How bad is it for battery health to leave M1 MPB13 plugged in with optimized battery charging?

[DekuBleep]

I’m using an app called Aldente and have it set at 75%. So my battery charges to 75% and then switches to power source only so that the battery isn’t being used. Works very well for me.

Do you have the free version or the paid version of Aldente?

I just downloaded the free version, and it doesn't seem to allow me to let the battery "go down from 100 percent while plugged in"...

So I was using my laptop in clamshell mode, and I have to take it out of clamshell mode and unplug it to let the battery go below 75 percent, and then I will plug it back in and turn on the Aldente free version. Hopefully, it limits the battery to not charge above 75%.

Does the paid version allow you to let the battery charge go down while your laptop is plugged in? Can it do that while in clamshell mode? Thanks a lot!

 

[helloapple1]

Do you have the free version or the paid version of Aldente?

I just downloaded the free version, and it doesn't seem to allow me to let the battery "go down from 100 percent while plugged in"...

So I was using my laptop in clamshell mode, and I have to take it out of clamshell mode and unplug it to let the battery go below 75 percent, and then I will plug it back in and turn on the Aldente free version. Hopefully, it limits the battery to not charge above 75%.

Does the paid version allow you to let the battery charge go down while your laptop is plugged in? Can it do that while in clamshell mode? Thanks a lot!

I have the free version. Some things to note - I keep it unplugged until it goes below 75% then I plug it back in so it won’t go above 75% and instead use the power source. You can use the discharge feature in the settings to keep it unplugged and have it discharge but since it’s in beta I don’t use it.
Also if you shut down or sleep your computer will charge to 100% if it’s plugged in.
So I only plug in my computer when it’s below or equal to 75% in order for Aldente to work well for me. You can choose another number but I like 75%.

 

[DekuBleep]

I have the free version. Some things to note - I keep it unplugged until it goes below 75% then I plug it back in so it won’t go above 75% and instead use the power source. You can use the discharge feature in the settings to keep it unplugged and have it discharge but since it’s in beta I don’t use it.
Also if you shut down or sleep your computer will charge to 100% if it’s plugged in.
So I only plug in my computer when it’s below or equal to 75% in order for Aldente to work well for me. You can choose another number but I like 75%.

Thanks! I’m going to do the same thing most likely.

 

[Tagbert]

One thing I've noticed is that people say that they tried to allow Optimized Battery Charging to work but it never kicks in. In my experience it look about 30 days of being plugged in nearly continuously to have the optimization start. Since then, it has worked very well. It will occasionally charge back to close to 100% and then immediately start discharging slowly to back to around 80%. I'm on battery right now, but this is the first time in probably 2 weeks. I'll let the battery discharge to about 30%-40% and then put it back on the charger. If it works as usual, it will stop charging at under 90% and then slowly discharge to 80% again. It started at about 75% when I took it off the charger.

One thing to note is that many times when the Battery Menu Extra is showing 100%-90%, the actual battery charge remaining is lower. Apple is apparently applying some sort of heuristic to show the battery value that isn't the actual percentage of (current charge)/(maximum charge). Over time though, the percentage shown in the battery menu will come close to the actual remaining percentage.

This is why we don't trust Optimized Battery Charging. It's not clear what it is doing, what conditions it is using for its decisions and then it lies to you about the actual charge rate. It gives us no input into the process. I don't like to be told to not worry my pretty little head about it. that's why I install Al Dente and set it to 80%. 99% of the time I don't need more change than that, but I could never tell Mr. Optimized that.

 

[DekuBleep]

Just keep an eye on the battery percentage charge in the menu bar. If you use the machine mostly plugged in it should usually show 80%, not 100% all the time which it will if Optimise Battery is not working.

I should give Apple's optimise a go for a few weeks and only try Al Dente if it doesn't seem to be working. Many threads about Al Dente, Here is one. There is a free version but I recommend the Pro version.

why is the pro version of Al Dente worth it over the free version? Thanks!

