Power Adapter MacBook Pro

[Andrew1972]

I have a 2017 MacBook Pro(USB-C connectors) with a service battery indicator and cannot run long without power cord plugged in despite a near full charge. It randomly shuts down on battery. It spend majority of its life plugged in on my desk and 1-2 times a week on battery.

I have occasionally used a RAV Power US-CB adapter with it charge when away from desk (seems slightly slower). Is that the reason for battery demise? I have a new MBP 13" and wondering if I should just buy the extra Apple Charger. Or is that silly?

 

[Hall]

Click the Apple, About this Mac, then System Report. Scroll through the entries and find "Battery" and see (post) the number of "cycle counts" the battery shows. Something messed up the battery as they should last much longer than 2-3 years (a '17 MBP could have been sold as new in '18, for example).

 

[Andrew1972]

Thanks. Computer used since Jan 2018 with average on time 41hrs/week per year. I peeked and new it has 1000 cycles.

Health Information:


Cycle Count: 216


Condition: Service Recommended

 

[92saturnsl2]

Power adapter used should not affect battery longevity. There is intermediate circuitry that regulates charge output, it doesn't come straight from the charger.

 

[bunnspecial]

Do you have Applecare? If so, get that thing in while-presumably-it's still covered.

Your charger shouldn't matter. 216 cycles and won't even work away from the charger is unacceptable, especially given that Apple says 1000 cycles on non-removable batteries.

You can basically forget a DIY battery change on these. I've done it once on an older Retina MBP(the ones with USB-A and other ports aside from just USB-C), and swore never again. From what I understand, the newer touchbar ones are even worse. Even if out of warranty, the price Apple charges to change it is worth every penny.

 

[JHZR2]

A power adapter can cause issues if it has too high a ripple, or power quality is poor. Also, it can be abusive if it allows too high a voltage, especially if the bit that is too high is a transient spike, short lived, and not protected.

That said, unless the thing youre using is an Amazon lowest bidder special, Id have my doubts that its bad. I dont know that the Apple adapters are anything to write home about.

Temperature and deep cycles affect batteries the most. Does your laptop live in hot conditions? Do you cycle it empty often?

My 2013 MBP Im writing this on has a great battery, no concerns on runtime...

 

[Carmudgeon]

I have a 2017 MacBook Pro(USB-C connectors) with a service battery indicator and cannot run long without power cord plugged in despite a near full charge. It randomly shuts down on battery. It spend majority of its life plugged in on my desk and 1-2 times a week on battery.

I have occasionally used a RAV Power US-CB adapter with it charge when away from desk (seems slightly slower). Is that the reason for battery demise? I have a new MBP 13" and wondering if I should just buy the extra Apple Charger. Or is that silly?

Lithiium batteries like to spend their lives, and live longest, when kept in the middle range of their state of charge. They do not like extremes, such as being drained and left sitting empty, or being kept fully charged. Leaving them in either state for prolonged periods is detrimental to their durability, or in the case of low voltages, damaging.

Proactive battery health maintenance features were added to iOS 11.3, and macOS 10.15.5 to try to intelligently manage charging, with the aim of prolonging battery durability.

They can be too clever for their own good, and the intelligence doesn't pick up on some users' usage patterns, but the underlying principle still applies.

If you don't have AC, Apple's battery replacement fee is $129-199.

Apple's AC wall adapters cost more, but are well-regarded.

The less expensive 3rd party options from recognizable names like Anker or Ravpower can be fine as well, but there are no doubts as to what you're getting from Apple, just like any other OE parts.

 

[Hall]

You can basically forget a DIY battery change on these.

I've replaced the battery on my '13 MBA and daughter's '11 Air and it was a piece of cake. Looking at OWC, they don't even sell batteries for MBPs newer than 2015.

 

[bunnspecial]

I've replaced the battery on my '13 MBA and daughter's '11 Air and it was a piece of cake. Looking at OWC, they don't even sell batteries for MBPs newer than 2015.

Different story on those-the batteries are held in place with screws. I've done many, many batteries on unibody MBPs and the older "wedge" MBAs. At best it's a 10 minute job, and usually less. The only slightly challenging part can be finding a tri-lobe screwdriver as used on some of the MBPs, but a lot of the battery replacements include one.

Everything changed with the Retina MBP with "tiered" batteries that are glued in place. If you take one of these to the Apple store for a replacement, the store will generally swap the entire top case and it goes back to a central service facility for battery replacement. As I said, I've done one myself. It involves dissolving the adhesive with acetone to remove it(bearing in mind that tearing the covering can be dangerous with a Li-Ion), and then hoping to goodness you can get everything lined up correctly when you glue the replacement down.

 

[Andrew1972]

A happy ending. Expecting to pay $200 for battery replacement I shipped my nearly 3 year old MacBook Pro to Apple repair on Sat and got it back today.

The receipt say no charge battery replaced.

What I realize is the battery that failed on had 216 cycles USED not LEFT! So it had a long way to go(1000 cycles) which makes a lot of sense since it spends majority of life on my desk plugged in.

New battery in it with 1 cycle and no oddball crashes. Woohoo! Second time Apple(iPhone 7 before) fixed issues no charge out of warranty and I never paid for AppleCare.