I leave my MBA permanently docked, can I force it to only charge to 80% to preserve the battery?

[Mellofello808]

I bought a MBA to replace my Mac mini, and will use it mostly as a desktop, with the option to travel with as needed.

Since it is permanently on the charger, I would like to limit the battery strain. I have selected the option to have it limit the charging to 100%, but a few days later it is still sitting at 100% full.

Is there anyway to set a limit on how high the battery charges?

 

[DrCC]

Yes you can, here is what you need to do.

1. Download the App called AlDente and set the charging limit to 80% or more. The key is to have it set at least to 80%, anything over 80% will bypass the battery and it will use the power straight from the charger. Under 80% it will go through the battery and add unnecessary stress.
2. In Mac OS System Preferences, go to Battery and disable Optimized battery charging. Leaving this enabled will conflict with AlDente since the app will be doing the battery charging.

AlDente Pro is not required, you can do it with the free version too. The Pro version has some nice features and if you buy it the license is lifetime, not subscription. Your call in the end.

 

[Mellofello808]

Yes you can, here is what you need to do.

1. Download the App called AlDente and set the charging limit to 80% or more. The key is to have it set at least to 80%, anything over 80% will bypass the battery and it will use the power straight from the charger. Under 80% it will go through the battery and add unnecessary stress.
2. In Mac OS System Preferences, go to Battery and disable Optimized battery charging. Leaving this enabled will conflict with AlDente since the app will be doing the battery charging.

AlDente Pro is not required, you can do it with the free version too. The Pro version has some nice features and if you buy it the license is lifetime, not subscription. Your call in the end.

Thank you

 

[Bazza1]

Yes you can, here is what you need to do.

1. Download the App called AlDente and set the charging limit to 80% or more...

Looks good, but looks like its only for Air 2018 or newer. Rats! Missed by one year. 😕

 

[workerbee]

Yes you can, here is what you need to do.

1. Download the App called AlDente (…)

Is there a known reason Apple's own «optimized loading» setting doesn't seem to be doing anything at all, ever? I'd much prefer to not load more code into the OS, but so far my MBA is always loading to 100% battery, which even Apple admits isn't optimal.

 

[DrCC]

You are charging it wrong

 

[silverblack]

Looks good, but looks like its only for Air 2018 or newer. Rats! Missed by one year.

Try the older versions (classic), I got it to work on my 2015 MB Pro.

 

[Bazza1]

Try the older versions (classic), I got it to work on my 2015 MB Pro.

The GitHub site (https://github.com/davidwernhart/AlDente) is certainly more informative in this regard than its own website. Seeing functionality issues and reviews elsewhere is giving me pause, however. Will consider, thanks.

ADDENDUM: Because of the GitHub site's further info on app, I decided to give ALDente a whirl - albeit using its more limited features Intel version. Seems okay. Though further to comments there, I had to set it to 75% to achieve close to 80% charging (80% gave me 87%).

BTW, as far as the Optimized battery charging option within the OS is concerned, as far as I can see on my 2017 Air running 12.0.1, that feature doesn't exist at all? Maybe only exists for newer models?

 

[jdb8167]

I bought a MBA to replace my Mac mini, and will use it mostly as a desktop, with the option to travel with as needed.

Since it is permanently on the charger, I would like to limit the battery strain. I have selected the option to have it limit the charging to 100%, but a few days later it is still sitting at 100% full.

Is there anyway to set a limit on how high the battery charges?

You can just turn on Optimized battery charging in the Battery section of System Preferences. After a few weeks of being plugged in it will adjust to about 80% charge automatically. No need to run third-party software unless you want the extra features.

 

[xboxbml]

You can just turn on Optimized battery charging in the Battery section of System Preferences. After a few weeks of being plugged in it will adjust to about 80% charge automatically. No need to run third-party software unless you want the extra features.

And where might this Battery section of System Preferences be? I don't see anything called Battery in there, or any other reference to Optimized battery charging... Is that in a newer version of MacOS? I'm on 10.15.7

 

[jdb8167]

And where might this Battery section of System Preferences be? I don't see anything called Battery in there, or any other reference to Optimized battery charging... Is that in a newer version of MacOS? I'm on 10.15.7

Yes, it is only available from Big Sur and Monterey. The section was Energy Saver and probably still is marked that on desktop Macs.

 

[xboxbml]

Yes, it is only available from Big Sur and Monterey. The section was Energy Saver and probably still is marked that on desktop Macs.

Ahh, yeah ok makes sense.. I'm perfectly fine on Catalina.. Thanks.

 

[Tagbert]

You can just turn on Optimized battery charging in the Battery section of System Preferences. After a few weeks of being plugged in it will adjust to about 80% charge automatically. No need to run third-party software unless you want the extra features.

I tried doing that with my M1 MBA but after 3 months of almost always being plugged in, the batter would always charge to 100%. I hated that I had no control and had to depend on opaque automation that did not seem to work so I installed Aldente and it has been worked exactly as expected.

