Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MBP battery is at 22% health, is it under warranty?

S

sir42

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 16, 2003
446
20
NY, NY
I bought my MBP back in May and the battery is barely lasting an hour, even after calibration. According to iStat pro the battery health is at 22%.

Are the MBP batteries covered under warranty? Would a genius at the Apple store be able to give me a new one easily?

thanks!
 
Yes batteries are under warranty. So you should be ok (though I guess if you've charged and discharged the battery...oh... several thousand times since May you may have trouble arguing your case ;))
 
If you're under 300 charge cycles it's definitely covered, if it's over that probably but not for sure. I was in the Apple Store recently for a similar problem, not as serious so my battery didn't replaced, but similar.
 
There's no firm percentage or number of cycles that will guarantee it's covered by warranty. Batteries are considered consumables, and thus normal degradation would not be covered under warranty. So in order to be covered, you'd have to convince Apple that your battery is defective.

That said, it seems pretty clear that being down to 22% after only six months would qualify as defective. You shouldn't have a problem getting it replaced under warranty.
 
sir42 said:
I bought my MBP back in May and the battery is barely lasting an hour, even after calibration. According to iStat pro the battery health is at 22%.

Are the MBP batteries covered under warranty? Would a genius at the Apple store be able to give me a new one easily?

thanks!
Click to expand...

Hmm, that doesn't sound right - but it depends on how your consumer protection law works over there, as far as I know in New Zealand, 6months and a loss of 80% of battery capacity screams 'this product didn't last as long as it should have'.
 
I just had mine replaced. My battery health was 68% after 5 months. I called Apple and after trying few stuff, they told me that my battery is defective. They sent me the replacement the next day. So give Apple a call.
 
My MacBook Pro's battery kept on changing it would go from 85% to 55% different days then back up. I got my MBP in May and I called apple and they are sending me a new battery next day.
 
WildCowboy said:
There's no firm percentage or number of cycles that will guarantee it's covered by warranty. Batteries are considered consumables, and thus normal degradation would not be covered under warranty. So in order to be covered, you'd have to convince Apple that your battery is defective.
Click to expand...

Actually, there are, but they aren't exactly revealed to the public. I recently complained to Apple about my MBP battery, which had 214 cycles and 68% capacity. They verified these numbers over the phone by asking me to open System Profiler. After a minute on hold, the rep stated "those numbers qualify you for a replacement battery". I don't know what the minimum acceptable numbers are, but I suspect if you have less than 300 cycles and less than 80% capacity, you qualify for replacement.
 
Don't mean to re-open such an old post but I have a macbook pro 2.16Ghz less then 2 years old with apple care and my battery has always sucked now it won't last but 20 minutes and its drained.

istats pro says 19% battery life and 356 cycle. any chance this would be covered under warranty?
 
Save your time and buy a replacement. Any battery over 300 cycles (told by many apple employees) is not covered. under 300 you might be covered.

I walked in the apple store and had 4 employees tell me without looking at my laptop "you have over 300 cycles? your not covered pickup a new battery"

Was a waste of my time and a trip to the apple store as it's an hour away.
 
Batteries are not covered by warranty, except in the case of manufacturing defects.

Apple Limited Warranty:
This warranty does not apply:
(f) to consumable parts, such as batteries, unless damage has occurred due to a defect in materials or workmanship;

AppleCare Protection Plan:
b. Limitations. The Plan does not cover:
(ix) Consumable parts, such as batteries, except in respect of battery coverage under APP for iPod or unless failure has occurred due to a defect in materials and workmanship;

That's not to say Apple may not replace any particular battery. I use iStat Pro to monitor battery health.
 
Even if your macbook pro is out of warranty you can still get your battery replaced for free if it has one of the following symptoms

-Battery is not recognized causing an “X” to appear in the battery icon in the Finder menu bar.
-Battery will not charge when computer is plugged into AC power.
-Battery exhibits low charge capacity/runtime when using a fully charged battery with a battery cycle count (as shown in System Profiler) of less than 300.
-Battery pack is visibly deformed.

Check this page: http://www.apple.com/support/macbook_macbookpro/batteryupdate/

"If Apple or an AASP determines that your battery is eligible for replacement, you will receive a new battery, free of charge, even if your MacBook or MacBook Pro is out of warranty."

I have symptoms 2 and 3 on my 2 year old, out of warranty MBP, and I'm taking it to a service center tomorrow to get a free replacement. Well eventually, they said I have to leave the battery there and they'd call me when the replacement went through on apple's end, then I could pick it up, it probably would be same day at an actual Apple store.
 
I have a macbook pro that is 1 1/2 years old. The battery health is 51% and system profiler says I have only 90 cycles on it. Would this be eligible for a replacement?
 
That sounds like it, if it's affecting your battery life by that much go get it checked out. I need to do it because my battery is completely unusable. Without AC power the laptop will shut off without warning usually within 5 minutes. Until now I've mostly used my laptop on ac power, but now I need it for situations where I won't be near outlets alot and really need the new battery.
 
I was just wondering this a second ago. What would be considered a "charge cycle"? I always thought it was running the computer down from full to empty, but what about the times that they are plugged inbetween charges or before dying. Thanks
 
They should replace it.

This is something that's been discussed quite a bit on this forum, so do a search to confirm.

But basically <80% charge at <300 cycles at <1 year is considered abnormal by Apple and subject to replacement.
 
Batteries are covered for 1 year after purchase, regardless of AppleCare extension or not. Then its up to you to buy or to convince apple that you need a new one.

i've heard they've been particularly good at replacing swollen batteries (past 1 year)
 
JPizzzle said:
I was just wondering this a second ago. What would be considered a "charge cycle"? I always thought it was running the computer down from full to empty, but what about the times that they are plugged inbetween charges or before dying. Thanks
Click to expand...

I think it's every time the full capacity is charged and discharged, ex:

The Glassbook Pro battery is 4600mAh, officially, so every time a total of 4600mAh is charged, and a total of 4600mAh is discharged, it ads 1 to the cycle count.
 
Had a conversation with an Apple rep on the phone two days ago as I was a little concerned about my MBP battery showing 88% health and 12 cycles after only having it three weeks and only using it on battery power alone twice. She said it seemed fine.

I left it at that for now unless I see some additional issues. I'm at 14 cycles and up to 91% health, go figure. Also was stated that batteries are not covered unless defective. She also sent me a bunch of emails on how to conserve battery power...

If you have not tried cycling or calibrating or whatever they call it, check here http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490. It definitely seemed to help on some of my main issues which caused my call (mainly the battery health jumping all over the place to as low as 60% and then up to 98% and other weirdness). I did this before I called so they wouldn't just dismiss me with that info and tell me to call back later once I had done that.
 
e12a said:
Batteries are covered for 1 year after purchase, regardless of AppleCare extension or not.
Click to expand...

This is absolutely untrue. Batteries are NOT covered by the warranty or AppleCare, unless they are defective. See my post #14 for links to the actual Warranty and AppleCare agreements and read it for yourself.
 
J the Ninja said:
I think it's every time the full capacity is charged and discharged, ex:

The Glassbook Pro battery is 4600mAh, officially, so every time a total of 4600mAh is charged, and a total of 4600mAh is discharged, it ads 1 to the cycle count.
Click to expand...

thank you!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back