Refurbished MacBook and battery age.

[faded_glory]

I bought myself a refurbished 12" MacBook from my local Apple Store this morning. It's the 2017 model.
I've just run coconutBattery and it reports the battery manufacture date as December 31st 2006. Does this seem likely? Should I be concerned that, if correct, this battery is a little over 11 years old (even though coconut reports it as being at 100% health)?

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I bought myself a refurbished 12" MacBook from my local Apple Store this morning. It's the 2017 model.
I've just run coconutBattery and it reports the battery manufacture date as December 31st 2006. Does this seem likely? Should I be concerned that, if correct, this battery is a little over 11 years old (even though coconut reports it as being at 100% health)?

Why would you do this?? Is it having battery life problems?? Its clearly nonsense as they invented those tiered batteries for the 2015 release of the retina MacBook.

Go to the Apple system report and check this it will give you all the information you need. Most refurbished have the battery replaced anyway

It should have between 1 and 5 cycles on it as new, some of them get increased testing on the battery and arrive with a few cycles already.

 

[faded_glory]

It has 1 cycle on the battery. I thought it seemed unlikely that a battery older than the product line could be present. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't been sold a lemon.

 

[canuckRus]

I bought myself a refurbished 12" MacBook from my local Apple Store this morning. It's the 2017 model.
I've just run coconutBattery and it reports the battery manufacture date as December 31st 2006. Does this seem likely? Should I be concerned that, if correct, this battery is a little over 11 years old (even though coconut reports it as being at 100% health)?

Perhaps a possibility if battery would fit a 2017 and still usable as a new old part. 1st macBook out in 2006 before being discontinued and then being brought back.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

The date may be wrong (or misread), but a battery with 1 cycle (and 100% health)...
...well... it's "new".

Nothing more need be said!

 

[faded_glory]

From the coconut-flavour website...

Manufacture date
Calculates the age of your Mac or Battery using the coded production date in the serial number of your Mac or Battery (Note: for Macs only the manufacture week can be calculated, in this case the date represents the first day of the production week)

The MacBook manufacturing date is 2017-07-10, the battery's is 2006-12-31.

The machine is covered by the usual 14 day money back guarantee so if it shows unusual battery discharge in the coming days there's time to act.
I don't know enough about battery tech to know if it sat on a shelf, uncharged and unused, for 11 years, whether it would be as good as new or not.
I'm more curious than worried,

 

[Beachguy]

Perhaps you have an older copy of Coconut, or... **GASP** Coconut has a BUG!!!

Take it back to the Apple Store and tell them that Coconut says you have an old battery from 2006 and it needs to be replaced immediately. Seriously. Do it. Those Apple Geniuses work hard all day and they could use some humor to pick them up.

 

[Kekinash]

A battery manufactured in 2006 will be completely dead by now, no matter if was used or just in storage, batteries have a limited shell life, so Coconut is completely wrong, don't over think the issue, Apple puts brand new batteries on refurbished units always.

 

[faded_glory]

Up to date version of Coconut Battery - even bought a licence for it.
Elsewhere on this forum is a thread where people say that coconut battery is very accurate.
Can't have it both ways.

 

[cruisin]

Up to date version of Coconut Battery - even bought a licence for it.
Elsewhere on this forum is a thread where people say that coconut battery is very accurate.
Can't have it both ways.

The app uses the builtin tools for battery health. Click the Apple logo in the top left of your screen () > About this Mac > System Report > Power. It will show cycle count and capacity. The app knows how much your battery capacity it should have and then calculates the difference.

All batteries age, as it is basically a controlled chemistry experiment. High heat, extreme cold, age, will all decrease battery life. Lithium batteries need a minimum charge or otherwise they will never charge again (batteries lie when they say they are empty, they leave a bit in reserve). So that old of a battery will likely have self discharged enough that it would never charge again. Or at least the chemistry would have dried out (or aged) enough that the capacity would be comically small.

What is more likely, that Apple managed to make the exact battery shape (these are not AA batteries) needed 11 years ago and kept it in storage for some reason, or that the 3rd party app has a glitch?

 

[ZapNZs]

Someone may have made a booboo when entering the battery birthdate information (as that seems like a default value given the December 31), or the App may have an issue. IIRC, some other users have had this issue too.

Have you reset the SMC?

 

[Fishrrman]

The battery has 1 cycle and 100% health.
What's to argue with that?

 

[Tech198]

i would trust System Report more than apps personally... If the battery has 100% health, then that's you you really need to know.. It will last long..

I bought myself a refurbished 12" MacBook from my local Apple Store this morning. It's the 2017 model.
I've just run coconutBattery and it reports the battery manufacture date as December 31st 2006. Does this seem likely? Should I be concerned that, if correct, this battery is a little over 11 years old (even though coconut reports it as being at 100% health)?

But battery reporting by apps aren't always correct as u just saw.

Get a second opinion first.

 

[faded_glory]

The battery performs admirably. I don't think it's 11 years old. I think there's some sort of reporting error by Coconut.
Thanks for all the advice.

 

[smirking]

The battery performs admirably. I don't think it's 11 years old. I think there's some sort of reporting error by Coconut.

I would put money on that. There is absolutely zero chance you have an 11 year old battery. If you need any more convincing, do this. Dig out the oldest smartphone you have in your collection. Hopefully it'll be something relatively ancient like a BlackBerry 8700. Amazing, you can probably still find batteries for it on eBay and you may even find new never opened batteries too. They'll be like 8 years old or so. Buy one, charge it, and turn on your fossil with a screen. See how long it lasts. You'll be lucky if you even get 25% of it's stated battery life after that thing has been sitting on a shelf for that long. It may not even turn on. Li-ion batteries decay even if you don't use them.