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Anyone with aftermarket battery? How good is it?

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Sep 17, 2011
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Thinking of replacing the battery on my 2011 MBA. I don't think I have the option to go back to Apple now since 2011 MBA is considered vintage or obsolete at this point.

I've read that the aftermarket battery, other than the replacement battery from Apple, is a draw of luck. Might work well in the first couple of months then just tank. So if you have yours replaced in the last few years, could you comment on how well it holds up? The brand and seller if possible? I will DIY the replacement just FYI.

Thanks much!
 
I ordered a Lizone brand battery exactly 3 years ago. Still going ok.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HL2LFAE/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Its charge capacity reporting is has always been a little flaky, but I just ignored it. It is currently reporting to run at about 89% of design capacity after 250 cycles.
Battery life on the MacBooks Air 11 mid 2011 was never great, but it is not my main mobile system and used for casual use. It is a custom order model with i7 and 4GB.I have upgraded the disk to 1TB and modified the BTLE card. It has watch unlock and thanks to DosDude runs Mojave ok.
 
Sorry to hijack your thread with an unrelated question, but I'm just curious aside from your battery issue, how you're 2011 air is treatin' ya?
 
Ghost31 said:
Sorry to hijack your thread with an unrelated question, but I'm just curious aside from your battery issue, how you're 2011 air is treatin' ya?
Click to expand...

It holds up well. Outputting 1080p from iMovie takes some patience but acceptable. Keyboard is working just like day one except for one of the arrow keys. Battery used to last close to 6 hours now i am lucky to get close to 2:30 hrs.
 
Tozovac said:
Thanks. I didn't see at B&H if it came with the proper lobed screwdrivers. Do you know, and/or did you purchase tools separately? THX.
Click to expand...

It's supposed to come with a couple of screwdrivers...

upload_2018-12-18_6-58-10.png
 
Tozovac said:
Thanks. Did they? How are things going with your order?
Click to expand...

Yes, it came with everything specified above. Order only took a few days from B&H, but it was delayed by a day (FedEx's fault).

I actually just installed it about an hour ago. Everything went smoothly with the physical installation. Screwdrivers worked perfectly, no strips. The inside of my computer was pretty dusty. I cleaned it off as well as I could (just blew on the inside as I didn't have any compressed air, and wiped the inside of the case with a dry towel...that's where most of the dust was anyway).

Now, I'm going through the calibration steps...

I'm on the first step, where you charge it up all the way to green + 2 hours. The only odd thing was that the battery only had 1% charge (according to their website, it's supposed to have about 30%?). So, I had to plug it in to start it up (hopefully, that doesn't affect anything). Then, shutdown completely and start the first charge.

I'll keep you posted.
 
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Initial charge done. Took about 2 hours to charge fully, and then I waited another 2.5 hours before powering up.

Now, I'm on the "drain completely" step, where I'll let it drain (and shutdown) overnight.

So far, so good.

Below are the before and after pics from Coconut Battery.

A couple of interesting things about the capacity:
  1. Notice how the first battery had dropped down to 51.4% of its design capacity.
  2. The design capacity of the new battery is 7200 mAh vs 6700 mAh for the older battery.

BEFORE / AFTER

Screen Shot 2018-12-21 at 3.37.40 PM.png
Screen Shot 2018-12-21 at 8.45.33 PM.png


And the Battery Info....

BEFORE / AFTER

Screen Shot 2018-12-21 at 3.37.56 PM copy.png
Screen Shot 2018-12-21 at 9.02.21 PM copy.png


And the Mac Info.... (if anyone's curious)

Screen Shot 2018-12-21 at 9.13.38 PM copy.png
 
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By the way - I forgot if I asked earlier in a different thread, why did you go with B&H instead of the Mac sales/OWC?

About to pull the trigger myself!
 
Tozovac said:
By the way - I forgot if I asked earlier in a different thread, why did you go with B&H instead of the Mac sales/OWC?

About to pull the trigger myself!
Click to expand...

There were a few reasons: 1) a guy in another thread recommended them, 2) they're more familiar to me (and pretty reputable), 3) they were a little cheaper (right now, it's about $8 less at B&H).

However, I haven't heard anything bad about OWC. In fact, I got my power cable from them, with no issues. You're probably fine with either.
 
UPDATE after 1 month.

So far, so good. I mostly try to keep it plugged in when possible. But after 14 charge cycles, it's still looking good.

Screen Shot 2019-01-20 at 2.43.30 AM.png
 
yngwietiger said:
The only odd thing was that the battery only had 1% charge (according to their website, it's supposed to have about 30%?). So, I had to plug it in to start it up (hopefully, that doesn't affect anything). Then, shutdown completely and start the first charge.
Click to expand...

Just now starting the process; installation went smooth. But my battery was at 0% - couldn't boot until I plugged it in. Doing the reconditioning now, we'll see how it goes.

Have things been otherwise smooth for you so far? Good, constant battery life?
 
I threw an eBay battery into my wife's 2012 Air. Her old battery was giving the message indicating replacement was needed. Paid ~$35 for it and it was worth it. Working fine so far.
 
I have a MacBook Air mid 2013 the battery is dying on it. I've had a look around and seen that you can get various 'fake' batteries available. I saw one on AliExpress but then thought against it because by the time it comes over and you pay taxes and duty on it it becomes cost prohibitive.

However, one thing I did notice looking at all these clones, the mAh of the batteries are completely different. Some, but few seem to be the same as the original around the 7150-7200 mark, all the remainder seems to be around 6100 etc. Does that make a huge difference?
 

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I’m not certain that there is a little difference with the new battery versus a five-year-old battery, but I’m not sensing an astounding increase in battery life versus percentage so far.

I did do the proper calibration set up of the battery also.
 
yngwietiger said:
UPDATE after 1 month.

So far, so good. I mostly try to keep it plugged in when possible. But after 14 charge cycles, it's still looking good.

View attachment 816565
Click to expand...

How is yours holding up after 6 months?

You got the NuPower brand, right? I may have to make a decision very soon. The 1.5 hours I am getting now is unacceptable.
 
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