Battery capacity rapidly falling

SInce the battery update about 10 days ago my battery has been losing it's maximum charge capacity. I noticed that when unplugged the time remaining on my powerbook went from about 2hrs 30mins to about 1hr 30mins after the update.
I downloaded CoconutBattery to monitor this and since Jan 13th, it has gone from 2440mAh to 1805mAh today (20th Jan). I have tried re-calibrating the battery and resetting the power manager (each several times), but this seems to make it worse!!
My battery is 13 months old (15 according to Coconut battery) and has had 314 loadcycles.
Is my battery failing and is this just a coincidence that this has happened just after the battery update?
P.S. perhaps I should give my wife this powerbook and swap for her MacBook Pro when it arrives?
15" G4 1.33GHz Powerbook Mac OS X (10.4.4)

That thread doesn't solve my problem.
After the Battery Update, I noticed that my battery capacity was much less than before, I then downloaded Coconut Battery and started recording the capacity. At that time (after the update) the capacity was 2440mAh (13th), it has declined pretty rapidly from then on (2190mAh on the 15th, 2097mAh on the 17th, and 1805mAh on the 20th). During this time I have tried recalibrating and resetting the PMU etc, and this actually seemed to make things worse?!
I would assume that a decrease of 600mAh in one week is not what one would expect.
My questions are:
1. Is the battery failing?
2. Is this related to the battery update?
3. My battery has had 315 loadcycles, how many loadcycles should I expect from a battery before replacement?
4. Is it possible to reset the battery? Or remove the update?
Thank you for any assistance.
Rob

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Battery capacity, rapid drop???

Hi everyone.
I have a 2010 Macbook Air 13".
Every once in a while I check the battery capacity through Coconut battery and through System Profiler (coconut battery always reports the same numbers).
For the longest time the battery capacity (not the current charge, but the actual capacity of the battery) sat around 99% of it's original amount. (Design capacity is 6700 mAh).
However, in the space of 2 incomplete charges (ie. charging from say 40% to 100%) over about 3 days, the capacity of the battery dropped to 96% and then to 93%. (Current capacity 6262 mAh).
This battery is supposed to still have 80% of its capacity after 1000 charge cycles and it is now down to 93% and I have 66 load cycles on the battery (the system is mainly used plugged in, but I make sure to use it off the charger a few times a month to keep the electrons moving).
What could be causing this? Should I just take the laptop in to have Apple check it? Or could the system be somehow mis-reporting the capacity of the battery. I don't think I should have already lost almost 10% of the battery capacity in a little over 6 months of owning it and less than 100 full charges of the battery.
It seems a bit odd to me for the battery capacity to be stable for months and then to drop so rapidly in the space of a few days.
Thanks everyone!

Lithium Ion battery behavior varies up and down from day to day. The design capacity is never actually realized in a consumer product due to manufacturing tolerances.
The life of a Li-Ion battery is usually considered to be 80% of capacity, but that does not mean the battery will fail at the point but that is just a number for determining charge/use time that is reasonable for most users.
Li-Ion battery life cycles vary from 350-1,000 full charge cycles. If you discharge to 50% and recharge fully, that is 1/2 charge cycle.
The recommendation for occasional full discharge, not actually FULL discharge but to the point the unit shuts down, and then fully recharging before use is to condition the charge reporting circuitry built into the battery itself. It does not actually condition the battery like it did in the old Ni-Cad battery days. If you click on the apple in the upper left corner, About This Mac, More Info, System Report, Power and the battery information look at the Condition...if it does not say Normal there may be a problem. You will also see the number of charge cycles, and the charge remaining and Capacity...the ratito of the two should be close to the reported charge remaining in the upper right portion of your screen.
Your battery does not really sound like it is bad...but see what the system report says about the Condition...if it is Normal, Apple is not very likely to do anything about it.

