2013 11" MBA - Sleep + heat + battery issue

[happyslayer]

Hey all,

I have the 2013 11" MBA (i5, 128GB & 8GB RAM) and I have found an interesting (and annoying) issue. This has happened twice now....

With more than 80 percent charge left I shut the lid and put it to sleep yesterday afternoon. I then put it in a sleeve and then into my Muzetto bag and put it in my car. I am a computer guy--driving around fixing PC's and Macs and networks and stuff--but I don't always need my laptop with me in the client's office or house, so I sometimes leave it in the car. Today it was in the car most of the day (under the seat, not in direct sunlight) and I went to get it out this afternoon to troubleshoot a router. It had been asleep for about 24 hours, I would guess. And it was pretty hot. (I live in Phoenix, AZ--it was like 107 today.) I brought it in, pulled it out of the case & sleeve, let it sit for fifteen minutes or so to let it cool down and then opened it. Totally dead battery. Hit the power button, got a quick flash of the critical red-low-bat symbol and it died.

I then plugged it in, and powered it on. I-Stat said it was about 66 deg C so it was not too hot. But, it wasn't charging--got a message in the menu bar saying it was not taking a charge. I had to shut it down, then reboot it, and then it finally showed that it was taking a charge.

Everything has been fine since and it worked flawlessly for the rest of my appointment.

This also happened once a about three weeks ago, also on a hot day, but I thought it was my error, maybe letting it sit too long asleep. (Though it had only been like two days, and these new Haswells are supposed to last for a week or two I thought.)

And today, it had barely been 24 hours or less. Went from 80% with the lid closed to 0.

I'm blaming the heat... but I'm just guessing. Something to do with heat and sleep. Somehow it's waking up even with the lid closed inside my case?

For now, I will just power it off instead of letting it sleep.

Just wondering if anybody else noticed this issue.

My 2011 11" Ultimate Air never exhibited this behavior and I treated it just the same over the last two summers.

 

[thompson11]

http://www.apple.com/batteries/

Hot Tip
If you use your iPod, iPhone, iPad, or notebook in temperatures higher than 95° F (or 35° C), you may permanently damage your battery’s capacity. That is, your battery won’t power your device as long on any given charge. You may damage it even more if you charge the device in these temperatures. Even storing a battery in a hot environment can damage it irreversibly.

 

[Lakailb87]

As a tech repair guy you should know better than to keep any electronics sitting in your car in 107 degree weather.

 

[happyslayer]

As a tech repair guy in Arizona, that is pretty much impossible. I always have either my own or somebody else's computers in my car. That is how I get to and from my customers and there is no time to stop at my office between every call to drop off hardware. Also, it would be impractical to carry everything in when stopping for lunch or picking up parts at the local Fry's Electronics, or Apple Stores or my wholesale parts supplier. Any computers in my car are never in direct sunlight; either kept under a cover or in my laptop's case under the seat. I have very dark tinted windows as well. And as I said, I do not USE the electronics when they are hot. I ALWAYS let them cool down before turning them on. When they are just warm to the touch, similar to how they would feel when actually using them, I turn them on.

However, that's the real question. Is the laptop technically "on" when it's asleep? Apparently, it is. For now I will just turn the MBA off instead of letting it sleep. And, as I said in my previous post, this was exactly how I was using my 2011 MBA 11" (and my 2010 before that) and they both still work just as well as the day I bought them. (My wife and daughter have them and use them every day.) No degradation in battery life and no battery draining issues when they put them to sleep.

 

[yosemit]

Unfortunately, what you described is consistent with the warning from Apple.

http://www.apple.com/batteries/

Hot Tip

If you use your iPod, iPhone, iPad, or notebook in temperatures higher than 95° F (or 35° C), you may permanently damage your battery’s capacity. That is, your battery won’t power your device as long on any given charge. You may damage it even more if you charge the device in these temperatures. Even storing a battery in a hot environment can damage it irreversibly.

Hey all,

I have the 2013 11" MBA (i5, 128GB & 8GB RAM) and I have found an interesting (and annoying) issue. This has happened twice now....

 

[joshuabaer]

I'm having the exact same issue

I'm seeing the exact same thing, except I'm NOT leaving it out in a hot car. This happens if I just close my Macbook Air. About 1/4 the time it does this, where it gets really hot and runs down the battery even though it's supposed to be sleeping.