MBP Retina Early 2015
2.7 GHz
Core i5
El Capital 10.11

Do we need to leave the battery drain completely before recharge? We have been recharging every time we get the reminder popup.

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SoCal for now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2016 01:51PM by kap.

General best practices for modern Li-Ion and Li-Po batteries are to recharge them when they are at very roughly 40% and do a full discharge every few months or so. Apple recommends the full discharge every month but not many people want the inconvenience of fully discharging their laptop every month.

Theres no need to do that Kap.

Actually they don't recommend a full discharge : [www.apple.com]

Charge your Apple lithium-ion battery whenever you want. There’s no need to let it discharge 100% before recharging. Apple lithium-ion batteries work in charge cycles. You complete one charge cycle when you’ve used (discharged) an amount that equals 100% of your battery’s capacity — but not necessarily all from one charge. For instance, you might use 75% of your battery’s capacity one day, then recharge it fully overnight. If you use 25% the next day, you will have discharged a total of 100%, and the two days will add up to one charge cycle. It could take several days to complete a cycle. The capacity of any type of battery will diminish after a certain amount of recharging. With lithium-ion batteries, the capacity diminishes slightly with each complete charge cycle. Apple lithium-ion batteries are designed to hold at least 80% of their original capacity for a high number of charge cycles, which varies depending on the product

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

Thanks for the info!

Quote
jdc
Theres no need to do that Kap.

Actually they don't recommend a full discharge : [www.apple.com]

Charge your Apple lithium-ion battery whenever you want. There’s no need to let it discharge 100% before recharging. Apple lithium-ion batteries work in charge cycles. You complete one charge cycle when you’ve used (discharged) an amount that equals 100% of your battery’s capacity — but not necessarily all from one charge. For instance, you might use 75% of your battery’s capacity one day, then recharge it fully overnight. If you use 25% the next day, you will have discharged a total of 100%, and the two days will add up to one charge cycle. It could take several days to complete a cycle. The capacity of any type of battery will diminish after a certain amount of recharging. With lithium-ion batteries, the capacity diminishes slightly with each complete charge cycle. Apple lithium-ion batteries are designed to hold at least 80% of their original capacity for a high number of charge cycles, which varies depending on the product

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SoCal for now.

Yeah, Lithium batts don't have a memory-effect and a recent MBP will not benefit from a periodic deplete/charge cycle.

Other: Heat will shorten the life of your battery. Keep it on an aluminum cooling pad when you can do so.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2016 07:03PM by Onamuji.

I'd say that will vary form battery technology to battery technology.... but the full discharge is really something that you do at first use to properly condition and get the battery calibrated when you install a new battery. Doing full discharges after that, unless necessary to attempt to correct a calibration fall out, is not good on most batteries and can contribute to run time capacity decreasing more quickly than from best practice use.

When you said Apple recommended monthly discharges - I was surprised - and googled... I don't see that - I do see this:
[www.apple.com]

And in line with our position as well when it comes to the Li-Polymer and Li-Ion cell packs as well.

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Lew Zealand
General best practices for modern Li-Ion and Li-Po batteries are to recharge them when they are at very roughly 40% and do a full discharge every few months or so. Apple recommends the full discharge every month but not many people want the inconvenience of fully discharging their laptop every month.

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OWC Larry
Other World Computing
[www.macsales.com]

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OWC Larry
When you said Apple recommended monthly discharges - I was surprised - and googled... I don't see that...

Periodic deep-cycling was recommended for older models to recalibrate the batteries.

Macs with built-in batteries self-calibrate.

It probably wasn't very good for the batteries even back then. Lithium batteries don't do well when frequently cycled.

Web sites still pass on the old info if they haven't been updated and old-timers have bad battery-habits.

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indeed!

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Onamuji

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OWC Larry
When you said Apple recommended monthly discharges - I was surprised - and googled... I don't see that...

Periodic deep-cycling was recommended for older models to recalibrate the batteries.

Macs with built-in batteries self-calibrate.

It probably wasn't very good for the batteries even back then. Lithium batteries don't do well when frequently cycled.

Web sites still pass on the old info if they haven't been updated and old-timers have bad battery-habits.

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OWC Larry
Other World Computing
[www.macsales.com]

One other comment - on the batteries that are internal - you still need to do a proper calibration cycle when you replace those as well. We offer then with the NewerTech NuPower line - but Apple otherwise says you need to come in and pay them to replace the battery. They do the initial calibration for you when the replacement is done... and since they don't want you replacing the battery in the first place or doing anything that would other wise be an opportunity for you to contact them/come into an Apple store to possibly be sold something new - they don't give the tips on those models for that initial replacement.

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OWC Larry
Other World Computing
[www.macsales.com]