Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Batteries + Replacement Procedure

[gamedaygeorge]

Hello All,

I am new to the (i)Mac in the past six months, and I must say I'm really enjoying myself! I kitted myself out with the wireless keyboard and wireless Mighty Mouse from Apple (not third party) pretty much from the outset, and work on the machine between 6 and 10 hours a day at least five days a week, plus a couple of hours on weekends.

I have found that the battery life for my mouse is about 4 weeks, and for the keyboard about 6 weeks. Is this normal for folks with a similar usage profile? I must say that while the performance is robust (after some firmware fixes that came out earlier this year), I'd like to get better battery life, so if anybody has any ideas on how to improve this, I'd appreciate it. I am using either Energizer or Duracell alkaline non-rechargeable batteries.

Also, can anybody share a battery replacement procedure for the mouse which doesn't require me to plug in another USB mouse to re-connect with the wireless mouse once I've replaced the batteries? Currently I:

- See that the mouse is dead because I can't move the cursor anymore;
- Flip the tab on the bottom of the mouse to the off position;
- Remove the cover and replace the batteries;
- Put the cover back on and flip the tab to the on position;
- Plug in the USB Mighty Mouse that came with the box;
- Move the cursor to the Blue tooth icon on the top system bar and re-connect with the mouse manually;
- Unplug the USB mouse and I'm back in business.

Fortunately to date I have had a USB mouse handy. However, it seems like I should be able to eliminate the USB mouse step altogether, which would be especially important if some day I don't have the USB mouse handy. Are their either (a) keyboard only methods to re-connect; or (b) another method altogether that I should be using to make this easier.

Thanks for any insights you can offer to these issues!

George

[umang7888]

Open System Preferences>Bluetooth>Advanced>Open Bluetooth Setup Assistant if no input devices are recognised.

Hope that helps!

Cheers.

[gamedaygeorge]

Originally Posted by umang7888

Open System Preferences>Bluetooth>Advanced>Open Bluetooth Setup Assistant

Does anybody know the key combination to open System Preferences if you don't have a mouse?

[umang7888]

U don't need to open System Preferences with mouse, because your Operating SYstem will open it itself for you (when there is no mice connected to the computer) once you have set your system preferences to automatically open the bluetooth setup assistant!

[gamedaygeorge]

Originally Posted by umang7888

Open System Preferences>Bluetooth>Advanced>Open Bluetooth Setup Assistant if no input devices are recognised.

Hope that helps!

Cheers.

Originally Posted by umang7888

U don't need to open System Preferences with mouse, because your Operating SYstem will open it itself for you (when there is no mice connected to the computer) once you have set your system preferences to automatically open the bluetooth setup assistant!

This sounds like what I want. But I can't seem to find it in the System Preferences. I can find a setting (which I have checked) which will start Bluetooth Assistant after reboot, but it sounds like I need to reboot to have that functionality work. I haven't changed this setting, so I assume its been set since I got my iMac, and I haven't seen the Bluetooth assistant show up when the mouse batteries have died yet.

I should add that I do get a batteries low warning, which is good, but I tend to try and milk the batteries for all they're worth and let them die outright to truly minimize my consumption.

This discussion has been helpful - further answers, thoughts or responses really will be appreciated.

[VirtualTracy]

http://img.skitch.com/20080902-thnwh...ys.preview.jpg

Yeah, it seems that in your situation you would need to restart your Mac to continue using the mouse when you replace its batteries.

I take it you have Bluetooth enabled pretty much all the time?

The only Bluetooth keyboard shortcut I know is to select a file for transfer and hit Command + Shift + B which brings up the Bluetooth File Exchange app ... that's no good here tho'.

[crowncanada.ca]

My wife uses the wireless Mighty Mouse and it is a pig on batteries. She has learned that when the "low warning" comes, there really isn't much time left so she changes immediately.

She switched to rechargeable batteries and keeps 4 cycling so she always has a ready pair. She is also able to swap out the batteries without having to reboot and connect a USB mouse. Waiting a few moments and the bluetooth reconnects the wireless mouse.

Hope this helps.