Apple Wireless Keyboard Eating Batteries

Yes, the new keyboard solved the issue.

Believe me, I tried everything suggested on the board, plus an hour working with the tech, trying things, some repeats from the board, some entirely new things.

When I took the keyboard in, the tech at the Apple Store pulled up the case notes and HE tried several things. He put new batteries in and put the keyboard on his computer to see if he could replicate the issue. When I called him the next day, he had, indeed needed to replace the batteries first thing in the morning.

A lot of the things on this board were good ideas, but I also think there are a lot of coincidences. For instance, several people mentioned they had the issue after upgrading the OS. I had several OS updates and never any problem with my keyboard. Several mentioned the issue after adding or changing I/O devices. I had added several BT mice over the years, cameras with BT transfer and I work on a Cintique tablet in unison with the keyboard. As mentioned, I never had an issue. The issue just suddenly began.

My advice to you is to go ahead and purchase the KB and micro mouse. There are kazillions out there that don't have this problem. It seem like more here because we are concentrated. Personally, I have had Apple products since 1978, starting with an Apple II GS. I have worked my way through a Mac+, Performas, Mac Pros - tower and laptops - and currently own a Pro Tower, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air (built all the way to max), and iPad Mini and just recently, my first iPhone. If over that period (eon? era?) I have had an issue with a single keyboard - which Apple resolved - it surely would NOT put me off purchasing another keyboard or mouse. Go for it.

I have been a dedicated Apple user since 1988. I have owned almost every kind of Mac. Around 2000, I purchased an eMac (white, looked kinda like an egg with the front half cut off, weighed a virtual ton) BECAUSE it had a wireless mouse and keyboard. Within a year and after many calls to Apple b/c the mouse and keyboard devoured rechargeable batteries, I simply gave up and pulled in an old keyboard from an old purple Imac, which remaining working like a charm.

Fast forward to December 2012...purchased from Apple a refurbished, huge screen (no more bifocals needed AND Intel Core) iMac with wireless mouse and keyboard. Beautiful. Love it. Even purchased the Apple charger and batteries. Way too cool. The extended Apple warranty is a great investment.

Last June the batteries did not seem to last as long as they had in the past six/seven months. By August, Apple batteries recharged in my Apple battery charger did not last six hours of use. Purchased other brands of batteries--no luck. Family issues kept life challenging until recently. So, I called Apple.

Bottom line--the Apple Rep suggested I take the wired keyboard from my ancient purple iMac and use it on my sweet, new, what 27" screen iMac. WHAT????????? C'mon. The Rep and I have exchanged calls the past several days; after our chat last evenng, he'll be calling me back again in a couple of days.

Do not invest in the Apple battery charger. Unlike most Apple products, the charger itself does not have the famous Apple logo on it ("Apple" is in small text blahblah on the charger--no logo). The Apple batteries have neither the famous logo or the word "Apple".

Will someone at Apple please let us know what battery charger and batteries Apple recommends? Certainly you, Apple, have know for a decade there is a problem with batteries and your wireless keyboards and mouse...mice. Help.

Has this been solved? I currently have the Magic mouse and a wired Apple keyboard and would like to buy a wireless keyboard.

URGENT: Do go and GET A NEW Apple wireless keyboard. Mine was a new keyboard, started to fail after a month or so. Some of them just seem to be faulty. I did get mine replaced and it SOLVED THE ISSUE COMPLETELY. Same OS, same chargable batteries, same magic mouse. It was just the keyboard that was faulty! They tried it out at the store and the same **** happened there. I got a new one and everything has been wonderful since (6 months).

Nothing to solve... If you buy a new wireless keyboard then there's a 99% plus chance you'll be fine for ages, maybe years.... but you might be unlucky and it develop the battery eating fault. In which case it's not usually repairable by software.... you just need to buy a new one.

