Keyboard low battery warnings

[kcw64]

Is there a way to change or turn off the low battery notifications that keep popping up on my screen? It does this 50 times a day or more for my Keyboard. It has been going on for a month now at least and my batteries are still at 17%. I'd like to turn it to come on at maybe 3% or if needed just turn it off. Having to close the pop up 50 times a day for months is just stupid. This is driving me nuts.

 

[chscag]

Change the batteries or use a wired keyboard.

 

[kcw64]

Change the batteries or use a wired keyboard.

There is nothing wrong with the batteries. It has been doing this for a month now and the battery level still shows 16 percent. Why would I throw out perfectly good batteries? Also why should I go backwards with technology to a wired keyboard.

I asked if there was a way to change the setting. I want to fix the problem, not go backwards to put a band-aid on it.

 

[chscag]

Well, if you had told us in your first post that you installed fresh batteries and the problem exists even with new batteries, you would have gotten a different answer. Which is why it's important that you provide as much information as you can so we can try to assist you. Since the batteries are new do this: Reset the SMC, and if that doesn't work, try doing a PRAM reset. Let us know.

As far as I know, there is no way to reset the warning threshold. Someone else may have a fix that they know of, however.

 

[dtravis7]

I believe the warning kicks in at 20% or below and I have never seen a way to change that. All Cell phones I own do a warning at under 20% also as do both my iPad and Samsung Note.

16% is not considered a good battery with a lot of life left.

 

[kcw64]

I believe the warning kicks in at 20% or below and I have never seen a way to change that. All Cell phones I own do a warning at under 20% also as do both my iPad and Samsung Note.

16% is not considered a good battery with a lot of life left.

Well it has taken a month or more to go from 20% to 16% I'd call that still good. I consider the batteries "Good" until they no longer power whatever they are in.

 

[kcw64]

Not sure what part you are reading that says they are new batteries. The batteries are months old. The warning started when their level dropped to 20%. I click on the close button every time the warning pops up (Around 20 to 50 times a day I'm guessing). The warning has been going on at this rate for over a month. As of today, the batteries, according to the battery level meter, still have 16% life left. Like I posted in another reply. I consider those to still be perfectly good batteries as long as whatever they are in still functions. It isn't like a flashlight where it isn't shining bright enough and I need more light. I'm just tired of the unnecessary multiple warning. If at 20% they still have months of life left to continue powering my keyboard, Why is it needed to continue reminding me so many times. I get it already. They are low and will need to be changed soon. Months of warnings is just ridiculous overkill.

 

[chscag]

Well, I guess then we're back to my first reply if the batteries are old. Like I said above, I don't know of a way to turn off the threshold warning or to change it.

 

[pm-r]

I can't believe that with a quick google search, I can't find that there's still no way to adjust or turn off the low battery warnings other than maybe completely disabling all notifications etc. How absurd!! Or I'm really failing with my searches!!

Such a battery device wouldn't last maybe a day like that on my desk at most, but then again I use an extended wired keyboard with my iMac, and the cord has never, ever bothered me, and my Logitech M705 USB-Wireless mouse's AA batteries last almost three years.

I'd replace the keyboard as already suggested. No question and save all the annoyance and aggravation.

 

[Slydude]

@kcw64 Are you sure about the number of notifications a day or does it just seem like that many? I have a wireless keyboard (Logitech) and Apple Magic Trackpad. If either of these gets low on batteries I get several notifications in a day but not nearly that many. If you're actuallly getting that many notices something may be wrong.

 

[kcw64]

It could just seem like that many. And in the big picture of things, yes I could very easily just change the $2 batteries or whatever they cost. That really isn't my issue at all. It just seems dumb to me that a multi billion dollar company like Apple can't fix a dumb issue like this. We spend $1000's of dollars on a computer and in all of todays technology you can't change a stupid battery meter setting. It's just goofy. We sent men to the moon with less capability than we now have in a cell phone, but can't adjust a warning setting on the computer. It's not a life or death thing. Just a dumb irritant. But come on Apple! Get with it.

 

[kcw64]

In fact..... when your machine gets some sort of update notification, you have the option to have it notify you again the next day. Why can't some over paid programmer write a line of code to makes that happen..... I'm not too much into Star Trek, but I remember hearing the bald Captain (Picard I think) telling some one .... "Make it be so"..... something like that....... Well Apple..... "Make It Be So."

