Advice on battery charging for my MacBook Pro M1

valpoMac37 wrote:

I have a larger monitor that I use most of the time unless I need to take the MacBook to a meeting. The MacBook sits in an "arc" and is connected to the monitor (and a backup disk). I usually have the charging power connected and do not routinely use the battery when I use it in this mode.



Is it a good idea to have the charging cable plugged in all the time when using it in this way? Does the MacBook optimize the charging as it implies in the Battery settings if I have that option checked so as to maximize the battery life? Thanks for any informed advice.

ps. I think that this is a lithium ion battery - correct?

The rule of thumb if you are near the mains leave the charger plugged in, yes.

If you need the portability then run on battery only.

This is how you best extend the working life of your battery, and minimizing cycle count—

Determine battery cycle count for Mac notebooks

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201585

Let the software work for you—

About battery health management in Mac notebooks w/ silicon

About battery health management in Mac notebooks - Apple Support

I agree with leroydouglas.

Your MacBook Pro  uses smart charging to charge in the optimum way, and only when necessary. Plugged in is Not necessarily actively charging. There is substantial hardware and software cooperating on battery and charging issues. The computer is in control of the entire process.

Simply asserting a charging voltage against one of the interface(s) will NOT successfully charge your MacBook Pro.

In general, you should ALWAYS connect AC power when it is possible to do so, and only run on batteries (which will be somewhat slower) when no AC sources are at hand. Your Mac will NEVER over-charge. 

It's generally better to leave it connected to power, as it will have the power from the power adapter on top of being able to access the battery for supplemental power.

I really don't worry too much about mine other than just using it how I see fit. The power management will take care of it. If I use it on battery power alone, I'll reconnect it when convenient and not based on any battery charge level, unless it shuts down in which case it's best to charge it ASAP.

It's OK to occasionally take it off the power adapter. Apple used to recommend a 100% to 0% "calibration" cycle at least once a month for those who primarily used a Mac notebook connected to power, but the power management got better.

<< Apple used to recommend a 100% to 0% "calibration" cycle >>

right concept, but Apple NEVER recommended running your MacBook With Lithium Ion batteries to ZERO. That advice is left over from Nickel-Cadmium battery technology, which has not been used in MacBooks for more than two decades.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

<< Apple used to recommend a 100% to 0% "calibration" cycle >>

right concept, but Apple NEVER recommended running your MacBook With Lithium Ion batteries to ZERO. That advice is left over from Nickel-Cadmium battery technology, which has not been used in MacBooks for more than two decades.

I remember this specifically for Macs, but a lot of the links are old and it's a bit hard to track through archived web content since they changed the URLs. But I did find this:

https://web.archive.org/web/20120214220612/http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down).

Found more on Macs. The had a different set of recommendations for iBooks than PowerBooks and MacBooks. But at it's heart, there was always a reserve below 0%. For iBooks they just recommended it go to shutdown, but for newer Macs they recommended letting it go into a newer auto sleep mode. But in any case, those were always triggered when the percentage was at 0%.

https://web.archive.org/web/20080903233655/http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490?locale=en_USThe

The battery calibration for the PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD) and any model of MacBook or MacBook Pro has been updated because of a new battery released with this computer. With these computers, follow these steps to calibrate your battery:

1 Plug in the power adapter and fully charge your PowerBook's battery until the light ring or LED on the power adapter plug changes to green and the onscreen meter in the menu bar indicates that the battery is fully charged.

2 Allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for at least two hours. You may use your computer during this time as long as the adapter is plugged in.

3 Disconnect the power adapter with the computer still on and start running the computer off battery power. You may use your computer during this time. When your battery gets low, you will see the low battery warning dialog on the screen.

4 Continue to keep your computer on until it goes to sleep. Save all your work and close all applications when the battery gets very low, before the computer goes to sleep.

5 Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or more.

6 Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged again.

Tip: When the battery reaches "empty", the computer is forced into sleep mode. The battery actually keeps back a reserve beyond "empty", to maintain the computer in sleep for a period of time. Once the battery is truly exhausted, the computer is forced to shut down. At this point, with the safe sleep function introduced in the PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD) computers, the computer's memory contents have been saved to the hard drive. When power is restored, the computer returns itself to its pre-sleep state using the safe sleep image on the hard drive.