Power source: Power adapter status greyed out when plugging (battery is fully charged)

My MacBook's battery died, and since I had urgent work to do, I couldn't wait for Apple to deliver a new battery, so I replaced it with a third-party battery. However, I noticed that the 'Power source: Power adapter' status was greyed out even though the adapter was still plugged in, and the battery was fully charged. I checked with a friend, and her status was not greyed out like mine. I am wondering if there is any problem with my charger, or if it is normal for it to be greyed out like that. I have attached some photos of the status when the charger is plugged and unplugged, as well as the battery health. Can you please help me understand what's going on? Thank you very much in advance! Here are my computer's specifications:



Plugging:

Unplugging:

Battery Health:


My computer's specs:





[Edited by Moderator]






MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 16, 2024 9:00 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 17, 2024 5:17 PM

If this only occurred after the installation of the third party battery, then either that battery is the cause, or you accidentally damaged something during the replacement since you would have needed to remove the Logic Board to replace the battery.


See if booting into Safe Mode makes any difference.


More than likely you have a bad battery. Unfortunately the quality of third party Lithium Batteries is extremely poor even when purchased from a reputable vendor such as OWC or iFixIt. These would be the only two vendors I would purchase a Lithium battery.


Or maybe the Logic Board is bad or was damaged during the battery replacement. I've seen a number of people post on this forum where they accidentally damaged the Logic Board (especially on the 15" model where everything has to be removed in order to remove the speakers to make it easier to remove the battery).


All things being equal, the battery is usually the weakest link assuming no accidental damage (physical or liquid).


Also: Did you calibrate this third party Lithium battery? Most of them require a calibration procedure by charging them to 100% and letting them sit at 100% charge for several hours. Then use the laptop until the battery charge level drops to 0% and automatically powers off, but do not use it for any intensive tasks since you want to just slowly discharge the battery. Reconnect the power adapter and let it charge to 100% again and let it sit there for several more hours. You should now be able to use the laptop normally. I doubt a calibration is much account after using the battery since these steps need to be performed as soon as you install the battery.


FYI, you should not post any system serial numbers since they are now considered personal information. I'll ask the moderators to edit the screenshot to remove the system serial number.


The laptop under discussion is a MacBook Pro 13" (2016) non-touchbar model.


3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 17, 2024 5:17 PM in response to linny_nguyen

If this only occurred after the installation of the third party battery, then either that battery is the cause, or you accidentally damaged something during the replacement since you would have needed to remove the Logic Board to replace the battery.


See if booting into Safe Mode makes any difference.


More than likely you have a bad battery. Unfortunately the quality of third party Lithium Batteries is extremely poor even when purchased from a reputable vendor such as OWC or iFixIt. These would be the only two vendors I would purchase a Lithium battery.


Or maybe the Logic Board is bad or was damaged during the battery replacement. I've seen a number of people post on this forum where they accidentally damaged the Logic Board (especially on the 15" model where everything has to be removed in order to remove the speakers to make it easier to remove the battery).


All things being equal, the battery is usually the weakest link assuming no accidental damage (physical or liquid).


Also: Did you calibrate this third party Lithium battery? Most of them require a calibration procedure by charging them to 100% and letting them sit at 100% charge for several hours. Then use the laptop until the battery charge level drops to 0% and automatically powers off, but do not use it for any intensive tasks since you want to just slowly discharge the battery. Reconnect the power adapter and let it charge to 100% again and let it sit there for several more hours. You should now be able to use the laptop normally. I doubt a calibration is much account after using the battery since these steps need to be performed as soon as you install the battery.


FYI, you should not post any system serial numbers since they are now considered personal information. I'll ask the moderators to edit the screenshot to remove the system serial number.


The laptop under discussion is a MacBook Pro 13" (2016) non-touchbar model.


Mar 17, 2024 7:30 AM in response to linny_nguyen

linny_nguyen wrote:

My MacBook's battery died, and since I had urgent work to do, I couldn't wait for Apple to deliver a new battery, so I replaced it with a third-party battery. However, I noticed that the 'Power source: Power adapter' status was greyed out even though the adapter was still plugged in, and the battery was fully charged. I checked with a friend, and her status was not greyed out like mine. I am wondering if there is any problem with my charger, or if it is normal for it to be greyed out like that. I have attached some photos of the status when the charger is plugged and unplugged, as well as the battery health. Can you please help me understand what's going on? Thank you very much in advance! Here are my computer's specifications:




On an Intel mac—


Try resetting the System Management Controller Reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support



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Power source: Power adapter status greyed out when plugging (battery is fully charged)

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