Getting Service Battery warning on macbook pro 15' retina

rodge123

Hi

I just noticed a message prompting me to "Service Battery" when I click on the battery icon.

Here are my machine details:
Screen Shot 2015-12-29 at 15.37.38.png

And the battery specs:
Screen Shot 2015-12-29 at 15.39.13.png

Shouldn't I get at least 1000 cycles before getting battery warning messages?

I bought the machine from the refurbished mac store in Feb 2013, so it's nearly 3 years old and is still performing brilliantly.

I'd expect it reasonable to expect more than "3 years use / 624 cycles" of a top end laptop that cost nearly €2,500 without having to get a battery changed?
Which is obviously awkward seen as it's glued inside the machine!

Losty Dublin

Click Option and the battery icon and it will tell you the health of the battery and i if it needs attention. Also, download Coconut and see what it's giving battery life as.

Bear in mind that you have the machine 3 years and that many cycles gone through. You may well be getting close to the stage where a new battery is needed.

Type 17

The screenshots show that you still have good capacity in the battery, but it's probably that you don't discharge/recharge it that often.

Try these things, in the order they're presented, and you probably won't need another battery for a while at least: https://www.maketecheasier.com/fix-service-battery-warning-mac/

Re: 1,000 cycles - that's the most you'd get, under ideal (laboratory) conditions - almost no one will actually get that in the real world, so don't feel bad - my wife's old MacBook battery only got to ~200 cycles, as she rarely took it off charge in her home-office.

rodge123

Type 17 wrote: »

The screenshots show that you still have good capacity in the battery, but it's probably that you don't discharge/recharge it that often.

Try these things, in the order they're presented, and you probably won't need another battery for a while at least: https://www.maketecheasier.com/fix-service-battery-warning-mac/

Re: 1,000 cycles - that's the most you'd get, under ideal (laboratory) conditions - almost no one will actually get that in the real world, so don't feel bad - my wife's old MacBook battery only got to ~200 cycles, as she rarely took it off charge in her home-office.

Thanks Type_17.

Resetting the SMC done the trick, warning message gone and battery status showing as Normal.

It's telling me I have just over 5hrs of battery time also which aint bad.

As for your wife rarely taking her MacBook off charge, I tend to do the same.
Can this cause issues with the battery?

Type 17

rodge123 wrote: »

As for your wife rarely taking her MacBook off charge, I tend to do the same.
Can this cause issues with the battery?

It's not perfect, and will probably shorten the lifespan somewhat, but there is a balance to be struck between changing your device-usage patterns to try to pamper the battery, and not caring/realising and (unintentionally) abusing it.

There's a seriously in-depth(!) website, Battery University, which contains a huge amount of info about all battery types, charging, etc, but you would go mad trying to incorporate all the details into your device usage.

Here's their summary of their own article on charging Li-Ion batteries:

A device should be turned off while charging. This allows the battery to reach the threshold voltage unhindered and reach low saturation current when full. A parasitic load confuses the charger.
Charge at a moderate temperature. Do not charge below freezing. (See BU-410: Charging at High and Low Temperatures)
Lithium-ion does not need to be fully charged; a partial charge is better.
Not all chargers apply a full topping charge and the battery may not be fully charged when the “ready” signal appears.
Discontinue using charger and/or battery if the battery gets excessively warm.
Apply some charge to an empty battery before storing (40–50 percent SoC is ideal).

Basically, I told my wife to knock off the mag-safe charger when she puts her (new-style, built-in battery, like yours) MBP to sleep in the evening, and to reconnect it in the morning, to allow the battery some gentle discharging at night, and to avoid constantly charging it 24/7 - not perfect, but better than the old regime.

rodge123

Thanks for the detailed info and links Type_17.

Out of curiosity, have you any idea how much it costs to get the battery replaced in the macbook pro 15' retinas?
I'm guessing the I'd bring it to somewhere like Compu B just before Grafton street?

Type 17

Not sure on the built-in battery fitment price, as we haven't needed it yet, but a friend had it done in CompuB on an early (2009-ish) unibody MBP, so they can do it. IIRC, it was a fixed price (they'd probably tell you on the phone, if you confirm the model you have) and took a day or so.

For the record, an original Apple (removable) battery for my wife's old 2006 MacBook was around €100 a few years ago (It's still going great as a spare, with the new battery and an SSD, on OS X 10.7)