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Battery Degrading - Months Used/Cycles/Battery Reading (rMB 2015)
- Thread starter polee
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Keep us informed over the weeks of the mAh drops again through repeated charging.
Knowing what I know now, I am going to take the advice of Queen6, – that is to save on burning through unnecessary battery cycles by keeping the MacBook plugged in more. For my usage, I really don't need to run it off the the battery as much as I used to before I had the battery replaced. I will still use the battery, but not nearly as often.
2 Months 78 cycles 4886 mAh max
Now that im used to the new keyboard i don't wanna go back! This thing is just AWESOME!!!
Now that im used to the new keyboard i don't wanna go back! This thing is just AWESOME!!!
I don't see any different trend than any other portable Mac I have owned. You will find similar concerns over in the MBP forum, for the most part people are getting alarmed about a few failures. If you want the Retina MacBook buy one, just use your Mac normally and charge it with the supplied charger.
If you look at the trend for the 13" rMBP it`s not dissimilar to the rMB over the first six months, if anything the range of the 13" indicates more systems with significant drops in battery capacity (green silhouette) over time (23 months). I could produce the same for the 15" rMBP. The battery is a consumable item, nor is it directly possible to determine longevity by the initial drop over a few cycles, as there are multiple variables; discharge/charge rate, operating temperature, charging temperature, battery usage etc.
If your MacBook, MacBook Pro, or Air has an issue with it`s battery, the problem will surface rapidly, and you will likely be in the minority, as can be seen from the charts.
Q-6
3 months/ 74/ 4845
my original max was 5295
I was on a mountain trip and didn't use the rMB for 2 weeks. Before I left my health (well, my rMB's) was 89%.
When I got back it had gone up to 95% and now after 1 week I'm down at 91% again.
Have to say that my mains supply comes from a small wind generator + inverter which is not very stable. That might be an explanation.
my original max was 5295
I was on a mountain trip and didn't use the rMB for 2 weeks. Before I left my health (well, my rMB's) was 89%.
When I got back it had gone up to 95% and now after 1 week I'm down at 91% again.
Have to say that my mains supply comes from a small wind generator + inverter which is not very stable. That might be an explanation.
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Have you considered a voltage regulator, it will help to stabilise the power supply, I have used the same in some areas where the mains power is very erratic.
Q-6
Thanks for the tip. I might look in to that.
Not sure if the inverter has influenced my battery health. I see some others in this thread who have quite similar results with regular mains.
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Depends where your based, I found the voltage regulators to be fairly cheap and still have a couple kicking about that I still use as mine also provide excellent surge protection on top of voltage regulation. My regulators hold the output voltage at a nominal 230V across a range of 165V - 280V beyond that it will trip out to protect the equipment plugged in.
I don't think the inverter will influence the battery and it should have an element of regulation built in, equally I would look at a Voltage regulator if I was on the same type of power supply, as stabilising the voltage will increase the longevity of all appliances on the local grid.
When we lived in locations where the power supply was "dirty" I have little doubt the regulators more than paid for themselves.
Q-6
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thanks again for the link and advice.
Our system is very home made and 'trial & error' to keep the costs down. (so I could afford this terribly expensive rMB...).
We have never experienced any trouble with our devices in the last 15-20 years. The only exception is the cheap inverter itself.
The main problem is the distance (150meter from the inverter to our place) which causes some of the voltage differences, I think (but I am definitely no expert). But it works so I won't fix it...until I'll have to.
While I agree that keeping battery cycles low should naturally lead to better battery preservation, I wonder - is this really the case in the real world?
I have a 2009 MacBook (the last white model, before the white unibody arrived). It was used (on battery) daily in high-school, and recharged pretty much daily. It is now used by my mother. It has nearly 700 cycles on the battery, and it's still showing 96 % battery health. It still returns nearly the same battery life as it did when new. Absolutely amazing if you ask me.
My MacBook Pro Retina from 2014 has 195 cycles. After having used it on power for a longer period of time, without depleting the battery, iStat showed a 91 % battery health. Weird, I thought. Now I charge it fully, and deplete it fully, over and over again, and the battery health is at 95 %.
I for one think batteries need to be used to work properly. Sure, after 800-1000 cycles your battery will obviously have degraded, but by then you're probably thinking of a new laptop anyway. Oh and lets not forget. These are portable computers after all. Buying the smallest and most portable MacBook and not using it on battery is a bit silly if you ask me. Use it as intended and stop worrying!
I don't worry, equally why consume battery cycles needlessly. When in the field my days are highly variable so keeping the system charged when you can makes sense. Another way to look at is if you run out of power at a critical point, it will hardly help your credibility. If it runs on battery it runs on the battery simple as that, equally I don't of out my way to do the same.
Q-6
Wow, the battery needs to be addressed for sure in the next product release (along with the mystery rattle).
