody) Mac should last at least 900.
Too bad you can't just take the battery out to observe whether it's been swollen or not. Is there by any chance e.g. an Apple store close to you? Your Mac is out of warranty, but as a swollen battery is A Very Bad Thing, you could have them have a quick look in whether it could be the likely cause.
 
Purchased in Sept 2008, this would not be a unibody MacBook, but would have the older removable battery. Even if this was an aluminum model from 2008, the battery is still not the longer-life battery provided in later unibody MacBooks.

If you take out your battery, then place it upside down on a flat surface, then you will easily tell if the battery is swelling. Any swelling will likely be visible. A good battery will be completely flat, and will not rock when you press on one corner.
And - the expected life for your battery is 300 cycles - beyond that is living on borrowed time...and some batteries do last significantly longer than that. 774 cycles is living on the edge.. :D
Time to replace, even if it is not swelling. I suspect that you don't get more than 1 hour on the battery only.
So, bottom line - Yes, you need a new battery.
 
It's the removable type. I have it out now and the swelling is barely visible to the eye down the centre. I unplug every morning to read newspapers in bed and it normally lasts now for about 4 hours ! Then it stays on charge for the rest of the day. I have only run it down to switchoff status maybe 5 times in it's life. When putting it in now it's a tight fit and the button stops working as it seems to jam up.
 
Interesting!
Some do last longer than others.
I say use it until the trackpad (and the swelling) gets annoying....

You should also watch that the battery casing doesn't split, or the internal cells in the battery begin to leak. Oh, maybe most important, monitor the battery for overheating. Some of these have been known to fail catastrophically (with actual flames!) - Unusual, yet you can find reports about that http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/macbook_inferno_an_apple_macbook_battery_catches_fire.php
 
Should I buy a battery today, will it have 0 cycle counts ? I'm always worried about people that work behind doors that say 'no entry, staff only !'
 
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