Battery Not Charging when using pro apps

When your Mac is running a high processor load, it can draw more power than the AC adapter provides. I’ve seen my 16” MBP draw over 125 W. In that case, it’s using power from both the adapter and the battery, and when that happens the battery is not charging.

Make sure you’re connected directly to the 96 W adapter that came with your Mac. If you’re using a dock (e.g. as an easy way to connect multiple displays), most provide at best 87 W of power, many less than that (AFAIK, there’s only one that provides ≥96 W, a Targus 100 W dock). If you’re using a USB-C display for power, those typically provide 60 W at best, some much less.

Your computer performs best when connected to AC power. It can use the full output of the Power Adapter AND when doing especially challenging work will also freely "borrow" power from the battery. In some cases, the charged state may even decline during stressful work.

When used only on battery, your computer has no extra cushion of power, and will perform more slowly. However, for ordinary non-stressful tasks this may not be objectionable (possibly not even noticeable.)

In general, you should ALWAYS connect AC power when it is possible to do so, and only run on batteries (which will be somewhat slower) when no AC sources are at hand. There are three micro-controllers cooperating on battery and charging issues, and your Mac will NEVER over-charge.

A charge cycle is ever-so-slightly destructive to batter longevity. When operating as designed (and not using Battery Health Management) battery charge level is allowed to decline to about 92 percent level before initiating a recharge cycle to top up to about 99 percent.

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Catalina software 10.15.5 for MacBook Pro with T2 chip (2016 models and later) includes a new feature called Battery Health Management. Based on your usage patterns, this widens the hysteresis to initiate a charge cycle at a lower level, and stop before 99 percent.

About battery health management in Mac notebooks - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211094

This relaxes the set points around re-charging (based on your usage patterns) and can improve long term battery lifetimes. When active, recharging may stop short of 100 percent charged.

It can use the full output of the Power Adapter AND when doing especially challenging work will also freely "borrow" power from the battery. In some cases, the charged state may even decline during stressful work.

SkyEyePravin wrote:

I asked apple for help & they told me to reset the SMC: this did not work in my favour.

My local apple store said that they were unable to recreate the issue & reinstalled the OS: this too did not work in my favour.

What should I do now?

I wrote in my post that resetting the SMC had no effect

You can try again, I would do this reset no less than 3 times in a row to elicit a change.

If you had the notebook in for evaluation— and Apple found no issues, I do not know what you expect to gain here.

—send it back in

—sell it

—trade it in

You only have 14 days to return for a full refund or exchange . After that is falls under a warranty repair.

In or out of warranty you can get a free over the counter 'Apple Service Diagnostics' test /assessment

Make an appointment for a "hardware issue"—

https://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

Outside the USA

https://locate.apple.com/country

From iOS device using the app to make a online Genius Bar appointment is easy: 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/apple-support/id1130498044?mt=8

(note: due to the temporary closure of Apple Stores and the staggered reopening there may be some delays.

 ref: https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/store/temporary_closures )

 Mac notebook, contact us and we'll send you a box you can use to ship it to an Apple Repair Center. We'll return your repaired product to you as quickly as possible. Depending on where you get service, you might be able to check the status of your repair online. Start a service request https://support.apple.com/mac/repair/service

Call Customer Support  (800) MY–APPLE (800–692–7753) 

or on line  https://getsupport.apple.com/

or call  AppleCare Support at 1-800-APLCARE (800-275-2273)

Get your Mac ready for service - Apple Support   https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209095

SkyEyePravin wrote:

I have a 2019 16" MBP, core i7, 16GB ram, 4GB graphics, 500GB SSD.

When I am using this machine during my video editing, music production, & 3D modelling workflows, my machine ceases to charge, even when plugged in. The battery goes into "Batter Not Charging" even when plugged into the adapter.

I use the following programs:

Agisoft MetaShape

Final Cut Pro

Logic Pro

Affinity Designer

I asked apple for help & they told me to reset the SMC: this did not work in my favour.

My local apple store said that they were unable to recreate the issue & reinstalled the OS: this too did not work in my favour.

What should I do now? I am currently using the machine with AgiSoft Metashape & it is plugged in but not charging.

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

If you were to disable the new feature, it would go back to the old way of what you are expecting to see.

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

especially:

My battery runtime is low

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

Batteries - Maximizing Performance - Apple

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

Determine battery cycle count for Mac notebooks

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201585

SkyEyePravin wrote:

STOP CHARGING when using apple's own apps like final cut. It does not seem correct.

You can always try resetting the  SMC  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295