Battery calibration and shutting down the mac

[countfufu]

When calibrating the battery should I:
a) let the battery discharge to less than 10%, shut down the mac and charge for several hours or
b) let the battery discharge to 0% and go into sleep mode, then charge the mac for several hours or
c) let the battery discharge to 0% and go into sleep mode, then let it discharge further for a few hours until it shuts down completely, then charge the mac for several hours?

I have a macbook pro 13" early 2011, running OSX 10.10.5

 

[IWT]

Opinions vary, but I am confident that no one would ever advise letting your battery discharge to zero.

A general consensus - meaning an average of opinions on the matter - would probably say, don't let your battery go down below 40% (some say 60%) and don't keep it on charge when it reaches 100% for longer than necessary.

I have friends who seem to keep their battery on charge semi-permanently; apparently without harm.

But nobody would ever advise letting it go down to 0%. These are Lithium-ion batteries; that is quite different from the old NiCad days.

Ian

 

[countfufu]

Opinions vary, but I am confident that no one would ever advise letting your battery discharge to zero.

A general consensus - meaning an average of opinions on the matter - would probably say, don't let your battery go down below 40% (some say 60%) and don't keep it on charge when it reaches 100% for longer than necessary.

I have friends who seem to keep their battery on charge semi-permanently; apparently without harm.

But nobody would ever advise letting it go down to 0%. These are Lithium-ion batteries; that is quite different from the old NiCad days.

Ian

According to these sources you should let it go down to 0% and sleep when you first install the battery. I've attached the pdf and video link.

 

[countfufu]

calibration should be performed every 4-5 months, so if it is bad to let the battery drop to 0% then dropping it to less than 10% should be okay?

 

[harryb2448]

Sorry Ian not correct Read this from Apple battery manufacturer Newertech, an OWC company, and repeat every four or five months:-

How To Calibrate a Mac Laptop's Power System - NewerTech

It's essential to calibrate your power management system to give your battery its fullest charge and lifespan. Our easy step-by-step guide shows you how.

www.newertech.com

 

[IWT]

Sorry Ian not correct Read this from Apple battery manufacturer Newertech, an OWC company, and repeat every four or five months:-

How To Calibrate a Mac Laptop's Power System - NewerTech

It's essential to calibrate your power management system to give your battery its fullest charge and lifespan. Our easy step-by-step guide shows you how.

www.newertech.com

Okay, hands up, surrender

If that's the advice, best to follow it. Never done that myself, but until now never knew that's what we are meant to do.

Thanks Harry. Good on you.

Ian

 

[countfufu]

once it's calibrated the charge should not be allowed to go below 50% (the average of 40% and 60%) which means unplugging the charger when it's 100% and replugging it when it's 49%.

 

[MacInWin]

once it's calibrated the charge should not be allowed to go below 50% (the average of 40% and 60%) which means unplugging the charger when it's 100% and replugging it when it's 49%.

No. Leave it plugged in if you want. There is very little harm staying on charger. Apple circuitry stops it from overcharging. The hardest thing on the battery is deep discharges, which can happen if you unplug and then forget.

As for that article from Newertech, the purpose of that process is to calibrate the battery measurement circuits, NOT to condition the battery or improve its life. I would not do that process because it is very hard on the battery to run it down like that.

 

[countfufu]

No. Leave it plugged in if you want. There is very little harm staying on charger. Apple circuitry stops it from overcharging. The hardest thing on the battery is deep discharges, which can happen if you unplug and then forget.

As for that article from Newertech, the purpose of that process is to calibrate the battery measurement circuits, NOT to condition the battery or improve its life. I would not do that process because it is very hard on the battery to run it down like that.

does this apply to older macs? I know newer macs stop charging the battery when the charge reaches above 80%

What process do you recommend for conditioning and calibrating the battery?

 

[MacInWin]

does this apply to older macs? I know newer macs stop charging the battery when the charge reaches above 80%

No, it doesn't stop at 80%. It goes on up to about 95%, then slows down to get to that final 100% (which is not really 100% of what the battery can physically take, to keep from overcharging).

What process do you recommend for conditioning and calibrating the battery?

None. It doesn't need it. Just don't deeply discharge it, keep at a room temperature as much as you can and if you store the Mac for months, store it at 85%. No conditioning, no calibrating. Not needed. Ever.

 

[harryb2448]

You can also reuse these steps to recalibrate the power management system every few months if desired.

Quote from last line of my link. Have done this with my 2012 MBP 9.2 and never had any battery problems. Manufacrure date 05-06-2013, cycle count 536 and status good.

 

[MacInWin]

You can also reuse these steps to recalibrate the power management system every few months if desired.

Quote from last line of my link. Have done this with my 2012 MBP 9.2 and never had any battery problems. Manufacrure date 05-06-2013, cycle count 536 and status good.

It's just not necessary. And it's NOT for the battery, it is to calibrate the battery reporting system in the Mac. It will wear out the battery.

It's a bit like jack-rabbit takeoffs from traffic lights--hard on the engine, drive train, tires. Yes, you CAN do it, but there isn't any need for it and it's just wasteful of the equipment.

