Optimizing battery health on my MacBook Pro 2021

shilpafromnull wrote:

I have a mac book pro late 2021. Model.

what’s the best way to keep the battery use ? Keep it plugged in at all times when at home use , or better to shut the power off when it’s 100% charged. ?

my battery optimization option is on but it charges till 100% and I usually put the power out once it’s charged!

what’s the best practice ?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Battery use

The rule of thumb—if you are near the mains leave it plugged in, if you need the portability then run on the battery only—this is how you help optimize your battery charging and extend the working life of your battery by reducing the cycle count.

if you keep unplugging it, you can expect the same results...

Let the software work for you. You do not need to micro-manage the charging. It can takes weeks after usage change to see it reflected in the % charge in your menubar.

Determine battery cycle count for Mac notebooks

Determine battery cycle count for Mac laptops - Apple Support

Connected to Power is NOT necessarily charging.

The CHARGER is inside the MacBook Pro, and is completely under program control. Your Mac accepts some power when needs to run, and accepts more power when intends to charge its internal battery. A power source like the Power Adapter or certain Displays can not 'force itself' on your MacBook Pro. Only the algorithms inside your Mac can decide when is a good time to charge the battery. Your Mac can NEVER be over-charged.

Any external power supply that provides "USB Power Delivery" (including certain Docks and Displays) must negotiate over the USB cable using USB Power Delivery Protocol, and can not 'force itself' on your Mac. The Voltage and Current are delivered only after your Mac requests and the charger agrees to supply power under certain controlled conditions. The computer draws only as much power as it wants, and the computer is in control of the entire process.

A charge cycle is ever-so-slightly destructive to batter longevity. The classic way to brute-force improve battery longevity yet avoid too many short charge cycles was to create a hysteresis -- to postpone staring a charge cycle until the charged state had declined to a lower level, such as 92 percent, and when topping off, stop before 99 percent. 

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Catalina software 10.15.5 and later for MacBook Pro with T2 chip (2018 models and later) includes a feature called Battery Health Management. Now, based on your usage patterns, this widens the hysteresis to initiate a charge cycle at a lower level, and stop well before 99 percent. 

About battery health management in Mac notebooks - Apple Support

About battery health management in Mac laptops - Apple Support

Battery Health Management feature tracks your usage history and detects that you do not generally run your battery down to low levels. So when you see less than 100 percent as a full charge, it is charging less than the highest level for longest battery lifetime.

NOTE that charging to 80 percent is a side-effect, NOT the GOAL.

The goal is to have some hurly-burly (percolating activity) around using your battery, either by your actually using it, or by leaving it less than fully charged, so that the cells are not 100 percent charged 100 percent of the time. Battery Health Management will also from time-to-time let the battery decline slightly to 'get some exercise' and run lower (thought to be around twice monthly) if you do not do so by your ordinary use.

The feature tracks you actual usage. If you continue to not require 100 percent charge for a few weeks, it generally will revert to a lower "full" level. but it takes some experience, which takes some time

If your recent usage patterns demand top battery capacity, the battery will charge completely to be sure you are not stuck out in the wild with no power.

Hi,

Following article could help your question.

About battery health management in Mac laptops - Apple Support