I use my macbook pro mainly at home in my room where it stays plugged into its charger nearly all the time and i never turn it off, just put it to sleep. I will occasionally restart the mac for good measure but thats about it. The battery normally stays at full when i go back to it after a night of sleep or whatever else. However, when i woke up today i noticed my charger led was orange and not green indicating it had lost charge, i opened it and found it needed 14 minutes of charging so prolly in the low to mid 90 percentile after being in sleep mode for around 7 hours. Why would it lose power while sleeping AND on the charger. Also is keeping it powered on and in sleep so mode so much a good idea? How often should i let my battery cycle down and charge again? Thanks for all your help!
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macbook pro 17' battery acting strange..
- Thread starter DubLogic19
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It's not good for the battery to leave it plugged in all the time. Your battery needs to be used to stay healthy.
It's likely it didn't stay in sleep mode, or the connection to the power adapter wasn't secure. It is possible, during periods of high demand, for your Mac to draw power from both AC and battery, even to the point of draining the battery. However, that obviously wouldn't happen in sleep mode.
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This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
This behavior is normal. When the computer is plugged into the outlet, it will not draw power from the battery and will draw directly from the outlet. Over time the battery depletes slowly (this just happens to batteries - even if they're not used and the computer is off). When the battery percentage drops below 95% the computer will begin to charge the battery again. From there the cycle begins again, where it drops slowly down to 95% again and then charges.
That's not accurate. First, without any draw on the battery, it takes a very long time for the battery to deplete to the point it needs recharging. It would take much longer than overnight. Also, the battery won't recharge at 95%. Read the CHARGING section of the Battery FAQ I posted.
Actually this IS true. It does recharge at 95%. And the OP did not say overnight. The OP said that it stays plugged in nearly all the time.
It was not necessarily indicated whether the battery capacity has dropped below 100% or not. However after leaving the computer plugged in for a while (a couple weeks or so) the battery will begin to deplete and once it drops below 95% charge (not capacity), then it will begin to recharge back to 100% (or it's full potential capacity).
It was orange and charging when the OP awoke this morning because it had dropped below 95% soon before.
As already indicated, it's 95% for PowerPC-based Macs, but 93% for Intel-based Macs. This technology is designed to avoid short discharge/charge cycles like you're describing. This will not happen overnight.
Okay 93% for Intel Macs. I thought you were referring to the potential charge. It doesn't happen overnight, but one night it will happen if you leave it plugged in all the time. And that is what seems to have occurred, or do you disagree with me?
@ OP,
since this happened only once, is it possible that you had a power outage over night? I wouldn't be worried about the battery right now, just follow the advice in the Battery FAQ (or from Apples official battery page) and use the battery a few times a month.
@ the fighting guys,
my MBP seems to start recharging when it drops below 95%. The number might vary slightly from machine to machine, but I don't see how this is a wrong statement.
since this happened only once, is it possible that you had a power outage over night? I wouldn't be worried about the battery right now, just follow the advice in the Battery FAQ (or from Apples official battery page) and use the battery a few times a month.
@ the fighting guys,
my MBP seems to start recharging when it drops below 95%. The number might vary slightly from machine to machine, but I don't see how this is a wrong statement.
No, those numbers refer to the actual charge, not the capacity. Also, as already stated, you shouldn't leave a portable Mac plugged in all the time. It should be running on battery every few days to stay healthy, so the idea of it gradually losing charge over weeks or months of being plugged in is moot.
I agree with you completely that it should not be done. I am in no way recommending it. However, if you go back and read the original post that is what was done.