MacBook Pro Mid 2010 Battery Capacity

I've read a few threads about this, mostly about battery capacity rapidly dropping after an install of ML. I installed ML when it first came out, and just noticed the drastic decrease in battery life about 3 weeks ago. My capacity could have potentially been dropping since I installed ML (and I just now noticed it), or it may have just started a couple weeks ago when I noticed. I'm not sure.
Either way, my MacBook Pro (Mid 2010) now has a battery life of less than an hour, even with extremely light processor load. I contacted Apple about this, and the tech said that the battery was rated for 1000 cycles. I'm currently at 220, and my battery capacity is a pathetic 30%. He said that since I wasn't under warranty, there was nothing they could do besides replace the battery - which I really want to avoid since I'm a broke college student.
Is there anything I can do here? I understand that I'm not under warranty anymore, and this wouldn't be a problem if my battery was degrading normally. However, getting 1/5th of the recommended battery life is pretty sad. I've read that doing a clean install of Mountain Lion/Lion might help. Is there a way I can do this without having to back up all my files? I don't have an external hard drive or anything.
It seems this is a common topic in these forums. Any help or links to solutions would be great. If this is answered in a similar topic, I'll gladly delete.
Here is the system info on my battery, incase that might help:
Battery Information:
Model Information:
Serial Number:          9G030040MD3MA
Manufacturer:          DP
Device Name:          bq20z451
Pack Lot Code:          0
PCB Lot Code:          0
Firmware Version:          201
Hardware Revision:          2
Cell Revision:          158
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh):          1453
Fully Charged:          No
Charging:          Yes
Full Charge Capacity (mAh):          1939
Health Information:
Cycle Count:          220
Condition:          Service Battery
Battery Installed:          Yes
Amperage (mA):          1507
Voltage (mV):          12214
System Power Settings:
AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes):          0
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes):          10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes):          15
Wake on AC Change:          No
Wake on Clamshell Open:          Yes
Wake on LAN:          Yes
Current Power Source:          Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim:          Yes
PrioritizeNetworkReachabilityOverSleep:          0
Battery Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes):          15
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes):          10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes):          10
Wake on AC Change:          No
Wake on Clamshell Open:          Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim:          Yes
Reduce Brightness:          Yes
Hardware Configuration:
UPS Installed:          No
AC Charger Information:
Connected:          Yes
ID:          0x0100
Wattage (W):          60
Revision:          0x0000
Family:          0x0085
Serial Number:          0x00cb7bc3
Charging:          Yes
Thanks in advance

Condition:
     Service Battery
You need a new battery.

Concerned about falling battery capacity on rMBP

Hello all, I'm starting to worry a bit about my battery capacity vs design capacity on my retina macbook pro 15". It's a early 2013 model that I bought in July. I know that apple guarantees the battery will have at least 80% of it's design capacity after 1000 cycles, but I'm worried mine is going to fall far short of that. Here's my coconut battery info:
As you can see, I've only had 60 cycles on the battery, the computer is barely half a year old, and it's already down 6%, under 8000 mAh. Should I be concerned/take it to the apple store? I know they won't replace my computer since I'm far outside of my 14 days, but still wondering if they'll do something. Will they even do anything before the battery falls below 80% design capacity?
I waited to post because I know battery capacity often fluctuates from 5% below to 5% above design frequently and will go up and down with use, but mine has steadily decreased, and has never increased. Every time I check coconut battery, it's 10-50 mAh lower than it was. My macbook does stay plugged in a lot, but I also make a point of using the battery at least once a week to keep the electrons flowing, and most weeks it gets off the charger more like two or three times. Often the battery will get used down to at least 50 or 60 percent before it gets plugged back in, sometimes even as low at 15 or 20 percent. I've tried draining it until it goes to sleep and then letting it charge to full again, but it didn't change anything. I didn't think it would, since lithium based batteries don't suffer memory issues, but I thought maybe it was just an error in measurement by the system.
Speaking of that, I did reset the NVRAM/PRAM and the SMC (multiple times). Only one of the times I reset the SMC did the light turn orange and then charge more, but it didn't change the max capacity number at all.
I see a lot of people posting their cocunut results/system information screen and finding they actually have above design capacity. Did I just get a lemon battery, or is it because I have it plugged in so much?
Thoughts? Thanks!

