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Daavidd Author

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

Top-ranking reply

leroydouglas

Community+ 2024

Level 10

188,706 points

Posted on Jun 30, 2020 6:46 AM

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

View in context

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59 replies

Daavidd Author

Level 1

27 points

Jul 1, 2020 2:11 AM in response to Rusty5390

Thats the exact problem, Rusty. I think the internal communication within Apple doesn't work either, so the Apple Support doesn't even know which effects the BHM has on the charging behavior.

They will recognize the urgency, after sending many laptops back without having any problems or all the people calling/chatting the support. These expenses will show them, they need to clarify it in more detail.

Jul 1, 2020 10:07 AM in response to Daavidd

Well today, 3rd day in row at same time, it seems to take battery to go down to about 88 per cent and then it decided to charge so maybe this is the norm but want to know for sure, thanks all for input as not changed any battery settings - has any one changed setting to see if it does the same ?

thanks for help everyone

Jul 1, 2020 1:22 PM in response to Aphexking

I'd previously disabled BHM to see what would happen (see my most recent post: battery stayed at 100%) and tonight I turned BHM back on again.

After a restart, the battery is once again slowly draining despite the laptop being plugged in.

My first thought was that it almost seems a little like how you're supposed to start a car in storage every now and then to make sure it doesn't die and gets some "exercise" rather than just letting it sit there.

Jokes aside, it really does seem like it's the BHM - and I agree that some clearer communication would have been/would be great.

Jul 1, 2020 1:28 PM in response to itsame_mario

so you think this is ok for a new Mac, nothing to worry about as Apple support have given no answers, does you start to charge when it gets down to 88-90 per cent again?

my Mac is 6 days old and want to make sure its ok?

thanks again

Jul 1, 2020 1:48 PM in response to Aphexking

I can't guarantee anything, of course, but personally, I'm kinda relieved to see the correlation between turning BHM off/on and the battery behavior changing.

I read a bunch of other forums (via google search, can't remember the names) and people seemed to come to the same conclusion everywhere. That is what gave me the idea to try turning BHM off in the first place.

My Mac isn't massively older than yours and it does the same thing - down to ~90% before charging again. I can tell you, I was pretty worried I'd have to get it replaced a week after buying it.

My partner's Mac (not even a month old) does it too. So it does seem to be normal at the very least.

pmsardo

Level 1

4 points

Jul 2, 2020 4:45 AM in response to itsame_mario

I have disabled BHM and I continue to see the problem after disabling BHM. It seems that the problem is completely unrelated with BHM. I have a MBP2020 13 which now 1 month old.

When it starts discharging, the only way I found that to make sure it is recharging again is to put it in standby. After standby it typically (90% of the times) starts charging again. Otherwise the recharging is completely random...

Did anybody tried the new 10.15.6 beta to see if the problem is still there?

Jul 2, 2020 4:50 AM in response to pmsardo

I have spoken to Apple and I been told it should not be doing this. the battery on mains will not be damaged so should not need to drain and then go back onto charge on its own doing.

I have been told to put in safe mode - as my MacBook does it a the same time every afternoon, to see if it does it in safe mode.

if it does not do it in safe mode, I will then have to see if it does it on Friday while being plugged in.

I will keep you posted on this, please do the same,

thank you

Jul 2, 2020 8:02 AM in response to Aphexking

Interesting, Apple Support I spoke to also didn't lead me to the BHM direction. They wanted to have my MacBook Pro checked by their service centre. Unfortunately, that only resulted in the service centre returning the laptop to me as is shortly after as they couldn't find any fault.

The encounter feels a bit random and they don't seem to have a confident handle on this battery charging/not charging/BHM situation to provide the clarity we are looking for...

Jul 2, 2020 8:53 AM in response to Rusty5390

I have been told as in still occurred in safe mode,

Reinstall as new system, if this does not work to return as only 7 days old,

Has any one tried this wiping and starting again to see if it still occurs?

thank you

Daavidd Author

Level 1

27 points

Jul 2, 2020 9:02 AM in response to pmsardo

pmsardo wrote:

My experience is that this problem has nothing to do BHM. I have the problem with or without BHM being active.

Interestingly I hear this for the first time, that disabling the BHM did not help at all. We might need to get more people confirming your experience. Currently, I still see the correlation between the discharge and the BHM. Maybe Apple can clarify within this thread our experience.

We should still look at the exact environments this is occuring and when it stops/starts charging.

Daavidd Author

Level 1

27 points

Jul 2, 2020 9:13 AM in response to Aphexking

Aphexking wrote:

I have been told as in still occurred in safe mode,

Reinstall as new system, if this does not work to return as only 7 days old,

Has any one tried this wiping and starting again to see if it still occurs?

thank you

An interesting approach, though since currently most evidence points in the BHM direction, I don't think it will help. But if you want to try and let us know, I think everyone having that issue would be very thankful.

I see many people reporting about our exact issue in new posts. This will stay like this, if we don't get a feedback from Apple.

Jul 2, 2020 9:16 AM in response to Daavidd

SAFE MODE DID NOT WORK

I have been told to do a system reset, set up as opening for the first time, if it still occurs, been told hardware issue?

as I have been told today it should not be doing it when plugged in, I spoke to Apple on the phone on 2 occasions today.

cpk2y

Level 1

9 points

Jul 2, 2020 10:50 AM in response to Daavidd

Having the exact same problem. It can't be due to BHM, as I'm still running Mojave (10.14.6), which doesn't have any of the BHM features in System Preferences. Unless there's an additional level of battery management that isn't published. SMC reset immediately starts it charging again, but it's back to discharging down to 90% within a day.

Daavidd Author

Level 1

27 points

Jul 2, 2020 12:18 PM in response to cpk2y

It would be an interesting test if someone already has Big Sur access and could test if the issue still exists there. However, we can all agree probably that this issue started appearing 4-5 weeks ago? Or has anybody had that issue earlier or can link forum posts stating the identical behavior?

Maybe you could all confirm when it happend or you first saw this issue and new posts could include that in future replies - so we can dig in deeper in our analysis.

Jul 2, 2020 12:21 PM in response to Daavidd

I am sending back as other users I have asked on you tube and other message boards say their MacBook does not do with 2020 model and latest software so I give up after so many hours waster on phone, chat and trying everything with no joy

😢

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