Mavericks - power use / service battery

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Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh): 4610

Fully Charged: Yes

Charging: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4698

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 189

Condition: Service Battery

Battery Installed: Yes

Amperage (mA): 0

Voltage (mV): 12184

Full charge capacity has dropped from 5199 to 4698 in 9 days. I hope the issue gets address soon or my battery will be toast. Also I have been on Mavericks since day one and didnt have issues till weeks later so can asume my battery was in the 6000 to 5800 range after install.

Luckily! I am not alone.

I have the same problem after I have upgraded to 10.9.1 this morning

The system warned that the battery would be drained out soon when I was watching movie on my Macbook Air.

So I checked.

There was 4% left. Also ,to my "surprise", the "Service Battery" warning pops up. The health of battery is only 60% In fact, the battery has run for 193 cycles only.

I plug in power and search for solutions until I see this post.

I have reset SMC but nothing change.

Just a moment ago, I unplug and re-plug it after around 2 minutes.

THE MAGIC COMES!

Everything returns to normal with 43% battery and 81% health.

It can assure that there are some problems in power management for Mavervicks.

Gonna file this to Apple. Everyone please do so.

Yes Thanks for reporting

Update: I had my MBP's battery capacity go up and down during cycles, and indeed, the "service battery" occurs when it is below 80% capacity, and disappears and reappears at random. I've read some people who recommended the calibration, but some do say it's not required for "precalibrated" non-removable batteries (because Apple said so). But, since I'm pretty sure it's Mavericks causing the battery's problems, and I'm not about to shell another $130 after a hefty RAM and HD upgrade, I've tried it last week anyway.

I've drained the battery till it shuts down on its own, left it for a few minutes, then plugged it in without powering it up. I let it charge fully (amber turns green) before turning the power on. Since then, it has consistently stayed above 80% capacity, and I have at least 4 hours of battery with the usual apps (mail, Firefox) active (the 7++ hours, even when it was new, is actually standby power without any apps active) and I haven't seen the "service battery" warning ever since the calibration.

Also, if I may reiterate the advice give to me by an Apple technician (and the Apple website as well) when I had my RAM upgraded, we should regularly allow the battery to drain to 50% charge then charge it up again. Having a 2++year MBP with as little as 90++ charge cycles isn't a good thing for the battery's life. Some people drain it fully then charge it up (calibrate) either every month or every other month.

I've been observing it with coconutBattery, and the battery's been improving, though it's still too early for me to tell if the problem has completely gone away.

Addtionally, I'm still on 10.9. I haven't upgraded to 10.9.1 yet.

Not mych difference. A few under the hood improvements. No reason not to update.

Pete

I have finally contacted apple support. The rep said that there is definitely an issue and wants me to go to the Genius Bar. Which I knew I'd have to, he had me do the reset a couple times and basically just said wow. It depleted 20 minutes in a matter of 2 in real time.

I worry they will tell me I'm SOL after I drive two hours, but they have me by the balls. I've got to have my Mb to edit my pictures. He said they will have to run some diag on it. I will update this thread, but honestly with him dodging that it was actually mavericks fault I believe I'll be paying for a new battery tomorrow. Lol

Tonight I had to use my MBP (mid-2009) without the power adapter and got to experience the joy of plummeting from fully charged to 38% in less than 2 hours of web surfing. I left the lid open for another two hours while I did other stuff and it bled down to 24% and just locating this thread again from the email reply and writing this, less than 10 minutes time, I'm down to 18%. Mavericks has HALVED my usable battery time from before. Oh, and the Service Battery warning is back. Simply lovely. Insanely great quality here, Apple! Pffft.

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh): 668

Fully Charged: No

Charging: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4006

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 260

Condition: Service Battery

Battery Installed: Yes

Amperage (mA): -1144

Voltage (mV): 11238

I had a new battery fitted under warranty on Tuesday and it does not seem to have made much difference, I still see it depliting as quickly as it did before, I had a full charge last night before going to bed and woke up this morning with a 43% charge.

This is so frustrating you would have thought that this issue would be a matter of priority. Well done Apple!

With reference to your case, we can assure that there is bug in Mavericks.

For me, the warning appears again. Even worse, it drops from 20% directly to 5%.

Please fix the bug ASAP. The battery has run for 194 cycles only.

colemanhk wrote:

Please fix the bug ASAP.

We are only users here also. Tell Apple.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Cheers

Pete

Ya

Actually I mean Apple should fix it soon.

I have reported my case already.

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh): 3819

Fully Charged: No

Charging: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 5228

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 264

Condition: Service Battery

I started getting "service battery" just before warranty ran out, but by the time i showed it in the message had gone and i couldn't get my battery replaced. Now i'm out of warranty and battery health wanders around 70% to 83% and i'm not sure if they will still take it in. Here in India a new battery for a macbook air costs about 300$. Didn't see this one coming, especially from Apple.

How come this issue is not reported in any major site/blog? I sent an email to 9to5mac and TechCrunch - and no reply.

Anyone with a touch to one of the technology blogs?

Y

yohayblo wrote:

How come this issue is not reported in any major site/blog? I sent an email to 9to5mac and TechCrunch - and no reply.

Because only a few are seeing the issue. Millions more are not. And gossip blogs like those you mentioned above have no credibility in the world of Tech Issues.

It is Apple themselves you need to keep te pressure on with feedback.

Cheers

Pete