Alternative for battery charging for m1/m2

[tt4442]

If it's not been suggested, there has been other topics about keeping battery between 20-80% for longer battery life, since apple don't allow easy ability to limit to 80%.

What about using a lower wattage PD usb-charger, such as 15w, and having it then always stay at say, 50% as charger can't effectively 'charge'/add to battery?

I also read tesla batteries do better slow charging rather than their rapid chargers. Less heat = better.

Thanks.

 

[mi7chy]

Have since switched to Ikea ÅSKSTORM charger and USB-C cable that does 18W on USB-C PD and 5W on USB-A to slow down or hopefully reverse the 1% drop in battery health with every charge cycle. In use, 18W didn't discharge the battery while 5W did and both charged the device overnight. First charge at 18W didn't drop the health percentage. Will switch to 5W since it's probably the best bet going forward and report back after a few recharge cycles.

 

[tt4442]

Thanks. I also have a 19w charger and it quite "quickly" charged, as in, 1% maybe every 10 min. I don't use my laptop for heavy tasks.

But I also am not sure about keeping it at the same percentage, I don't know how that affects lithium batteries or how apple deals with very low charges and keeping it all the same.

I did read long ago about a tape trick that covered specific pins on the mag charger so that it only 'powered' the laptop and bypassed charging.

 

[Mike Boreham]

If it's not been suggested, there has been other topics about keeping battery between 20-80% for longer battery life, since apple don't allow easy ability to limit to 80%.

The built in macOS Optimised Battery Charging attempts to do this but it doesn't work well for many. There is no control over how and when it operates and takes a while to learn your usage.

If you have seen other threads you have surely seen that many people use AlDente Pro app to control the percentage charge of a mostly plugged in MacBook. I used it on two MBAs which were plugged in to a 80W charger nearly all the time and had 99% and 100% Apple Battery Health when I sold them at nearly two years old.

What about using a lower wattage PD usb-charger, such as 15w, and having it then always stay at say, 50% as charger can't effectively 'charge'/add to battery?

Electricity doesn't work like this. You can't limit or control the max charge by varying the wattage of the charger. As @mi7chy found, both 18W and 5W chargers were capable of fully charging the device depending on load.

I also read tesla batteries do better slow charging rather than their rapid chargers. Less heat = better.

Yes by all means use a lower wattage to charge more slowly which may help battery life.

 

[Tagbert]

If it's not been suggested, there has been other topics about keeping battery between 20-80% for longer battery life, since apple don't allow easy ability to limit to 80%.

What about using a lower wattage PD usb-charger, such as 15w, and having it then always stay at say, 50% as charger can't effectively 'charge'/add to battery?

I also read tesla batteries do better slow charging rather than their rapid chargers. Less heat = better.

Thanks.

I'll put in another recommendation for just using Al Dente. It is a simple utility that lets you set the max charging % to 80 or whatever level you choose. I tried Apples automatic control but it always wanted to keep it at 100%. Al Dente gives you an explicit control. No need to try to Jeri-rig it using low wattage sources or anything.

 

[tt4442]

It surprises me apple doesn't allow setting something as simple as this, especially if they know fully it does harm battery. Maybe they've made 100% be in fact 90%. But if they've provided API then that's fine.
I'm also using the app now and it works for me.

Thanks.

 

[Toutou]

especially if they know fully it does harm battery

The battery being used as a battery literally harms the battery. It’s a bunch of tamed chemicals wrapped in a bag. You can use it and replace it when you don’t like the battery life anymore or baby it and get low battery life from day one.

 

[mi7chy]

First, the bad news is battery health loss is irrecoverable but good news is after a total of three charge cycles, one at 18W and two at 5W, on the new Ikea 18W/5W charger there's zero battery health loss on M1 MBA compared to 1% loss with every charge cycle of the last three charge cycles with stock 30W charger. So, now by default I slow charge at 5W with the MBA off that completes overnight and use 18W charge when needed that's still relatively fast from fully discharged state allowing it to power on and charge the battery under normal load within about ~4 hours. Wished I had done this exercise sooner when it was still at 100% battery health. Btw, this only applies to battery size around 49.9Wh so M1/M2 MBA and perhaps M1/M2 13" MBP but needs to be scaled accordingly for larger batteries in the 14" and 16".

 

[tt4442]

I thought the app aldente solved the main issue if users are mostly connected to power.

 

[mi7chy]

There are three issues: fast charging, bypassing battery and running off of AC when always plugged and keeping the battery charged within 20% and 80% in the order from most to less impactful to battery health degradation. Don't think AlDente can reduce a 30W charger to lower rate nor bypass battery and run off of AC like some laptops can like Lenovo "battery conservation" feature where the other laptop's battery health is still >=100% with it always plugged in for the last several years. I charge when it's depleted and charge up to 100% so limiting the battery charge between 20% and 80% with float charging/discharging doesn't seem to have any observable benefit. Maybe over the long term or maybe not but needs to be tested. I'll be the test case sample where I don't limit battery charge to between 20% and 80%.

