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It’s exasperating to lose all your research, photographs, and music when your computer loses power. While you can’t always avoid this from happening, you can make it less probable by understanding the indicators of a fading laptop battery and changing it as needed. While you won’t be able to keep your laptop battery forever, you may make it last longer by using it wisely.
Laptops use a lithium-ion battery. It is common knowledge that when a lithium-ion battery reaches the end of its life cycle, it is better to replace it be substituted. Lithium polymer batteries are used in MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro computers to give extended battery life in a small package. A tiny battery exists in most computers. The battery is often welded directly to the motherboard. However, it is usually held in some form of the holder to get easily replaced.
Most users can improve the life of their laptop’s battery by adjusting a few settings. While keeping track of the remaining battery life won’t make it last any longer, it will help you with a mental count of how much work you can get done before you need to recharge. It’s a good idea to examine the general condition of your battery, whether you bought a reconditioned MacBook or have been attempting to preserve every last ounce of life out of your old MacBook.
The ‘Service Battery’ message is one of the most loathed flash alerts a MacBook user can ever witness. What are your options when your MacBook displays the ‘Service Battery’ warning? There are many, albeit not many of us are acquainted with them. In this post, we’ll look at the various methods you may analyze battery health and concerns to derive the most out of your battery life.
The charging life cycle of the battery is the key factor we’re looking at today. How many times can we use the battery before it loses its total capacity? Before going into the technical aspects, let’s familiarise ourselves with a few popular battery terms to comprehend the how-tos better.
What are lithium-ion batteries?
In the electronics industry, Li-Ion batteries are standard. Li-Ion batteries power electronic devices such as cellphones, computers, tablets, medical equipment, and electric vehicles. However, when Li-Ion batteries charge above their voltage restrictions, they might be damaged. As a result, you should know this fact to avoid unnecessary damage.
In addition, when Li-Ion batteries charge too quickly, they face the risk of short-circuiting and exploding. The number of cycles it takes lithium-ion batteries to reach this position varies substantially depending on the battery’s build quality and maximum discharge capacity.
Understanding Mac notebook batteries
It’s a good idea to check your MacBook’s battery status frequently. When surfing the Internet and performing everyday computing chores such as word processing or listening to music, a regular MacBook or MacBook Pro may last for roughly 10 hours.
Temperature, usage, and settings can all affect and should always need regular checking before any potential hardware issues arise. Like heavy multitasking or resource-hungry apps, certain behaviors are significant perpetrators of battery life theft, whether you realize it or not. Consider these as possible origins of the difficulty when using your MacBook.
Batteries are designed to last a specific number of cycles. Throughout the battery’s life, this figure represents the total and partial discharge cycles. Your battery will still work after this extended 10 hrs life-cycle (a complete drain and recharge every day for three years), but it won’t have the same ability to keep up with the same battery levels. As a result, it will steadily degrade over time and eventually stop working altogether. However, this will take years.
Check the state of your Mac notebook’s battery if it runs out of charge faster than you thought. When checking, take note of the two status indicators below:
- Standard: The battery is in good working order.
- Recommended Service: The battery’s ability to keep a charge is lower than when it was new or isn’t working correctly. You can use your Mac securely but should get your battery examined at an Apple Store or an Apple-authorized service provider.
what is a good battery cycle count for Macbook pro?
For Macbook pro 1000 battery cycles is good and worth value.
What Does the Term “Service Battery” Mean on a Mac?
what to do when your MacBook pro says service battery? When you receive a ‘Service Battery’ message, the first thing you should do is examine the ‘System Report.’ It simply signifies that the battery is depleted (it has exceeded the recommended cycle count) or has failed (it does not have the expected capacity). It’s time to replace your batteries if this happens.
A popup will appear when you hover your mouse over the battery indicator in the status bar at the top screen side, displaying the battery status, remaining power, and a list of programs using a lot of power. It will show you the number of cycles your MacBook battery has completed as well as its general condition.
You can further check the battery in the battery status menu as well. To do this:
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Battery, choose Battery in the sidebar, and then click Battery Health in macOS Monterey Or macOS Big Sur.
- To access the battery status menu on macOS Catalina, hold the Option key and click the battery symbol in the menu bar.
You’re good to go if the condition is anything positive like “fair” or “normal.” However, if it reads “poor” or “check battery,” it’s likely that your battery needs a replacement. If you determine that the battery needs a replacement, you should do it through Apple. The newer your MacBook Pro is, the less likely you are to change it yourself.
Also, it’s perfectly normal and not an issue if it stops charging between 93 and 98 percent. It’s a function that keeps the battery from being overworked by short charging cycles. However, if it does not reach 90%, you may have a severe problem.
Apart from checking the battery in the battery status menu, you can check the ‘System Report’:
- Go to the Apple Menu. To learn more about this Mac, go to About This Mac.
