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Macbook pro 13 service battery
- Thread starter cpuguy18
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The built-in batteries in the newer Mac unibody notebooks come pre-calibrated and do not require regular calibration like the removable batteries. Use iStat Pro to get a reading of your battery health.
This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
There's no mention of you having an actual problem with your battery. If you don't have a problem, it should be pretty obvious that you aren't "screwed."
even if it says service battery idk this isnt normal. Im going to drain it than charge it again.
It's out of warranty. They're not covered if out of warranty or AppleCare.
The fact that it says "Service Battery" indicates a problem.
All that will do is put another cycle on your battery. What does iStat Pro show as battery health percentage?
That's not mentioned in the original post. It's also not clear if the title refers to "service battery" as in calibration or "Service Battery" as in "problem."
Just get a battery replacement. It's $130 or so direct from Apple.
You need to buy a new $999 (at minimum) Mac because you have a problem with the battery, which can be replaced for $129?
Even if the disc drive is removed and the bottom plate is dented. They will still replace the battery for $130 ? yeah my MBP has been through alot.
I can understand how the title can be read either way, but since the post indicated a concern, the "service battery" in the title most likely means the battery condition is reported as "Service Battery". Otherwise, it's doubtful the OP would have posted at all.
The "Service Battery" indicator automatically comes on when battery health drops to around 75%. It doesn't mean anything is wrong with your battery, which is still quite usable. It just doesn't have as much capacity as it did when new.
You don't need a new Mac and you don't have to buy a new battery right away. You still have plenty of useful life in yours.
It's considered an out of warranty repair so no they should not care about the damage or any modifications you made. What are they going to do, void your nonexistent warranty?
I'm still confused: does your battery still work? If it still works but only has 76% health, that means it'll last around 75% as long as it used to. Service Battery is just to let you know that the health has gone down, and if you want optimal battery life you'll want to replace the battery. It doesn't mean the battery is going to stop working or explode.
It's considered an out of warranty repair so no they should not care about the damage or any modifications you made. What are they going to do, void your nonexistent warranty?
I'm still confused: does your battery still work? If it still works but only has 76% health, that means it'll last around 75% as long as it used to. Service Battery is just to let you know that the health has gone down, and if you want optimal battery life you'll want to replace the battery. It doesn't mean the battery is going to stop working or explode.
The funny thing is my macbook is lasting longer on service battery. idk i also did SMC reset but that didnt help at all.
No, that won't help. Nothing will restore lost battery capacity. Batteries die over time. That process cannot be reversed.
There's nothing you can do to improve battery health- even a calibration (which isn't necessary any more) only makes the battery report battery life and health more accurately.
Your battery wearing down is normal, that's how batteries work.
Yeah def normal with time. If its working fine, prob not a problem. And Apple will replace the battery you don't need to replace the entire laptop.
I had exactly the same with my mid 2009 MBP17.
Apple Care were confused and got me to reset pram etc, but to no avail.
Eventually I allowed the battery to run right down until the machine turned off (which happened suddenly with still time showing) then left it off for a while and plugged charger in and it was OK. The battery health had been showing as very poor (mAh reading) and this was then and remains so.
I realise this was basically the old calibration procedure and it should be needed, but it did the trick there. I was on about 450 cycles and it was good as new after.
Apple Care were confused and got me to reset pram etc, but to no avail.
Eventually I allowed the battery to run right down until the machine turned off (which happened suddenly with still time showing) then left it off for a while and plugged charger in and it was OK. The battery health had been showing as very poor (mAh reading) and this was then and remains so.
I realise this was basically the old calibration procedure and it should be needed, but it did the trick there. I was on about 450 cycles and it was good as new after.
You're right: they were confused or uninformed, as PRAM/NVRAM has nothing to do with battery/power/charging issues. Resetting it will not help. Only resetting the SMC addresses such issues.
Not really. Calibration involves more than simply draining and recharging.
LiPo batteries do lose capacity over time (roughly 10% per year) regardless of how many charge cycles they have.
But if the battery monitor is out of calibration, it can cause the computer to shutdown when there is still charge left, shortening the amount of time between charges.
Apple can say the new batteries don't need calibration, but that's probably just because the new batteries have such a high capacity that there's enough "headroom" so that people won't notice when they've lost 30 minutes of capacity. They haven't fundamentally changed how chemical batteries work.
Batteries are just chemical reactors, and the circuits are doing nothing more than making estimates based on voltage and current. Re-calibration will ALWAYS be required, due to the inherent capacity loss that occurs with LiPo batteries over time. Maybe the new batteries have some modified programming that attempts to take that into account, but there are many other things that affect battery life, even the temperature.
Isn't calibration done by just completely discharging it, letting it sit for a while then recharging it?
Read the CALIBRATION section of the Battery FAQ for the proper steps to calibration.
Which says to discharge it, let it sit for a while then recharge it, so what Radioman did was actually just a calibration, no?