how to recalibrate Macbook Pro 15" Retina Battery?

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how to recalibrate Macbook Pro 15" Retina Battery?

I am at my wit's end with this battery indicator! I just exchanged my macbook pro 15" (mid 2014) for a new one due to the faulty speakers and now I am having issues with my battery indicator! I just recently upgraded to Yosemite and all of a sudden my login battery indicator isn't the same as the one on my desktop. After I restarted or shut down my laptop, upon logging in, I saw that my battery was at 94%. Then after logging in my battery is at 100% (without plugging in my power adapter).

Now plugging in my charger made it all weird. At 96% (login page) my battery indicator jumped to 100% and when I logged in it stayed there. I don't know if it's my battery because this is fairly new.

I also try to use coconutBattery and got the same result as the login page indicator. It's quite frustrating as to know if my battery will run out at 10% or not without the coconutBattery app.

Does anyone have this issue as well? or am I the only one?

If anyone has this problem, does anyone know why this is happening?

My battery now is at 100% but CCB says it's 95.5%. It's very frustrating.

Should I just go back to PC world and get this exchange again??

UPDATE: I did PRAM, SMC and even reinstalled and erased disk utility but only got as far as a 2% discrepancy. Seriously I'm beginning to get very frustrated

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Nov 24, 2014 3:13 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 24, 2014 3:18 PM in response to rljtiam

Contrary to a great deal of misinformation, a Lithium-Ion battery cannot be calibrated. The only thing that can be calibrated is charge reporting circuitry.

A Lithium-Ion battery should not be discharged to shutdown as a regular event, and if it does discharge to shutdown, NEVER force the computer to restart as that will in many cases cause serious damage to the battery.

To see the state of the battery, go to the apple left side of the menu bar, About This Mac, System Report (if you are using Yosemite), Hardware, Power and what does the data show for the Capacity, Charge Remaining, Condition, Cycle Count...divide the Charge Remaining by the Capacity to see the actual charge. How does that compare with the reported charge?

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Answer 2

Kappy

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Nov 24, 2014 3:19 PM in response to rljtiam

About Batteries in Modern Apple Laptops

Battery University

Apple - Batteries - Notebooks

Apple - Batteries

Extending the Life of Your Laptop Battery

MacBook and MacBook Pro- Mac reduces processor speed when battery is removed while operating from an A-C adaptor

Apple Portables- Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance

Mac notebooks- Determining battery cycle count

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Answer 3

rljtiam Author

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Nov 24, 2014 3:30 PM in response to Ralph Landry1

it's supposed to be 88% but my charge indicator is 92%

here is what my battery indicator says

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Answer 4

rljtiam Author

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Nov 24, 2014 3:28 PM in response to Ralph Landry1

Do you think it's a hardware defect? Should I get this exchange again?

My old MBP 13" works fine and that was mid 2010

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Answer 5

Kappy

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Nov 24, 2014 3:36 PM in response to rljtiam

Charge capacity is non-linear, so dividing one number by another will give false information. Furthermore, the menubar reading changes constantly reflecting the continual change in power consumption due to the current usage level. These numbers are simply approximations.

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Answer 6

rljtiam Author

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Nov 24, 2014 3:42 PM in response to Kappy

be that as it may, shouldn't my battery life indicator be the same as the one on my login page? Why would there be a 5% discrepancy? There clearly has to be a hardware or software defect.

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Answer 7

Kappy

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Nov 24, 2014 3:44 PM in response to rljtiam

Not necessarily. If you're that worried about it, then take it in for service. There is no way we can tell if your battery is defective. There is nothing in the data you have posted to suggest there is any problem with your battery.

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Answer 8

rljtiam Author

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Nov 24, 2014 3:52 PM in response to Kappy

I did an SMC reboot and it didn't fix the discrepancies. My charger turned green but the battery indicator says it's only 95% (log in page). After logging in it said that it had 100% charge (desktop page). I did another SMC but this time it turned orange. Looking at the login page it was 96%. I took the power adaptor off and it jumped to 100%, turned green, jumped down to 96% but stayed green. Then I logged in and it says on the desktop page that it was 100%.