Well, I received a replacement keyboard and mouse (and returned to Apple the two that were less than a year in use). For more than a week I have used the new keyboard and mouse--both behaving just as an Apple product should. I have interchanged batteries (batteries charged by charger sold by Apple--Apple-not charger/batteries: see Oct. 15 comment above) and with new Duracell rechargeable--leaving the screen and mouse ON ovenight at least 2 days with each type of batteries. The "old" keyboard and mouse I returned to Apple would NOT last overnight one night with the charged Apple batteries--keyboard and mouse would not last an afternoon. Now, with the new keyboard and mouse, those Apple-not batteries do seem to work properly. I concur with dance-addict; get a new wirelesss keyboard and mouse, if you find things getting wonky. I believed it was the Apple-not batteries, but now I believe something was just wrong inside the keyboard/mouse I returned.

Finally, always buy the extended warranty from Apple. Apple is not the appliance store down the road or a big box store. Back to the days of calling SOS-APPLE, the Apple service is excelent--and even sweeter the second year.

I think it has been resolved. Read through recent comments.

Same Problem , seemed to be lots worse after Mavericks install .

Mac PRO 5,1 Xeon Tower 32GBram / SSD .

Apple Keyboard 2 battery type .

Apple Magic TouchPad.

New Rechargables made zero difernce.

Both draining batteries like mad , and connection reconnection issues.

I already have an external Bluetooth ant on the PCI slot.

Zapped PRAM command.

Removed Bluetooth keyboard from BT Prefs reconnected.

No change.

Is there a solution here somewhere?

kenspocket1 wrote:

Is there a solution here somewhere?

No, not really. Except buying a new one.

Are you able to read the bluwtrsalcomment from September 27th and through to your problem. It seems yours might be a problem resolved at an Apple store. I am sorry, but I believe this is a known issue at Apple. If you purchased your items from Apple, do you still have time on your guarantee? Did you buy extended coverage? (always buy the additional year...everything has updating issues).

Since receiving my new keyboard (no touchpad here) and new mouse, everything regarding the battery issue stopped. Even the so-called Apple batteries and so-called Apple charger are back to working properly, just like new--lasting almost two months of long, daily service. Soooo, conclusion in my case--it was the keyboard and mouse. (Even experimenting with local box store's costly batteries was futile...did not last more than a couple of days with the original keyboard and mouse.)

Here's hoping the two continue to work properly forever. My Apple Extended coverage ends around the end of next Nov/early Dec. A trip to an Apple store for me is more than two hours. Hope your Apple store is closer. Good luck.

Hi thanks for your reply , I dont think that is completely true.

New update confirming issue is not the actual Keyboard hardware .

It is 100% the battery monitor software.

And 100% apples fault .

Not happy ,

5 years ago , I had nothing but Praise for apple ,

now with my £7k investment I'm not so sure I made the right choices.

Apple have in effect broken all wireless keyboards / devices that are out of warranty.

So In effect no more buying a used keyboard etc as a secondary etc ,

they will all be affected by apples drivers. "Sounds more like HP" than apple.

The driver controls the keyboard / device battery report.

100% tested and works :-

Macpro 5,1 Mavericks reports keyboard batteries Low , Constant Nagging. "STFU!!".

Check in System Prefs KB , reports 19% etc .

Remove battery lid , wait for disconnect.

Replace battery lid only , reconnect 99% battery level.

Apple are releasing shameful software with Lion , M Lion and now Mavericks , leaving each broken in some way and a full reinstall needed to "Upgrade" to the possibly new we all hope working version?..

i.e look at console on a new Maverick install on first login it is simply broken.

FCPX & Logic Pro X - Apple ditch industry standard software and its user base and replace it with including the Lack of any 32bit plugin support running back since at least 2005 for intel plugs and then junk it full again of bugs that it "All software" cant be used even on a High end MacPro tower with 32GB ram.

FCPX is like learning to skate on the surface of a balloon without popping it.

It is 100% Software and 100% Apples fault.

