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MBA'2011 battery going bad?

M

mixman

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 3, 2011
75
0
Hi,

I've been using my MBA'2011 13" since August* and recently the battery charging has become lackluster. The battery used to charge to full in about 4 hours without a glitch. Now it can stay at 70-90% charging for over 24hrs. Sometimes re-plugging the power cord helps, with the charge going to, or near 100% immediately.

Should I do something to the battery?

How long do these batteries last? I notice I'm at 133 cycle counts since end of August (4 months of daily use).

Is the battery covered under warranty for the first year?

* System Report / Memorys
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh): 5315
Fully Charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 6237
Health Information:
Cycle Count: 133
Condition: Normal
 
Macman45

Macman45

macrumors G5
Jul 29, 2011
13,197
135
Somewhere Back In The Long Ago
You Need To RE-Calibrate

mixman said:
Hi,

I've been using my MBA'2011 13" since August* and recently the battery charging has become lackluster. The battery used to charge to full in about 4 hours without a glitch. Now it can stay at 70-90% charging for over 24hrs. Sometimes re-plugging the power cord helps, with the charge going to, or near 100% immediately.

Should I do something to the battery?

How long do these batteries last? I notice I'm at 133 cycle counts since end of August (4 months of daily use).

Is the battery covered under warranty for the first year?

* System Report / Memorys
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh): 5315
Fully Charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 6237
Health Information:
Cycle Count: 133
Condition: Normal
Click to expand...

Allow your MBA to go COMPLETLY flat. Until it shuts down by itself.

Then charge it again allowing an extra hour after the green light on the Magsafe adaptor comes on.
 
M

mixman

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 3, 2011
75
0
Macman45 said:
Allow your MBA to go COMPLETLY flat. Until it shuts down by itself.

Then charge it again allowing an extra hour after the green light on the Magsafe adaptor comes on.
Click to expand...

I'm having trouble getting the computer battery charged to full (green), in order to recalibrate it. Today the battery charged to about 49% in 16hrs or so without any sign of powering up further. Drained it and starting over (again) to see if better luck. Now the meter shows 20:00 left to charge to full (3% done after 30 minutes).
 
GGJstudios

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,545
943
mixman said:
I'm having trouble getting the computer battery charged to full (green), in order to recalibrate it. Today the battery charged to about 49% in 16hrs or so without any sign of powering up further. Drained it and starting over (again) to see if better luck. Now the meter shows 20:00 left to charge to full (3% done after 30 minutes).
Click to expand...
Did you try resetting the SMC?

Macman45 said:
You Need To RE-Calibrate
Allow your MBA to go COMPLETLY flat. Until it shuts down by itself.

Then charge it again allowing an extra hour after the green light on the Magsafe adaptor comes on.
Click to expand...
First, that's not how you calibrate a battery. Second, The built-in batteries in the newer Mac unibody notebooks come pre-calibrated and do not require regular calibration like the removable batteries.
 
M

mixman

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 3, 2011
75
0
Battery charge rose to 34% and now shows 20:00 to charge the rest. I'll let it be and see if I'll get to green anytime tomorrow. Tiresome try-evaluate loop.

EDIT: 3hrs later, 40% with 14 hours to go...
EDIT: 4hrs later, 42% with 20 hours to go...
EDIT: 13hrs later, 51% ...
Charge Remaining (mAh): 2972
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 5859
EDIT: 14hrs later, 56% (jump due using 85W magsafe for a while, until charging stalled again) ... probably no use to try to charge this thing with Amperage being 0
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh): 3263
Fully Charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 5858
Health Information:
Cycle Count: 135
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 7664
 
Last edited:
M

mixman

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 3, 2011
75
0
Seems it's settled:

Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh): 0
Fully Charged: No
Charging: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 0
Health Information:
Cycle Count: 0
Condition: Service Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 0
 
N

nooboob

macrumors member
Sep 27, 2011
31
0
I had the same problem a while ago where it would take literally HOURS before I got a full charge. (We're talking 4-5 hours of charging just to get a 20% charge)

Then suddenly, the power adaptor gave out. It just wouldn't charge anymore. Went into the store and got a replacement for free. Voila, instant charging as usual. Only thing was, whenever it would go to sleep, the computer would never "unsleep" and freeze instead... which was very annoying. I reset the SMC or whatever it was called and so far, I haven't had that problem agian.
 
M

mixman

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 3, 2011
75
0
Had a diagnostic run on the laptop on tuesday at an Apple Auhthorized Service Provider. Oddly the diagnostic came out saying battery OK, adapter BAD. As it was the shop's adapter in use, I was quite floored for the service guy to tell me right then and there that it's my adapter's problem and I should get a new one! His co-worker mentioned that the logic board could be faulty.

Turning the laptop for repairs on Monday so they can take a proper look. Hopefully won't be without the mac for more than a few days. I need mine for work. :(

Seems https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1291860/ is related.
 
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