macbook pro 15 (mid-2012) battery reset made charge worse

check your activity monitoe>all processes>CPU and see if there is something eating. You can also goto the Apple logo in the tool bar, click About this Mac>system report, in the left column click power and check under battery, health, cycles,charging, anything that looks unusual. Also check system power settings for anomilies there as well.

I have always had perceived battery issues with my MacBook Pro 15 (mid-2010)

Did you report this to Apple tech support while still under your one year warranty? Their response?

Your topic shows (mid-2012). Yet, your posting shows a different year. Is this a typo?

Your charger says it is not charging, not fully charged no health info. Yur charge cycle is getting uo there, and the way it had been maintained could have have caused this. I would take it in to an Apple store or an AASP, who you know that they know what they are doing. These numbers are not encouraging. It looks to me your mBP needs servicing. It could be some other componet that is having a failure. Best of luck. I do not think it will heal itself. There might be someone else on this sight who might have more info, god knows, there are plenty. ATB

Please send anoter screen shot with the powe supply connected. THX

Resetting the System Management Controller is not intended to accomplish anything you seek.

Question1 and Q2: anything to do now to really fix it - at least back to life I had yesterday and before?

First you must acknowledge that nothing runs as well as a new battery. They age and then they die. Trying to regain the life it had in the past is guaranteed to be a futile pursuit.

Battery depreciation is a fact of life with any laptop, and if you stay loyal to genuine Apple batteries (as you should) they will cost you 50¢ a week. Quality aftermarket knockoff batteries are slightly cheaper to buy. They are likely to cost you more than 50¢ a week.

I have a new MacBook Pro and its brand new Apple battery lasts six or seven hours in what I consider normal use. This is reasonable. Eight or nine hours will be achieved only with optimal use. You won't get half that if you are streaming Flash video, for instance.

Q3 dont want to shell out $175 for anoth battery right now but this is ridiculous.

$175 is not correct for your MPB. Apple batteries are only $129, replacement included. You can ship it to them if you can afford to be separated from your Mac for a few days. http://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=servicefaq&product=Macnotebooks

Q4 was my regular usage on the AC adapter to possibly blame for the poor life out of the box?

Maybe. Batteries need to be exercised. Keeping them on ac power all the time will unquestionably reduce their service life, as will allowing them to sit completely discharged for a long period of time. Discharge them once a month or so and above all, keep them cool. Don't use cases or "skins" as these inhibit proper heat dissipation for which your MBP was designed.

Additional information:

If you are using any third party system modifications, you may be placing additional burdens on your system that Apple has no way of knowing about or controlling. This includes anti-virus junk, system "optimizers" and the like. There are many potential causes for unexpectedly short battery life but this is a very common cause. Manufacturers of such things won't care if their poorly written software reduces your battery life. After they take your money, their work is complete.

Only you can know what you installed. If you are concerned this may be a contributing factor write back and I will suggest some things to look for.

Cycle Count: 636

By the way this is not a very high cycle count, but this battery is well into its golden years. In my opinion, it doesn't owe you much more than it has given.

This is very cursory but read it anyway: Runaway applications can shorten battery runtime

There many factors that contribute to battery life but IMO four hours is unusual, and not acceptable.

If you are so inclined, consider the following. It may help, or it may not, but it is harmless and simple enough to try:

Apple Support Communities contributor etresoft wrote a very useful app to quickly gather certain system information that may help point to a cause of this problem. Go to his website, download and run EtreCheck:

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

The rainbow "wait cursor" will appear for a brief moment as it collects its data. Do not be concerned about anything that says "Problem" or "failed".

Copy and paste its output in a reply.

EtreCheck was designed to remove any personal information (such as your computer's name and serial numbers) but if you see anything that looks like an email address or any other personal information that should not be divulged to others, please delete or obscure that information when you post the reply.

When you are finished with EtreCheck, quit the program. It occupies very little space, and you can keep it or drag it to the Trash as you wish.

It depends on what applications you are running, and the length, video, games, music, and more consume more battery life. How you treat your battery will also affect the life span. I get 5-6 hrs doing word processing, 2-3 hrs doing video/music, my battery is approx 600 hrs, and loosing time all the time. The recharge routine has effect on the battery life,as well as running it down past 20%. So a lot depends on the maintenance and usage. But I don't know anywhere near what these guys do. Don't listen to me.