why lower battery cycle count with low battery capacity

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Level 1

13 points

why lower battery cycle count with low battery capacity

I purchased my MacBook Po M1 in September. I usually use my laptop most of the times plugged into a power source. I saw a community post that optimised charging handles the job and when it is fully charged, the laptop will not consume the energy from the battery but from the power source. So I always use plugged in when it is possible.

But recently i noticed that my battery cycle count is 11 and maximum capacity is 95%. Why is that? Why so early the maximum capacity was decreased? What are the things that I can do to prevent to minimize the decreasing of my battery capacity.

Posted on Dec 5, 2022 08:14 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

66,686 points

Dec 6, 2022 06:35 PM in response to rasangalk

Until recently, macOS never displayed the Maximum Battery Capacity although third party apps like Coconut Battery have done so. This means most users have never before seen how a new battery behaves. The battery capacity can drop a bit at first or even fluctuate somewhat, but should stabilize as it slowly decreases over time. I'm not certain on how Apple handles battery warranty replacements if you have an extended AppleCare+ warranty, but generally Apple will replace the battery for free once the Maximum Battery Capacity drops below 80% ***AND*** the Cycle Count is less than 1,000 ***AND*** the battery is less than one year old. When the Maximum Battery Capacity drops below 80% of Design Capacity, then the Battery condition should change to "Service Recommended" and it should then also fail the Apple Diagnostics.

It is best just to ignore the battery stats until you encounter an actual problem. Trying to understand battery behavior is difficult and it is hard to know what is "normal" unless a person has studied battery behavior at a lower level. I have done so for the past few years in order to more easily determine which seemingly "good" batteries actually have a hardware failure. Even after several years I cannot always be sure which batteries are actually reasonably good (these are all batteries that showed a "Normal" battery condition and passes the Apple Diagnostics, but the user was complaining of problems). Having said that, I don't see anything with your battery that would indicate a problem yet.

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Answer 2

RjbT3

Level 1

13 points

Dec 15, 2022 06:17 AM in response to HWTech

Hi HWTech,

You had previously offered to help me with my 'potential' battery issue on my initial post which was taken down. I am still unsure why, but perhaps I appeared to be blaming Apple for being unwilling to help me with what I think is a battery issue.

Anyway, I too have been using my MacBook plugged in where possible, as with rasangalk here. My MacBook is 5 years old but the battery status is "Normal" with only a 416 cycle count (which I can't believe is accurate). The unexpected shutdowns only seem to happen when on battery power. Please see my response to your questions here 254468168.

rasangalk, I hope you find the fact that my battery cycle count only showing as 416 after 5 years helpful. I want believe this is accurate after 5 years, but maybe so. My MacBook spontaneously shuts down when on battery at varying levels of charge only to reboot when plugged back into the charge adapter. It has been happening consistently for nearly 2 years. Apple keep telling me the battery is fine and there are no other software or hardware issues.

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