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Shocking - My macbook pro battery is left with 179mAh of maximum charge

K

kitrenot

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 18, 2014
3
0
Guys, I'm shocked
My macbook pro battery is left with 179mAh of maximum charge!
It stays at most 5 minutes without charged in.

I wonder if this is something that normally happens after 3 years of usage ?

I mean the laptop has been doing fine until almost a month ago, then I started extensively sleep and wake my laptop up and I realized my clock is constantly showing the wrong time.

My questions is it time to change my laptop battery ? or there is a fix for this ?

P.S. my MBP is early 2011
current battery cycle is 411
 
kitrenot said:
Guys, I'm shocked
My macbook pro battery is left with 179mAh of maximum charge!
It stays at most 5 minutes without charged in.

I wonder if this is something that normally happens after 3 years of usage ?

I mean the laptop has been doing fine until almost a month ago, then I started extensively sleep and wake my laptop up and I realized my clock is constantly showing the wrong time.

My questions is it time to change my laptop battery ? or there is a fix for this ?

P.S. my MBP is early 2011
current battery cycle is 411
Click to expand...

411 battery cycle is not too bad considering that Apple says it can take 1000 cycle before dying. take the laptop to apple store and ask for a volume correction service.
 
kitrenot said:
Guys, I'm shocked
My macbook pro battery is left with 179mAh of maximum charge!
It stays at most 5 minutes without charged in.

I wonder if this is something that normally happens after 3 years of usage ?

I mean the laptop has been doing fine until almost a month ago, then I started extensively sleep and wake my laptop up and I realized my clock is constantly showing the wrong time.

My questions is it time to change my laptop battery ? or there is a fix for this ?

P.S. my MBP is early 2011
current battery cycle is 411
Click to expand...
I have a 2011 model with 900 something charges with 80 percent battery remaining. Your battery seems to have a flaw.
 
kitrenot said:
Guys, I'm shocked
My macbook pro battery is left with 179mAh of maximum charge!
It stays at most 5 minutes without charged in.

I wonder if this is something that normally happens after 3 years of usage ?

I mean the laptop has been doing fine until almost a month ago, then I started extensively sleep and wake my laptop up and I realized my clock is constantly showing the wrong time.

My questions is it time to change my laptop battery ? or there is a fix for this ?

P.S. my MBP is early 2011
current battery cycle is 411
Click to expand...

The battery has clearly failed, I'd expect Apple to charge for it given its age. Cycle count low or not but worth asking.
 
But 5 mins for a battery with 411 cycles passed is not that normal. To me it seems there is another reason for the batteries death. My 2011 17" MBP runs about 2 hours after its 816 cycles...
 
airlied said:
411 battery cycle is not too bad considering that Apple says it can take 1000 cycle before dying
Click to expand...

No, Apple says that it should be at least 80% of the capacity after 1000 cycles. That said, cycles is only one part of the equation, age is the other one. I would not accept this on a 12 month old battery, but a three years old one is a different matter.

BTW, this clearly illustrates why taking extra care of battery is pointless :D
 
Mine is at 90.5% capacity after 3yrs 2mths and 751 cycles. His has certainly failed internally I would suspect, but due to its age I'd expect it to be a chargeable repair as they are still a consumable item.
 
Regardless of the cycles, it does sound like the battery needs to be replaced.
 
Do you leave it plugged in, by any chance..? My battery died because I always left it plugged in. I apparently needed to let it drain to within 10% at least once a month.
 
My early 2011 has ~500 cycles and lasts 4.5 hours. I think yours has a problem and should be replaced.
 
Dekard said:
Do you leave it plugged in, by any chance..? My battery died because I always left it plugged in. I apparently needed to let it drain to within 10% at least once a month.
Click to expand...

The computer does this automatically now. The charging system will manage the battery health for you, even if you leave it plugged in all the time - it will periodically allow the battery to drain and top it off if you don't use it away from the charger all that often.

