Poll: how many hours of daily continuous charging to engage "Optimized battery charging"?

[tploumen]

Is has been already 19 days of daily charging on my Macbook Air M3 in bouts of 5 hours (From 9:00 PM to 1:00 AM). Optimized battery charging is still not engaging which makes me think that 5 hours of continuous charing daily may not be enough. Maybe I should leave my Mac plugged for even longer. The dilemma is that I want my Mac on 100% charge as short as possible because keeping it on 100% for very long times can reduce the maximum charge capacity of the battery (since it is not without reason that Apple has implemented optimized battery charging).

Why do I keep it plugged for 5 hours and not more...? Well I found this article.

* Optimized Battery Charging needs at least 14 days to learn your charging habits, so it won't engage before then. Also, your iPhone needs to experience at least 9 charges of 5 hours or more in a given location for Optimized Battery Charging to engage.

I know this article is for Iphone, but I think it goes the same for Macbook.

So my question to people that got Optimized battery charging working successfully and get the message displayed in te picture below is for how many hours a day do you charge continuously...?

 

[Snørrbjørg]

My MBP is plugged in 24/7 at the office. Battery level stays around 80%, once a month or something like that its get a full charge automatically and then discharge to 80% again.

 

[tploumen]

My MBP is plugged in 24/7 at the office. Battery level stays around 80%, once a month or something like that its get a full charge automatically and then discharge to 80% again.

What is your battery health at the moment and how many cycles do you have?

 

[Snørrbjørg]

Stop staring at the battery health and cycles. Plug it in and let the magic learn your real use pattern.

 

[iStorm]

Agreed. Just use it as normal and let it learn that way. Don't try to force it.

iPhones and Macs are used very differently, so I doubt they have the same optimized charging rules. Phones are meant to be used on battery power, and most people charge them overnight. It'll charge the phone to 80% and then finish charging to 100% shortly before the phone thinks you'll wake up.

With Macs, most people use them plugged in when they can. MacOS will try to predict when the next time you're going to unplug, so it can charge from 80% to 100% shortly before then. From the sounds of your post, since you're unplugging at 1AM every day, of course it's going to charge to 100% all the time. Notice in your screenshot how it says "Rarely Used on Battery"...that's why optimized charging is being used there.

I have an M3 MBP from November that is plugged in almost 24/7 and sits at 80% most of the time. It's unplugged around a few times a month when I want to work elsewhere or when traveling. My battery is still at 100% capacity with only 16 charge cycles. Looking back at an older post of mine in another thread about this topic, I see I've only gained 7 cycles since April...so roughly 2 charge cycles per month.

If you still want to have control over your battery, look into AlDente.

 

[tploumen]

Optimized Battery Charging FINALLY kicked in though not in a usefull way: it charges till 80%, then stays at 80% for about 2 hours, then charges back to 100%.

So the charging effectively stops for only 2 hours. Is this normal...?

 

[Weaselboy]

Optimized Battery Charging FINALLY kicked in though not in a usefull way: it charges till 80%, then stays at 80% for about 2 hours, then charges back to 100%.

So the charging effectively stops for only 2 hours. Is this normal...?

Not normal at all. Mine stops at 80 or so and stays there forever, unless I use the device on battery power, which triggers a 100% charge again.

 

[iStorm]

Optimized Battery Charging FINALLY kicked in though not in a usefull way: it charges till 80%, then stays at 80% for about 2 hours, then charges back to 100%.

So the charging effectively stops for only 2 hours. Is this normal...?

Well, based on your first post, you said you were only charging 5 hours a day, between 9AM and 1 AM (this is actually 4 hours). Are you still doing that? If so, it may be normal in your situation.

Optimized charging is more for those that use their Macs plugged in most of the time. All optimized charging does is keep it at 80% until it predicts you're going to unplug it soon. If you're still unplugging every day, it's not going to be staying at 80% very long.

When the feature is enabled, your Mac will delay charging past 80% in certain situations. Your Mac learns your charging routine and aims to ensure that your Mac is fully charged when unplugged.

If battery charging is paused or on hold on your Mac - Apple Support

Use the battery status menu to resume charging if you need to have your Mac fully charged sooner.

support.apple.com

 

[tploumen]

That must be it! For those of you that keep it plugged 24/7: what is your current Battery Health...?

 

[Weaselboy]

That must be it! For those of you that keep it plugged 24/7: what is your current Battery Health...?

Yeah.... if you are taking it off the charger, that resets charge controller and it won't go back to stopping at 80% until it has been back on the charger for a couple weeks or so continuously.

My 14" MBP has been on the charger 24/7 for three years and the battery is fine. I take it off the charger for vacation hotel stays four or five times a year. Otherwise, it is on the charger full time.

 

[tploumen]

That's great!!! And you haven't used any third party apps for controlling your battery (like Al Dente)...?

 

[Weaselboy]

That's great!!! And you haven't used any third party apps for controlling your battery (like Al Dente)...?

Nope.

 

[iStorm]

That must be it! For those of you that keep it plugged 24/7: what is your current Battery Health...?

I mentioned it in my earlier post from August.

