Battery percentage indicator takes a little while to update when resuming from sleep - is this normal?

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Level 5

6,485 points

Battery percentage indicator takes a little while to update when resuming from sleep - is this normal?

Hi folks,

I recently bought a new MacBook Pro with Retina (13") and have noticed a pecularity with the battery indicator that I'd appreciate an opinion on please.

I've charged my MBPr battery to full (100% on the menu bar and green light on the MagSafe connector). I disconnect the power and close the lid which puts that MacBook to sleep. After leaving it overnight, I open the lid and and the unlock screen shows the percentage battery having gone down by a couple of percent (which I take to be normal) - e.g. 98%. However, when I unlock and get back to the desktop, it's still showing as 100%. Clicking on the battery icon, it shows as calculating the amount of time left. After about a minute or so, it tells me how much estimated time I've got left, and the percentage indicator updates to give me the correct percentage. When using it normally, the percentage indicator drops on the desktop as I would expect it to.

Is this normal for it to give the correct percentage on the unlock screen, but then to give the original (pre-sleep) percentage when unlocked, until it has updated and worked out how much time it's got left on battery?

I've read elsewhere that many folks have been having issues with the battery indicator since Mavericks rolled out, and there are some resets that can be done by pressing various key combinations whilst powering on. I've had the MacBook only a few days, and haven't installed anything on it - it hasn't even been connected to the internet yet - so I assumed that it should be working correctly from the off - unless there's something buggy with Mavericks causing this?

I would normally shut down a computer overnight, but I like how the MBP instantly resumes when I open the lid. Am also wondering whether it'll take a few charge cycles before the battery reaches full capacity and is properly calibrated. The system report shows that it shipped to me having undergone only 3 charge cycles to date.

Any opinions would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Gopha

Posted on Jan 6, 2014 5:31 AM

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Answer 1

Da Gopha Author

Level 5

6,485 points

Jan 7, 2014 10:26 AM in response to Da Gopha

After some more testing:

Disabling the battery percentage indicator and then re-enabling it causes the percentage value to update to the 'correct' value. Rebooting the MacBook also causes it to update to the correct value.

Seems like I'm not the only one with this particular issue: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5520174?answerId=24402123022#24402123022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5731666?answerId=24406197022#24406197022

as a newbie to Macs and Mavericks, am I right in saying that there is currently an issue with Mavericks?

Thanks,

Gopha

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Answer 2

Feb 13, 2014 10:49 PM in response to Da Gopha

I have been having the exact same issue as you. I also feel like this is a software issue cause this many people could not all have hardware issues.

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Answer 3

Yashu13

Level 1

0 points

Feb 20, 2014 12:07 AM in response to Da Gopha

I've also been having similar issues.

The other issue I've noticed is the Date and Time on the Menu Bar disappears sometimes when you wake up from sleep or a few other scenarios as well. The work-around for this is I change it to View as Analog and back to View as Digital.

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Answer 4

Feb 26, 2014 8:36 PM in response to Yashu13

Today I was notified that apple is aware of this issue and working on it. The percentage battery issue is different on retina models and regular macbook pros. Even though this doesn't effect the usability of my mac, it is still annoying.

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