I have no respect for Apple anymore as Totally fight against my computer daily to accomplish any task as it stands, and now even typing on the keyboard is costing me hours of down time..

Solution , install Snow Leopard , Final cut 7 / Logic Pro 9 / or a supported AVID / Protools configuration.

Forget about anything new as it is a waste of time and money / or does not work.

In my experience if it does not work out of the box , it never will.

The End.

I will be calling Apple in the next 5 mins , to demand they Post me a new Keyboard and Magic trackpad ,

free of charge. Im not willing to go to a store at this point , they can mail it to me.

The Keyboard has disconnected and reconnected at least 7 times while writting this.

I feel your frustration, Ken. The connect/disconnect issue was just one of the maddening issues. Apple's customer service has always been excellent. In your position, I'd meditate about 15 minutes, then call Apple. Begin call with "I have an awful problem and am counting on you to help me." Good luck, Ken.

Hey Hi its actauly LEN , kenspocket the band / artist.

Same story here --->

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2792691?answerId=24049036022#24049036022

Meditation - thanks it helped.

oh **** the dreaded stuck return key Lags while typing ............

I give up . .

I would suggest the same thing. But don't hold your breath thinking the solution they offer will correct the problem permanently, Ken.

After replacing my previous iMac with a new 21" model, I experienced a full range of problems — though a majority seemed to be related to the mouse, which was feasting on batteries as though they were its "Last Supper." Eventually one senior support advisor arranged for a replacement, but the "genius" in the Mac store who assisted me simply brought one out of a back room, removed the batteries and replaced them with the ones from my mouse and sent me home.

When that mouse started to have the same kinds of problems a few weeks later, another senior advisor scheduled another appointment for me with the geniuses, and that time they returned from the back room with the news that the mouse was defective. (At least they didn't insist I was imagining it.) So they replacd the mouse.

Guess what? A few weeks later (actually this week,) the same problem occurred with the new mouse (i.e., intermittent connectivity). Thinking it was a different "energy" problem, since I had just replaced existing batteries with freshly charged ones the previous night, another senior advisor scheduled an appointment at the Apple store for me. . . This time the genius assisting me found this mouse could not connect with the Mac in the store either; so she exchanged it for another nerw one.

When I got home, the new mouse not only immediately lost the connection, but when it finally started to work rebooted the Mac so it thought I was a new user — causing all the files and data on my Mac to disappear. Luckily I still had the wired mouse from my previouly "retired" Mac neaby, so was able to access my desktop, but still no data, including my log-in information.

Luckily I was able to contact Apple's support team by phone, and thanks to the wired mouse, and the efforts of two separate technicians (one "regular" and the second a "senior advisor") we were able to get my Mac back up and running without the need for major service.

But I would like someone to show me that there is no problem with Apple's Magic Mouse!!

I hope you have better luck, Ken . .. but if not, try to reach a senior advisor as quickly as you can, rather than waiting to have your call escalated.

Some time ago, someone fixed the problem of batteries prematurely going dead on his MacBook pro, by resetting the PRAM and power control unit (search for instruction on Apple). This 'fixed' my problem, but I have to do it about every three months. No one seemed to pay much attention to his suggestion, and just kept adding themselves to the list of people with the problem. Apple still needs to fix this (a user should not have to reset circuit boards to correct problems that shouldn't happen in the first place), but doing this has saved me a lot of grief. I'm sorry I couldn't find his post.

Also, I noticed that when my low-battery warning starts nagging me, If I just ignore it, and with light use or no use for a few hours, it won't bug me again for up to a week. No joy, though, for people who have to use their Mac heavily - just an observation. I believe this problem originates in the power control unit of the computer itself, which among other things controls the calibration and readback of battery voltage. I believe it's reporting low voltage when the batteries are perfectly fine (in other words, the Mac is not eating batteries, but falsely reading their voltage). I can take a "dead" battery out of my keyboard and run my portable shaver for a week of daily use.