2 month old rmbp battery already at 96%

[threezero]

my rmbp is only 2 months old and coconut battery is already showing the health at 96% with 31 cycle

is this normal? i don't always keep it plug to the power source, i use the battery regularly. I caliberate it a few tims (running it down and charging it back up) and the health is still at 96%

i want to preserve the life of the battery for as long as possible as replacement is expensive but at the same time if my battery is faulty i should get it taken care of before the warranty expires

 

[ECUpirate44]

Coconut battery is never spot on. Your battery health is fine.

 

[GGJstudios]

my rmbp is only 2 months old and coconut battery is already showing the health at 96% with 31 cycle

is this normal?

Yes. It is perfectly normal if your battery health (maximum capacity) is more or less than 100%, even when brand new, or if it fluctuates up or down over time. For further details, read the CHECKING STATUS AND HEALTH section of the following link.

I caliberate it a few tims (running it down and charging it back up) and the health is still at 96%

Simply draining and recharging isn't calibration, but the built-in batteries in the newer Mac unibody notebooks come pre-calibrated and do not require regular calibration like the removable batteries in older Apple notebooks.

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

 

[spdntrxi]

I'm 8700+ mah on mine

 

[Hellishness]

As much as possible, use it plugged in and never leave it plugged in when not in use. I had an air that i bought new, and the battery health was at 100% when I got rid of it about 8 months later. It fluctuated between around 96-100% during my ownership.

And i'm not saying that I didn't use the battery. I just used it like this when it was convenient and I was at home which, for me, was the vast majority of the time. If you need to use it on battery more often then your battery health will inevitably slowly decline.

 

[archurban]

that kind of application is not accurate. don't trust 100%. the best way you can do is that you keep an eye on a basic battery gauge on mac os x. normally, battery percentage is changed little bit between 100% and 97% even though you put the plug in. it's totally normal.

 

[throAU]

Use the battery when you want/need to. There's no point in having a battery at 99% after 3 years if you've had to leave it plugged in all day (May as well have bought an iMac?) or otherwise faff about.

The battery is there to be used. They are consumable.


For what it's worth, I've noticed the health of mine goes down a bit if i drain it fast, by say, running a game while on battery.

 

[LeeM]

mines gone from 96 to 93% after owning it 4 weeks. coconut says its 10 weeks old though and had 34 cycles

 

[NikkiJayne]

I don't understand all this battery business. A week ago my rMBP was on 6 cycles. This week it's on 7, yet I have had it plugged in when using it the whole week; if the MagSafe has popped out it's only been for a minute here or there.

 

[GGJstudios]

As much as possible, use it plugged in and never leave it plugged in when not in use.

You shouldn't run plugged in all the time, as you need to run on battery power regularly to keep it healthy. Also, there is no harm in leaving it plugged in when not in use. It will not overcharge.

If you need to use it on battery more often then your battery health will inevitably slowly decline.

Battery health will inevitably decline, no matter what you do. Batteries are consumable items and not designed to last forever.

I don't understand all this battery business. A week ago my rMBP was on 6 cycles. This week it's on 7, yet I have had it plugged in when using it the whole week; if the MagSafe has popped out it's only been for a minute here or there.

It's possible that if you've been running intense activities such as gaming, your MBP has been draining the battery, even though it's plugged in. That could account for some cycles. Also, your MagSafe may not be securely connected.

 

[entraik]

You shouldn't run plugged in all the time, as you need to run on battery power regularly to keep it healthy. Also, there is no harm in leaving it plugged in when not in use. It will not overcharge.

Battery health will inevitably decline, no matter what you do. Batteries are consumable items and not designed to last forever.

It's possible that if you've been running intense activities such as gaming, your MBP has been draining the battery, even though it's plugged in. That could account for some cycles. Also, your MagSafe may not be securely connected.

I keep mine always plugged in (music production). No point in leaving it unplugged as my battery will drain fairly rapidly doing that kind of work.

Only time I unplug is if I'm going out and there's no charger near me.

 

[Dangerous Theory]

I don't understand all this battery business. A week ago my rMBP was on 6 cycles. This week it's on 7, yet I have had it plugged in when using it the whole week; if the MagSafe has popped out it's only been for a minute here or there.

I think, even on AC, the battery is very slightly drained and recharged a few percent occasionally.

 

[xAgustinx]

AC POWER

Quote:
Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time.
AppleCare support recommends that if you leave your Mac plugged in most of the time, unplug it every 2 or 3 days and run on battery down to somewhere around 50%, then plug it back in. That keeps the electrons moving.
Running on battery every few days also increases the pixi dust level!
Also, it is not recommended to run your Mac on the AC adaptor with the battery out (Of course, this only applies to removable batteries).
Quote:
If the battery is removed from a MacBook or MacBook Pro, the computer will automatically reduce the processor speed. This prevents the computer from shutting down if it demands more power than the A/C adaptor alone can provide.
While you can't remove the new built-in batteries, this method of using both AC power and battery during periods of peak power demands is still applicable. This is why you may find your battery may temporarily stop charging or even drain somewhat, even though you have your AC adapter plugged in. This is working as designed and will only be used during periods of peak power demands.

