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oldtime

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2007
436
396
For those that got a replacement, does Apple replace just the battery or hand you a new unit? Just want to know whether I should wipe the thing before heading to the Apple Store this week.
 

0906742

Cancelled
Apr 11, 2018
2,313
612
I just ran Cinebench again with the battery at 37% and the FCC dropped to 4827 and battery dropped to 32% but also have some tabs in a browser open and a youtube video playing so maybe that accounts for the increased drop in battery. Seems pretty normal to me.

I didn't verify in coconut battery but I had intel power gadget open and it was consuming slightly over 30 watts.
OK, that sound a lot like what mine does. I just ran test at battery charge 40.6% just before test and the lowest FCC reading during test was 4963mAh and battery charge drop to 34,6% but after test it went up to 37.1% and FCC 5185mAh, voltage show 11198mV.

You wattage seemed a bit low for Cinebench but if you got score around 1600-1700 it must have run at full steam pulling about 40w in reality.

I was hoping the answer to this fluctuating FCC was about battery SMP vs DSY since guys so far who have reported DSY readings did not see steep dips in FCC but obviously this theory is now also busted…

Please try to keep in track of your actual use between charge cycle increases, so you can see if you really get to use 100% battery until it increases. In my unit it is definitely only under 80% (last measured 77,3%) per cycle. I have tracked so many cycle changes now that I can say this for sure. Even adding 10% to that measurement for the time it usually takes after charging until battery charge percentage starts to drop, it is still well under 90%.
 

0906742

Cancelled
Apr 11, 2018
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Do you see voltage getting as low as around 11100mV when battery is around under 40% left?
I've seen mine sometimes even around 10800mV and the lower 10340mV. Those are during use measured of course but under light load, so they seem very low to me.
 

oldtime

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2007
436
396
Do you see voltage getting as low as around 11100mV when battery is around under 40% left?
I've seen mine sometimes even around 10800mV and the lower 10340mV. Those are during use measured of course but under light load, so they seem very low to me.

How do I check the voltage?
 

aurorahd

macrumors newbie
Aug 8, 2019
7
1
Update: Just exchanged for a new MacBook Pro again. I have a theory for why this may be happening to us. My first laptop arrived with 97% battery charge and while using the laptop and charging it to full again, I put it to sleep and it would drain 60% out of nowhere and I thought my battery was faulty. It turns out, it wasn't really charged to 100% and drained 60%. The actual battery percentage was hovering around 40% and the system reader was wrong.

The deal with these new MacBooks are that the reader is entirely wrong. No lithium ion battery device should come with 100% charge, it should only come with around 50% for storage (100% capacity is bad for the battery if stored for long).

My third MacBook Pro came again, with 100% and I left it on sleep for an hour and I came back to it "drained" to 49%. However, I suspect it was never 100% to begin with, but rather, 50%.

I will test this laptop and drain it down to 20% to test for any unexpected shutdowns. If no, my theory is correct. If I recall correctly, like my first laptop, I didn't charge it for the first time and just used it like normal and let it go to sleep and the battery reader would correctly display the percentage.

FYI: My first MacBook Pro didn't have premature shutdowns because it experienced what I just experienced now.
 
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0906742

Cancelled
Apr 11, 2018
2,313
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How do I check the voltage?
Here is how to find these: Click upper left corner Apple logo while holding Option key same time, then select first menu item (system info) and under that there is "Power" item where all this is listed.
 

0906742

Cancelled
Apr 11, 2018
2,313
612
Update: Just exchanged for a new MacBook Pro again. I have a theory for why this may be happening to us. My first laptop arrived with 97% battery charge and while using the laptop and charging it to full again, I put it to sleep and it would drain 60% out of nowhere and I thought my battery was faulty. It turns out, it wasn't really charged to 100% and drained 60%. The actual battery percentage was hovering around 40% and the system reader was wrong.

The deal with these new MacBooks are that the reader is entirely wrong. No lithium ion battery device should come with 100% charge, it should only come with around 50% for storage (100% capacity is bad for the battery if stored for long).

My third MacBook Pro came again, with 100% and I left it on sleep for an hour and I came back to it "drained" to 49%. However, I suspect it was never 100% to begin with, but rather, 50%.

I will test this laptop and drain it down to 20% to test for any unexpected shutdowns. If no, my theory is correct. If I recall correctly, like my first laptop, I didn't charge it for the first time and just used it like normal and let it go to sleep and the battery reader would correctly display the percentage.

FYI: My first MacBook Pro didn't have premature shutdowns because it experienced what I just experienced now.
Interesting. Mine came with about 80% charge and i started to use it without charging until battery was down to 26%. I used it for hours.
 

oldtime

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2007
436
396
Mine was at 100% and shut down a little over 3.5 hours later at 45%. So maybe there's some truth to that theory.
Update: Just exchanged for a new MacBook Pro again. I have a theory for why this may be happening to us. My first laptop arrived with 97% battery charge and while using the laptop and charging it to full again, I put it to sleep and it would drain 60% out of nowhere and I thought my battery was faulty. It turns out, it wasn't really charged to 100% and drained 60%. The actual battery percentage was hovering around 40% and the system reader was wrong.

The deal with these new MacBooks are that the reader is entirely wrong. No lithium ion battery device should come with 100% charge, it should only come with around 50% for storage (100% capacity is bad for the battery if stored for long).

