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MacBook Pro battery runs down to 90% while plugged in

The purpose of me plugging in my Mac even though its at 100% is if I'm going to be doing a highly intensive cpu task and don't want to have all that stress on my battery. So I plug it in but after a short period of time the system runs it down to around 90% and then blasted back up to 100% but I don't want it draining my battery like that for the purpose of destroying it. I am aware that this is a battery management thing but its not going to do the battery any good in my case. Can I turn this function off? thank you.

Posted on Feb 4, 2021 3:34 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 4, 2021 4:52 AM

JackMBP19 wrote:

The purpose of me plugging in my Mac even though its at 100% is if I'm going to be doing a highly intensive cpu task and don't want to have all that stress on my battery. So I plug it in but after a short period of time the system runs it down to around 90% and then blasted back up to 100% but I don't want it draining my battery like that for the purpose of destroying it. I am aware that this is a battery management thing but its not going to do the battery any good in my case. Can I turn this function off? thank you.



Yes you can turn it off, >System Preferences>Battery>Deselect "Manage battery longevity".






This is the new normal to prolong battery life.


It learns your usage pattern and adapts appropriately, I have seen it hang at 72%, 84%, 90% depending.

From the BATT icon in the menu bar— you can click the charge now if you need to run up to 100% if needed.


It is preferred to leave on the mains, especially if you are doing CPU intensive work/external monitor etc—unless you need the portability— no harm in doing this.


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/“Battery” in the newer macOS —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.


With the release of macOS 11.0.1 Big Sur see >System Preferences>Battery


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




About Mac notebook batteries

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


Batteries - Maximizing Performance - Apple

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


About lithium-ion batteries

https://www.apple.com/batteries/why-lithium-ion/


Determine battery cycle count for Mac notebooks

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



3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 4, 2021 4:52 AM in response to leroydouglas

JackMBP19 wrote:

The purpose of me plugging in my Mac even though its at 100% is if I'm going to be doing a highly intensive cpu task and don't want to have all that stress on my battery. So I plug it in but after a short period of time the system runs it down to around 90% and then blasted back up to 100% but I don't want it draining my battery like that for the purpose of destroying it. I am aware that this is a battery management thing but its not going to do the battery any good in my case. Can I turn this function off? thank you.



Yes you can turn it off, >System Preferences>Battery>Deselect "Manage battery longevity".






This is the new normal to prolong battery life.


It learns your usage pattern and adapts appropriately, I have seen it hang at 72%, 84%, 90% depending.

From the BATT icon in the menu bar— you can click the charge now if you need to run up to 100% if needed.


It is preferred to leave on the mains, especially if you are doing CPU intensive work/external monitor etc—unless you need the portability— no harm in doing this.


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/“Battery” in the newer macOS —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.


With the release of macOS 11.0.1 Big Sur see >System Preferences>Battery


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




About Mac notebook batteries

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


Batteries - Maximizing Performance - Apple

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


About lithium-ion batteries

https://www.apple.com/batteries/why-lithium-ion/


Determine battery cycle count for Mac notebooks

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



Feb 4, 2021 4:41 AM in response to JackMBP19

JackMBP19 wrote:

The purpose of me plugging in my Mac even though its at 100% is if I'm going to be doing a highly intensive cpu task and don't want to have all that stress on my battery. So I plug it in but after a short period of time the system runs it down to around 90% and then blasted back up to 100% but I don't want it draining my battery like that for the purpose of destroying it. I am aware that this is a battery management thing but its not going to do the battery any good in my case. Can I turn this function off? thank you.



Yes this is the new normal to prolong battery life.


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/“Battery” in the newer macOS —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.


With the release of macOS 11.0.1 Big Sur see >System Preferences>Battery


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




MacBook Pro battery runs down to 90% while plugged in

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