2020 Intel Macbook battery draining while "shut down"

[Kinda_Evil]

To explain, I shut down my Macbook completely then close the lid, so I obviously think it's shut down. I don't use my Macbook a lot anymore, so I'll pick it back up in a week or two and the battery will be completely dead at 0%. I've looked at the screentime app and it looks like it just doesn't shut down correctly or it somehow reboots itself while the lid is closed, unbeknownst to me, then drains its battery within a week of being on 24/7. I've had this problem for awhile now, at least for the last 2 or so years, but I figured it was maybe an OS bug because it happened not too long after I upgraded to whatever the latest OS was at the time, but it's never resolved. I also don't have it connected to anything.

Does anyone else have this problem or know how to fix it?

 

[DJ Rob]

I had a similar issue with a managed 2019 16" MBP provided by work. I was finding the battery would drop considerably while "off" over a weekend and be completely flat after a week. I figured it was some of the managed software and such, but after submitting a ticket to our IT department they put the blame on the fact that the battery is old (it is, but the laptop is used almost exclusively on the power adapter, except when I shutdown after a workweek and put it away).

Doing my own sleuthing, the battery level chart in Settings would show battery usage with the little lightning bolt icon (indicating it's plugged into mains power) at certain times when it should have been completely off- and unplugged. In addition, the Screen On Usage chart also showed that the screen was on concurrently with the battery usage- which it shouldn't have been, since the lid is closed. This got me to think that there's either a bug or faulty sensor that's telling something in the MBP that it's plugged into mains power- which could be triggering a certain power-off profile that does indeed do background stuff, even if supposedly off. In the Options section, I turned off "Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off," and set Power Nap and wake for network access to off. Those changes did not completely fix things, but the battery drain is much less now- maybe lose 3-5% per day.

 

[marzer]

My 2019 MBP does the same, drains completely after a week or so when shut completely off, less if I leave it in sleep. The battery status reads "normal", done the SMC/PRAM resets many times, disabled all nap and sleep activity. I even leave it in the "low power" mode when not connected to power. I've contemplated a fresh install but what a PITA, esp. if it doesn't remedy the situation.

 

[Euge521]

The same problem. MBP 2020 Intel

 

[Grumpus]

Same with my 2019 MBA. The common denominator seems to be the T2 chip.

 

[Kinda_Evil]

So... there's no way to fix this? :/

 

[Fishrrman]

If you plan on keeping it for another year, two, or three -- might be time for a new battery. I believe a brick n mortar Apple Store will do it for $249...

 

[Grumpus]

So... there's no way to fix this? :/

No way that I know of. My 2019 MBA shipped with Mojave, and I don't remember ever having the problem until I installed Big Sur to an external drive. This "upgraded" the T2 firmware with the unfortunate result that I could no longer boot to the Mojave recovery partition with CMD+R. I believe the battery drain problem started then too, although since I can't repeat the experiment I can't be positive.

 

[Hicksmat1976]

what os?
are you connected to an external monitor/accessories plugged in when shut down?

I had this issue, essentially I worked out the screen was keeping my Mac awake, probably a combination of the adapter/hub which I use to connect my Mac to my monitor.

I've not seen a drain while shut down and nothing plugged in.