My battery reporting system is accurate and I have NEVER calibrated it that way. Never.

 

[countfufu]

It's just not necessary. And it's NOT for the battery, it is to calibrate the battery reporting system in the Mac. It will wear out the battery.

It's a bit like jack-rabbit takeoffs from traffic lights--hard on the engine, drive train, tires. Yes, you CAN do it, but there isn't any need for it and it's just wasteful of the equipment.

My battery reporting system is accurate and I have NEVER calibrated it that way. Never.

will it wear the battery out if you do it once every six months?

 

[MacInWin]

will it wear the battery out if you do it once every six months?

Not precipitously. A "cycle" is generally defined as going from 100% to 0 back to 100%. A good battery like Apple uses should do well with 1000 or more cycles. If you go from 100 to 50 back to 100, that's about 1/2 cycle. It's not exact, but close enough for most of us. So, if you use your battery from 100-0-100 every day, you'll start to see severe loss of maximum charge capacity in about 2.5 to 3 years. Stick with 110-50-100 and that will stretch to 5-6 years.

But the real point is that there is no real reason to do that process at all. Literally all it does is to allow the system in the Mac to verify that what it senses as 50% is actually 50%. And that's it. Nothing to extend the battery life, just a way for the system to verify what it knows. I've never, ever, calibrated a battery and the system reports just fine.

But it's your system, do what you want. It won't kill the battery, but it won't help it, either.

EDIT: Here is a way to think about it. The circuits in the Mac for battery sensing are like the fuel gauge in your car. It tells the user how much longer the car/mac can go before it runs out of gas/battery, and stops. Just to be sure, you can take your car out and run the tank dry, just to see how far below the empty mark you can go, but that's hard on you and the car. Ditto for "calibrating" the battery circuit. You look at the fuel gauge and accept what it says. Do the same with the battery system and just trust it. If you find that all of a sudden it's changed and you are only getting a fraction of what you used to get for battery, then you can re-calibrate it to see if it's the sensing circuit or the battery, but unless you see something wrong, there is no need to calibrate the fuel gauge.

 

[krs]

My battery reporting system is accurate and I have NEVER calibrated it that way. Never.

Same here.
Over the years we have had well over a dozen MacBooks of some type.
Nobody ever calibrated any of the batteries; we also never had to replace any of the batteries.
We usually leave the power adapter plugged in except when the computer is used away from a power source.

 

[IWT]

So, maybe, or maybe not; my post #2 wasn't that far off the mark?

What I've taken from this genuinely interesting thread is that there are a variety of views and that's healthy.

Ian

 

[MacInWin]

So, maybe, or maybe not; my post #2 wasn't that far off the mark?

What I've taken from this genuinely interesting thread is that there are a variety of views and that's healthy.

Ian

Yep. You have it right at the start.

 

[Mac Man 2007]

One of the most important keys to battery life besides draining it to low is keeping the cycle count down. To me that means using my Macs connected as much as possible when using them. As long as you are using a charge when convenient then use it. I disconnect mine every night. I use the charger much of the time. I put a new OWC battery in my Mac Air 6 months ago and it has 40 cycles on it. Extrapolate that out and it comes to 80 cycles/year and 400 cycles in 5 years. The is not much wear on the battery. My Mac Pro battery is almost 5 years old and has 480 cycles on it and shows 83% health. I rarely run them down below 50%.
BTW the OWC is an excellent battery so far.

 

[countfufu]

Not precipitously. A "cycle" is generally defined as going from 100% to 0 back to 100%. A good battery like Apple uses should do well with 1000 or more cycles. If you go from 100 to 50 back to 100, that's about 1/2 cycle. It's not exact, but close enough for most of us. So, if you use your battery from 100-0-100 every day, you'll start to see severe loss of maximum charge capacity in about 2.5 to 3 years. Stick with 110-50-100 and that will stretch to 5-6 years.

But the real point is that there is no real reason to do that process at all. Literally all it does is to allow the system in the Mac to verify that what it senses as 50% is actually 50%. And that's it. Nothing to extend the battery life, just a way for the system to verify what it knows. I've never, ever, calibrated a battery and the system reports just fine.

But it's your system, do what you want. It won't kill the battery, but it won't help it, either.

EDIT: Here is a way to think about it. The circuits in the Mac for battery sensing are like the fuel gauge in your car. It tells the user how much longer the car/mac can go before it runs out of gas/battery, and stops. Just to be sure, you can take your car out and run the tank dry, just to see how far below the empty mark you can go, but that's hard on you and the car. Ditto for "calibrating" the battery circuit. You look at the fuel gauge and accept what it says. Do the same with the battery system and just trust it. If you find that all of a sudden it's changed and you are only getting a fraction of what you used to get for battery, then you can re-calibrate it to see if it's the sensing circuit or the battery, but unless you see something wrong, there is no need to calibrate the fuel gauge.

so if it's plugged in all the time there is no need to charge and discharge, which means the battery goes through fewer cycles? For example if I discharge and charge twice a week then the battery goes through one cycle a week. If it's lifespan is determined by cycles then keeping it from discharging and charging should make it last longer.

 

[countfufu]

do all macbook batteries come with in-built overcharge protection?