 

[FreeThinker_64]

I use Energiza to keep the battery around 75%. It's a nice app.

Energiza Pro

appgineers.de

 

[mi7chy]

Ran across this discussion where users are seeing battery health degradation using app to limit charge so it needs more scientific testing.

https://github.com/davidwernhart/AlDente-Charge-Limiter/discussions/770

 

[iamfredrik]

Anyone tried these?

GitHub - mhaeuser/Battery-Toolkit: Control the platform power state of your Apple Silicon Mac.

Control the platform power state of your Apple Silicon Mac. - mhaeuser/Battery-Toolkit

github.com

GitHub - actuallymentor/battery: CLI for managing the battery charging status for M1 Macs

CLI for managing the battery charging status for M1 Macs - actuallymentor/battery

github.com

 

[Isamilis]

Anyone tried these?

GitHub - mhaeuser/Battery-Toolkit: Control the platform power state of your Apple Silicon Mac.

Control the platform power state of your Apple Silicon Mac. - mhaeuser/Battery-Toolkit

github.com

GitHub - actuallymentor/battery: CLI for managing the battery charging status for M1 Macs

CLI for managing the battery charging status for M1 Macs - actuallymentor/battery

github.com

The second one is still running even when Mac is sleeping, which I prefer. In the first one (and Energiza), the limiter is disabled when sleeping.

 

[iamfredrik]

The second one is still running even when Mac is sleeping, which I prefer. In the first one (and Energiza), the limiter is disabled when sleeping.

What does that mean? I actually installed the first one because it allows me to disable the power adapter while plugged in an also to charge until full, but as far as I can tell, the limiter is still active while sleeping. At least it’s not charging beyond the limit while sleeping.

 

[Isamilis]

It’s not running if I put Mac in sleeping, or exit the apps or logout. There is option to avoid Mac from sleeping while charging, which is not the elegant solution.

 

[Tagbert]

What does that mean? I actually installed the first one because it allows me to disable the power adapter while plugged in an also to charge until full, but as far as I can tell, the limiter is still active while sleeping. At least it’s not charging beyond the limit while sleeping.

Why not run Al Dente and let it do its thing. You won’t have to worry about it not running during sleep and things like that.

 

[iamfredrik]

I’m not sure what you mean by ”not running while sleeping”. If the charge limit is set to 80%, does your Macbook start charging to 100% if you put it to sleep or what exactly is the expected behavior that is not working?

 

[Isamilis]

I’m not sure what you mean by ”not running while sleeping”. If the charge limit is set to 80%, does your Macbook start charging to 100% if you put it to sleep or what exactly is the expected behavior that is not working?

Please re read my response.

 

[iamfredrik]

Please re read my response.

Okay, the limiter seems to work for me in sleep. Did you give permissions to the helper application and restart computer? What Macbook did you try it on? I’m using it on an Air M2.

 

[jake1289]

it's not like that. for instance, if using a lower charger say 60W for a M1 MacBook Pro, it will automatically darin the battery in case of large power consumption. AIDente app is a logical option for better charging management, as an alternative to macOS's built-in one.

 

[Gregintosh]

I’d rather get 100% out of my battery than keep it discharged. If you keep your battery at 75% all the time you’re effectively getting the same result for practical purposes as using it for years and letting it degrade 25% over time.

Resale value may be a consideration but if you’re that worried that you can’t fully enjoy your laptop for years of ownership it’s not worth it. Get AppleCare if you’re worried and before it expires sell the unit or have the battery replaced if it has indeed degraded severely.

 

[pshufd]

I have 20 watt, 30 watt and 65 watt Anker USB-C chargers. I typically take the 30 or 65 with me when mobile. The 30 watt charger is very small and light and it will slow-charge the M1 Pro MacBook Pro while I'm using it. The 20 watt charger results in the battery draining while using the laptop though it would fully charge overnight. I bring the 65 watt if I need faster charging or if I'm also charging devices off the MacBook Pro.

I never bring the Apple 140 watt charger with me when mobile.

 

[MrGunny94]

Man, I had tons of issues with my M1 Pro because I was mostly hooked on two external displays (which had an integrated hub) and after 2 years I was down to 82% battery health.

Managed to get it refunded by Amazon and bought the M2 Pro now ever since release I'm still around 25 cycles and 100% battery health by using Aldente.

Basically what I do is:

When Mobile all day, I charge to 100% because I'll need all the battery life I can get.
When using TB4 dock now, I'll limit to 80%.

 

[mi7chy]

Up to five charge cycles with Ikea charger with no battery health loss unlike before so happy with the results.