MacBook Pro 16" 2019 battery capacity decreasing

[libssh]

Hi folks,

I've bought a brand new MacBook Pro 16" 2019 about 3 weeks ago.
I use the laptop with power adapter connected but battery capacity has been decreasing on a daily basis very fast.

Full Charge Capacity (mAh):    8623

Health Information:
  Cycle Count:    4

The initial capacity of bq40z651 battery is 8790 mAh but I have 8623 mAh after 4 cycles only.

The capacity was 8638 yesterday. I've disconnected power adaptor and went for a sleep. When I woke up the capacity was 8623. So the battery lost 15 mAh when the laptop was in sleep mode. I don't know what tf is going on.

Do you think this is the hardware problem? I do so.

I believe I should bring my laptop to Apple service but I've decided to ask an advice here first.

Thanks.

 

[matram]

I think it would be better if you actually let the battery discharge and recharge a couple of times and not keep it permanently connected to power.

I believe this has a positive effect on both battery health and measurement accuraccy.

If you browse the forum you will find others that have had initial capacity a bit below nominal but things have corrected themselves after a bit of use.

 

[puggles]

The capacity will fluctuate. Mine has been going between 97% and 100% for years.

 

[Honza1]

Do not worry about these tiny changes of reported capacity. They will drop quickly at the beginning to some stable level, typically. It is wild guess anyway. And, as stated above, these values will fluctuate.
It is a good idea to use system occasionally on battery and discharge to at least 50% sometimes. I try to use it on battery at least once a week. Battery needs some cycling.
While everyone agrees at least occasional battery cycling is good thing, how deep is disputed. Rechargeable batteries materials are actually damaged by deep discharge and therefore I prefer not to cycle below ~30%. But it is possible Apple keeps necessary reserve to prevent such damage in which case we should discharge occasionally to 0%. I just do not know and without someone with direct knowledge from Apple we may never know.

 

[randyleytan]

Yo, any update on how your battery is now? I got a 13 inch 2020 (base model) like 2 weeks ago. Today, it is on 8 cycles and the battery capacity is on 98%.

 

[chung06]

My macbook pro 2019 16" has the same issue, it's dropped to 79xx with 25 cycles, I asked somewhere and they says its caused by Battery health management on Macos Catalina, this option will prevents we charge battery to its maximum capacity, if we uncheck this options, charge capacity will increase, i'm not sure if its true or not.

 

[yukari]

If you use your MBP with constantly plugged-in without limiting its maximum charge level, the battery health will decrease relatively quickly.

One method is to use a script or a short program to limit the maximum charge to no more than 80%.

I limit mine to 50 to 55% maximum charge.

 

[Killbynumbers]

If you use your MBP with constantly plugged-in without limiting its maximum charge level, the battery health will decrease relatively quickly.

One method is to use a script or a short program to limit the maximum charge to no more than 80%.

I limit mine to 50 to 55% maximum charge.

The MBP does not constantly charge the battery. If you install an app like Coconut battery, you will see if the battery is charging ir not. It will also show the true battery %. My MBP shows my battery % as being 100% when coconut battery says it is 98.5%. Keeping the MBP plugged in does not harm the battery on todays MBPs again because it does not constantly charge.

 

[seinman]

The battery health fluctuates like crazy across the first 15-25 charge cycles. Mine leveled out around there. It will go up as much as it will go down at first, so don't panic, stop micromanaging your battery, and live your life without all the stress. Check the health again in six months and see where you're at.

 

[libssh]

Well I gave it a chance and waited for a few months.
36 cycles only and 94% of initial capacity. I'm still sure that's not ok.

Can you guys share your current battery info (MBP 16" 2019 only) for comparison?
Thanks

 

[heavy-razzer]

Using my laptop from January 1st.

 

[RobbieTT]

In 2 years I have gone from 5168mAh (101.5%) to 4480mAh (88.1%) in 252 cycles - design capacity is 5088mAh.

My usage pattern hasn't changed but the battery life is much worse than previous MBPs by this point in their lives. Looking around though and others have a similar decline on their MBPS. I guess it is what it is.

 

[Honza1]

Well I gave it a chance and waited for a few months.
36 cycles only and 94% of initial capacity. I'm still sure that's not ok.
Can you guys share your current battery info (MBP 16" 2019 only) for comparison?
Thanks

If you are that eager to see how your system compares, why not use Compare online feature of Coconut Battery? Open History viewer and there is button to open web site.
Gives you comparison of your battery with same batteries from lot more cases than you can ever glean here. In time and in cycles. Really cool feedback.
I just checked and while my battery ages approximately average in time (months), it is worse when using cycles. That is kind of expected. Battery chemistry age with simple time and with cycles, it is combination of both. Simply put, even if you do not use it ever, it will die.

 

[CalMin]

I think it's time to think about batteries like tires on a car. As you use your car, you will wear out your tires and then after some period of time you will need to replace them.

Worrying about small changes in battery capacity through all of the detailed stats available these days just leads to anxiety. I admit to falling into this trap too, but over the years I have found that my battery life is fine, until it isn't - and then I just get a new one.

 

[jerryk]

I think it's time to think about batteries like tires on a car. As you use your car, you will wear out your tires and then after some period of time you will need to replace them.

