battery is draining while plugged-in

A Troubleshooting Procedure that may Fix Problems with macOS El Capitan or Later

You should try each, one at a time, then test to see if the problem is fixed before going on to the next.

    If possible, backup your files before proceeding.

1. Shutdown the computer and disconnect all third-party peripherals.
2. Wait 30 seconds before you restart the computer.
3. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
4. Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)
5. Reset your Startup Disk and Sound preferences, if needed, after resetting the PRAM.
6. Test in safe mode to see if the problem persists, then restart normally.  Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac and Playing Safe - what does Safe mode do?
7. Repair the disk by booting from the Recovery HD. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Utility Menu appears. Choose Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list.  Click on the First Aid button in the toolbar. Wait for the Done button to appear. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu. Restart the computer from the Apple Menu.
8. Repair permissions on the Home folder: Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder.
9. Create a New User Account Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and enter your Admin password when prompted. On the left under Current User click on the Add [+] button under Login Options. Setup a new Admin user account. Upon completion log out of your current account then log into the new account. If your problems cease, then consider switching to the new account and transferring your files to it - Transferring files from one User Account to another.
10. Download and Install the macOS Catalina 10.15.5 Combo Update.
11. Reinstall OS X by booting from the Recovery HD using the Command and R keys. When the Utility Menu appears select Install OS X then click on the Continue button.
12. Erase and Install OS X Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Apple logo appears. When the Utility Menu appears:

     1. Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on the Continue button.

     2. When Disk Utility loads select the drive (out-dented entry) from the Device list.

     3. Click on the Erase button in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.

     4. Set the Format type to APFS (for SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)

     5. Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.

     6. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.

     7. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.

windinwind wrote:

Batter started draining while plugged-in even when there was no significant use of any apps. It happened several days after i upgraded to Catalina 10.15.5. Any suggestions ? My mac is 2019, relatively new.Thanks!

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The new normal

macOS Catalina 10.15.5 introduces battery health management, a feature designed to improve the lifespan of your Mac notebook's battery.

The Battery Health button appears in >SystemPreferences>Energy Saver —this feature is limited to Mac laptops with Thunderbolt 3 ports. That equates to all MacBook Pro models released since late 2016 and the Retina-capable MacBook Air models released since 2018.

About battery health management in Mac notebooks https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211094

I contacted Apple support about this issue, and it’s not part of the battery management feature. They informed me that the battery isn’t supposed to drain down to 85%. In fact, this would only serve to shorten battery life by running it through Unnecessary cycles.

Support also recommended steps 1 and 2 from the troubleshooting measures outlined above.

Yes.

I took my MBP to the apple store where they did the same thing and not even 24 hours after that, the same thing happened.

my MBA 2019 has the same issue stared after the new update of macOs as windwind said. brought my macbook to the apple service centre, they have changed the motherboard and power board and they reset my macbook completely. but still i have the same issue and really disappointed.

And i found this https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT211094?cid=mc-ols-energy_saver-article_ht211094-macos_ui-04022020

I also have this issue. My issue also started after updating to 10.15.5, so I suspect there's a software issue in the new update. I subsequently installed the supplemental update to 10.15.5, but nothing changed.

For me, about once a day, the battery will drain down to around 86% before starting to charge back up.

I have a suspicion this is related to the new battery management tool that is supposed to maximize our batteries' lives. I like the idea of that feature, but I'm going to see if the problem persists while that feature is turned off. Hopefully, Apple will find and address this issue in time.

I've performed several of the troubleshooting steps, but so far nothing has solved the issue. When I contacted apple support, they gave me steps 1 and 2 to try. I've also reinstalled OS. Shortly, I will try the disk repair utility from the recovery mode.

Please reply and let me know if you've tried any of these and they worked, or if you have any other insight into the issue. I'm happy to read I'm not the only one with this issue.