- Check to see if you’re on the Overview tab.
- Select the System Report option.
- Select Power from the left-hand menu.
- Check for the Cycle Count section under Health Information under Battery Information on the right-hand side.
- Examine your battery’s condition (shown just below Cycle Count), which should be Normal if everything is working correctly.
How to tackle MacBook’s Low Battery Warning issue?
As illustrated above, the batteries in almost all laptops have a “cycle count.” In short, there is a specified limit on how many times the battery is dischargeable from 100% to 0%. The cycle count increases every time you plug and unplug it later. A variety of factors might cause a failing battery, but there are only a few practical solutions. Let us check out how you might try to fix the battery problem yourself without visiting a professional.
Charge It with the Adapter
Before attempting a more elaborate solution, charge the Mac device to 100% with the given adapter and use it for two hours by plugging the charger. Then unplug it and let your MacBook’s battery deplete to zero percent before shutting down on its own. After waiting at least 5 hours, turn on your MacBook. The battery calibrates at this point. Consider resetting the MacBook SMC if calibration fails (System Management Controller).
Recalibrating the battery entails totally draining it and then fully recharging it. Recalibration of the battery takes about a day, so do it on a weekend when you aren’t using your MacBook for work. Your MacBook should now be able to tell you how much battery life you have left. Your ‘Service Battery’ notification should go away if this solves whatever issue was causing it.
Reset the System Management Control
If your MacBook has a non-removable battery, you can try resetting the SMC. Although the procedure is simple, any adjustments to your power plans or hardware settings may erase. The SMC is resettable in the following way:
- Turn off your MacBook.
- Hold down Shift+Ctrl+Option+Power at the same time.
- At the same time, release all of the keys.
- Switch on the computer.
Frequently, resetting the SMC solves the problem.
Before visiting the apple store, you must check your MacBook Battery Life Cycle Count from System settings on the device.
If none of the methods we’ve mentioned have worked to resolve the Service Battery warning on your Mac, the only option is to have it repaired. Please install the macOS Catalina 10.15.7 supplementary update or update to macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 or later. Apple has also released a macOS update to prevent this issue from affecting other MacBook Pro laptops from the 2016 and 2017 model years.
Tips to Improve the Overall Battery life of Macbook Pro
#Important!: Enable Low Power Mode
The Low Power mode is now available on MacBook with Latest macOS Monterey or later macOS. follow the below steps for Enable low power mode, Click on Apple Logo > System Preferences > Battery > Select Battery from sidebar > Select Checkbox “Low Power Mode”.
That’s it.
1: Dim the Display
Begin by reducing the brightness of your display to a slightly comfortable level. The shorter your battery life is, the brighter your display is. “Slightly darken the display while on battery power” should be enabled. When you unplug the computer, this setting allows your Mac to reduce the display brightness to 75%.
2: Remove any applications that you are no longer utilizing.
When you finish a program, it’s better to close it. It is done by pressing the Command and Q keys together or selecting the Quit option from the menu bar after clicking the application name. Open the Activity Monitor and select the Energy tab or the Battery icon in the menu bar to see how much energy each of your open applications is using.
3: Do Not Allow Your Mac to Be Exposed to Extreme Temperatures
MacBooks work in a wide variety of outside temperatures, although the recommended temperature range is 62° F- 72° F (16.5° C – 22° C). Although the software on your MacBook should prohibit charging in severe temperatures, it’s still a good idea for Mac owners to be mindful of the temperature parameters.
4: If you’re not using Bluetooth, turn it off
To save battery, power off the Bluetooth! There’s no use in having Bluetooth enabled if there’s nothing to connect to. Go to the Control Center icon in the menu bar, select Bluetooth, and then switch to the Off position. It applied to Bluetooth too, if you’re not actively utilizing a USB-connected device (such as a flash drive), you should unplug it to save battery waste. Similarly, turn off the keyboard backlights after a period of inactivity, so they’re on when necessary and off when not required—select Keyboard from the System Preferences menu. Check the box for Turn keyboard backlight after [X secs/min] of inactivity on the Keyboard tab.
5: Replacement Batteries
If your Macbook still falls under the warranty period and the battery needs a replacement, contact Apple Support. You can continually optimize your battery life if you’re overusing a ‘Normal’ battery. If the SMC reset doesn’t cure your battery problems, contact Apple before trying anything else. A manufacturer’s repair may be comparable to or even free when compared to a third-party business.
Pro Tips: Improve Battery Life on M1 Macbook
Follow these tested and tried tips to combat the issues as illustrated above. If you plan to store your laptop for an extended period, make sure to charge it to 50% capacity. If you store it with a full charge, it will lose capacity, and if you keep it with no charge, it will lose the ability to charge at all. In general, once you see warning indications, you should check your battery’s cycle count. You may either do some of the work yourself or take the MacBook to a skilled technician from there.