Also deep discharging a lithium ion battery is not needed (i.e., to within 10% capacity). Discharging to about half and then back up is the best way to maximise life, but even so, the modern lithium batteries Apple uses can pretty much be used without thinking about them (i.e., you're not going to hurt it much by using it however you like unless you're doing something really odd like using it at very high or very low temperatures).
 
joe-h2o said:
The computer does this automatically now. The charging system will manage the battery health for you, even if you leave it plugged in all the time - it will periodically allow the battery to drain and top it off if you don't use it away from the charger all that often.



Also deep discharging a lithium ion battery is not needed (i.e., to within 10% capacity). Discharging to about half and then back up is the best way to maximise life, but even so, the modern lithium batteries Apple uses can pretty much be used without thinking about them (i.e., you're not going to hurt it much by using it however you like unless you're doing something really odd like using it at very high or very low temperatures).
Click to expand...


Do you have a source for this?
 
markyr17 said:
Do you have a source for this?
Click to expand...

Not directly, but if you leave your MBP connected to power for long periods you'll see it doing this - the machine will switch to battery power despite being plugged in, then the battery will begin to charge again when you hit about 95%.

Apple themselves still suggest a monthly cycle (https://www.apple.com/uk/batteries/notebooks.html) but the charge system will intervene if you don't do this.

Deep discharging lithium batteries is just part of their chemistry - they don't react well to it at all. To protect them, 0% battery on the dial is not actually as low as they can go, but it's pretty low - they live longer at half charge as long as you keep them within the normal temperature range.
 
Yes that is normal after 3 years of usage.

I found this on the interwebs.

"With your new battery, some things to remember about Li cells:

1. They decay from birth, whether used or not.
2. Long periods of static storage (i.e. no discharging or charging) will accelerate the rate of decay
3. partial discharges and charges will not harm a Li cell, and in fact are the optimal way to use them for maximum useful life span.
4. Deep cycling (running until the machine auto-shuts down) are only useful for calibrating the battery meter in the desktop menu bar. They do nothing to aid the battery itself, and in fact are the worst way to use a Li cell as they take a greater toll on the battery than multiple partial cycles (so only full cycle occasionally, to re-calibrate the battery meter)."

:apple:

kitrenot said:
Guys, I'm shocked
My macbook pro battery is left with 179mAh of maximum charge!
It stays at most 5 minutes without charged in.

I wonder if this is something that normally happens after 3 years of usage ?

I mean the laptop has been doing fine until almost a month ago, then I started extensively sleep and wake my laptop up and I realized my clock is constantly showing the wrong time.

My questions is it time to change my laptop battery ? or there is a fix for this ?

P.S. my MBP is early 2011
current battery cycle is 411
Click to expand...
 
Dekard said:
Do you leave it plugged in, by any chance..? My battery died because I always left it plugged in. I apparently needed to let it drain to within 10% at least once a month.
Click to expand...

Yes I always leave it plugged in, the thing is the battery still last for about 3-4 hours last month. But it suddenly dropped to 179mAh recently, which shocked me :D

I will drain the battery frequently with the new battery thanks for your advice.

Oh and btw I also happened to plug a cooling fan in my MBP since last year, is this also the reason for the battery failure ?
 
joe-h2o said:
Not directly, but if you leave your MBP connected to power for long periods you'll see it doing this - the machine will switch to battery power despite being plugged in, then the battery will begin to charge again when you hit about 95%.

Apple themselves still suggest a monthly cycle (https://www.apple.com/uk/batteries/notebooks.html) but the charge system will intervene if you don't do this.
Click to expand...

Apple recently updated their battery info and no longer recommends intentionally discharging the battery for any reason. The non-US battery info pages don't seem to have been updated yet.

"With lithium-ion batteries, the capacity diminishes slightly with each complete charge cycle."
www.apple.com/batteries
 
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