What should I limit my battery charge level to?

[Apple_Robert]

After I set AlDente to 50% it charged to 50% and stopped though the Battery indicator at times said it was at 52%

According to the developer, MacOS doesn't' seem to stop right at the user defined setting. It usually goes a little over, before stopping the charge.

 

[Fred Zed]

I am using the stock charger and my battery temp is currently 80F and I am just using MR. When I get running, the temp will get anywhere from 86 - 90F.

Mines 78F ( bout time I go Fahrenheit Lol ) but all I'm doing is reading this forum via Safari. Telegram, Coconut battery and Apple apps are running in background.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Mines 78F ( bout time I go Fahrenheit Lol ) but all I'm doing is reading this forum via Safari. Telegram, Coconut battery and Apple apps are running in background.

The new app has a bug. It seems that when I log out to change users or reboot the M1, the battery will start to charge a little bit. I started the day at 80% with the app set at 75% and my battery is showing 85%. It did the same thing last night. The app can't keep the SMC setting like it should.

 

[AirJordanFan93]

AlDente didn't start up at login despite having it checked to start up at login so my battery had been charging without my knowledge. Running off battery until I get back to the 40% range.

 

[Fred Zed]

The new app has a bug. It seems that when I log out to change users or reboot the M1, the battery will start to charge a little bit. I started the day at 80% with the app set at 75% and my battery is showing 85%. It did the same thing last night. The app can't keep the SMC setting like it should.

So its not working ? Seems to be fine on my end, I have rebooted once and it continued to be resident and work. I don't have any other accounts setup on Macbook. Otherwise I could test?

 

[Mike Boreham]

I am very interested in using Al Dente on my M1 MBA, but currently feel it is a bit risky for me, with the emerging changes in NVRAM and SMC behaviour in M1Macs.

Al Dente basically modifies the SMC, so why doesn't an SMC reset (ie every time the machine is shut down for 30 secs) affect it?

Is it fully reversible/uninstallable ?

Thanks to those testing it for the rest of us.

 

[Apple_Robert]

So its not working ? Seems to be fine on my end, I have rebooted once and it continued to be resident and work. I don't have any other accounts setup on Macbook. Otherwise I could test?

David created a new version due to the reports about still charging and it seems to be working now. The only time I am seeing any charging is when I reboot or change users (which is normal procedure for M1 until I am fully logged in again). And when that happens, the charge is minimal. If I do a full shut down and wait 30 seconds plus, the SMC resets and then I would probably see battery charging.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I am very interested in using Al Dente on my M1 MBA, but currently feel it is a bit risky for me, with the emerging changes in NVRAM and SMC behaviour in M1Macs.

Al Dente basically modifies the SMC, so why doesn't an SMC reset (ie every time the machine is shut down for 30 secs) affect it?

Is it fully reversible/uninstallable ?

Thanks to those testing it for the rest of us.

Set the battery charge level back to 100%, uninstall, and do a 30 second cold boot, and you are back to default status.

 

[srbNYC]

Set the battery charge level back to 100%, uninstall, and do a 30 second cold boot, and you are back to default status.

Help: What's a "30 second cold boot" and how do I perform one? (It's winter in NY so I have cold boots most days, but I know that's not what you mean.)

 

[Apple_Robert]

Help: What's a "30 second cold boot" and how do I perform one? (It's winter in NY so I have cold boots most days, but I know that's not what you mean.)

It simply means turning off your computer as you normally would, and leaving it off for at least 30 seconds before restarting.

 

[srbNYC]

Just installed AlDente 2.1 Alpha on my M1 MBA yesterday, set it to 69%—and my battery says it's now charged to 100%. ??

 

[BigMcGuire]

Just installed AlDente 2.1 Alpha on my M1 MBA yesterday, set it to 69%—and my battery says it's now charged to 100%. ??

So, I have an Intel 2020 MBP 13'. I did the same thing, upgraded my Al Dente to 2.1 and had a system crash yesterday (first time in awhile) --- and on restart noticed that the charge was climbing to 100% (normal so far because on a crash reboot, I have to reset AlDente) - but noticed that Al Dente still showed 70%.....

Uninstalled it, installed 1.2 and rebooted then it started working for me again. <shrug>.

 

[srbNYC]

Uninstalled it, installed 1.2 and rebooted then it started working for me again. <shrug>.

Thanks. Will try.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Thanks. Will try.

As I type this now, I'm sitting at 100%.... again. Wish I never got 2.1 LOL. I'll let you know if I figure anything out.

I have it on the battery to see if it was just close enough to 100% for Apple's battery % to report 100% or not. I'll drain it to 80% and plug it in, that'll be the true test.

 

[Mike Boreham]

As I type this now, I'm sitting at 100%.... again. Wish I never got 2.1 LOL. I'll let you know if I figure anything out.

I have it on the battery to see if it was just close enough to 100% for Apple's battery % to report 100% or not. I'll drain it to 80% and plug it in, that'll be the true test.

Do you have "allow discharge" checked in Al Dente settings?

I have had that on from the start.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Do you have "allow discharge" checked in Al Dente settings?

