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zorinlynx

macrumors G3
Original poster
May 31, 2007
8,350
18,577
Florida, USA
At work we have about 20 M1 Macbook Airs (the original model) that were purchased and stored for about a year and a half and are just now being opened up. We're finding about 50% of them have batteries that "need service", won't charge and are stuck at 1%.

Has anyone seen this before and found a way to recover the battery? Or are we going to have to take a stack of MBAs to Apple to get them fixed? They're still under AppleCare. I'm wondering if the batteries just discharged to zero while in storage and the battery controller doesn't like it.

A year and a half doesn't seem an unreasonable storage time; sometimes shops might have stock that old! They shouldn't be self-destructing so soon in storage!

Thanks in advance for any insights.
 
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JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,520
26,153
Deep discharge will permanently damage li-ion cells. There is no way to recover. Send them for repair ASAP, before the warranty is up.

Even 6 months in storage is too long, especially if the temperature varies. Yes, some shops might have stock that old, but it doesn't mean you should buy it. Look at high quality power banks, such as those made by Xiaomi. They all have manufacturing dates printed on the box and engraved on the product for good reason.
 

chrfr

macrumors G5
Jul 11, 2009
13,706
7,276
At work we have about 20 M1 Macbook Airs (the original model) that were purchased and stored for about a year and a half and are just now being opened up. We're finding about 50% of them have batteries that "need service", won't charge and are stuck at 1%.

Has anyone seen this before and found a way to recover the battery? Or are we going to have to take a stack of MBAs to Apple to get them fixed? They're still under AppleCare. I'm wondering if the batteries just discharged to zero while in storage and the battery controller doesn't like it.

A year and a half doesn't seem an unreasonable storage time; sometimes shops might have stock that old! They shouldn't be self-destructing so soon in storage!

Thanks in advance for any insights.
Having dealt with this before, you'll have to get the batteries replaced. It probably is that the battery controller has a problem with a full discharge, but the only fix is a new battery.
 

Isamilis

macrumors 68020
Apr 3, 2012
2,191
1,073
At work we have about 20 M1 Macbook Airs (the original model) that were purchased and stored for about a year and a half and are just now being opened up. We're finding about 50% of them have batteries that "need service", won't charge and are stuck at 1%.

Has anyone seen this before and found a way to recover the battery? Or are we going to have to take a stack of MBAs to Apple to get them fixed? They're still under AppleCare. I'm wondering if the batteries just discharged to zero while in storage and the battery controller doesn't like it.

A year and a half doesn't seem an unreasonable storage time; sometimes shops might have stock that old! They shouldn't be self-destructing so soon in storage!

Thanks in advance for any insights.
If it’s sealed (and not activated yet) and stored under room temperature, this shouldn’t be happened. That’s common in warehouse.
Like others here, there is not much you can do except replace the battery. You can bring to Apple if they’re still sealed and activated just now (Apple care period started from activation).
 

Yebubbleman

macrumors 603
May 20, 2010
6,023
2,616
Los Angeles, CA
I'm gonna second Isamilis and say that this sounds unlikely to be a normal occurrence and that you are correct in that lots of vendors will often have models like this in their warehouses for a while. But invoke AppleCare on it if you need to; that's why it's there.
 

zorinlynx

macrumors G3
Original poster
May 31, 2007
8,350
18,577
Florida, USA
Seems like there's no fix. We're taking the stack of them to Apple to take care of.

Out of 15 MBAs, a total of 6 had unrecoverable batteries. That's a pretty lousy scorecard. I wonder if the rest would have died too if we'd not tried to get them charged when we did.

Ah well. At least they're finally going to get used, and we learned a valuable lesson in not stockpiling equipment with batteries or if we must, to make sure it stays charged.

Thanks for your replies, all.
 
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JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,520
26,153
Apple devices seem to have a higher drain when boxed compared to other devices. You get that wow factor when it's unboxed because it powers on automatically. The rest of the industry (e.g. Lenovo) uses a true shipping mode where the battery is electrically disconnected and doesn't connect until you plug in AC. I suspect Apple uses more power than the standard shipping mode described in TI PMIC datasheets.
 
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furmonster

macrumors newbie
Jul 26, 2022
9
7
I suspect this is the difference between "suspended" and "turned off".

In suspend, the laptop will discharge down to almost zero over a couple of weeks.

If powered off, the battery will last many months in storage.
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,520
26,153
I suspect this is the difference between "suspended" and "turned off".

In suspend, the laptop will discharge down to almost zero over a couple of weeks.

If powered off, the battery will last many months in storage.

From the factory, it’s already in the lowest power state as possible. Otherwise, 100% of OP’s notebooks would be dead and not 50%.
 
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