Worrying about small changes in battery capacity through all of the detailed stats available these days just leads to anxiety. I admit to falling into this trap too, but over the years I have found that my battery life is fine, until it isn't - and then I just get a new one.

Yep. One reason I never install Apps that show Design Capacity and Full charge capacity.

As a Tesla owner, I have seen people in the online forums drive themselves crazy over things like this. They start hating the car, even though it works great every day and does cross country trips with ease. All because of over some numbers in an app.

 

[libssh]

If you are that eager to see how your system compares, why not use Compare online feature of Coconut Battery?

thank you so much! I was never aware of that feature.

 

[Squozen]

When I want to use a Mac connected to power all the time I buy an iMac.

 

[cynics]

View attachment 949624

Well I gave it a chance and waited for a few months.
36 cycles only and 94% of initial capacity. I'm still sure that's not ok.

Can you guys share your current battery info (MBP 16" 2019 only) for comparison?
Thanks

Battery health degrades, that is why Apples warranty is....

At this rate your MBP will be well outside any warranties before it meets the criteria for battery replacement due to it being defective.

Cycles are a factor, however they aren't the only factor. The battery capacity will fade even if you left it plugged in 24/7 so you only had 1 battery cycle.

It should also be noted that battery capacity (state of health) doesn't easily correlate to other factors. For example 90% battery health does NOT mean 10% less run time. It could but generally it doesn't because the measurements used to determine capacity vary wildly depending on temps, voltage, current draw, charge level, etc. There are way too many inconsistencies to even bother wasting your time thinking about this..

Your own post and screenshots show how inconsistent this data making it otherwise useless metrics.

You first post said in 3 weeks with 4 cycles battery capacity dropped 1.9%. Now 6 month later with 36 cycles battery capacity dropped 3.8%.

So in ~8x the amount of time, with 9x the amount of cycles you only lost 2x the battery capacity.

My 2018 MBP (nearly 2 years old) has 91.3% capacity with 98 cycles. That seems like a lot but its fairly normal and I won't be anywhere near 80% before my AppleCare+ warranty expires.

Took me over 5 years to get an iPad below that 80% mark.

 

[Squozen]

Took me over 5 years to get an iPad below that 80% mark.

I just checked my 2015 iPad Pro and it's at 59.3% with 644 cycles - time for a new model!

 

[jerryk]

I just checked my 2015 iPad Pro and it's at 59.3% with 644 cycles - time for a new model!

Not too bad. LiIon batteries start aging the day they leave the factory even if you never use them. 5 years is a pretty decent amount of time.

 

[jesse.bruffett]

Ive had my 16 MacBook Pro for about 3 months, it has 23 cycles on the battery and its at 90% designed mah. Yes the capacity fluctuating is normal but not this much. In 15 years of owning 15 Mac's ive never seen a battery degrade this fast.

 

[ght56]

Ive had my 16 MacBook Pro for about 3 months, it has 23 cycles on the battery and its at 90% designed mah. Yes the capacity fluctuating is normal but not this much. In 15 years of owning 15 Mac's ive never seen a battery degrade this fast.

The 16 inch is kind of funky in terms of metrics, even more so if the battery health option is selected. I've seen the metrics on mine fluctuate and decline quite rapidly, but real-world performance hasn't degraded as one would expect based on the metrics. When I got the system new, capacity was 89%. It has jumped up to 100%, fell down to 90%, shot back up to around 100%, and then settled at 92% where it fluctuates up and down a bit. If that 92% was 92% on other Macs I've owned, at that point real-world runtimes would be noticeably lower. However, real-world runtimes are unchanged. It's very strange...I am not sure if it is a Catalina thing, related to new power management settings, or what, but I am not sure how much weight we can put on these metrics relative to the actual state of the battery.

On the contrary, my iPhone 6s has a battery capacity listed at 95%, and it's runtimes are less than half that of when the battery was 100%, even though it runs the same OS.

 

[Meus Me]

I am worried. 12 cycles and it has dropped almost 1,000 mAh in capacity. I still get about 6-7 hours of usage with it, which is what it was brand new. But what on Earth is going on

 

[matram]

I am worried. 12 cycles and it has dropped almost 1,000 mAh in capacity. I still get about 6-7 hours of usage with it, which is what it was brand new. But what on Earth is going on

Your battery is seven years old. Woth very few cycles you have likely kept it connected and fully charged most of the time. Not the best approach for good battery health.

 

[DesertNomad]

Hi folks,

I've bought a brand new MacBook Pro 16" 2019 about 3 weeks ago.
I use the laptop with power adapter connected but battery capacity has been decreasing on a daily basis very fast.

Full Charge Capacity (mAh):    8623

Health Information:
  Cycle Count:    4

The initial capacity of bq40z651 battery is 8790 mAh but I have 8623 mAh after 4 cycles only.

The capacity was 8638 yesterday. I've disconnected power adaptor and went for a sleep. When I woke up the capacity was 8623. So the battery lost 15 mAh when the laptop was in sleep mode. I don't know what tf is going on.

Do you think this is the hardware problem? I do so.

I believe I should bring my laptop to Apple service but I've decided to ask an advice here first.

Thanks.

My 16" 2019 is a year old, and is plugged into an XDR almost all the time so it is forced to charge in that situation. My full charge capacity is 7921.