High Battery Consumption (30+ Watt) on MacBook Pro 2015

[fnedleyputznick]

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out what could be going on with my mac battery. I was not having great battery life and the machine said the battery needed to be replaced, so I took it to the Apple store and got it replaced -- only to bring it home today and find that the battery seems to drain just as fast. I downloaded coconutBattery and it seems to say that I constantly use ("discharge") between 20-55 Watts, which seems like a lot. Nothing seems totally crazy in my CPU, but maybe I'm wrong. What could be the possible problems here?

 

[tragicwinding]

Hey fnedleyputznick,

I'm sorry to hear about your MacBook Pro's battery issues. High power usage can be caused by many factors. It could be due to a number of running apps or services, even some you might not be aware of. Here are some general tips that might help:

1. Check Activity Monitor: This tool can show you what processes are using significant energy. Look for apps with high CPU usage or that are using a lot of energy.
2. Manage apps: Closing unnecessary apps can save power, as can reducing the number of apps that open at startup.
3. Adjust settings: Lowering screen brightness, turning off keyboard backlight, and disabling dynamic wallpapers can also help.
4. Update your software: Make sure your MacOS and apps are up-to-date. Sometimes, software updates include optimizations that can improve battery life.

As for your concern about the 20-55 Watts discharge rate, this could be normal depending on what you're doing on your MacBook Pro. If you're using intensive apps or have a lot of processes running, the power usage can be quite high.

 

[fnedleyputznick]

Hey fnedleyputznick,

I'm sorry to hear about your MacBook Pro's battery issues. High power usage can be caused by many factors. It could be due to a number of running apps or services, even some you might not be aware of. Here are some general tips that might help:

1. Check Activity Monitor: This tool can show you what processes are using significant energy. Look for apps with high CPU usage or that are using a lot of energy.
2. Manage apps: Closing unnecessary apps can save power, as can reducing the number of apps that open at startup.
3. Adjust settings: Lowering screen brightness, turning off keyboard backlight, and disabling dynamic wallpapers can also help.
4. Update your software: Make sure your MacOS and apps are up-to-date. Sometimes, software updates include optimizations that can improve battery life.

As for your concern about the 20-55 Watts discharge rate, this could be normal depending on what you're doing on your MacBook Pro. If you're using intensive apps or have a lot of processes running, the power usage can be quite high.

Thank you. I’ve changed my wallpaper to static— however, I still think there’s something wrong. For example, right now, the only apps I have running are Outlook, activity monitor, and coconutBattery, at half brightness with wifi and Bluetooth turned off, and it’s still saying that I’m discharging with 29.45 watts.

When I open up ActivityMonitor, it’s confusing. It says 91% of my system is idle (with about 7% system and 1% user)— but then, up above, it says that iCalExternalSync is using up 22-35% of CPU, and kernel_task is using up about 20%. Everything else is using like 2% or less.

What could be going on? Could it be a hardware issue?

 

[fnedleyputznick]

Thank you. I’ve changed my wallpaper to static— however, I still think there’s something wrong. For example, right now, the only apps I have running are Outlook, activity monitor, and coconutBattery, at half brightness with wifi and Bluetooth turned off, and it’s still saying that I’m discharging with 29.45 watts.

When I open up ActivityMonitor, it’s confusing. It says 91% of my system is idle (with about 7% system and 1% user)— but then, up above, it says that iCalExternalSync is using up 22-35% of CPU, and kernel_task is using up about 20%. Everything else is using like 2% or less.

What could be going on? Could it be a hardware issue?

It also seems like maybe my temperature is high? coconutBattery says the battery temp is 96.4 Fahrenheit, but CleanMyMac says the CPU is at 138F, and it usually hovers a lot higher. I’ve never seen it lower than this.

 

[tragicwinding]

Here are a few things you can try:

1. Check for background processes in Activity Monitor and quit any unfamiliar ones.
2. Reset SMC and NVRAM to resolve power-related issues.
3. Run diagnostics by restarting your MacBook Pro and holding down the D key.
4. Contact Apple support if the problem persists after trying the above steps.

Regarding CPU usage, some processes using a percentage of CPU during idle is normal. The iCalExternalSync and kernel_task processes shouldn't cause significant power drain.

As for temperature, variations in reporting are common. As long as your MacBook Pro stays within the recommended range, it should be fine.