Apple guarantees that if your battery is well taken care of and not abused, however your battery looks fine.
You state: ~ As you can see, I've only had 60 cycles on the battery
Cycle counts dont account for much. People (some) leave their macbooks always hooked on power and worse still in sleep mode and on power and this can ruin a battery in "50 cycles", ergo it means little.
As for the 5% power fluctuation this means absolutely nothing since charge is just an estimate and the 5% is within that range.
Information:
Bad discharging or battery use conditions:
Heat (due to environmental conditions or due to rapid discharges from heavy use = gaming / video editing)
Rapid discharging of the battery frequently causes chemical changes over time in the battery leading to decrease capacity and resistance of current flow.
The very worst use of your battery is often draining the battery very low, and worse still letting it remain in such a state.
*Most long-term rapid damage to the battery occurs from discharging it with high loading (gaming) conditions but paramount is avoiding deep and frequent low DOD (depths of discharge) in use.
Undesirable charging or charged conditions:
High perpetual SOC (state of charge), where the battery is always or very often connected to charge
Parasitic loading where the battery is both usually on and charging or worse both always charging and in sleep mode, since this induces mini-cycling of the battery.
Bad general handling conditions:
Temperature use conditions when either too hot (95F and above) or too cold (50F and below)
Storing your battery away with a low charge (40% and less) long-term.
Considerations:
Your battery is subject to chemical aging even if not in use. A Lithium battery is aging as soon as its made, regardless.
In a perfect (although impractical) situation, your lithium battery is best idealized swinging back and forth between 25 and 85% SOC (state of charge) roughly.
Further still how you discharge the battery is far more important than how it is either charged or stored short term.
Ultimately counting charge cycles is of little to no importance. Abuse in discharging (foremost), charging, and storing the battery and how it affects battery chemistry is important and not the ‘odometer’ reading, or cycle counts on the battery.
Everything boils down to battery chemistry long term, and not to an arbitrary number, or cycle count.
Keep your macbook plugged in when near a socket since in the near end of long-term life, this is beneficial to the battery.
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
"Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time."
General rule to remember of Lithium batteries is:
Never drain them LOW & dont always/often store them HIGH
While cycle count is commonly seen to be the “miles” on your Lithium Ion pack cell in your Macbook, which they are, this distinction is not a fine line at all, and it is a big misconception to “count charge cycles”
*A person who has, for example, 300 charge cycles on their battery and is recharging at say 50-60% remaining of a 100% charge has better battery usage and care than another person who has 300 charge cycles at say 15% remaining on a 100% charge.
DoD (depth of discharge) is far more important on the wear and tear on your Macbook battery than any mere charge cycle count. *There is no set “mile” or wear from a charge cycle in general OR in specific.    As such, contrary to popular conception, counting cycles is not conclusive whatsoever, rather the amount of deep DoD on an averaged scale of its use and charging conditions.
(as a very rough analogy would be 20,000 hard miles put on a car vs. 80,000 good miles being something similar)
*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%.
LiPo (lithium polymer, same as in your Macbook) batteries do not need conditioning. However...
A lot of battery experts call the use of Lithium cells the "80% Rule" ...meaning use 80% of the charge or so, then recharge them for longer overall life.
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.
The only quantified abuse seen to Lithium cells are instances when often the cells are repeatedly drained very low…. key word being "often"
The good news is that your Macbook has a safety circuit in place to insure the battery doesn’t reach too low before your Macbook will auto power-off. Bad news: if you let your Macbook protection circuitry shut down your notebook at its bottom, and you refrain from charging it for a couple days...the battery will SELF-DRAIN to zero (depending on climate and humidity)…and nothing is worse on a Lithium battery being low-discharged than self-draining down to and sitting at 0
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.
From Apple on batteries:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446
http://www.apple.com/batteries/
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.

Macbook battery capacity declining rapidly

Hi,
my macbook pro (mid 2012) battery capacity is declining rapidly.
the battery has been replaced twice already, max capacity afther first cycle 95/100% second cycle 92/100% and the battary drains whyle the mbp is off.
what can i do?
thnx in advance for youre anwsers.

If a SMC reset does not improve the situation, another trip to the Apple store may be required:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Ciao.

Total battery capacity

Hi all,
Rather concerned about my battery. I got my MBP about around September last year, and lately been noticing that total battery capacity has been dropping rather rapidly. I only have about 20 cycles on the battery, I was at about 98% total charge capacity two weeks ago, dropped to 94% last week, and just dropped to 90% 2 days ago. It's never recovered fluctuated back up again.
I also once/twice a month use my computer and drain it all the way to 0 and charge it back up to make sure the battery is healthy.
Is this normal? Anyone know what's going on?
Thanks

About Batteries in Modern Apple Laptops
Apple - Batteries - Notebooks
Extending the Life of Your Laptop Battery
Apple - Batteries
Determining Battery Cycle Count
Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance
MacBook and MacBook Pro- Mac reduces processor speed when battery is removed while operating from an A-C adaptor
Battery University

Battery capacity after 10 weeks only 90% ??

