Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Battery

Hello,

My Macs Battery Decreases Really really fast and I am not sure what to do about it. I think that I tried a FRAM Reset. (I think that is what it is called) if you guys could help me out that would be great! Is it beause I installed Mavericks?

Viraj Mahajan

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2), infoplist.strings

Posted on Mar 19, 2014 6:34 PM

Reply
3 replies

Mar 19, 2014 7:01 PM in response to Viraj667

1. did you often drain the battery very low?


2. did you often /always have your macbook on charge,......or did you often / always BOTH have your macbook on charge AND in sleep mode?



1 or 2 are harsh on the battery chemistry and therefore its longevity


all batteries are consumables meant to replaced either in their own "due time" or early due to abuse / misuse.

Mar 19, 2014 7:30 PM in response to Viraj667


Viraj667 wrote:


1. Yes I keep my mac on a chrage (sometimes even when it is full) when it is on Sleep Mode.


2. lot then it drains down because I dont have a option to keep the battery up. So yes it does drain all the way down


1. very bad on the lithium battery

2. extremely awful on the lithium battery



Your battery has been thru the grinder if your indications are accurate. Thats a fast track to lithium battery destruction.



You've altered your batteries chemistry to the point that there isnt proper lithium Ion transfers between cathode and anode.



General consideration of your MacBook battery

Contrary to popular myths about notebook batteries, there is protection circuitry in your Macbook and therefore you cannot ‘overcharge’ your notebook when plugged in and already fully charged.

However if you do not plan on using your notebook for several hours, turn it off (plugged in or otherwise), since you do not want your Macbook ‘both always plugged in and in sleep mode’.

A lot of battery experts call the use of Lithium-Ion cells the "80% Rule", meaning use 80% of the full charge or so, then recharge them for longer overall life. The main quantified damage done in the use of Lithium Ion batteries are instances where the internal notebook battery is “often drained very low”, this is bad general use of your notebook battery.

A person who has, for example, 300 charge cycles on their battery and is recharging at say 40% remaining of a 100% charge has a better battery condition state than, say, another person who has 300 charge cycles on their battery and is recharging at say 10-15% remaining on a 100% charge. DoD (depth of discharge) is much more important on the wear and tear on your Macbook’s battery than the count of charge cycles. There is no set “mile” or wear from a charge cycle in specific. Frequent high depth of discharge rates (draining the battery very low) on a Lithium battery will hasten the lowering of maximum battery capacity.


All batteries in any device are a consumable meant to be replaced eventually after much time, even under perfect use conditions.



➕If the massive amount of data that exists on lithium batteries were to be condensed into a simplex, helpful, and memorable bit of information it would be:


1. While realistically a bit impractical during normal everyday use, a lithium battery's longevity and its chemistry's health is most happy swinging back and forth between 20% and 85% charge roughly.


2. Do not purposefully drain your battery very low (10% and less), and do not keep them charged often or always high (100%).


3. Lithium batteries do not like the following:

A: Deep discharges, as meaning roughly 10% or less on a frequent basis.

B: Rapid discharges as referring to energy intensive gaming on battery on a frequent basis (in which case while gaming, if possible, do same on power rather than battery). This is a minor consideration.

C: Constant inflation, as meaning always or most often on charge, and certainly not both in sleep mode and on charge always or often.


From Apple on batteries:

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

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446

"Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time."


Keep it plugged in when near a socket so you keep the charging cycles down on your LiPo (lithium polymer) cells / battery, but not plugged in all the time. When not being used for several hours, turn it off.


*Contrary to some myths out there, there is protection circuitry in your Macbook and therefore you cannot overcharge it when plugged in and already fully charged


*However if you don’t plan on using it for a few hours, turn it OFF (plugged in or otherwise) ..*You don’t want your Macbook both always plugged in AND in sleep mode (When portable devices are charging and in the on or sleep position, the current that is drawn through the device is called the parasitic load and will alter the dynamics of charge cycle. Battery manufacturers advise against parasitic loading because it induces mini-cycles.)


Keeping batteries connected to a charger ensures that periodic "top-ups" do very minor but continuous damage to individual cells, hence Apples recommendation above: “Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time”, …this is because “Li-ion degrades fastest at high state-of-charge”.

This is also the same reason new Apple notebooks are packaged with 50% charges and not 100%.


Never let your Macbook go into shutdown and safe mode from loss of power, you can corrupt files that way, and the batteries do not like it.


Contrary to what some might say, Lithium batteries have an "ideal" break in period. First ten cycles or so, don't discharge down past 40% of the battery's capacity. Same way you don’t take a new car out and speed and rev the engine hard first 100 or so miles.


Proper treatment is still important. Just because LiPo batteries don’t need conditioning in general, does NOT mean they dont have an ideal use / recharge environment. Anything can be abused even if it doesn’t need conditioning.


Storing your MacBook

If you are going to store your MacBook away for an extended period of time, keep it in a cool location (room temperature roughly 22° C or about 72° F). Make certain you have at least a 50% charge on the internal battery of your Macbook if you plan on storing it away for a few months; recharge your battery to 50% or so every six months roughly if being stored away. If you live in a humid environment, keep your Macbook stored in its zippered case to prevent infiltration of humidity on the internals of your Macbook which could lead to corrosion.



Peace 😊

Battery

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.