Battery discharges while being plugged in at 100% / Battery draining while plugged in

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Level 1

27 points

Battery discharges while being plugged in at 100% / Battery draining while plugged in

Hi Apple Forum,

I have a "problem" with my battery, or maybe a bad user experience. I have the new MacBook Pro 2020 13 inch with 2 Thunderbolt ports.

This is the following environment where the issue appears:

MacBook is charged to 100%
MacBook is plugged in and fully charged (original Apple Charging Cable)
normal usage / just web browsing or watching youtube videos

Now, I open the MacBook Pro, battery is fully charged and plugged in. I start using the laptop and after some time, the battery charge starts to continously decrease. Obviously first 99%... 98%... 97%.... 96%... and so on until approximately 90%. While this is happening, it shows me in the top bar that the battery icon is still fully charged. I then click on it and it shows "Battery is not charging" and power supply through charging cable.

At 90% it randomly starts to reload the MacBook again up to 100%. While the battery is losing charge, I tried to unplug and replug for it to start charging again, but it didnt help. I switched the sockets and that didn't help either. I restarted the laptop and resetted the SMC. Nothing helped. I always wondered if this is something apple intentionally implemented to "keep the battery healthy". While this is making sense, it looks very confusing to me as a user.

They published an article stating that the battery may stop charging at 93% or more. But with my case, the battery is actually discharging from 100% to 90%. Which is kind of confusing to me, since I am not doing any heavy tasks or so on.

With my MacBook Pro from 2010 I had the experience that when my laptop is plugged in at 100% and I am using it, it stays at 100% and thats what I like to see actually. I attached one photo (in German) showing the "issue".

I have heard something about the newly implemented battery health system but I just want to be sure why this is happening.

Maybe any MacBook Pro 2010 user have experienced the same or wondered about it too. I haven't found any specific topics about this.

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Jun 29, 2020 12:55 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

leroydouglas

Community+ 2024

Level 10

188,640 points

Jun 30, 2020 6:46 AM in response to Daavidd

Daavidd wrote:

• Hi Apple Forum,

I have a "problem" with my battery, or maybe a bad user experience. I have the new MacBook Pro 2020 13 inch with 2 Thunderbolt ports.

This is the following environment where the issue appears:

MacBook is charged to 100%

• MacBook is plugged in and fully charged (original Apple Charging Cable)

• normal usage / just web browsing or watching youtube videos

This is 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

you can read more:

https://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/#macbooktips

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Answer 2

Daavidd Author

Level 1

27 points

Jun 30, 2020 8:00 AM in response to leroydouglas

leroydouglas wrote:

This is 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

you can read more:

https://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/#macbooktips

Thanks for the reply. Is this exact behavior described somewhere in detail? I have only read very general things about the new battery health management. What may be describing our experience is this: "Based on the measurements that it collects, battery health management may reduce your battery's maximum charge when in this mode."

This could mean, that if at 100%, the Battery Health Management (BHM) intentionally decreases the maximum charge from 100% to 90%. But if this was written somewhere, stating this behavior, it would clarify a lot for us.

In the other post I linked, the author said the issue didn't occur again after disabling the BHM feature. Can someone approve this? This would then also add to the assumption that this comes from the BHM.

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Answer 3

Jul 2, 2020 8:57 AM in response to Daavidd

Let me add— even pre Catalina macOS

Additionally you can read:

My battery won't charge to 100%

Occasionally, the battery might not show a full charge (100%) in macOS, even after the power adapter has been connected for an extended period of time. The battery might appear to stop charging between 93 percent and 99 percent. This behavior is normal and will help to prolong the overall life of the battery.

About Mac notebook batteries

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204054

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Answer 4

armatta

Level 1

21 points

Jul 4, 2020 1:24 PM in response to Daavidd

Hello,

I'm not exactly sure this is an issue. More like a battery management thing, try turning off Battery health management in Settings > Energy Saver > Battery Health to see if this "issue" still persists.

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

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Answer 5

armatta

Level 1

21 points

Jul 4, 2020 1:25 PM in response to Daavidd

Hello,

I'm not exactly sure this is an issue. More like a battery management thing, try turning off Battery health management in Settings > Energy Saver > Battery Health to see if this "issue" still persists.

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

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Answer 6

Daavidd Author

Level 1

27 points

Jul 4, 2020 1:46 PM in response to armatta

Hi, yes we had people experiencing "normal" battery behavior with BHM disabled and some reported they still had the same experience with the discharging.

What I experienced of the BHM as well, is the behavior that is described in the Apple post. I started charging my 2020 MBP at 96/95% and it actually showed me: "Battery is charged". This is clearly described by Apple in their post, so this doesn't scare me or concerns me at all (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204054). But they do not specifically talk about the discharging behavior. Which is concerting many people, as everyone can see in the forums and in this thread.

I will try this now: (and maybe you guys want to try it too) next time I see the discharging happening again, I will turn off the BHM while it is doing it. Unplugging and plugging back in did not trigger the MBP to charge again, maybe turning off the BHM will. This would strongly suggest that it is a BHM thing. I will keep you all posted.