Hello community!
I hope I'll get some information here, since I am a new mac user
Hope you guys can help?!
Here's the thing: I got my macbook pro in october 2010 (mid 2010 model)
I've been using coconut capacity monitor since the beginning and always monitored the battery life. Yesterday I noticed, that coconut says battery capacity is 90% of the original capacity! Coconut says that I did around 48 load cycles so far.
my question: What am I doing wrong here? I always try to work with the mbp until it runs out of battery; I don't plug it in before, no charging when the battery is not completely empty. How can it happen, that the capacity reduces that fast?
What should I do in order to preserve the battery life? Is it possible to restore the 100% battery capacity by recalibrating it several times (like the apple support page advices) ??
Thank you for you answers and your help in advance!!
Kind regards,
griesTraum

With 48 load cycles in only ten weeks, you're working your battery very hard. And always running the battery down to zero before recharging it is a bad practice that will age your battery prematurely. If your work and lifestyle don't require you to consume the full capacity of the battery almost daily, don't do it.
It's not unusual to see the battery's reported Full Charge Capacity (and consequently its "health") fluctuate up and down by several percentage points from day to day and week to week, particularly when it's relatively new. If you give the battery at least a little use every few days, it should be calibrated every two or three months. Calibrate it now or as soon as it's convenient for you, then try to keep it plugged into AC power most of the time, using the battery for just an hour or two every day or two "to keep the electrons moving," as Apple says. This will be an ideal use pattern for the longevity of your battery. If it doesn't fit your life, don't do it: the battery exists to serve you, not you to serve it.
The best summary of useful information about MBP batteries that I know of is here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1764220
If after following these suggestions for a few weeks, your battery's health continues to decline steadily and rapidly, you may have a defective battery. But until it shows less than 80% health, you're unlikely to get anything from Apple other than a report that it is "within specifications." So if you think it may be defective, wait until it shows 75-78% health for a least a week or two, and continues to show less than 80% after a new calibration. Then take it to an Apple Store, where they have a specific test they can run on it, and ask to have it tested. If it's defective, you'll get a free replacement.

Mid 2010 MacBook Pro battery capacity at 89% with 64 cycles

Hello everyone,
I have a 13" mid 2010 MacBook Pro that I got around Christmas time. I downloaded coconutbattery a couple days ago and when i used it then My battery capacity had been 91%. So I thought that this was odd because of how new the computer is still (15 wks old with 64 battery cycles) so I read about how the battery needs to be recalibrated from time to time and after doing so (followed the directions perfectly) My capacity is now down to 89%. Should this be something to be concerned about or is this normal?

It's quite normal and sometimes a recalibration can see things go up as well as down

Macbook Pro 11,3 High End Retina battery capacity

HI,
As recent as 2 weeks ago I receieved a macbook pro that I purchased online. However due to the physical problems I had another one sent to me by apple. While waiting for the shipping company to pick up the problematic macbook pro I thought I'd compare the battery life on both of these units. to my suprise the old unit was performing better in terms of battery life.
New Macbook Pro 11,3 Capacity: 8688 mAh
2 Weeks Old Macbook Pro 11,3 Capacity: 8969 mAh
My questions are as follows:
1) Is this to be expected?
2) Should I complain and get it replaced again?
3) Anything I could do to increase the capacity on the new MPR?
Appreciate your input on this, cheers!
Happy holidays!

Great to hear :) I was really worried about my battery capacity as well when I got my 2nd mac.
The reason I exchanged my first one was it had really bad battery life. I tried all sorts of solutions and nothing seemed to work. It would always show I had a high battery capacity but the battery life was just terrible. I decided to exchange it and when I got my replacement I noticed it had low battery capacity. It turned out to be a great laptop it has much better battery life and it's capacity went up after I put a couple cycles on it.

Battery Capacity Question

This morning my battery capacity was at 48% after I calibrated it over night due to the system profiler telling me to "check battery." After using my computer for a little while without it being plugged in, my battery was down to about 45min remaining for power. Then I closed the lid and put it to sleep. After about an hour I opened it and immediately the message popped up saying that my computer was running on reserve power and I should plug it in. Now, my current battery capacity is at 26%.
Does anyone know why this has happened? Should I just get a new battery?
Thanks!

It means that you most likely need a new battery. If your computer is still under warranty then bring it there. If it's out of warranty, then you might have to pay. If your battery has less than 300 charge cycles then you can ask if they are willing to replace it for free or a minimal charge since Apple said their battery should held 80% life after 300 cycles.

My battery capacity decreases per charge!!!

