Anyone seeing 15w~20w average battery draw on light use? 2016 15" MBP

[jun180]

Hi all,

I have a 2016 15" MBP with 16GB RAM and the 460 dGPU and average about 4-5 hours battery life per charge.

To cut to the chase, my average battery draw is always higher than 15w+ on light usage, refer to the screenshot.

Does anyone else experience this behaviour? And furthermore, anyone identified what is causing this issue?

Right now, I am seeing 20.1w battery draw with 2 safari tabs open (both macrumors), activity monitor, 1password mini, dropbox background sync on, istat menu 5, Adguard, battery health 2, magnet, viscosity vpn (off), grab, wifi and bluetooth running...hardly anything taxing for the CPU.

I've heard the new Sierra 10.12.3 public beta 2 has helped reduce the average battery drawn to around 5-10w on light use. Has anyone on here seen reductions in average battery drawn on the on the OSX public beta 2?


Some extra info:

I have previously been monitoring my battery life and the battery draw using the Battery Health 2 app, which is slow to refresh the battery draw wattage figures (approx. every 30 seconds).

I realised that iStats Menu 5 can also be used to monitor battery draw, on a much higher frequency (updates every second). After enabling this functionality, I have realised its a much better way to monitor battery draw and is accurate when predicting remaining battery life.

 

[Creep89]

If you run on iGPU please look if the dGPU is still active. You should see around 10W for the 460 Pro instead of 0.11W on average in iStat Menus.

I think you encounter the same bug like I do. Only a reboot fixes the issue temporarily.

 

[jun180]

If you run on iGPU please look if the dGPU is still active. You should see around 10W for the 460 Pro instead of 0.11W on average.

Forgot to mention that I do monitor the GPU between internal and discrete, and the 15-20w average is constantly using the iGPU only.

The screenshot confirms it was running on the iGPU at the time (the 'i' in the menubar), as per normal.

 

[Creep89]

As I said this totally sounds like the issue I encounter. It's the dGPU that still sucks power (10W) even if the iGPU is used.

"Radeon GPU Highside" is the sensor in question.

 

[jun180]

As I said this totally sounds like the issue I encounter. It's the dGPU that still sucks power (10W) even if the iGPU is used.

"Radeon GPU Highside" is the sensor in question.

Sorry, I misread. your post. Thanks for the information, it is useful in diagnosing the issuse.

I'll monitor the "Raedon GPU Highside" sensor and see if the bug occurs, where the 460 watts are high even if its reported that the iGPU is running.

Have you tried the public beta 3? I cannot seem to sign up on the apple beta page, so I can't install it. Some users report better battery life on the beta, with lower battery draw.

 

[Creep89]

No, unfortunately not. I can't afford running a beta since it's my only MacBook and I really need it to be working properly.

 

[smeek]

Sorry, I misread. your post. Thanks for the information, it is useful in diagnosing the issuse.

I'll monitor the "Raedon GPU Highside" sensor and see if the bug occurs, where the 460 watts are high even if its reported that the iGPU is running.

Have you tried the public beta 3? I cannot seem to sign up on the apple beta page, so I can't install it. Some users report better battery life on the beta, with lower battery draw.

Can you link me to where you found people reporting lower power draw on the new public beta 3 (I'm assuming you're referencing 10.12.3)?

 

[jun180]

Can you link me to where you found people reporting lower power draw on the new public beta 3 (I'm assuming you're referencing 10.12.3)?

Yes, just search "10.12.3 beta" and there are a few people saying its helped. For example:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-15-macbook-pro.2015074/page-83#post-24155895

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-15-macbook-pro.2015074/page-77#post-24132859

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ell-me-the-truth.2023513/page-6#post-24117008

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-15-macbook-pro.2015074/page-74#post-24106467


I've managed to get access to the beta, so I am installing it now. Please note its beta 2, not beta 3. This was a typo before.

 

[jun180]

Pleased to report that after installing macOS Sierra 10.12.3 public beta 2, the average wattage under the exact same scenario as the first post now sits around 8w, consistently ranging between 6-12w. On idle, I'm seeing approx. 3.5w.

Obviously it's early days, but its a good sign. I will continue to monitor the battery life and post up some results after a couple of full discharges.

 

[MrGuder]

Just curious, does the 10.12.3 public beta 2 say that it addresses battery issues on the new Macbook Pro or do they not release public notes with what comes with these beta updates. Honest question as I have no idea.

 

[jun180]

Just curious, does the 10.12.3 public beta 2 say that it addresses battery issues on the new Macbook Pro or do they not release public notes with what comes with these beta updates. Honest question as I have no idea.

No mentions regarding battery life from what I have read.

 

[matram]

No mentions regarding battery life from what I have read.

Typically Apple do not say what actual changes have been made in a beta. So the fact that battery is not mentioned probably is not a good indicator.