It still holds a decent charge when unplugged, I'd say 3-4 hours of near continuous use on battery. Is this
something I need to get checked out, not worry about it or just try and replace the battery?

It's a: MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012) 1.8Ghz i5 out of warranty.

Service Battery: The battery isn’t functioning normally, and you may or may not notice a change in its behavior or the amount of charge it holds. Take your computer in for service. You can continue to use your battery before it’s checked without harming your computer.

Here's my battery specs:
Manufacturer: SMP
Device Name: bq20z451
Pack Lot Code: 0
PCB Lot Code: 0
Firmware Version: 406
Hardware Revision: 000a
Cell Revision: 162
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh): 4718
Fully Charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4811
Health Information:
Cycle Count: 105
Condition: Service Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 8064

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Grateful11

Unless it is crucial to have reliable battery power I would wait till it craps out to replace it...

Has the computer been cold recently? Several years ago while camping, overnight temps dipped into the 40ºs (August in Yellowstone NP). I woke to find such a message. Once the day warmed up, my MBP was fine.

Nope no cold air, rarely ever goes out of the house.

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Grateful11

Do a SMC reset. If the problem persists then you have a serious battery problem.

...Notice any issues with the trackpad? Seem like the screws on the bottom are popping out?

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I think it is a total capacity percentage left. Not about run-time. But I'd contact Apple anyway. With a 108 cycle count, it hasn't had that much of a workout. They might cover it anyway.

Quote
Racer X
I think it is a total capacity percentage left.

In olden days, that's what it meant. I think the threshold was 80% of the original capacity.

As batteries got smarter, the warnings didn't. Now, it may indicate a malfunction in almost any aspect of the battery and SMC, but most of the time it implies a defect that prevents proper charging. If the SMC reset doesn't make the error message go away, 'might download CoconutBattery and see whether it reports a fail-state in the battery details.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/14/2015 07:40PM by Onamuji.

I did the SMC reset, I guess, no kind of indicator, but I performed it about 3 times.

No bulging bottom screws or anything, no trackpad issues but 95% of the time I use a Magic Trackpad.
Will download Coconut Battery and run it.

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Grateful11

Here's what it's telling me:



I'm using an older 60 watt charger because the wire went bad on the other one. Have already went through two
45 watt MagSafe2 charger, both of them the wires turned greenish-blue near the Mag connector and
the insulation split.

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Grateful11

Looks like the problem is what Racer X said: Your battery's present "full" charge is way less than its rated capacity.

Probably worth taking it to the Apple Store just to get a quote on the replacement for when it dies. (Once they start to go, lithium cells sometimes cascade.) Haven't checked prices on MBA battery replacements. Batts for old Retina-pros are so outrageously priced that they're more economical as doorstops vs fixing them up.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/14/2015 08:31PM by Onamuji.

I noticed that 3rd party batteries for MBAs are getting pretty cheap on ebay these days. No experience with any of them...

I've already on the checked battery prices on Amazon and they're not that bad.

This one is $69 and seems to get about the best reviews.
[www.amazon.com]

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Grateful11

Some great prices on ebay if you're willing to wait until it arrives from china - also this guy sells used apple batteries, but unlike others, listed the cycles and remaining mAh - this one is $24 - free shipping

CYCLE COUNT: 189 cycles
FULL CHARGE CAPACITY: 5312mAh
BATTERY STATUS: Normal

[www.ebay.com]

here's his whole list:
[www.ebay.com]

Wow, talk about timing.

I had the exact same problem "Service Battery" on my mid-2012 MBA. I had ~250 cycles & only about 65% of original battery capacity. The MBA battery would only last about 3-4 hours. No Apple care warranty.

I scheduled a Genius Bar appt at the Apple Store. Took it in yesterday. The Genius checked it out and without any questions said they'd replace it without charge.

I literally opened it up just 10 min back, using it & saw this post. Give it a shot.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2015 01:38AM by bhaveshp.

Definitely going to try it and see what happens. Thanks for the encouragement to give it a try.

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Grateful11

Quote
Onamuji
Do a SMC reset. If the problem persists then you have a serious battery problem.

...Notice any issues with the trackpad? Seem like the screws on the bottom are popping out?

I have this problem and recently noticed my trackpad seems hard to click...

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---“What you permit, you promote. What you allow, you encourage. What you condone, you own.”

Quote
pinion

Quote
Onamuji
Do a SMC reset. If the problem persists then you have a serious battery problem.

...Notice any issues with the trackpad? Seem like the screws on the bottom are popping out?

I have this problem and recently noticed my trackpad seems hard to click...

Could be that the battery is swelling as it fails. It'll push up on the trackpad when it swells.

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