Using BatteryAmnesia

You should run BatteryAmnesia periodically to deep discharge your internal battery.  The experts disagree on how often you should do this; Apple's PowerBook manual suggests every 90 days for NiCad-based PowerBooks, and every 30 days for Duos.  I personally believe that it depends on how frequently you charge your PowerBook's battery.  If you run it off battery daily, you should probably deep discharge it once every couple weeks.  If you almost always run off the AC adapter, then every three months is probably a good period.

DATA LOSS WARNING

Please note that in order to get the fullest discharge possible, BatteryAmnesia does not allow your PowerBook to shut down "gracefully".  YOU MUST SAVE ANY MODIFIED DOCUMENTS BEFORE RUNNING BatteryAmnesia.  ANY CHANGES THAT HAVEN'T BEEN SAVED TO DISK WILL BE LOST!

BatteryAmnesia will do everything in its power to prevent this from happening.  The main screen has a button you can press that will gracefully "quit" all other applications that happen to be running.  If an application has changed documents that have not been saved, the application will prompt you to save it.  This is highly recommended!

If you don't elect to manually quit the other applications, when you proceed with the discharge, BatteryAmnesia will again gracefully quit all other applications.

Running BatteryAmnesia

Running BatteryAmnesia is easy!  Just follow these steps...

1)  Run BatteryAmnesia.  The title screen, shown below, will appear.

2)  Quit any other applications that are running.  If BatteryAmnesia detects that other applications are running, it will display the count at the bottom of the window.  Press the "Quit other applications" button to gracefully quit them.  Make sure to save any changed documents!

3)  Press the Discharge button.  A final warning screen will come up, as shown below.

4)  If you are ready to proceed with your deep discharge, press the Continue button.

5)  The discharge screen will then appear.  I'd have put a picture of it in this document, but it is so chock-full of useful information, that I can only show you the pieces!

First off, there's a bunch of stuff on the left side...

The current voltage is shown, along with a bar graph showing the percentage of charge left.  Below that are two buttons, which control the audible indicators.  If the Speech Manager is not present, the "Speak voltages" button will be dimmed.

The right side of the screen has more stuff...

At the top of the display is a graph window, that will display the current and previous discharge curves.  On color PowerBooks, red and green are used to display the two plots.  On B&W PowerBooks, black and gray are used.

There is also a status window that gives information about how the discharge is proceeding.

And, of course, there is a "Cancel Discharge" button to abort the discharge.

6)  When the battery voltage drops to a level below the final warning, the PowerBook will enter the "Terminal Discharge" mode.  The Cancel button and audible indicator buttons will be dimmed, indicating that you can no longer safely cancel the discharge process.

7)  When the battery voltage drops to a very low level, the PowerBook will perform a hardware shut down.  You can then plug in the charger to recharge your battery, and start up your PowerBook to begin working again.

Audible indicator

In addition to the voltage display, you also have the option of an audible indicator.  This means that your PowerBook will beep periodically, and the tone will get lower as your battery gets lower.  You can turn this feature on or off, using the provided check button.

Speech Manager support

If you have the Speech Manager installed on your PowerBook, you have the option of having BatteryAmnesia "speak" the current voltage.  This will allow your PowerBook to constantly give you audible feedback as to where it is in the discharge process.

Discharge before full charge

You should always try to plan your deep discharge so you'll be able to fully charge your PowerBook afterwards.  This will let you take full advantage of your reconditioned battery.  Depending on your model of PowerBook, it should be allowed to charge for at least 6 hours or so.

Temporary Files

After you run BatteryAmnesia, you may notice a new file in your trash can.  This is a temporary file created by BatteryAmnesia to help it discharge faster.  It is designed to be trashed, so you can leave it there.

Warm Battery

If you run BatteryAmnesia with a fully charged battery, your battery might become quite warm during the discharge process.  This is normal, but you should let the battery cool off somewhat before charging it.  Or better yet, use your PowerBook while it is running off battery.  When the battery gets low, run BatteryAmnesia - the discharge will go faster, and the battery will remain cooler.