new MacBook Air battery capacity too Low?

[elki64]

Hi all, since I bought my new Mac air (a couple of months ago) iv been getting inconsistent battery life, and iv sound this very frustrating.... lately iv downloaded coconut battery, which show different battery capacity than Mac finder top bar. and even weirder says my capacity Is at 92%. this is a brand new Mac. not heavily used. more further, iv never let my Mac drop less than 20% and its connected to AC as much as possible.
should I get an appointment at Apple Store?

thnx for the insights and help...









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[Rok73]

My MBA is half a year old with about 18 cycles and has about 7250 mAh capacity but it is even older than yours. I wouldn't let it be connected to the AC all the time because it is not necessary and not helpful.

I'd have Apple have a look at it and see what they say.

 

[elki64]

so should I worry? can I get another opinion from someone else?

how am I on 92 percent in a couple of months...

thnx again

 

[elf69]

windows laptops do like to be charged all the time as the battery will break down.

I know this first hand as my extra high capacity toshiba battery lasted 15 mins not the 7 hours it did at beginning as it was always plugged in.
I sortta cooked it by over charging the battery.

I do think apple battery management is much better than most windows though.

my macbook 2010 model battery is 5.5 years old with 310 cycles and 87% health.

 

[tentales]

Hi all, since I bought my new Mac air (a couple of months ago) iv been getting inconsistent battery life, and iv sound this very frustrating.... lately iv downloaded coconut battery, which show different battery capacity than Mac finder top bar. and even weirder says my capacity Is at 92%. this is a brand new Mac. not heavily used. more further, iv never let my Mac drop less than 20% and its connected to AC as much as possible.
should I get an appointment at Apple Store?

thnx for the insights and help...










imgurl

Mine's at 7 load cycles and 97% after 5 months of light use. I wouldn't worry too much yet, but definitely keep an eye on it. Battery should be good for 1000 cycles at 80%, if you get close to 80 long before that, take it in before warranty expiration. Li-Ion battery decay isn't linear, so I do expect a receding decline. If you see less than 90% by 100 cycles, book an appointment at the Genius bar.
[doublepost=1483490168][/doublepost]

My MBA is half a year old with about 18 cycles and has about 7250 mAh capacity but it is even older than yours. I wouldn't let it be connected to the AC all the time because it is not necessary and not helpful.

I'd have Apple have a look at it and see what they say.

Hmm, you show 7250 with a design capacity of 7150 ? Interesting. Post a battery snapshot. The OP has 48 load cycles in 2 months, that doesn't sound like a lot of AC connection, but more like a daily charge/recharge use. Besides, Li-Ion are not Ni-Cads that needed regular discharging. Once a month of discharging the battery is fine.

One thing I'd recommend is to let drain once or twice until it shuts down, just to see that figure.
The PRAM might need a reset if it shuts down at say 20-30%. There is the small possibility of battery damage if it's been exposed to frigid temperatures an extended period of time in a discharged state. Time will tell if there's a manufacturers defect.

 

[g.t. rags]

I sold my 14 @ 2.5 years old with 92% battery and about 60 cycles.

something doesn't seem right with yours IMHO

 

[Rok73]

Mine's at 7 load cycles and 97% after 5 months of light use. I wouldn't worry too much yet, but definitely keep an eye on it. Battery should be good for 1000 cycles at 80%, if you get close to 80 long before that, take it in before warranty expiration. Li-Ion battery decay isn't linear, so I do expect a receding decline. If you see less than 90% by 100 cycles, book an appointment at the Genius bar.
[doublepost=1483490168][/doublepost]
Hmm, you show 7250 with a design capacity of 7150 ? Interesting. Post a battery snapshot. The OP has 48 load cycles in 2 months, that doesn't sound like a lot of AC connection, but more like a daily charge/recharge use. Besides, Li-Ion are not Ni-Cads that needed regular discharging. Once a month of discharging the battery is fine.

One thing I'd recommend is to let drain once or twice until it shuts down, just to see that figure.
The PRAM might need a reset if it shuts down at say 20-30%. There is the small possibility of battery damage if it's been exposed to frigid temperatures an extended period of time in a discharged state. Time will tell if there's a manufacturers defect.

Here's my screenshot. It's even 7330 mAh.

 

[elki64]

Wow thats awesome....

 

[brclark80]

I bought my Air new in October of last year. Manufacture date of 8-15-2016. I have 4 cycles and I am currently at 6934 mAh. Fully charged I am at 96.2% of capacity.

EDIT - Now I am up to 7023/7089 mAh & 99.1%. Still 4 cycles.

 

[elki64]

I dont get how you guys have so little cycles?

Am i that exaggerating? 50 cycles in 5 months????

 

[Ca_lvn]

What is the average cycle life span of a new MBA ? Thanks

 

[Rok73]

Apple says 1000 cycles with 80% full charge capacity.

 

[julianps]

MBA batteries come in various flavours depending upon year of manufacture and screen size. I have an 11" MBA. For the 11" early models there was a 4900mAh/35Wh battery model number 13xx. Later, about 2010, this changed size slightly, capacity remained 4900/35 but the model number changed to 1406. Around 2013, when the MBA moved from SATA to PCIe-based SSD, capacity increased to about 5200mAh/39Wh and the model number changed to 1495.

At this point model 1495/MBA11" battery life went from 5 hours to 9 hours (YMMV).

If I put a new model 1406 battery into a 2013 model MBA (been there, done that; blush) Coconut Battery will tell me my actual capacity is 4900mAh (full, for a 1406), design capacity is 5200mAh (correct for a Macbook Air 6,1) therefore (4900/5200*100 =) 94% capacity at load cycle = 0

In other words Coconut battery is comparing actual with theoretical values and coming up with meaningless.

The Load Cycle counter only increments each time the 5% remaining capacity warning comes up and the machine is connected to power. If you run a 100% capacity battery to 35% and connect it to power, run it up to 82% and disconnect it, run it 25% then connect it and load it to 95% then disconnect .... etc/you get the picture, the Load Cycle counter will never increment (hence user cases of 80% capacity with a cycle count on 250, etc).

Apple's specification for 80% by the end of 1,000 cycles is predicated upon a use case of charge to 100%, run uncharged to <5% then recharge to 100%; like mpg for new automobiles, it's a fixed-case/best possible world theoretical value made for comparison purposes rather than a real world expectation.

IMHO, the real world expectation is that a battery will last three years then need replacing.