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dojoman

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 8, 2010
1,939
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I have 2016 MacBook Pro Touchbar that loosing battery about 3% overnight when it's completely shutoff, not in sleep mode. It's not connected to any external device. Is this normal? Why would the battery drain when the system is completely off? Battery didn't drain in the beginning when I first got the laptop but lately it started draining on it's own.

Edit: Nevermind there’s already a long thread about this issue.
 
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Because batteries are in a constant state of flux and will naturally transfer electrons, there is no 'on / off' switch, only a means of slowing down the transition.

All batteries do this and have done since batteries were invented, when have you ever charged anything up then left it for 3 months and have it still at 100%?

Feel free to go into that thread and continue the circular debate. One thing I'd add though is that turning the machine back on and then observing the percentage is in no way a beneficial methodology, the system will consume a comparatively high amount of power in starting up. To really test it you want to charge it then remove from the system, or open it up and attach a multimeter to the circuit. That's the only way to semi accurately observe the actual battery life.

Otherwise you're just looking at a software generated guestimate which changes dramatically in short spaces of time depending on current system use. And drawing conclusions of faulty batteries.

Just saying... If it's something that actually affects you then by all means have a peruse of forums. If not, then just use it and don't worry.
 
I understand batteries will self discharge overtime within months but dropping 3% after 24 hr seems a lot. There are some people that don’t have this issues meaning it could be a defect. My MacBook Air doesn’t do this either.
 
I understand batteries will self discharge overtime within months but dropping 3% after 24 hr seems a lot. There are some people that don’t have this issues meaning it could be a defect. My MacBook Air doesn’t do this either.

If it's charged to 100% then it's effectively 20% overcharged, meaning the first 20% will discharge at a higher rate. You really need to test it over a week rather than leaving it for a single night and extrapolating potential discharge; it isn't linear.

Also not sure when you say some people don't have this 'issue', it's entirely probable most people don't consider it an issue in the first place. If it's loosing between 2-6% a night it's well within normal use, and most people aren't diligently checking over these things.
 
I understand batteries will self discharge overtime within months but dropping 3% after 24 hr seems a lot. There are some people that don’t have this issues meaning it could be a defect. My MacBook Air doesn’t do this either.

Not to continue a second thread especially after how long the first one got, but 3% really seems normal, honestly. The individual in that thread was experiencing 10-12% a night a believe, which does *not* seem normal at all.
 
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