Hi guys I need help, I am very frustrated about this matter , This is my first macbook pro retine late 2013 the latest one out yet 4gb ram baseline model with the dubal core i5. I started playing LOL or League of Legends an online game a few weeks back.
When I did start I was completely hooked and played multiple hours even with the battery charger plugged in. The battery lost its total capacity from 6300 its about 6200 then it fell 6150 ok then I statred carying ok I LOVE MY MAC AND ITS BATTERY.
So i went like ok i will play max 40 mins per day, fine huh 1 time per charge cycle make sure the charge cycle is 20 hrs long I have been trying to do this more or less BUT EVEYTIME I PLAY THE GAME EVEN IF THE CHARGE drop is only 30% my total battery capacity drops.
I am checking this through MULTIPLE apps and every time i play the drop is bloody 0.5 percent and i CANT TAKE IT and when i dont play on a chrge cycle there is NO DROP IN THE OVERALL capacity.
Note i take soo much care when i pay i charge it to 100 and keep it ice cold when i play and its not plugged in. Any advice are the apps wrong is my capacity decresing are macs not meant for gaming or if i conture down this path will i have to eventully replace my battery just any adivce or thoughts on this matter will be VERY APPRECIATED!!!

When Taxing the system, Running it Hard as most all games do, it will draw power from both the AC charger and the battery at the same time.
The AC charger Apple supplies is not large enough to do both Power the system and charge the battery, or even keep the same charge on the battery, when the system is working hard.
As to the overall capacity of the battery that will go down with the increase of charge cycles.
What you are seeing is completely normal for all Mac notebook computers.

Any ideas on how to prevent the battery cover from falling out?

My battery cover continuously falls out. Is there something I am doing wrong?

Usually it's because the cover isn't fully inserted for the latch to catch. The left photo is incorrect. The right photo shows the cover fully inserted. Just push harder on each side of the latch.

Fluctuating battery capacity. can you give any tips to maintain my 596 cycles? (1 year old MBP 2012 13")

battery capacity went from from 80.4% to 78% to 86% within the same day. is this normal?
i alraeady have 596 cycles
1year old mac with applecare
before i'am always draining my battery, now that i knew that it is bad, what should i do now?
any tips and suggested routine?

Here is a list of Apple support documents regarding batteries.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1446
Look at the articles under the 'Optimizing battery life' category.
Ciao.

Fluctuating Battery Capacity

Yesterday my MBP had a funny turn relating to it's recognised battery capacity. I had been using it for most of the day on fairly boring tasks and I was running it on battery power when all of a sudden it shut down on me. I plugged in charger and fired it up and when I looked at the battery it was at 0% however the capacity had fallen by over 75%.
Originally it was about
93% of original
4440mAh
270 load cycles
10months old
All of a sudden it was
16% of original
762mAh
I used System Profiler and Coconut to check the levels.
I left it charging for a couple of hours until it said it was full then I turned it off. I let it cool, took the battery out, dusted it, polished it and put it back.
When I turned the machine back on the battery capacity was back to 93% original.
The basic question is has anyone seen this before? Quickly followed by software glitch or intermittent hardware fault.
Cheers for any help.

The design capacity of a new battery is often exceeded slightly by its actual capacity. You got a good one.
My late-2008 MBP's battery has a design capacity of 4600 mAh, but it started off at about 4800 and still has never gone as low as 4600, after 11 months and 64 cycles. Right now it shows 4622.
It isn't possible for your MBP to have operated on battery power for 24 hours without sleeping. Something is wrong, not with your battery but with your story.

MacBook Pro battery capacity dropped to 2%?!?!?!

Hi Everyone
I've recently noticed my battery capacity has dropped DRAMATICALLY in the past month. It's the 2.0GHz quad-core i7 15 inch MacBook Pro, early 2011 model. It is 15 months old, however I bought it brand new (box not even opened) from an eBay seller on 16th June 2011. I always keep it plugged in and very rarely take it off the charge, only if I want to go and work in another room but don't want to bring the adaptor. I know that's not technically good for the battery but it can hardly be *terrible* can it?
I've noticed that the battery was getting very low and after reading a forum post somewhere I downloaded coconutBattery. A few weeks ago, it read that my battery capacity was 68%, which to me sounded pretty low. Then about a week ago I looked again and it read 37% and I knew something was definitely wrong. I check today and it's dropped to 2%!!!!! I would certainly expect some loss of capacity but surely not this so quickly?
I use the laptop on a desk with "cool balls" underneath to lift it up and provide it with a bit of ventillation to keep it from getting to hot. The magsafe charger has a small tear just under the aluminium head which I covered with black insulation tape as soon as I saw it. Would this be the reason the battery is dying so quickly?
I'm thinking I'm going to have to buy a new battery at some point but I don't want to spend £100 on one if it's just going to happen again!
Thanks
ps. here's a screenshot of the coconutBattery window

Yes, you have to pay full price for it when purchsing it from Apple....
There are third party suppliers out there if you wish to buy cheaper ones but I'm not sure if they perform as good as the apple supplied battery...
good luck

Battery capacity rapidly falling

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