 

[entraik]

AC POWER

Quote:
Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time.
AppleCare support recommends that if you leave your Mac plugged in most of the time, unplug it every 2 or 3 days and run on battery down to somewhere around 50%, then plug it back in. That keeps the electrons moving.
Running on battery every few days also increases the pixi dust level!
Also, it is not recommended to run your Mac on the AC adaptor with the battery out (Of course, this only applies to removable batteries).
Quote:
If the battery is removed from a MacBook or MacBook Pro, the computer will automatically reduce the processor speed. This prevents the computer from shutting down if it demands more power than the A/C adaptor alone can provide.
While you can't remove the new built-in batteries, this method of using both AC power and battery during periods of peak power demands is still applicable. This is why you may find your battery may temporarily stop charging or even drain somewhat, even though you have your AC adapter plugged in. This is working as designed and will only be used during periods of peak power demands.

actually this does not apply to the newer batteries.

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I think, even on AC, the battery is very slightly drained and recharged a few percent occasionally.

which is still better then staying unplugged!

 

[mzjin]

Perfectly normal.

 

[Akytarus]

MBPr 9 Weeks 1 Cycle...

 

[GGJstudios]

actually this does not apply to the newer batteries.

The part about running without the battery in doesn't apply to the newer built-in batteries, as stated in the Battery FAQ that you quoted, but the rest certainly does apply to newer batteries.

 

[Hellishness]

You shouldn't run plugged in all the time, as you need to run on battery power regularly to keep it healthy. Also, there is no harm in leaving it plugged in when not in use. It will not overcharge.

Battery health will inevitably decline, no matter what you do. Batteries are consumable items and not designed to last forever.

Just going off what I've read and experienced. There's threads miles long on this subject on here. The general pattern seemed to be that people who left it plugged in all the time and had like 10 cycles on a computer years old had terrible battery percentages. People who used the battery but not excessively had much better health after similar time.

But I'm not really looking to debate, all I stated was my person experience. YMMV

 

[GGJstudios]

The general pattern seemed to be that people who left it plugged in all the time and had like 10 cycles on a computer years old had terrible battery percentages. People who used the battery but not excessively had much better health after similar time.

I completely agree, and that pattern is supported by Apple's statements about battery use. That's quite different from the other statement I responded to.

 

[archurban]

here is a tip. when you use a battery power, do not attempt to use it below 30% or almost empty. as many as you get cycle, battery life will be short. it's a basic knowledge. in my case, even I use mine, I still left 60-70% (it shows 5 and half hours left).

 

[AlexMaximus]

a view experiences after 261 cycles

Hi folks,

The battery issue somehow will hit everybody with a modern laptop. My MBP is now two years old and I have tried to maintain a good balance between keeping it plugged in and having it charging. One thing is important to know:

The times where we used Ni-CD batteries are long over, but somehow the old rules of charging those are still stuck in people's heads. For us, this means you should not deplete the battery complete empty very often. The new batteries should always need to have some charge left because they are Li-Io or Li-Po Batteries. There is no "Memory-Effect" any more. However there is a problem with "deep depletion". Of course Apple designed the battery with that in mind, meaning there will be a guaranteed charge left when its officially empty. However this is still important to know in the back of your head when charging. Having it always depleted or very often is not healthy. Try to keep a good balance and you will be fine.

For the original post, since your battery is still very new, there might be a high chance that your healthmeeter will jump up after several more charges. I would try different chargecycles form 80,70 and 60% back to full. This could help. I have experienced one or two jumps myself when I changed the charging habbits again. Hope this helps

 

[Forkjulle]

What about leaving it plugged in all day for 2 or 3 days, and then using battery-only on the 3rd day - and then repeat the cycle.

Is that okay?

And what about charging the battery when the battery is on, say, 90%? Is it wiser to let the battery level drop, or is okay to keep it above 90% and recharge?

 

[AlexMaximus]

charging - a feeling of its own..

What about leaving it plugged in all day for 2 or 3 days, and then using battery-only on the 3rd day - and then repeat the cycle.

Is that okay?

And what about charging the battery when the battery is on, say, 90%? Is it wiser to let the battery level drop, or is okay to keep it above 90% and recharge?

Since I use my Macbook Pro as desktop replacement, its plugged in about 80% of its time. Right now its at 92% after 261 cycles. It dropped once to 90% for one day because I have depleted it completely after being plugged in for a whole week. After that I started with shorter charging cycles again and I jumped back to 92% the next day. Right now the sweet spot seems to be around 30% of a charge till I put it back on.

One thing the original poster should think about: If you have a new retina MBP, the battery is most likely different again. In my opinion it should be not as good as the standard MBP for one reason. They have multiple cells that work independent instead of one single stack. This means the charging cpu has to balance those multiple cells all the time since you have more cells, -> more likely running voltage differences between each of them. This was exactly the one big problem in the beginning of Li-Po battery development.

 

[GGJstudios]

here is a tip. when you use a battery power, do not attempt to use it below 30% or almost empty. as many as you get cycle, battery life will be short. it's a basic knowledge. in my case, even I use mine, I still left 60-70% (it shows 5 and half hours left).

There is no "magic percentage" involved for Mac notebook batteries. You can drain or recharge to any amount, from any percentage. While it's true that you don't need to fully deplete the battery and continually doing so can be harmful, it's not a problem if you occasionally need to run on battery until it shuts off.

----------

What about leaving it plugged in all day for 2 or 3 days, and then using battery-only on the 3rd day - and then repeat the cycle.

Is that okay?

Yes, that's fine.

And what about charging the battery when the battery is on, say, 90%? Is it wiser to let the battery level drop, or is okay to keep it above 90% and recharge?

Don't try to maintain a particular percentage. Just run on battery when you need to and run on AC power when available. If you're using it primarily at the desk, just unplug and run on battery a few hours every few days. You could drain it to 85% one day and 60% another and 25% another. There's no "magic percentage".