M1 MBA working with only 5W of power

[BikGer2]

Hi there,

I know I could easily plug my 30W adapter into my Mac and stop writing this thread, but I've recently changed my setup a little, and I've had trouble routing the 2m long power cable in a way that looks nice. That's when I decided to try using a shorter 0.5m usb-a to usb-c cable to power my Mac directly from my display, however, my Mac says it's getting only 5w of power.

I've been using it for about 2 weeks like this, and haven't really noticed the battery draining while in use. The battery will occasionally drop by 2-4% when I leave it unplugged overnight, and I'm not sure if I would blame this on power. I'm really surprised the machine can run off only 5w of power, but then again, it seems a bit suspicious since a 5w brick will struggle charging an iPhone that's being used. Admittedly, it does take 10+ hours to charge.

My concern: is this bad for the battery?

Just for context, I use my Mac in clamshell mode.

Thanks in advance

 

[Bigwaff]

I'm really surprised the machine can run off only 5w of power

It’s not. It’s running off the battery and trickle charging.

Can an underpowered charger actually help my Macbook battery's longevity?

I have just upgraded from a Macbook Air (Late 2012) to a Macbook Retina (Late 2013). Now I have a 45W and a 60W charger, both MagSafe 2. Using iStat Menus and Battery Health for monitoring voltage...

apple.stackexchange.com

 

[Isamilis]

Hi there,

I know I could easily plug my 30W adapter into my Mac and stop writing this thread, but I've recently changed my setup a little, and I've had trouble routing the 2m long power cable in a way that looks nice. That's when I decided to try using a shorter 0.5m usb-a to usb-c cable to power my Mac directly from my display, however, my Mac says it's getting only 5w of power.

I've been using it for about 2 weeks like this, and haven't really noticed the battery draining while in use. The battery will occasionally drop by 2-4% when I leave it unplugged overnight, and I'm not sure if I would blame this on power. I'm really surprised the machine can run off only 5w of power, but then again, it seems a bit suspicious since a 5w brick will struggle charging an iPhone that's being used. Admittedly, it does take 10+ hours to charge.

My concern: is this bad for the battery?

Just for context, I use my Mac in clamshell mode.

Thanks in advance

Probably it’s due to the mac use lower power when in clamshell mode. I tried using MBA with 12w charger few times, the battery level is remain flat if I use the laptop.

 

[AudiHeel]

I use the 20w iPad usb-c all the time, and it seems to be plenty with the M1 screen in use and it will charge.