Sonoma 14.2.1 breaks optimized charging?

[tewatson]

After installing 14.2.1 on MacBook Pro M2, the optimized battery charging seems to have gone away. Battery now sits at 100% charge all the time, even after several days. Tried restarting to no avail. Prior versions would relearn after a day or two and drop the charge level to ~80%.

Tom

 

[MacInWin]

It works for me. My MBP is sitting at 80%, running 14.2.1.

Bear in mind that the system resets the "clock" for that optimization every time power is removed from the MBP, even briefly. And it took about a week for it to start reducing the charge level.

 

[Rod]

Not broken, works as designed for me too. Once your pattern of use is re-established it will start working again.

 

[tewatson]

Well, it's been way past a week now and it still sits at 100%. As I said, previous OS versions would re-learn and reduce the charge level to 80% within a few days. This issue definitely appeared with v14.2.1.

Tom

 

[Rod]

It's been my experience that it doesn't take much to "break" the pattern of use. Meaning I suppose that it starts all over again trying to deduce when you will need 100% charge. I did this accidentally and it took another week of routinely using battery on Fri, Sat an Sunday mornings before it returned to charging to 80% only at other times.

 

[MacInWin]

Well, it's been way past a week now and it still sits at 100%. As I said, previous OS versions would re-learn and reduce the charge level to 80% within a few days. This issue definitely appeared with v14.2.1.

Tom

Tom, what is your use of the machine like? Do you ever shut it totally down and do a cold boot? Have you disconnected the external power supply at all during the past week? Even for a second? Any interruptions in power to the Mac? As Rod says, it doesn't take much for the system to go back to 100%. Mine is still sitting where it was, now at 79%.

In the older machines we would suggest an SMC reset, but in the Mx Macs, the SMC reset is to power off for a few seconds, and the SMC is reset on cold boot. Of course, that might reset the countdown clock to the battery saver kicking in, too, so you might want to let it go one more day before doing that. I don't know if the battery saver is tied to power off/on cycles. I don't think it is, as long as the external power remains connected.

 

[tewatson]

Use it every day, for at least a couple hours. No recent disconnections, don't shut it completely down unless I have to. Previously just did a restart every couple weeks to flush things out, but if that's going to reset the optimizer clock I'm going to stop (particularly if it takes two weeks to re-learn use patterns).

It's powered through the USB monitor cable so it's never disconnected from the supply source. Something most definitely changed with 14.2.1.

Tom

 

[MacInWin]

It's powered through the USB monitor cable so it's never disconnected from the supply source. Something most definitely changed with 14.2.1.

I would recommend calling Apple support. You can start at Apple.com, follow the support to "contact us" and set up a call.

The only difference I can see is I am connected through the MagSafe connector, not USB, and not through a monitor. It doesn't take two weeks to learn, it should get trained in a week, or less, if your pattern is fairly consistent. Is it possible the monitor is turning off the power when it sleeps?

 

[tewatson]

I would recommend calling Apple support. You can start at Apple.com, follow the support to "contact us" and set up a call.

The only difference I can see is I am connected through the MagSafe connector, not USB, and not through a monitor. It doesn't take two weeks to learn, it should get trained in a week, or less, if your pattern is fairly consistent. Is it possible the monitor is turning off the power when it sleeps?

No, power is always present. It worked flawlessly since new, right up until I installed OS 14.2.1. Nothing in the physical setup has changed. Has been at 100% charge since December 19th (software release date).

Tom

 

[tewatson]

Apple gave me System Manager reset instructions with a convoluted series of timed on-off-unplug-plug in steps, culminating in safe mode where the OS is supposed to do a self repair process. Will see if it cures the problem.

Tom

 

[RadDave]

Apple gave me System Manager reset instructions with a convoluted series of timed on-off-unplug-plug in steps, culminating in safe mode where the OS is supposed to do a self repair process. Will see if it cures the problem.

Tom

Hi Tom - own a new M2 Air (mid-Nov purchase) - battery optimization seem to work fine at first, i.e. maintaining 80% charge level; using a MagSafe charger - kept power plugged and went to 100% a few weeks ago - decided to remove the charger and let the laptop go to 60%, then reconnected the charger - first went to 80% for a few days then to 100% which has maintained for at least 4 days - should I wait longer or remove power? I know that Jake & Rod positive about the feature but seems flaky to me. Also, there are plenty of others complaining on the web - not a big issue for me, i.e. I use to keep my two older laptops plugged in at 100% w/o a major (or even minor) deterioration of the battery - is this an over exaggerated concern? Dave

 

[MacInWin]

Dave, it's a feature not a requirement. The idea behind it is that the battery will last slightly longer if it is constantly on power if it's held at 80%, not 100%. The difference in life is a few percent, not huge. So if the battery life is, let's say, 5 years, the saving from being at 80% for those five years would be about 5% or so, or .25 of a year, so three months, maybe. But since you, and everybody else, will be occasionally taking it off mains and using it as a portable, and then putting it back on mains where it goes back to 100% for a while, the actual real-life change might be closer to 3% or less, so maybe 6 weeks?