I have had that on from the start.

I didn't have that checked. I figured maybe 2.1 was Apple Silicon only? So I may have pre-maturely uninstalled it and went back to 1.2.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Just installed AlDente 2.1 Alpha on my M1 MBA yesterday, set it to 69%—and my battery says it's now charged to 100%. ??

Make sure you have "optimized charging" turned off.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Do you have "allow discharge" checked in Al Dente settings?

I have had that on from the start.

I have it ticked and it works like it should.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Thanks. Will try.

It took awhile but it's down to .16 watts charging and working. On Al Dente 1.2 --- I may try to get 2.1 again.

Steps taken: I uninstalled 2.1 and reinstalled 1.2 - then rebooted. Then let it drain, then tested plugging it in. Initially it went to full charging then slowly trickled down to 0 watts (over the course of about 5 mins).

<shrug>

 

[srbNYC]

that's a whole lot of work.

 

[BigMcGuire]

that's a whole lot of work.

Yeah I don't think most of it was necessary - just me doing unnecessary stuff. 1.2 is definitely working for my Intel 2020 MBP right now. I haven't tested 2.1 again yet but I think this is my fault. I'm noticing when I plug power in, instantly coconutBattery shows xx wattage charging, then slowly shows 0 watts charging. I probably interpreted this as Al Dente not working when it really was.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Thats now how it works, it simply runs off of AC power once its fully charged, and the battery naturally loses its charge over time, once it hits 94.9% it charges it back to 100% again.

Sorry to reply to an old post but this is interesting because I haven't seen that stated anywhere (do you have any links) and it seems to be a bit like what my M1 MacBook Air was doing with Optimise Battery turned on:

I wasn't convinced this was doing anything because for normally used laptops Apple uses 80% target, why not the same for always plugged in machines ? I am now using Al Dente.

In my screenshot the battery is not shown naturally using charge and reducing to 95%. My chart looks like it keeps the battery at 100% then once a day it stops charging and runs down to about 95% then charges up to 100% and keeps it there until the next day.

 

[Isamilis]

So I want to limit my battery charge on my MacBook Pro. Anyway, what should I limit it to? 80%? 70%? Or 50 or 40%? Apple suggests to store their battery at 50%, so maybe at that? I'm going to be running off of AC power, by the way.

Thanks!

___

DISCLAIMER:

Before some smartass decides to tell me that it won't help increase the longevity of my battery, I don't need your opinion. My motive is to keep the battery cycle count low to increase resale value when I sell it next year. I know a bunch of smartasses will try to tell me that there's no difference, but a fact you can't argue with is that a lower cycle count increases resale value.

Once again, if you want to be a smartass, please don't comment. I mean I'm not stopping you, but I'll pretty much just ignore you. So don't waste your time telling me how it won't help my battery health. I know, and I don't give a f. It's not the point of the discussion, keep your comment spam somewhere else.

___

Edit: It seems like, despite my disclaimer, people still want to tell me that what I'm doing is inconvenient for me. No, it's not. I set my battery max charge level to 50% and I forgot about it. I'm not worried about my battery health at all. I have peace of mind that my battery's going to last a bit longer since it's constantly at 50%, rather than 100%. This is not a routine I do every day, I literally just set it once a few weeks ago and forgot about it. And since my laptop is tethered all the time I've never needed to make full use of the battery. Keep this in mind before you comment.

I am applying rule 45% - 75%. Unplug when it reached around 75% and plug when below 45%. Also, everytime I used laptop first time in the morning, I let first 30 minutes use the battery. Here is record from Coconutbattery (6 months lite usage):

In my case, it is quite easy to manage charge habit since most of the time I work from home.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I am applying rule 45% - 75%. Unplug when it reached around 75% and plug when below 45%. Also, everytime I used laptop first time in the morning, I let first 30 minutes use the battery. Here is record from Coconutbattery (6 months lite usage):

View attachment 1739667

In my case, it is quite easy to manage charge habit since most of the time I work from home.

Yep, it becomes second nature before too long. My iPhone 12 Pro Max, I'm doing the 40-80% and I can pull it off the charger, without even thinking about it, almost on the dot 80% every time. It's actually quite cool. But I've noticed that doing this on my devices this year (2020 MBP, 2020 iPad Pro 11') - the capacity is actually increasing a little.

Isidor's book - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071NJZCGF - actually talks about this - within the first 100 cycles, batteries can actually increase a little in capacity. I guess this is especially true if they're treated nicely (not at 0, 100% extremes).

My MBP, vs my 2017 MBP is seeing some really nice battery %s after 6 months. See attached for 1-5 months. Below is 5-6 months.

I do AlDente at 70-80%.

 

[OSX15]

I've been following this thread and similar topics for a while now. I've just received a new Top-case for my Macbook Pro 2019 15" with a new battery from November 2020. I've set Al Dente to 60% because I mainly use it on a charger nowadays. I know from previous experience that the calibration will go bad after a little while, I am just wondering how to re-calibrate the battery without going to a few extreme cycles of 0-100%

Is it even possible to recalibrate the true capacity from time to time without doing full cycles? thanks