How to take care of rMBP battery?

[ytech]

Hey
Since this is the only forum that I trust, I would like to hear some advices of how to extend my 2015 13"rMBP.
I read all apple articles about it and they are not really helpful...
I use my rMBP as a mobile workstation at least once a day without ability to connect it in to an outlet, now the battery last about 5-6 days until it gets to 15%-20% and than i fully charge it...
Is there anything i can do better in order to extend the battery life?

Thanks

 

[T5BRICK]

Just use your computer. Charge it when you can, run it off of the battery when you need to.

In your case, you could charge it every night or once a week. It doesn't matter.

 

[emilioestevez]

use it till it no longer holds a good charge years down the road then replace the battery

 

[snaky69]

Hey
Since this is the only forum that I trust, I would like to hear some advices of how to extend my 2015 13"rMBP.
I read all apple articles about it and they are not really helpful...
I use my rMBP as a mobile workstation at least once a day without ability to connect it in to an outlet, now the battery last about 5-6 days until it gets to 15%-20% and than i fully charge it...
Is there anything i can do better in order to extend the battery life?

Thanks

By not caring about it at all. Your battery is programmed (much better than you are) to take care of itself. Just use the computer however you see fit.

 

[Matthew.H]

Just use the computer as you need it. Modern batteries don't degrade in the same way as older batteries used to.

 

[chloepaige009]

Just use your computer. Charge it when you can, run it off of the battery when you need to.

In your case, you could charge it every night or once a week. It doesn't matter.

Not good to charge overnight everyday?

 

[Matthew.H]

Not good to charge overnight everyday?

Charging every night won't damage the battery. Once the battery reaches full charge the macbook automatically stops the charge.

 

[T5BRICK]

Not good to charge overnight everyday?

Charge it however you want. Charge it overnight. Charge it for 30 minutes. Leave it plugged in constantly(so long as you let it discharge occasionally). It doesn't matter.

 

[simonsi]

Not good to charge overnight everyday?

Even if you leave it connected it isn't charging continuously the whole time, its an intelligent charger that as above, takes better care of the battery than the user making decisions can. I drive mine hard (1200 cycles in 4.5yrs) and it still has 90% capacity, equally it has been connected overnight (11pm-7am) 100% of that time and connected 9am-5pm 50% of that time too...

 

[ytech]

Thanks for all the replies, now when I don't use it for a few days, except shut down is there anything else I need to do?

Thanks

 

[simonsi]

I don't bother shutting it down...just close the screen and leave it plugged in...it will be ready to go when you want it

 

[snaky69]

Thanks for all the replies, now when I don't use it for a few days, except shut down is there anything else I need to do?

Thanks

No. It's a machine, it's meant to be used, not constantly monitored or babied.

 

[arggg14]

Thanks for all the replies, now when I don't use it for a few days, except shut down is there anything else I need to do?

Thanks

Nope. Shut it down, sleep it, use it, don't use it, doesn't matter. As said above, just use it. The battery is part of the machine and the machine is smarter than you

 

[Spudlicious]

Even if you leave it connected it isn't charging continuously the whole time, its an intelligent charger that as above, takes better care of the battery than the user making decisions can. .

I wonder how much that apllies to aftermarket chargers? Yes, I confess I use one, a 60W Lavolta, and have done for more than 6 months while the Apple original sits in the box. Thing is, I figure Apple will have sourced the original from the lowest-quoting supplier anyway.

 

[NavySEAL6]

The only thing I do to protect my MBP battery is never leave it plugged in for extended periods of time (month or more). Other than that just use it and charge it as you see fit.

 

[Toutou]

I wonder how much that apllies to aftermarket chargers? Yes, I confess I use one, a 60W Lavolta, and have done for more than 6 months while the Apple original sits in the box. Thing is, I figure Apple will have sourced the original from the lowest-quoting supplier anyway.

I believe there is some circuitry embedded in the battery (or maybe it's taken care of by the MacBook), the charger is a mere power source. A modern multi-cell Li Ion battery is a pretty dangerous thing that can burst into flames or even explode when overcharged, so the charging process has to be managed precisely.

 

[snaky69]

I believe there is some circuitry embedded in the battery (or maybe it's taken care of by the MacBook), the charger is a mere power source. A modern multi-cell Li Ion battery is a pretty dangerous thing that can burst into flames or even explode when overcharged, so the charging process has to be managed precisely.

Completely true, modern chargers give power in the amount the battery tells them to, not the other way around.

 

[priitv8]

If these articles are to believe,
http://www.techinsider.io/the-best-way-to-charge-your-phone-2015-9
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries
then I can draw 3 conclusions:
1) Don't charge it full, esp do not leave on trickle-charge
2) Don't let it discharge deeply, charge whenever you can
3) Temperature (both high and low) is the killer of Li-Ion batteries.

 

[MrAverigeUser]

Charge it however you want. Charge it overnight. Charge it for 30 minutes. Leave it plugged in constantly(so long as you let it discharge occasionally). It doesn't matter.

I can confirm this.

Plug anytime you can with an original apple-charger. The MBP will charge it the best and take care the best itself. BETTER than you could do. Battery management is the only thing which works really great on apple devices.

