Mavericks MacBook Air 2013 Battery Draining

Resetting NVRAM / PRAM

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.

SMC reset

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
3. On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
4. Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
5. Press the power button to turn on the computer.

SMC reset is the important one.

Just to add, the SMC reset did not seem to work for me the first time, but the second time thanks to the tip here, I kept the keys pressed for 10 secs and the battery life increased from 3hrs to 6hrs on my 11".

tut

Qban14 wrote:

What is and how to reset NVRAM?

This is just a tip: You could have found the answer to that question for yourself by searching Apple's Knowledge Base — type NVRAM into the search box here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=search

...You'll see the following document in the list of hits:

About NVRAM and PRAM

to me this sounds very good like its used to be. i think im going back then. rtight now im writing down my actual "use" time of my mac with mavericks. because the battery indicator is switching too much. when im done i let you guys know.

Hi,

I have some good news!

I'm using mid-2013 MBA 4GBRAM/128GB SSD, bought in Sept 2013. After I updated to Mavericks, did SMU once and waited for 2 complete battery cycles ( step1. charged the battery to 100% without using the computer; step2 - removed from charger and worked on the computer (eclipse, xcode, safari) till battery reached 1% . step3 -again, charged the battery to 100% without using the computer;

I got about 16 hours of battery life after this. One thing for sure is the notification for 'battery remaining' is buggy. whenever my computer resumes after 'sleep', for example - the battery remaining starts with a low value - say 4:00 and then climbts up to 9:00 in about 30 mins of usage.

Please try this and let me know if it works for you too

What you are doing is not good. This was a few years ago, not now.

Li-pol batteries doesn't like full discharge. Draining battery is due to bug of Mavericks. When you put your MAC to the sleep mode, sometime happend after wakes up that you have bugged kernel_task proces. Bugged kernel_task proces causes, that your CPU is overloaded. Solution in this time is only restarting your MAC.

I comming back to the ML, I cant belive what Apple did.

Hello,

I wonder if I can do a image disk using "disk utility" and after using Maverick, if I don't like it, Can I restore ML from disk image that I've done?

Cheers

Apple techs advice is to actually do a full charge, unplug and work on the computer until it discharges completely, then the same again but this time checking against the clock for battery life.

I am upto 5-6 hrs now from the original 2, but still short of what it was pre Mavericks.

tut

n1tut

unplug and work on the computer until it discharges completely

You NEVER want to do a full discharge, EVER. period. 😊

Drop it down to 10% minimum (approx) and recharge.

Even then, in the future dont 'often' drop it low.

Never let your Macbook die from power, you can corrupt files that way, and the Lithium Polymer batteries absolutely do not like it.

*Also new evidence suggests that sudden loss of power can adversely affect data on a SSD (solid state drive).....again, dont let it ever shut down from total power loss

Peace

In that case, Apple Suport needs a severe talking to, as that is where most users will go to when they have problems.

Only a small % will be on here reading these posts which point out that they are giving advice that could possibly adversely affect the computer and risk losing data.

tut

Although it does not list the absolute specifics of deep DoD (depth of discharge) and its repercussions, as per Apple.com:

http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

"If it’s fully discharged, it could fall into a deep discharge state, which renders it incapable of holding any charge."

Important useful info on your Lithium cells as compiled from battery experts:

Heat increases battery performance but shortens life by a factor of two for every 10°C increase above 25–30°C (18°F above 77–86°F). This is yet another important reason for the cooling of any notebook, not just keeping the processor and GPU cool. Mavericks lower power tasking (app nap) and combined with the cool running Haswell processor both greatly protect battery life on your Macbook now more than ever before.

Good news: *Mavericks not only increases a single charge cycle for longer battery use off a full charge,… but also prolongs the overall long term life of the LiPo battery in a Macbook by reducing the load conditions the battery experiences from heavy peak-use.

Counting cycles is not conclusive because a discharge may vary in depth and there are no clearly defined standards of what constitutes a charge cycle on a Lithium Ion battery empirically. Similar to a mechanical device that wears out faster with heavy use, so also does the depth of discharge (DoD) determine the cycle count.

