Coconutbattery + Big Sur - wrong battery age

[ToniCH]

I have a mid 2014 MBP. I installed a new battery. With Mojave Coconutbattery said my new battery was made in 2022. I then upgraded to Big Sur. Now it says the battery was made in march 2015. 🤨

I googled this and found a thread on another forum where this problem was discussed in 2021. They said OWC had contacted Coconutbattery people and informed about the problem. But, it seems its still not fixed in the newest release.

Anybody have any idea if this is fixable in my end? I tried resetting PRAM and SMC but no help.

Thanks.

 

[Audit13]

Are the other battery stats from Coconut correct?

 

[ToniCH]

Capacity seems correct (advertised 8400, coconut design 8600, full charge 8884) and load cycles (1) is correct.

Systems report says manufacturer is SMP, Coconut says Simplo. Sounds same but not sure.

 

[Audit13]

Looks like it's only the date that's off. Did the battery have a label with the date of manufacture?

I suppose as long as it works properly, the date shown by Coconut isn't too relevant.

 

[xraydoc]

Coconut battery will properly list my battery's age and manufacture date, but it says it cannot read the manufacturer.

It also is unable to determine the manufacture date for my MacBook, but this may be due to the new randomized serial number scheme that Apple is using for their newer machines.

 

[Audit13]

I just booted my mid-2014 Pro 13" that has a 3rd party battery from Amazon and its stats look correct under macOS 11.7.4 in Coconut.

 

[ToniCH]

This was the discussion I found originally. He actually has the exact same manufacturing date that I have: 2015-03-30.

After some more googling someone had this problem also discussed in iFixit -forums. Different battery software gives radically different dates. He didn't say which OS version he has though.

I also tried the Battery Health 2 -app and also get the wrong info. It says april 2015.

But, then I found a tidbit of info which says that in Big Sur battery date format was changed and its more difficult to get the date out of the battery.

I also tried the suggested command

ioreg -l -n AppleSmartBattery -r

Result is:
- numbers 4-7 in my serial are 1430 which doesn't make a lot of sense 2021 week 43 day 0??
- but then "Manufacturerdata" says 2020-12-06

It seems like the Coconutbattery and BH2 are both now reading the serial and getting some weird results. Maybe the serial is not in correct Apple format as this is aftermarket battery? I think in Mojave it still did read the date from Manufacturerdata (note: not date, its actually data) and reported the date correctly.

Audit13, thanks for your help. Please try the ioreg -command and see what your serial and MF data look like.

 

[Audit13]

"TimeRemaining" = 200

"AvgTimeToEmpty" = 200

"AdapterDetails" = {"SerialNumber"=0,"FamilyCode"=0,"AdapterID"=0,"Adapte$

"AppleRawCurrentCapacity" = 5155

"InstantTimeToEmpty" = 290

"AppleRawMaxCapacity" = 6330

"ExternalChargeCapable" = No

"Voltage" = 11281

"PermanentFailureStatus" = 0

"BatteryInvalidWakeSeconds" = 30

"AdapterInfo" = 0

"MaxCapacity" = 6330

"DesignCycleCount70" = 5267

"UpdateTime" = 1678035223

"Manufacturer" = "SMP"

"AppleRawAdapterDetails" = ({"SerialNumber"=0,"FamilyCode"=0,"AdapterID"=$

"Location" = 0

"CurrentCapacity" = 5155

"LegacyBatteryInfo" = {"Amperage"=18446744073709549947,"Flags"=4,"Capacit$

"BatteryInstalled" = Yes

"FirmwareSerialNumber" = 31916

"CycleCount" = 380

"ChargerData" = {"ChargingVoltage"=12672,"ChargingCurrent"=0,"NotCharging$

"AvgTimeToFull" = 65535

"BatteryData" = {"StateOfCharge"=81,"PMUConfigured"=512,"CellVoltage"=(37$

"OperationStatus" = 58447

"PackReserve" = 200

"DesignCapacity" = 6559

"BootPathUpdated" = 1678035223

"PostDischargeWaitSeconds" = 120

"Serial" = "D861015004NDGDL3T"

"Temperature" = 2924

"IOReportLegendPublic" = Yes

"InstantAmperage" = 18446744073709550463

"ManufacturerData" = <00000000000200aa000254000000>

"FullyCharged" = No

"MaxErr" = 2

"DeviceName" = "bq20z451"

"IOGeneralInterest" = "IOCommand is not serializable"

"IOReportLegend" = ({"IOReportChannels"=((7167869599145487988,6460407809,$

"Amperage" = 18446744073709549947

"IsCharging" = No

"DesignCycleCount9C" = 1000

"PostChargeWaitSeconds" = 120

"ExternalConnected" = No

 

[ToniCH]

Thanks. Well, I wonder where Coconut takes your manufacturing date from? Your serial #4-7 (1015) are not indicating the date and MF data doesn't look like a good source either.

Well, this is not a major problem, more of an annoyance really.

 

[Audit13]

Thanks. Well, I wonder where Coconut takes your manufacturing date from? Your serial #4-7 (1015) are not indicating the date and MF data doesn't look like a good source either.

Well, this is not a major problem, more of an annoyance really.

I have no idea either. My battery stats from Coconut may not be correct either.

 

[ToniCH]

Well, at least you get the correct year and not been told that your battery is already 3000 days old.

I kinda liked the idea that I can follow the Coconut and see how long my battery remains good, like I do with my other MacBooks. Almost makes me want to go back to Mojave, where everything works. 😉

EDIT: I just found an screenshot of the Coconut report about this battery under Mojave. It indeed says Manufacture date is 2022-05-13. So I don't know where it took that either. It doesn't match the serial number data or the Manufacturer data.

 

[ToniCH]

Aaand, I downgraded to Catalina. I'll test run it for awhile and then decide if I'll continue with it or go to Mojave. My battery just got much younger! 😉

 

[Grubster]

This is good to know, I replace batteries a lot and assumed it was the battery manufacturerprogramming the battery wrong! Sounds like maybe a coconut battery glitch? I never cared as long as the battery is strong!

 

[ToniCH]

I also tried Battery Health 2 and 3 and they too listed wrong dates when run in Big Sur. So its not isolated to Coconut.

Is it Apple changing the battery manufacturing date format in Big Sur and battery manufacturers just entering data in the old way or are they entering it purely randomly - I don't know.

But, up to Catalina it seems that the battery dates are logical (but I cannot be sure if they are indeed accurate) and from Big Sur what is reported is possibly nonsense. I mean when looking at batteries made for older MacBooks. But, I guess for some the dates seem logical, like others report above. Coincidence or genuinely accurate? Dunno...