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Answer 7

Daavidd Author

Level 1

27 points

Jun 29, 2020 3:04 PM in response to itsame_mario

Hi itsame_mario,

for real I am relieved to read this. You exactly describe my issue. I simply don't understand why there is no clarification. If this is meant to be, Apple should know that this battery behavior will worry the user!!

The fact that a lot of people have this issue, make me believe that this might be intentional. Btw, my MBP is in Germany / German version. So it's an intercontinental "issue".

Currently the issue appears as of my research on the following MBPs, all running with the current Battery Health Managment:

15” MBP 2019
13" MacBook Pro 2019
MBP Late 2018
13" MBP 2020

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Answer 8

Jul 6, 2020 3:33 AM in response to itsame_mario

I spoke to Apple support just now.

I explained the situation and asked if the whole "discharging to ~90% and then recharging" thing was BHM at work.

Here's a screenshot:

I then asked jokingly (as I did in this thread as well) if it was like a car in storage that you're supposed to start every now and then. Here's what he said:

I still think this should have been communicated officially but personally, that confirmation of what some of us had already assumed in this thread is enough for me.

I hope that helps :)

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Answer 9

Jun 29, 2020 2:51 PM in response to Daavidd

I'm seeing the same thing on my MacBook Pro 13" 2020.

I charged it to 100% overnight and left it plugged in while using it. Battery charge slowly ticks down to about 90%, then charges again.

While I'm (somewhat) relieved I'm not the only one experiencing this issue, it is still worrying to see :(

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Answer 10

Jun 30, 2020 6:46 AM in response to Daavidd

Not commenting on whether this behaviour is correct or not, but the description of your experience is IDENTICAL to my 2019 13" MacBook Pro.

My old 2014 15" MacBook Pro would stay at 100% all the time if I left it plugged in. Not sure why the current generation would lose charge even when it's plugged in all the time...

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Answer 11

Jun 30, 2020 1:33 PM in response to Daavidd

I decided to just try it tonight - so I turned off the new Battery Health Management :D

Plugged the laptop in, watched it go up to 100% and that's where it's been sitting all evening, no dips down to anything below 100%.

It seems pretty safe to say it's the BHM at work we're seeing here.

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Answer 12

Jun 30, 2020 2:21 PM in response to Daavidd

I have the same issue, 2 days in a row on new mbp 2020 13 inch, while being

plugged in battery starts to go down, (has happened every day at about 24 hours

since the last time)

if you do a smc reset, this then puts the laptop back onto mains power.

(should not have to do this all time)?

I have not let it go down to 90% to see if then it starts to charge the

battery again as its on mains, spoke to apple and they HAVE NOT MADE ME AWARE

THAT IT SHOULD BE DOING THIS?

so i am not sure what’s going on, spending lots of ££

have you spoke to Apple?

thank you

ANY ONE have any advice or should this be the correct behaviour of the mbp

2020??

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Answer 13

Daavidd Author

Level 1

27 points

Jul 1, 2020 12:43 AM in response to Aphexking

Hi Aphexking, could you try to let it run down until it starts charging itself again? It should be at 90% as with me.

Yes, I spoke to Apple several times, but they didn't point me in the BHM direction by themselves. I had to ask them about it and the person said "yes, it could be".

Hoenstly, I don't want to rely on a could be. I paid a lot of Euros here in Germany (19% Tax...) and I want to know exactly if my MBP is behaving like it shouldn't. If this turns out to be a problem in the long run, they wont help me.

While talking to the Support they only said: try using another USB-C cable, try resetting SMC, try restarting. Ultimately, they might just call you in to the Apple Store and probably the issue doesn't occur at that exact time. So you will have to walk off with nothing.

Maybe you can try to let it run down to the point when it is charging again (for me 90% and it just randomly switches). Or disable the BHM and see if it reoccurs.

Nevertheless, we need a statement from an Apple Specialist/Employee or even an FAQ stating that this exact behavior is intentional!!! It just doesn't feel good to see that, while spending a lot of money €$...

I mean Apple can see how many people get freaked out by that behavior!! It is just weird to see that your MBP is not charging and actually discharging itself. This will always be a topic people will ask about, so Apple must clarify this.

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Answer 14

Jul 1, 2020 12:47 AM in response to Daavidd

I AGREE with you, a lot of money I have spent as well on my first MacBook, I will keep you posted, I will leave current settings as they are and see if this happens for 3rd day in a row, I will not reset it, I will see if it start charging when it gets to 90 per cent like your findings, I will keep you posted, if you hear anything then please let me know, many thanks

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Answer 15

Jul 1, 2020 1:38 AM in response to Daavidd

I also spoke to Apple Support about the identical experience I have/had (battery level oscillating between 90-100% when AC is always plugged-in, battery is not charging between 90-100%, SMC reset not fix it...etc). The customer service mentioned nothing about the BHM feature and arranged for me to send in my MacBook Pro for repair. I sent it in and only to have it returned to me one day after service centre received it with a note "can not reproduce the charging problem" and "passed all diagnostic tests"....

The evidence seems to support that this is the new/current charging behaviour, it was just a bit curious that Apple Support didn't advise me about the BHM feature and wanted me to have the MacBook Pro checked by their service centre when I approached them about this issue.

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Battery discharges while being plugged in at 100% / Battery draining while plugged in

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