Now, as a feature, it's working perfectly for me. My MBP is on power 95+% of the time, only rarely moved off to work on the battery alone, so it hovers near 80% (Right at this instant, it's 79%.). I have used this machine off-mains and when it gets back to power, it goes up to 100%, usually for about a week or so, then comes back to 80% again. I haven't seen a lot of complaints about it not working, but I don't go looking on the 'net for those complaints.

There aren't any settings for it that I know of, it's just there.

In the exact instance you talked about, going off mains and then back on, I don't know why it would have stopped at 80% on the way to 100%. My machine just goes to 100% when reconnected without any pauses, then comes back to 80% a few days (week) later.

 

[RadDave]

Dave, it's a feature not a requirement. The idea behind it is that the battery will last slightly longer if it is constantly on power if it's held at 80%, not 100%. The difference in life is a few percent, not huge. So if the battery life is, let's say, 5 years, the saving from being at 80% for those five years would be about 5% or so, or .25 of a year, so three months, maybe. But since you, and everybody else, will be occasionally taking it off mains and using it as a portable, and then putting it back on mains where it goes back to 100% for a while, the actual real-life change might be closer to 3% or less, so maybe 6 weeks?

Now, as a feature, it's working perfectly for me. My MBP is on power 95+% of the time, only rarely moved off to work on the battery alone, so it hovers near 80% (Right at this instant, it's 79%.). I have used this machine off-mains and when it gets back to power, it goes up to 100%, usually for about a week or so, then comes back to 80% again. I haven't seen a lot of complaints about it not working, but I don't go looking on the 'net for those complaints.

There aren't any settings for it that I know of, it's just there.

In the exact instance you talked about, going off mains and then back on, I don't know why it would have stopped at 80% on the way to 100%. My machine just goes to 100% when reconnected without any pauses, then comes back to 80% a few days (week) later.

Thanks Jake for your excellent comments - will keep on power for a few more days to see if it will go back to 80% or so - in the 'long run' doesn't seem to make much difference despite understanding the battery technology specifics. Dave

 

[IWT]

Thank you, Jake, for your Post #12.

Battery life today, especially in respect of Apple products, is very reliable and I feel that there can be times when some people perhaps overstate the need to do this or that to extend battery life. Your comment about the "actual benefit" spread over a number of years brings sanity and common sense to the fore.

We members must know a lot of folk who are apparently careless with their battery in many ways, but in the end, their battery life meets all their needs.

Your injection of "sanity" into this debate is much appreciated.

Ian

 

[tewatson]

Hi Tom - own a new M2 Air (mid-Nov purchase) - battery optimization seem to work fine at first, i.e. maintaining 80% charge level; using a MagSafe charger - kept power plugged and went to 100% a few weeks ago - decided to remove the charger and let the laptop go to 60%, then reconnected the charger - first went to 80% for a few days then to 100% which has maintained for at least 4 days - should I wait longer or remove power? I know that Jake & Rod positive about the feature but seems flaky to me. Also, there are plenty of others complaining on the web - not a big issue for me, i.e. I use to keep my two older laptops plugged in at 100% w/o a major (or even minor) deterioration of the battery - is this an over exaggerated concern? Dave

It seems the algorithm looks for little or no use on battery alone before reducing the charge level - so if you occasionally unplug it the behavior will change. Mine sits connected all the time.

Apple's System Manager reset instructions seem to have done the trick for me. Today the charge level is back at 80%.

Tom

 

[alexbondor]

Apple gave me System Manager reset instructions with a convoluted series of timed on-off-unplug-plug in steps, culminating in safe mode where the OS is supposed to do a self repair process. Will see if it cures the problem.

Tom

Can you share the instructions you got? I recently updated my macbook and now it's not charging anymore.. although it's like 3 months old..

 

[Rod]

alexbondor, you really should start a new thread for your problem as it is a much more serious issue than optimised charging.
We would also need a lot more details about your device, operating system, age and so on.

 

[IWT]

@alexbondor

Firstly, a warm welcome to Mac-Forums.

I totally agree with Rod. Your problem is different and requires its own Thread. If you have any problem starting a new Thread, please ask.

Finally, again repeating what Rod said: Tell us everything about your MacBook - year, Operating System, storage capacity,RAM etc. The more there is, the easier the help.

And, of course, exact details about what has gone wrong

Ian

 

[RadDave]

Well, to get this thread back to 'battery optimization', since the last several minor updates to Sonoma, the feature seems to be working fine for me, i.e. about 80% charge level. Dave