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Lost 900 mAh battery capacity in 1 year?

M

MBX

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 14, 2006
2,030
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So I just tested my battery status with coconutBattery app on my 13'' base model 2016 that I got for about a year now and I'm not happy what I see.

Can this be true? Official design capacity is nearly 4800 mAh. And after 1 year usage it got down to 3900'ish that I'm now able to get fully charged. See screenshot below. That's a big loss of about 20%!

How can that be?

Screen Shot 2018-07-20 at 19.35.01.png
 
631 cycles, that's how. If you are >1 year and you have extended coverage you can possibly get it replaced once it drops below 80%.
 
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My late 2013 13" MBP still has over 90% design capacity. Ouch. But it also has almost the same amount of cycles as yours. Damn - do you go through your battery and recharge it twice a day? 631 cycle counts in about 365 days?!!!
 
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Yikes. That's a big drop. How did you fully cycle your battery 631 times in 1 year? That's 2 full charges a day.
 
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Well the battery has always lasted only about 3-4 hours from when I bought it and it's a laptop, a device that I can take with me. Of course I use it often not plugged in. So that's how I probably ended up charging it about 2x a day.

If I had gotten the official 10hrs that Apple states it would be a different story. But I only got these 3-4 hrs despite doing just light stuff like internet browsing and YouTube.

So I guess my battery will be at 60% in another year, just great.
 
Unlike many other situations, with batteries - it is "use it and you lose it"
 
MBX said:
Well the battery has always lasted only about 3-4 hours from when I bought it and it's a laptop, a device that I can take with me. Of course I use it often not plugged in. So that's how I probably ended up charging it about 2x a day.

If I had gotten the official 10hrs that Apple states it would be a different story. But I only got these 3-4 hrs despite doing just light stuff like internet browsing and YouTube.

So I guess my battery will be at 60% in another year, just great.
Click to expand...

10 hrs of specific app use. If you're running google chrome you can only expect about 4 hrs of web surfing
 
MBX said:
Well the battery has always lasted only about 3-4 hours from when I bought it and it's a laptop, a device that I can take with me. Of course I use it often not plugged in. So that's how I probably ended up charging it about 2x a day.

If I had gotten the official 10hrs that Apple states it would be a different story. But I only got these 3-4 hrs despite doing just light stuff like internet browsing and YouTube.

So I guess my battery will be at 60% in another year, just great.
Click to expand...
Wow. I’m sorry to say this but if that’s your actual usage (light stuff) you’ve had a defective battery from day one.

Unless you used that atrocious resource hog everyone loved called Chrome as pointed out above.
 
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Bornee35 said:
10 hrs of specific app use. If you're running google chrome you can only expect about 4 hrs of web surfing
Click to expand...

No I actually use Safari.

I do have screen resolution set to "More Space" which utilizes the highest pixel amount and usually in normal day light I have brightness set to 2 notches below full. It could be that as well but it's just how I need it to feel comfortable looking at the screen.

Either way I'm a bit shocked how quickly this battery is losing its mojo.
 
MBX said:
No I actually use Safari.

I do have screen resolution set to "More Space" which utilizes the highest pixel amount and usually in normal day light I have brightness set to 2 notches below full. It could be that as well but it's just how I need it to feel comfortable looking at the screen.

Either way I'm a bit shocked how quickly this battery is losing its mojo.
Click to expand...
I’m not shocked from a cycle perspective (Apple rates them at 1000 cycles). I think you had a dud buddy. I would have brought it in a long time ago.
 
MBX said:
No I actually use Safari.

I do have screen resolution set to "More Space" which utilizes the highest pixel amount and usually in normal day light I have brightness set to 2 notches below full. It could be that as well but it's just how I need it to feel comfortable looking at the screen.

Either way I'm a bit shocked how quickly this battery is losing its mojo.
Click to expand...

Yeah for sure, I'd recommend keeping activity monitor open during the day and see what's eating through your battery. If nothing seems to be energy hungry the battery could very well be defective.
 
NT1440 said:
I’m not shocked from a cycle perspective (Apple rates them at 1000 cycles). I think you had a dud buddy. I would have brought it in a long time ago.
Click to expand...

Well now it's too late. I don't have extended warranty and I had no idea it was a dud possibly.

I assumed the 10hrs Apple stated was just PR and that we had to live with about 3-5hrs of real life performance even on light usage.
 
I have the same issue on far fewer cycles. Looks like our macs were manufactured at around the same time. Currently trying to get it repaired using credit card extended warranty since I didn't get Apple Care.

Screen Shot 2018-07-20 at 10.56.39 AM.png
 
tonyz123456 said:
I have the same issue on far fewer cycles. Looks like our macs were manufactured at around the same time. Currently trying to get it repaired using credit card extended warranty since I didn't get Apple Care.

View attachment 771766
Click to expand...

Wow geez and I thought I had it bad. Hope your repair works out.
 
Guess there is a benefit to lugging the magsafe around
 

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MBX said:
Well now it's too late. I don't have extended warranty and I had no idea it was a dud possibly.

I assumed the 10hrs Apple stated was just PR and that we had to live with about 3-5hrs of real life performance even on light usage.
Click to expand...
In my experience (5+ years of being Apple certified) the ONLY time a machine hasn’t reached the battery expectations (within an hour or so) was if they’re used for heavy processing or back when mp4 didn’t have hardware acceleration.

In my personal usage, each of the two MacBook pros I’ve owned have shattered the battery expectations by getting more than 10 hours brand new.

Sorry about this man, you got a lemon and kind of screwed yourself by giving Apple the benefit of the doubt (which may be he first time that has ever been written here at MR).

From a *cycle* count, there is no problem, your right in line with expected degradation. From a battery rundown perspective, things haven’t been right from day one.
 
MBX said:
Wow geez and I thought I had it bad. Hope your repair works out.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it also takes 3 to 5 days to have it repaired by apple (you have to send it in to a repair depot - they can't fix it on site at the apple store). I'm waiting for my 2018 MacBook pro to arrive and then I'll send it in to get it repaired before I sell it since I need my laptop for both personal and work-related uses.
 
NT1440 said:
In my experience (5+ years of being Apple certified) the ONLY time a machine hasn’t reached the battery expectations (within an hour or so) was if they’re used for heavy processing or back when mp4 didn’t have hardware acceleration.

In my personal usage, each of the two MacBook pros I’ve owned have shattered the battery expectations by getting more than 10 hours brand new.

Sorry about this man, you got a lemon and kind of screwed yourself by giving Apple the benefit of the doubt (which may be he first time that has ever been written here at MR).

From a *cycle* count, there is no problem, your right in line with expected degradation. From a battery rundown perspective, things haven’t been right from day one.
Click to expand...

Yeah now I know better.

The one positive aspect in all of this is: I may be able to sell this one back to the Apple certified 3rd party store that I bought it at and get about half of the original price (maybe about $900-1000) and could buy a new 2018 MBP and save a bit of money. Not sure yet.
 
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MBX said:
Mine is actually nTB. I just put in my serial number but it says I'm not eligible for a free replacement.
Click to expand...
Bummer. I'd say it gives you a chance though, bring it in to an apple store or authorized dealer. The fact that there is a battery replacement program and you're having issues might get you some help even though your serial isn't included.
 
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