Apple often presents us with this kind of automation where we are just supposed to “not worry your pretty little head” about the issue and just cross our fingers and hope that it works. Photos is full of that kind of thing. I wish they would give us some credit and present us with information and a clear control of the process.

 

[jdb8167]

I tried doing that with my M1 MBA but after 3 months of almost always being plugged in, the batter would always charge to 100%. I hated that I had no control and had to depend on opaque automation that did not seem to work so I installed Aldente and it has been worked exactly as expected.

Apple often presents us with this kind of automation where we are just supposed to “not worry your pretty little head” about the issue and just cross our fingers and hope that it works. Photos is full of that kind of thing. I wish they would give us some credit and present us with information and a clear control of the process.

If AlDente works for you then great keep using what works.

The Optimized battery charging has been working for me reliably for several months. Have you tried it recently? It is totally transparent in my use which is exactly what I want.

 

[workerbee]

Like @Tagbert I've never seen Apple's optimized charging do anything at all. Not on my 16" MBP, not on the M1 MBA, which is plugged in to Ultrafine almost all the time.

 

[Mellofello808]

I have been running all dente for the past week, and my computer is still at 100% charge. I have it set to only go up to 60%.

I wonder if I should unplug the power cable and let it drain out.

 

[Tagbert]

I have been running all dente for the past week, and my computer is still at 100% charge. I have it set to only go up to 60%.

I wonder if I should unplug the power cable and let it drain out.

Yes, you’ll need to let it drain first.

 

[StoneJack]

Charging until 80 is not a panacea
The real key is always charging AND discharging
otherwise battery breaks
80 is not related

 

[Pskordilis]

anyone know a method (without aldente) to force the 80% ?

 

[jdb8167]

anyone know a method (without aldente) to force the 80% ?

On recent Macs, optimized battery charging will keep your battery about 80% without doing anything except checking the setting box. It does take a while to start working. I mostly use my M1 MacBook Air on a charger in clamshell mode and this works well for me. I only use battery mode about once a week or so. Right now Apple is reporting that I have 100% battery health after about 14 months. The actual calculated full charge capacity is still at 98.6%. Cycle count is 47.

 

[Pskordilis]

On recent Macs, optimized battery charging will keep your battery about 80% without doing anything except checking the setting box. It does take a while to start working. I mostly use my M1 MacBook Air on a charger in clamshell mode and this works well for me. I only use battery mode about once a week or so. Right now Apple is reporting that I have 100% battery health after about 14 months. The actual calculated full charge capacity is still at 98.6%. Cycle count is 47.

Thanks for your answer friend. The problem in my case is that suddenly optimized battery charging stopped working and charge the battery to 100% all the time even if i almost never used macbook on battery. I dont know what happens. I start to thinking to use aldente but i dont like use third party apps for that situation.

 

[Tagbert]

anyone know a method (without aldente) to force the 80% ?

no. that is what Aldente is for.

There is an "optimize charging" setting. it is supposed to use AI to determine when to charge to 100%. For some people it works and may keep the battery mostly less than 100%. Not sure if it does or not. it never worked for me. Always kept it pegged at 100% even though I only occasionally take it off of power and never need a long charge time.

Someone was saying that it isn't really 100%, its really 80% but it is telling me 100% for some reason. I hope not, I want information, not pretty little lies.

I also want control with that information and the built in stuff never gave me that. Aldente does.

 

[Pskordilis]

no. that is what Aldente is for.

There is an "optimize charging" setting. it is supposed to use AI to determine when to charge to 100%. For some people it works and may keep the battery mostly less than 100%. Not sure if it does or not. it never worked for me. Always kept it pegged at 100% even though I only occasionally take it off of power and never need a long charge time.

Someone was saying that it isn't really 100%, its really 80% but it is telling me 100% for some reason. I hope not, I want information, not pretty little lies.

I also want control with that information and the built in stuff never gave me that. Aldente does.

The problem with aldente is that i read some reddit problems specially with m1. Burned thunderbolts etc etc. Is aldente approved by Apple? Short answer:no. I wish Apple give us options like some asus laptops.

 

[ignatius345]

Apple often presents us with this kind of automation where we are just supposed to “not worry your pretty little head” about the issue and just cross our fingers and hope that it works. Photos is full of that kind of thing. I wish they would give us some credit and present us with information and a clear control of the process.

Amen to that. iCloud Drive is the one that I hit on the most. It's just a black box that supposedly "just works" -- except when it doesn't you're left with absolutely no recourse but to restart your computer and hope it shakes something loose.

I appreciate the philosophy, because after all in a perfect world we'd never have to look under the hood at any of this. But in the real world we do, and I often wish there were some extra tools hidden but available for troubleshooting.

 

[jdb8167]

Someone was saying that it isn't really 100%, its really 80% but it is telling me 100% for some reason. I hope not, I want information, not pretty little lies.

When optimized battery charging is working it will keep the charge around about 80%-90% according to the battery indicator. It doesn’t show 100%. Whoever told you that is wrong. I haven’t figured out why it works well for me and others can’t seem to get it to work. It does take several weeks the first time it starts working. After that it seems to kick in sooner—usually within 24 hours for me.