Battery Optimization will not enable

[transphasic]

Hi all.

Have a 2021 MBP Max M1/64/1/32 on Monterey 12.6.5, with battery optimization enabled. It is always plugged in to my ASD through the black charging cable the ASD comes with.

No matter how long I keep the MBP plugged in, and how many times I disable/re-enable the battery optimization checkbox - the computer remains at 100% charge. It was working properly and kept on a constant 80% until I upgraded to 12.6.4, and 12.6.5 did not fix the situation. I know the feature does not engage immediately, but takes a few days to "learn" how I charge the MBP, but even after a week of having the MBP plugged in the BO feature will not engage and reduce the charge down to 80%.

I do not want to downgrade to 12.6.3 as that is not a rational long-term solution and do not want to upgrade to Ventura as I have seen it on other macs and do not like its appearance or placement of features.

I know the battery will degrade faster if kept at a constant 100%, and I do not want to have to manually unplug the MBP to reduce the charge down to 80%, then plug back in, etc. - that is the whole purpose of the battery optimization feature.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Any ideas how to activate the battery optimization feature? Suggestions?

FYI I took it to my local Apple store, and their suggestion after running diagnostic tests which showed no hardware issues, was to upgrade to Ventura...

 

[xraydoc]

Hi all.

Have a 2021 MBP Max M1/64/1/32 on Monterey 12.6.5, with battery optimization enabled. It is always plugged in to my ASD through the black charging cable the ASD comes with.

No matter how long I keep the MBP plugged in, and how many times I disable/re-enable the battery optimization checkbox - the computer remains at 100% charge. It was working properly and kept on a constant 80% until I upgraded to 12.6.4, and 12.6.5 did not fix the situation. I know the feature does not engage immediately, but takes a few days to "learn" how I charge the MBP, but even after a week of having the MBP plugged in the BO feature will not engage and reduce the charge down to 80%.

I do not want to downgrade to 12.6.3 as that is not a rational long-term solution and do not want to upgrade to Ventura as I have seen it on other macs and do not like its appearance or placement of features.

I know the battery will degrade faster if kept at a constant 100%, and I do not want to have to manually unplug the MBP to reduce the charge down to 80%, then plug back in, etc. - that is the whole purpose of the battery optimization feature.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Any ideas how to activate the battery optimization feature? Suggestions?

FYI I took it to my local Apple store, and their suggestion after running diagnostic tests which showed no hardware issues, was to upgrade to Ventura...

On my Mac, I've just bypassed Apple's optimized charging and I've installed AlDente Pro. Computer stays at 80% charge unless I manually tell it to top off the battery. Since my computer stays on my desk 95% of the time attached to my Studio Displays, I prefer to be in manual control of the battery going above 80%.

It's not quite a solution to getting Apple's built-in system to work, but AlDente Pro works wonderfully for me.

 

[Dave Pearce]

I've noticed since the last couple of updates with Venture that my 2021 14" MBP now sits at 100% instead of 80%. its always plugged in.

 

[macjoshua]

I've noticed since the last couple of updates with Venture that my 2021 14" MBP now sits at 100% instead of 80%. its always plugged in.

I'm running into the same thing on my 14" MBP. Glad to know it's not just me - but still not glad about the problem.

 

[transphasic]

I'm running into the same thing on my 14" MBP. Glad to know it's not just me - but still not glad about the problem.

I might have solved it by rebooting the mac, which i rarely do, maybe once per month.

 

[JPack]

I've seen it take as long as two weeks for a new MacBook to enable charging on hold.

 

[macjoshua]

I've seen it take as long as two weeks for a new MacBook to enable charging on hold.

I've had my MBP for 6 or 7 months. Optimized charging was working fine before one of the recent MacOS updates, but has been 100% charge for weeks now.

 

[macjoshua]

Following up on this, I tried everything I could - restarting, toggling the battery optimization setting on and off, etc. I ended up just reinstalling MacOS and battery optimization kicked in almost immediately afterward. 🤷‍♂️

So I guess that's one possible solution if you have the same issue.

 

[patwithamac]

Question for those of you who say that you've enabled Battery Optimization, and your battery's charge level now holds at 80%....

Since your machine is always plugged in, how did the battery's charge level drop from 100% to 80% and hold?

Did it just switch to running from battery (even tho it remained plugged in) until the charge level dropped to 80%?
Or did you have to unplug from the charger for awhile (until charge level was <%80), then plug in again?

 

[JPack]

Did it just switch to running from battery (even tho it remained plugged in) until the change level dropped to 80%?

It did that.

 

[Weaselboy]

Or did you have to unplug from the charger for awhile (until charge level was <%80), then plug in again?

Just leave it plugged in and it will drift down to 80% on its own. If you unplug it like you mentioned, it will "reset the timer" so to speak and go back to 100% for a couple weeks or so again.

 

[patwithamac]

Well, lookie there... after 3-4 days, it appears the battery optimization algorithm "learned" that my system is always connected to the a/c charger, and decided to reduce the charge level to 80%. It appears the discharging process began around 6am today (while the lid was closed and sleeping). And finally completed around 9-10pm this evening (while the lid was open and I was using the laptop).

Couple of noteworthy observations (highlighted in yellow highlighter in the attached screen shot)...

- On the System Settings->Battery page, you can see;
"Charging on Hold: Desktop Mode" "Rarely used on battery"

- In the menu bar, the battery status icon has changed from a lightning bolt to a two-prong a/c plug

Also notice the output of sudo pmset -g rawbatt
Interestingly, the percentage reported in the menu bar appears to be;
current capacity/(design capacity-200) (ie. 6792/(8700-200)=.80
Whereas the percentage reported in pmset -g rawbatt appears to be;
current capacity/full charge capacity (ie. 6792/8856=.76)

sudo pmset -g rawbatt
06/01/2023 20:47:42
 AC; Not Charging; 76%; Cap=6792: FCC=8856; Design=8700; Time=0:00; 0mA; Cycles=6/1000; Location=0;
 Polled boot=05/30/2023 18:41:30; Full=06/01/2023 20:46:34; User visible=06/01/2023 20:47:34

 

[7thMac]

Helpful thread.

I have a 2022 MBA that I almost always use plugged in. But I do unplug the computer from time to time because I need to move it around for practical reasons. When unplugged, the battery remains at 100% and the computer is in sleep mode.

This behavior keeps the charge at 100%. Is there any simple change that would enable the optimized charge to go back to 80%, as it did when the computer was new? Perhaps it's not that important because the benefit to the battery is insignificant. Do I need to turn the computer off when unplugged to fall under the stock software algorithm?