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Another MBA i5 Battery query

M

Mac Elvis

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 20, 2012
26
0
I realise there is quite a few posts on this forum and online generally regarding the MBA's battery life however just wanted to ask a specific question which I haven't seen covered anywhere.

I close the lid and leave it in sleep mode overnight and when I wake the MBA has lost around 1% of battery life if any which is great. However after a min or two of opening up Chrome, Mac for Twiiter and checking emails its lost around 4-5%.

Is this normal as its a bit of a drop considering its hardly lost any juice overnight and may take 30-40mins to lose that under normal circumstances.

I have click for flash engaged within Chrome which I'm happy about and so far I reckon the first charge, (onto 2nd since purchase early this week) lasted around 6-7hrs which was great considering I was downloading and on it loads.

I assume this may have something to do with the surge of opening up the applications has on the battery until things level out?
 
Last edited:
Actually, opening the lid drains the battery 4% every time you open it. Adjusting the lid will also penalize you 2%.

DON'T TOUCH THE LID!!! :eek:
 
JasonR said:
Actually, opening the lid drains the battery 4% every time you open it. Adjusting the lid will also penalize you 2%.

DON'T TOUCH THE LID!!! :eek:
Click to expand...

Are you being serious? Just downloaded Coconut and its saying my refurbished MBA is 16 weeks old, according to the age of the battery.

Its saying its maximum charge is 6509 mAh with a design capacity of 6700 mAh. With Chrome only open Battery power usage is 6.6 watts. Is this normal?

Regards
 
Last edited:
Mac Elvis said:
I realise there is quite a few posts on this forum and online generally regarding the MBA's battery life however just wanted to ask a specific question which I haven't seen covered anywhere.

I close the lid and leave it in sleep mode overnight and when I wake the MBA has lost around 1% of battery life if any which is great. However after a min or two of opening up Chrome, Mac for Twiiter and checking emails its lost around 4-5%.

Is this normal as its a bit of a drop considering its hardly lost any juice overnight and may take 30-40mins to lose that under normal circumstances.

I have click for flash engaged within Chrome which I'm happy about and so far I reckon the first charge, (onto 2nd since purchase early this week) lasted around 6-7hrs which was great considering I was downloading and on it loads.

I assume this may have something to do with the surge of opening up the applications has on the battery until things level out?
Click to expand...

Could it possibly be losing more than 1% overnight, but it takes that few minutes of use for the battery meter to adjust and reflect properly? I know when I first take it off the charger, the battery meter says "calculating.". Perhaps this is happening in the background and only after a few minutes is it showing accurate battery percentage.

Just a thought.
 
DollaTwentyFive said:
Could it possibly be losing more than 1% overnight, but it takes that few minutes of use for the battery meter to adjust and reflect properly? I know when I first take it off the charger, the battery meter says "calculating.". Perhaps this is happening in the background and only after a few minutes is it showing accurate battery percentage.

Just a thought.
Click to expand...

Could be. Think all this is normal tbh from a little further research. Does your battery show a similar drop though following waking it up from sleep i.e opening the lid?
 
It sounds normal. You'll drive yourself nuts if you start checking it constantly - just use it as you want and if there's a battery issue before your warranty expires, have Apple address then.
 
TheRealDamager said:
It sounds normal. You'll drive yourself nuts if you start checking it constantly - just use it as you want and if there's a battery issue before your warranty expires, have Apple address then.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I do think it sounds normal after further research. Cheers.

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DollaTwentyFive said:
I haven't actually checked. Let me do some testing and get back to you.
Click to expand...

I think you may have been spot on with the MBA taking a few mins to calculate. No need to go to the trouble of checking as it seems normal in any event. Thanks anyway.
 
Mac Elvis said:
Agreed, I do think it sounds normal after further research. Cheers.

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I think you may have been spot on with the MBA taking a few mins to calculate. No need to go to the trouble of checking as it seems normal in any event. Thanks anyway.
Click to expand...

Seems normal. I had the MBA sleeping and I woke it up and in the first 5 minutes, it dropped 4%. I think it just takes a bit to calculate. May also have something to do with battery warming up as the CPU generates heat, etc...
 
Mac Elvis said:
Are you being serious? Just downloaded Coconut and its saying my refurbished MBA is 16 weeks old, according to the age of the battery.

Its saying its maximum charge is 6509 mAh with a design capacity of 6700 mAh. With Chrome only open Battery power usage is 6.6 watts. Is this normal?

Regards
Click to expand...

No I was being completely ridiculous. Sorry!
 
DollaTwentyFive said:
Seems normal. I had the MBA sleeping and I woke it up and in the first 5 minutes, it dropped 4%. I think it just takes a bit to calculate. May also have something to do with battery warming up as the CPU generates heat, etc...
Click to expand...

Great, cheers mate. Really appreciate you taking the time to look at this for me. Looking around online, although there isn't anything specific on it, putting bits and pieces of info together it does appear normal. Bit of a newbie anxiety question I think:D

Thanks again.

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Cheffy Dave said:
Do you have Bluetooth on?
Click to expand...

Bluetooth disabled but the few percent drain appears normal anyway. Thanks.
 
When you close the lid and leave it idle overnight, it drops into "deep sleep" mode after about 70 minutes. That's why it loses so little power. In my experience it's about 2-3%, though.
 
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