 

[Apple_Robert]

I use AlDente Pro with my M1 MBA purchased 12.24.20 At the moment, AlDente is doing a Calibration with drains the battery to 15% and then charges it to 100%, leaves it at 100% for 1 hour before letting it drain back to my setting of 70%.

The picture is from Better Battery 2

 

[DekuBleep]

I use AlDente Pro with my M1 MBA purchased 12.24.20 At the moment, AlDente is doing a Calibration with drains the battery to 15% and then charges it to 100%, leaves it at 100% for 1 hour before letting it drain back to my setting of 70%.

The picture is from Better Battery 2

that’s perfect battery health after six months… wow! Do you have to tell it to do all that stuff or does it just happen automatically?

 

[Apple_Robert]

that’s perfect battery health after six months… wow! Do you have to tell it to do all that stuff or does it just happen automatically?

With AlDente Pro (which was recently released) it is all automatic. With the previous version, It wasn't 100% automatic outside of setting the charge limit.

 

[lumpycustard]

I use AlDente Pro with my M1 MBA purchased 12.24.20 At the moment, AlDente is doing a Calibration with drains the battery to 15% and then charges it to 100%, leaves it at 100% for 1 hour before letting it drain back to my setting of 70%.

The picture is from Better Battery 2

Why is your design capacity so low vs the official specifications of the MBP battery?

Your screenshot shows a maximum capacity of 4,382mah whereas the MBP13" should be over 5,000mah, no?

I'm wondering if the app is reporting 100% battery "health" based on your current usage scenario rather than suggesting that you've retained 100% of your battery capacity since it was manufactured, which simply is not possible based on how li-ion batteries function.

 

[bradbomb]

Why is your design capacity so low vs the official specifications of the MBP battery?

Your screenshot shows a maximum capacity of 4,382mah whereas the MBP13" should be over 5,000mah, no?

I'm wondering if the app is reporting 100% battery "health" based on your current usage scenario rather than suggesting that you've retained 100% of your battery capacity since it was manufactured, which simply is not possible based on how li-ion batteries function.

Because he has a MBA, not MBP according to his post

 

[lumpycustard]

Oh my bad, i was going off of his signature.

Point still stands though, it simply shouldn't be possible for a battery to remain at 100% its original capacity after 6 months -- of everything i've read from every battery manufacturer and internal testing that's just not how li-ion/li-po works.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Manufacture variability. Robert got lucky. He got one that was above the nominal Design capacity of 4382mAh when new. His current max capacity of 4394 mAh is still above the nominal max.

@Apple_Robert it would be interesting to see your Better Battery 2 capacity history chart to see what it started out with. This is mine, from when I started using BB2.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Manufacture variability. Robert got lucky. He got one that was above the nominal Design capacity of 4382mAh when new. His current max capacity of 4394 mAh is still above the nominal max.

@Apple_Robert it would be interesting to see your Better Battery 2 capacity history chart to see what it started out with. This is mine, from when I started using BB2.

View attachment 1781219

Unfortunately, I don’t have a complete history. I have been doing clean installs with each release, although I hadnb’t gotten to it with 11.4.

 

[spiderman0616]

I've had battery issues with iPhones and iPads, but NEVER with a Mac. My old 2014 Air from work was plugged in almost constantly and could still last me more than a full work day on the rare occasion I needed it off the charger.

 

[jdb8167]

This is why we don't trust Optimized Battery Charging. It's not clear what it is doing, what conditions it is using for its decisions and then it lies to you about the actual charge rate. It gives us no input into the process. I don't like to be told to not worry my pretty little head about it. that's why I install Al Dente and set it to 80%. 99% of the time I don't need more change than that, but I could never tell Mr. Optimized that.

To each his own. I’m happy that a utility like AlDente exists for people who want more control over the battery charging than what Apple provides.

I’m the opposite. I don’t want to think about things like battery life and I trust Apple to mostly get it right. I started monitoring the battery charge originally because the optimized charging didn’t seem to work. It took about a month to start working. Part of that might have been the “learning” feature and part of it might have been early bugs in the feature (I’ve had an M1 MacBook Air since launch day.)

