Help! MBP (late 2011) battery level suddenly dropping from ~40% to ~7%

[jsmith_273]

Looking for some help please, I have a late 2011 MBP and have just replaced the original battery. The problem I am now having is that my battery level drops from ~40% to ~7% suddenly, which as you can imagine is an issue if I'm away from my charger. Does anybody have any suggestions? I have tried the following steps;

1. SMC reset
2. PRAM reset

Thanks in advance.

JS

 

[Fishrrman]

This won't solve your problem, but...

Which replacement did you get?

Bear in mind that buying replacement batteries for older MacBooks and MBP's is "a crapshoot".
Like Forrest Gump and his box of chocolates, "you never know what you're going to get".

One could be good, or... ???

I've seen replacement batteries for sale on ebay that claim to be "original Apple" batteries, but are more likely counterfeits.

The other consideration is it could have something to do with the "DC input board" on the motherboard (I think that's what it's called).
ifixit has more about that.

But my -guess- is... could be a problem with the battery itself.

 

[CYB3RBYTE]

Did you do any sort of battery calibration procedure after replacing the battery? My guess is that the battery controller doesn't know the relevant information yet to know when the battery is truly drained vs low but not drained. usually it requires using your computer until it completely turns off while on battery, then charging it back up to 100 percent again.

This is what I'm in the process of after replacing the battery on my 2012 rMBP.

 

[calliex]

I want to replace the battery on my 2012 rMBP, but I have heard a lot of stories like yours on replacement batteries. It is too much of crapshoot.

 

[posguy99]

Looking for some help please, I have a late 2011 MBP and have just replaced the original battery. The problem I am now having is that my battery level drops from ~40% to ~7% suddenly

Battery you got from wherever you got it has a bad cell.

 

[bingow]

I want to replace the battery on my 2012 rMBP, but I have heard a lot of stories like yours on replacement batteries. It is too much of crapshoot.

I'm glued to this thread, as searches do not give much confidence in what's out there for older MBPs. But I rolled the dice anyway and ordered a NuPower 74 watt-hour battery from OWC for my mid 2012 13" MBP non-Retina, currently at 1,863 cycle count and roughly 60% health.

Did you do any sort of battery calibration procedure after replacing the battery? My guess is that the battery controller doesn't know the relevant information yet to know when the battery is truly drained vs low but not drained. usually it requires using your computer until it completely turns off while on battery, then charging it back up to 100 percent again... This is what I'm in the process of after replacing the battery on my 2012 rMBP.

@jsmith_273, All the "better" batteries I've shopped for emphasized the importance of doing this calibration. Good Luck.

 

[jsmith_273]

Quick update on this, after calibrating using the techniques mentioned, the battery seems to be behaving itself, for now at least. Here's what I did;

1. Shut down and charge to 100%
2. Leave connected to battery for a further 4 hours once charged (probably longer)
3. Start-up and change energy settings to stop the machine from going to sleep
4. Without using it, drain the power until the machine shuts down
5. Leave drained for a period of 5 hours+
6. Re-charge to 100%, again leaving connected to power for a few hours after the charging indicator turns green
7. Reset SMC
8. Reset PRAM (not really necessary, but did it anyway)

I'll keep you all posted on any further developments

 

[CYB3RBYTE]

I want to replace the battery on my 2012 rMBP, but I have heard a lot of stories like yours on replacement batteries. It is too much of crapshoot.

So after replacing the battery on my rMBP 15", I can say that it wasn't the most difficult job. Much less difficult than replacing a hard drive on a iBook or PowerBook back in the day. Hardest part was getting through the adhesive and cleaning it all up afterwards. But then things went swimmingly, and it seems like the iFixit battery I used is good quality. In fact, it's reporting higher mA than what originally came with the computer.

When you do it, make sure you follow the iFixit guide and go slow. Also, make sure you're doing in on a static-grounded surface, and preferably wearing an ESD strap. Wouldn't want your computer to die early after a battery replacement from ESD (electro-static damage).

 

[gnasher729]

Looking for some help please, I have a late 2011 MBP and have just replaced the original battery. The problem I am now having is that my battery level drops from ~40% to ~7% suddenly, which as you can imagine is an issue if I'm away from my charger. Does anybody have any suggestions? I have tried the following steps;

1. SMC reset
2. PRAM reset

Thanks in advance.

JS

Been there, done that :-(
Some replacement batteries are just rubbish.

You have the choices:

Find a better supplier for the battery, and live with it as well as you can.

Turn your MacBook into a desktop computer. Actually, that lets you add a 2560*1440 monitor or a 1TB SSD drive quite cheaply, so it's not bad.

Find something better, 2015 or so, on eBay.

Get a $999 MBA with M1.

 

[bingow]

"I'm glued to this thread, as searches do not give much confidence in what's out there for older MBPs. But I rolled the dice anyway and ordered a NuPower 74 watt-hour battery from OWC for my mid 2012 13" MBP non-Retina, currently at 1,863 cycle count and roughly 60% health".

Update: got the NuPower battery from OWC, all smooth so far. Installed and calibrated, with health registering 102% (6957 mAh vs original 6800 rating). For what it's worth to other battery shoppers out there, the service was quick, the packaging impressive, one year warranty. Now begins my tracking of cycles vs health, and I'll report anything negative.

 

[calliex]

Please let us know how it goes. I am probably going to replace my r2012 15 MBP with a Mx 16 in MBP but I would still like to switch the battery on the 2012.