My new MBP is powered by my Apple Studio Display and according to Apple, should be staying around 80% to preserve battery health. My previous MBA was plugged into the same Apple Studio Display and this feature worked just fine. The battery settings are configured correctly, indicating this should be happening, but it's not.
Thanks, but that is not how it has worked in the past. I've been using Macs since the 90's and usually get a new MBP or MBA every year. Since this feature has been part of battery settings, it has always hovered around 80% when plugged in 24/7. Since the only time I use my MBP on battery power is an occasional meeting, I'd like to be sure about this so I'm not hurting my battery. Perhaps Apple has recently changed how this works – I'll see if Apple Care knows or take it to the local Genius Bar. I'll post back on whatever I find out. Thanks, again.
I just spoke with Apple Care, and the representative thought I just needed to wait a bit longer. Apparently, there is no set time period at which battery management determines my power usage habits, but if I leave it plugged in 24/7 it should lower the max charge level back to 80% when it realizes I'm keeping it plugged in all the time. Then I can turn off this feature if I need to take the device on travel, etc. But the bottom line is if a MBP is plugged into power 24/7, the battery level should be at 80%.
My current MBP if 5 years old and only showing 68 charge cycles, so even though it mostly shows 100%, it actually is charging very little. As stated, occasionally it will go to 80%, but most of the time it will show 100% and also state that it is not charging. Thanks for the update.
The Optimized Battery setting says it learns from Daily charges for the 80% charge to work correctly, so if you do not do daily charges, then you can expect it to be at 100%. On occasion my MBP will hold at 80%, but since it is mostly plugged in and I don't do daily charges on a regular basis, it will go back to 100%.
I understand your concern as Lithium batteries perform best when kept in the 80% range as opposed to being fully charged constantly. You can be assured the battery is not being charged constantly even when it shows 100% and the power management system will prevent overcharging.
MBP battery stays at 100%