Seriously though! I don't know what else to do. I still have an exchange option at PC world but this will just be a second exchange now.

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Answer 9

rljtiam Author

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Nov 24, 2014 4:28 PM in response to rljtiam

sigh......

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Answer 10

Kappy

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Nov 24, 2014 6:03 PM in response to rljtiam

Once the battery is fully charged the charger light turns green. The charger will turn off at that point. Not until the battery's charge level drops below 94% will the charger start recharging the battery. That is normal operation.

Obviously, you won't be happy until you take it back, so that's what you should do. We can't make anything better for you. I sent you a number of articles to read, but I doubt you've read any of them.

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Answer 11

rljtiam Author

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Nov 25, 2014 2:40 AM in response to Kappy

I'm guessing you didn't get my dilemma. I do understand that it it will turn green when it is fully charge (it is kind of obvious) but when I plugged it in and it stayed orange all through out at 96% percent. It only turned green when I plugged it out and plugged it in again it jumped to 100%, jumped down to 96% and stayed green.

Who will be happy with this bug? You buy an expensive machine and it causes you problem in the long run. I already read the articles that you've sent me (Apple also sent me those and more) but it doesn't quite explain why there are discrepancies in my battery indicator.

I guess we have one thing to agree on, I'll only be okay with this if I send it back.

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Answer 12

Nov 25, 2014 4:24 AM in response to rljtiam

From all of your descriptions it sounds like there very well may be a problem in the charging circuitry. The circuit charges the battery to 100% and then shutsoff and the MacBook runs on line power (the green indicator light) until the battery trickles down to 93-95% charge. At that point the circuit switches to charge mode to top up the battery.

It looks as though your machine is not doing that properly. So the best approach would be to take it to an Apple store genius bar and have the technicians run their diagnostics to see what is wrong with it. If you cannot get to an Apple store, call the AppleCare number from http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57 and get the machine back in the system.

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Answer 13

Nov 25, 2014 5:30 AM in response to rljtiam

rljtiam,

I don't know if this will help you any but I noticed that I experience the same issue on my Macbook Pro 13 inch with the battery percent being different at the login screen then compared to after I've logged in. But only when FileVault is turned on. When I have FileVault turned off the battery estimate at the login screen seems to work the same as when I'm logged it. And to make things even more strange it seems to only relate to the initial login. If after I've logged in then log out the login screen displays the same battery percent as when I'm logged in.

I noticed other little things at initial login when FileVault is turn on too. Such as no backlight on the keyboard or not being able to adjust any settings using the function keys on the keyboard.

You can see if you have FileVault turned on by going to:

System Preferences > Security and Privacy > FileVault ( Tab )

Now I'm not suggesting you turn FileVault off if it is indeed enable. I just wanted to point out that I've come across something similar and believe that FileVault is the culprit. Possible in the way it secures the system.

As for any other battery troubles your are having I'm Sorry. I don't have much experience in such and I might do as Kappy and Ralph have suggested.

Also If your interested I might send Apple some feedback. You can do so using the following links:

Related to Mac OS: https://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html or

Related to Macbook Pro: https://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

I wish you the best of luck,

Weston

Sorry if I was confusing and rambling or if you feel it doesn't help and or relate.

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Answer 14

rljtiam Author

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Nov 25, 2014 8:25 AM in response to westongallagher

That is exactly what has been happening. I don't understand why this is beginning to be an issue. I'll get this sorted out and I'll update you guys. Hopefully no one gets this problem anymore as it has been very frustrating

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Answer 15

rljtiam Author

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Nov 25, 2014 8:28 AM in response to westongallagher

That did actually did the trick THANK YOU!

Man! What is up with FileVault messing up MacBooks?? I've seen countless of threads having these issues.

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