 

[IWT]

@kcw64

I understand frustration. I'm a married man. But why not just change the batteries and abolish the irritation factor? You make good points about technology advancing in leaps & bounds whilst forgetting the simple stuff. I must say, you get much more "time" out of your batteries than I do. Good for you. One thing I've noticed is that when the figure drops below 20%, they are prone to instantaneous failure. Not that big a deal on a KB I suppose, but I would go for the simple life, avoid the headaches and change the darned things.

Ian

 

[pm-r]

I just thought it might be helpful to the OP and reduce their frustration if they do some checking and maybe change the type of batteries they're using.

Bottom line is that 20% of a battery's capacity can vary greatly and in the case of some NiMH batteries that have a drastic battery voltage capacity drop off, they may be best to use as the reserve capacity may only last for another hour or so or less.

Some cheap carbon, NiCad and some alkaline batteries could keep the annoying low voltage warning going on for ages while their capacity sloooooowly tapers off and performance goes goofy.

Try googling and check some sites such as these and notice the sudden drastic voltage drop off of some which can be an advantage and save some frustration. Avoid those with a long drawn out discharge death. The price for some of the better type batteries, including Rechargeable may be a bit hard on your wallet, but check the price against the performance, and your frustration:

What are the best type of batteries to use in a wireless mouse and keyboard, and why?
batteries - When is the AA battery voltage drop? - Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange (Interesting but long and if you can bear listening…)
Discharge tests of Alkaline AA batteries
Battery Performance Characteristics - How to specify and test a battery
or just google:
https://www.google.ca/search?client...&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=pnnXVaC8JqOV8Qenz4f4Ag

 

[chas_m]

Wow, someone needs a NAP.

Anyway, there's an actual REASON why you get the warning at (whatever low percentage) the batteries get to (which, btw, is just an estimate -- the batteries do not magically "talk" to the computer), and that is because once batteries start to get low, they tend to disconnect a lot (and often reconnect a moment later). That may be the cause of SOME of the notifications you are seeing, along with the "low battery" warning. I don't see the "low battery" warning about my BT keyboard "50 times a day" or even one tenth of that -- a couple of times a day, tops.

I resolved "this problem" by doing the environmentally-sensible thing: using rechargeables. I get the "low battery" warning, I wait till I'm done with my particular project of the moment, pop out the batteries and let them recharge in my 15-min battery recharger (and I often have a set of "fresh" rechargeables around, so in fact I only lose the two minutes it takes to set the "exhausted" set to recharging and pop in the "fresh" ones). Warning gone, dilly-dallying resumes, and 15 minutes later I have a new set of spares. And I haven't had to buy batteries in years.

As I know of no way to customize the estimate (and the reason Apple doesn't offer that is because of that, it's an ESTIMATE, and they don't need customers calling them yelling that the warning said there was 17 percent left and they just died in the middle of the users' brilliant novel and that they'll sue or some such), the OP might consider adopting the plan I use, thus freeing up time to focus on more significant issues.

 

[pm-r]

An older thread but I can't believe I actually replied when the answer was already provided by chscag with post #2 as well as others. Or was there actually something wrong with the Mac, batteries or software…???

 

[chscag]

No, nothing wrong with the Mac, batteries, or software. Just someone annoyed with the low battery warning he was getting when the batteries were run down to a level that keyed the warning on.

 

[IWT]

And an irate visitor who posted a, shall we say, less than dignified tirade against us all - presumably removed by the Mods/Admins. I only saw it because I got an email linking me to the thread.

Ian

 

[Albigor]

I also have an issue with the low battery monitoring on my IMAC. I am using rechargeable batteries, which have a lower nominal voltage than the non-rechargeable ones. As a consequence, my keyboard and trackpad get regularly disconnected even when the batteries are charged. As a matter of fact, it is so crazy that some days the same batteries are accepted, other days they are not. So when the IMAC demands higher voltage, I put in the non-rechargeable batteries for a while. The operation was even worse before I installed OS Sierra. Why cant the software accommodate rechargeable batteries without these problems? Is there a way to monitor what the system sees as battery voltage?