Now that optimized battery charging works for me I can set it and forget it. This is my ideal situation for using the computer.

 

[DekuBleep]

To each his own. I’m happy that a utility like AlDente exists for people who want more control over the battery charging than what Apple provides.

I’m the opposite. I don’t want to think about things like battery life and I trust Apple to mostly get it right. I started monitoring the battery charge originally because the optimized charging didn’t seem to work. It took about a month to start working. Part of that might have been the “learning” feature and part of it might have been early bugs in the feature (I’ve had an M1 MacBook Air since launch day.)

Now that optimized battery charging works for me I can set it and forget it. This is my ideal situation for using the computer.

so supposedly apples optimized battery staying at 80% charge turns on after about a 30 days of being plugged in continuously… does that mean that if you unplug your laptop 4-5 times a week for an hour or so that it will never turn on optimized charging and stay at 80% charge?

 

[bobcomer]

I've had battery issues with iPhones and iPads, but NEVER with a Mac. My old 2014 Air from work was plugged in almost constantly and could still last me more than a full work day on the rare occasion I needed it off the charger.

My 2017 MBP 15" had a bad battery failure, they expanded and broke everything, and it was plugged in most of the time. Though I suspect it had nothing to do with that.

I think it had partially crashed and then got too hot. One day it was working well, no obvious case warp or anything, the next I came home from work, I could hear the fan right away, and the case was all munged up. I had a Microsoft Surface book that did the same thing a few months before that. I've never had a problem like that with any other of the many laptops I own or control.

My Lenovo X1 at work is always plugged in and for the first 3 years, it sat at 100% charged, no problem and it still holds a charge. I backed it off to only charging to 80% for the 4th year.

 

[Mike Boreham]

so supposedly apples optimized battery staying at 80% charge turns on after about a 30 days of being plugged in continuously… does that mean that if you unplug your laptop 4-5 times a week for an hour or so that it will never turn on optimized charging and stay at 80% charge?

Here is another report about Apples Optimised Charging. In this case it started working after two weeks but then stopped working a few weeks later.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Unfortunately, I don’t have a complete history. I have been doing clean installs with each release, although I hadnb’t gotten to it with 11.4.

That's a pity! With it still being over 100% after six months it could have been c102% when new!

 

[jdb8167]

so supposedly apples optimized battery staying at 80% charge turns on after about a 30 days of being plugged in continuously… does that mean that if you unplug your laptop 4-5 times a week for an hour or so that it will never turn on optimized charging and stay at 80% charge?

Unfortunately I don’t know. That is the problem that was leading the poster that I replied to to use a third-party solution. The longest that I kept my MBA plugged in continuously was about 2 weeks but that was after the optimized charging was already working.

My MBA stays mostly plugged in and used in clamshell mode with an external display. I go days without unplugging it. I would say recently it was plugged in at least 90% of the time. That’s the best I can say.

 

[tokenmacdude]

I'm planning on getting the M1 14" MBP or M1 16" MBP, once they get available. I have a Mid-2015 MBP and have had to replace the battery due to swelling (thanks Apple for the free replacement). Here is a screenshot I just took this morning - it's been on the mains for the past several years with no deleterious effects.

 

[Mike Boreham]

I'm planning on getting the M1 14" MBP or M1 16" MBP, once they get available. I have a Mid-2015 MBP and have had to replace the battery due to swelling (thanks Apple for the free replacement). Here is a screenshot I just took this morning - it's been on the mains for the past several years with no deleterious effects. View attachment 1781421

Looks like you got a good one there, still 3.6% above design capacity. The replacement battery was manufactured almost exactly two years ago so you have probably been using it less than two years. Perhaps replacements are sourced differently from original item and have a bit more.

I am a bit surprised it is not showing even one cycle! I don't believe I have ever seen a Coconut screenshot with 0 cycle count after nearly two years.