Note: avoid recharges under 25% deep recharge is NOT good at all for Li-Ion batteries.

BTW: "little" charges of the battery are NOT counted in "number of charges". As you can see yourself on your notebook.

Coconut battery is a good app to look at it and ashure of all this.

 

[snaky69]

If these articles are to believe,
http://www.techinsider.io/the-best-way-to-charge-your-phone-2015-9
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries
then I can draw 3 conclusions:
1) Don't charge it full, esp do not leave on trickle-charge
2) Don't let it discharge deeply, charge whenever you can
3) Temperature (both high and low) is the killer of Li-Ion batteries.

Batterie are Lithium-Polymer, not Lithium-Ion on MBPs, so with that said:

1) That's bullcrap. I've had my 2012 machine on the charger 98% of the time for the past 4 years, battery is still at 90% health.

2) By deep, they truly mean deep, as in you let your computer die, then left it that way for a week.

3) That's also true.

 

[priitv8]

Batterie are Lithium-Polymer, not Lithium-Ion on MBPs, so with that said:
1) That's bullcrap. I've had my 2012 machine on the charger 98% of the time for the past 4 years, battery is still at 90% health.
2) By deep, they truly mean deep, as in you let your computer die, then left it that way for a week.

OK, but I sadly have to report the opposite - my mid 2013 has only 412 charge cycles on it, but the health is down to 77%, meaning I got the "Service battery" message.
I have the feeling, that HandBrake is one of the things that's behind this. When converting videos, the machine will be loaded at around 600% and hence battery needs to support the power supply for extended hours. And it gets hot at that. Not just hot, but over 40*C so that Coconut Battery gives me warnings.

To be honest, I have no idea, how the TI Fuel Gauge actually handles the battery - if and how often does it re-charge it, and what are it's thresholds for that.

PS if the article is to believe, Li-Polymer is no different from Li-Ion from the charging perspective:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/the_li_polymer_battery_substance_or_hype

 

[NicCPH]

I agree with most above - don't worry about it all. I have never worried about it and probably done all the things that people say you should avoid.

It is a Macbook pro (17' medio 2010) with 1566 cycles and approx. 63% health.

 

[MrAverigeUser]

I wonder how much that apllies to aftermarket chargers? Yes, I confess I use one, a 60W Lavolta, and have done for more than 6 months while the Apple original sits in the box. Thing is, I figure Apple will have sourced the original from the lowest-quoting supplier anyway.

A serviceman of an official repair service of apple told me NOT to use 60W chargers (neither the original apple 60W nor 3rd party charger) for a mac designed for 85W chargers. They saw sometimes problems with the batteries and even with the machines themselves because of the use of inappropriate 60W chargers for 85W machines, he told me to use ALWAYS the 85W charger.

As for the 3rd party chargers:
Look at the comments of Buyers on Amazon about 3rd party chargers - I´d never ever use anything but original chargers (although much too expensive) .

 

[snaky69]

A serviceman of an official repair service of apple told me NOT to use 60W chargers (neither the original apple 60W nor 3rd party charger) for a mac designed for 85W chargers. They saw sometimes problems with the batteries and even with the machines themselves because of the use of inappropriate 60W chargers for 85W machines, he told me to use ALWAYS the 85W charger.

As for the 3rd party chargers:
Look at the comments of Buyers on Amazon about 3rd party chargers - I´d never ever use anything but original chargers (although much too expensive) .

That person needs to check his facts before advising this. There is no harm in using a lower, or higher, wattage adapter.

The adapter is a source, a power well if you like. The computer is the one that decides how much juice it needs.

Straight from Apple:

Power adapters for Apple notebooks are available in 29W, 45W, 60W, and 85W varieties. You should use the appropriate wattage power adapter for your Apple notebook. You can use a compatible higher wattage adapter without issue, but it won't make your computer charge faster or operate differently. Lower wattage adapters will not provide enough power.

Lower wattage will not provide enough power to both charge the computer and make it run at 100% CPU at the same time, but that's about the extent of how different it'll behave.

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201700

 

[MrAverigeUser]

That person needs to check his facts before advising this. There is no harm in using a lower, or higher, wattage adapter.

The adapter is a source, a power well if you like. The computer is the one that decides how much juice it needs.

Straight from Apple:



Lower wattage will not provide enough power to both charge the computer and make it run at 100% CPU at the same time, but that's about the extent of how different it'll behave.

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201700

Perhaps you are right.

But apple told everyone until they were going to lose at a Canadian Court against a customer that there is NO problem with the GPUs in their MBPs. neither with the 2007/8 models nor with the 2011/2012 models. Now we know the truth...And Godfather Steve Jobs told us that there is NO problem with the antenna of iPhones: "You are holding it wrong!" … I could go on with these things, but I stop here.

They denied too often reality - so I have not too much confidence on them. I am NOT naive.

nevertheless - what they write might (!) be correct. But for me a citation of apple officials doesn´t prove anything 100%.
Servicemen are so much nearer to real life and technical problems with products than people like Tim Cook, Jonny Ive and engineering people "perfectly developing" apple products.

To make a long story short:
A statement of apple means not at all that this statement corresponds correctly with REALITY.