The shorter the discharge (low DoD), the longer the battery will last. If at all possible, avoid full discharges and charge the battery more often between uses. Partial discharge on Li-ion is fine.

Frequent HIGH depth of discharge rates (draining the battery very low) on a Lithium battery will hasten the lowering of maximum battery capacity.

Although better performing when warm, lithium polymer batteries live longer when kept cool.

Lithium cells prefer draining conditions at a steady pace rather than fast pulsed or quick discharges, …this fact is idealized now with the Haswell and Mavericks app-nap low power tasking for battery use.

App nap:

http://www.apple.com/osx/advanced-technologies/

Dear PlotinusVeritas,

Mavericks obviously is having certian issues when it comes to Mail for instance. My mail won't even quit, so I have to constatntly force quit it. But I'm writing in response to your quote about full discharges being bad. Just to make sure it's not taken out of context I'm inserting the full paragraph to point out that according to apple this is only bad when you don't plan on using your notebook for more than six months! People keep saying that it's bad to fully discharge, but that's not what apple is saying at all!

Long-Term Storage

If you don’t plan on using your notebook for more than six months, Apple recommends that you store the battery with a 50% charge. If you store a battery when it’s fully discharged, it could fall into a deep discharge state, which renders it incapable of holding any charge. Conversely, if you store it fully charged for an extended period of time, the battery may experience some loss of battery capacity, meaning it will have a shorter life. Be sure to store your notebook and battery at the proper temperature. (See “Notebook Temperate Zone.”)

Apple has mentioned working on the fix for Mail, you and I and Apple know about same and are working on it, as mentioned in one of their releases.

As to "often" discharging low, a lithium or lithium polymer (same thing but with gelled electrolyte added) there is absolutely no question on this earth or even 1% doubt, that doing same is BAD for the battery.

I frankly could care less what that 'general' information states in that link,... there isnt a battery expert on earth that hasnt said repeatedly that "deep discharges on Lithium batteries BAD PERIOD"

Ive seen endless reports of premature LiPo battery mortality upon which the user admitted to "OFTEN draining the battery very low or next to nill before recharge".

There isnt hearsay, or conjecture, or hyperbole about deep DoD (depth of discharge),... but a mountain of empirical facts for same. You NEVER let your macbook

A: power off from power loss or

B: "often" deeply discharge your LiPo battery cell LOW

Expected Lithium charge cycle "LIFE" based on DEEP DISCHARGE (generally)

not specific to macbook cells but lithium cells in general

ℹThe entire macbook series DOES HAVE a shutoff threshold in which the unit WILL power down to protect itself, the SSD and the battery from ZERO, or "shutoff from power loss".......HOWEVER,.....if left uncharged after such a shut down and you "shelf it" for a while, there is nothing to prevent NORMAL BATTERY self-discharge down to very very low and zero

rezalution

Just to make sure it's not taken out of context I'm inserting the full paragraph to point out that according to apple this is only bad when you don't plan on using your notebook for more than six months

Here is one error in that quote....if you shut your macbook down at 10 or even 25%+.....the battery will SELF-DRAIN to zero (depending on climate and humidity) before 6 months. And nothing is worse on a Lithium battery being often low-discharged than sitting at 0

All batteries self-discharge, regardless. You "shelf it low"......its going to "go lower...."

Thanks!! But apple really should fix that whole thing they have up about a once a month iCal reminder because the majority of consumers aren't geeky like us who are on these forums...and the iCal once a month thing is probably why a lot of apple customers still believe that they need to fully discharge sometimes...

Cheers!

I appreciate that you are very knowledgeable, but you are complicating something which is fairly simple.

On the new 11" MBA we were getting around 7 hours battery life under M/L. We then upgraded to Mavericks and for many of us this dropped down to 2 hours with using the laptop exactly the same way.

I do not see how a pretty compicated explanation of how to discharge the battery or not has anything to do with it, the above says it all.

tut