I have an M3 MBP from November that is plugged in almost 24/7 and sits at 80% most of the time. It's unplugged around a few times a month when I want to work elsewhere or when traveling. My battery is still at 100% capacity with only 16 charge cycles. Looking back at an older post of mine in another thread about this topic, I see I've only gained 7 cycles since April...so roughly 2 charge cycles per month.

Just checked again for another datapoint two months later, and it's now at 17 cycles with 100% battery health. I don't use any third party apps either.

 

[tploumen]

For those of you that leave it 24/7 plugged and got Optimized battery charging working:

Do you daily disconnect when switching rooms? For example: working for a few hours (plugged) in your living room, then unplug for a few seconds to continue working (plugged) for a few hours in another room.

I want to know this because I'm considering leaving it 24/7 plugged but I can't leave my Mac static in 1 room. I'm also thinking about unplugging my Mac while sleeping.

 

[Weaselboy]

Do you daily disconnect when switching rooms?

No... mine is plugged in all the time.

Honestly, I would not sweat the battery. Just use your laptop however you want and enjoy it, and let the battery take care of itself.

I don't see any upside to unplugging it at night.

 

[tploumen]

No... mine is plugged in all the time.

Honestly, I would not sweat the battery. Just use your laptop however you want and enjoy it, and let the battery take care of itself.

I don't see any upside to unplugging it at night.

Thanks but for switching rooms throughout the day I need to unplug it temporarily. Will optimized battery charging still work in the sense of discharging from 100% to 80% while plugged...?

 

[Weaselboy]

I don't know exactly how the charging algorithm works. From what I have seen, it you use it on battery for a few hours, it will disable the optimized charging for a few days. I have noticed short term usage. like twenty minutes or so, does not always seem to disable it.

 

[tploumen]

I don't know exactly how the charging algorithm works. From what I have seen, it you use it on battery for a few hours, it will disable to optimized charging for a few days. I have noticed short term usage. like twenty minutes or so, does not always seem to disable it.

Are you using your Mac in the same room every day? (so you can literally leave it plugged 24/7 without a disconnect)

 

[Weaselboy]

Are you using your Mac in the same room every day? (so you can literally leave it plugged 24/7 without a disconnect)

Yep... it is in the same room all day every day. Like I mentioned, it take it on vacation a few times a year, but otherwise it is plugged in.

 

[tploumen]

@iStorm how is this in your case?

 

[iStorm]

My MBP gets its power through a Thunderbolt dock. I sometimes have to unplug and replug to get my displays to show up in the correct order. I was worried that it would mess up my optimized charging, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It has never trigged my MBP to charge to 100%. This would essentially be the equivalent of unplugging and replugging in another room.

When I travel with it, I shut it down and rarely end up using it. When I get back home and plug it in, it still doesn't charge past 80%. I'm sure Apple has thought of the little things like this. I would assume the optimized charging algorithm also takes into account how long you use your Mac on battery power (not just charging time).

Other than that, it's plugged in nearly 24/7. When I do use it on battery power for several hours, it'll charge to 100% but drop back down to 80% in a day or so. I agree with Weaselboy and don't sweat the battery. Just use your Mac as you normally would and see how it adapts. Or as mentioned earlier, use AlDente to force the charging behavior you want.

 

[tploumen]

My MBP gets its power through a Thunderbolt dock. I sometimes have to unplug and replug to get my displays to show up in the correct order. I was worried that it would mess up my optimized charging, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It has never trigged my MBP to charge to 100%. This would essentially be the equivalent of unplugging and replugging in another room.

When I travel with it, I shut it down and rarely end up using it. When I get back home and plug it in, it still doesn't charge past 80%. I'm sure Apple has thought of the little things like this. I would assume the optimized charging algorithm also takes into account how long you use your Mac on battery power (not just charging time).

Other than that, it's plugged in nearly 24/7. When I do use it on battery power for several hours, it'll charge to 100% but drop back down to 80% in a day or so. I agree with Weaselboy and don't sweat the battery. Just use your Mac as you normally would and see how it adapts. Or as mentioned earlier, use AlDente to force the charging behavior you want.

@iStorm just to make sure: you don't use Al Dente or any other third party app to control the battery...?

 

[iStorm]

@iStorm just to make sure: you don't use Al Dente or any other third party app to control the battery...?

No, I've never installed it. I just know other people like to use it.

 

[Basic75]

So the charging effectively stops for only 2 hours. Is this normal...?

In my experience it's 'normal', as in 'common', for optimized battery charging to be erratic and make little sense, it's quite hit and miss, with more miss than hit since it rarely does what you want it to. That's why third party applications like AlDente are popular with people wanting to take better care of their battery.

 

[tploumen]

@iStorm @Weaselboy :

For the last month I kept my MBA plugged 24/7. Since last saturday it's draining my battery automatically from 100% to 80% and it stays at 80%. This is the behaviour I'd expect.

What I do notice however is it sometimes charges from 80% to 100% while being plugged (no disconnection). After reaching 100% it's draining back to 80% immediately. I know this is normal for calibration reasons. But this happend twice in 3-4 days. Is this normal...?