My third MacBook Pro came again, with 100% and I left it on sleep for an hour and I came back to it "drained" to 49%. However, I suspect it was never 100% to begin with, but rather, 50%.

I will test this laptop and drain it down to 20% to test for any unexpected shutdowns. If no, my theory is correct. If I recall correctly, like my first laptop, I didn't charge it for the first time and just used it like normal and let it go to sleep and the battery reader would correctly display the percentage.

FYI: My first MacBook Pro didn't have premature shutdowns because it experienced what I just experienced now.

Can you report back what sort of battery life you're getting on a full charge?
 

0906742

Cancelled
Apr 11, 2018
2,313
612
The deal with these new MacBooks are that the reader is entirely wrong. No lithium ion battery device should come with 100% charge, it should only come with around 50% for storage (100% capacity is bad for the battery if stored for long).
It is true battery should come only partially charged for longevity due to storage time but I'm sure they run these more or less at the factory so there might be some variation and maybe they even sometimes charge these fully but batteries do deplete during storage.

Anyway, from what I have learned from my previous Apple gear, it that they usually come with 80% charge and when ever there is something else, it is a red flag. I remember I got my first iPhone X with nearly empty battery out of the box and it was very weak always. Then I received my Air 2018 with completely empty battery, and that turned out to be weak too and did not deliver even design capacity charge.

My third MacBook Pro came again, with 100% and I left it on sleep for an hour and I came back to it "drained" to 49%. However, I suspect it was never 100% to begin with, but rather, 50%.
This is odd again that it show full and drops during sleep. I did not see that happening in mine when I used it for the first time. I did not leave it alone for long times but it did "fall asleep" few times during that (default sleep timer was 2 minutes I recall).

How recently manufactured machine this one is? Could you list serial numbers 1st, 4th and 5th character? Did it come with DSY or SMP battery?

Can you try this one and see if it drops FCC under high load (like Cinebench). Please note that battery reading are updated only once per minute so changes during CB running do not show immediately, thatäs why it is important to monitor it whole 3 minutes it takes to run the benchmark.

I will test this laptop and drain it down to 20% to test for any unexpected shutdowns. If no, my theory is correct. If I recall correctly, like my first laptop, I didn't charge it for the first time and just used it like normal and let it go to sleep and the battery reader would correctly display the percentage.

FYI: My first MacBook Pro didn't have premature shutdowns because it experienced what I just experienced now.
I think that would be wise to use the unit for a good while before charging it the first time.

Please keep an eye on the Charge Cycle count. Do you see it increasing faster then you actually use 100% total battery?
Charge Cycle means full 100% battery use even in many parts, like 2 x 100% to 50% or 4 x 100% to 75% should count only one charge cycle.
 

spacey20

macrumors newbie
May 26, 2019
9
6
Am curious about my CTO 2019 MBP 15inch battery.

Purchased in June, only 8 cycles, but now my battery only gets to 95% of the full charge capacity.

Should I be worried... its currently saying 100% fully charged in my top bar... but coconut battery is saying else wise .

pH7oTHc.png
 

oldtime

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2007
436
396
Fourth discharge going better than first 3. Took about an hour to drop to 85%. Cinebench stress test didn't drop FCC at all. I'll run it again closer to 50%. Hopefully I can get more than 4 or so hrs of battery life this time. I believe 7h26 is what I've seen quoted as average for this machine so if I can get near that I'll be happy.
 

aurorahd

macrumors newbie
Aug 8, 2019
7
1
Update: New exchanged laptop reached 19% without shutdowns. My issue seems to be fixed and without SMC reset and perhaps my theory was/is correct. These new MacBook pros come with an incorrect reader that displays 100% when it is really 50% or so[?]
 

0906742

Cancelled
Apr 11, 2018
2,313
612
Cinebench stress test didn't drop FCC at all. I'll run it again closer to 50%.
At what battery level your ran test and did you make sure you took the lowest FCC reading during test? Because these values update only once per minute and it takes a while when test is running to see the possible dips. So please make sure you can see in CoonutBattery that your machine draw about 40W power, to make sure reading is really during test run, also as test takes about 3 minutes to complete it is usually the last reading taken during test that shows to biggest dips.

Please try another Cinebench test at different battery levels and report your readings.
Also please report your voltage readings at different battery levels. it would be interesting to see if they get as low as what I see in my unit.

What is your unit FCC when machine is running idle?
[doublepost=1565608985][/doublepost]
Update: New exchanged laptop reached 19% without shutdowns. My issue seems to be fixed and without SMC reset and perhaps my theory was/is correct. These new MacBook pros come with an incorrect reader that displays 100% when it is really 50% or so[?]
Good to hear.

Could you try Cinebench test and reports what readings you get at different battery levels?
Also please report your voltage reading at certain battery charge levels?

Did your unit come with SMP or DSY battery this time (what is FCC in idle)?

Also everyone else with 1.4, please report your battery voltages you see at different battery charge levels!
It is easy to check this way: Click upper left corner Apple logo while holding Option key same time, then select first menu item (system info) and under that there is "Power" item where all this is listed.
 
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0906742

Cancelled
Apr 11, 2018
2,313
612
Battery voltage 12389 - 86% charge
Thanks. Can you check later at lower charge levels too, and under load. It seems to be fluctuating a lot in my machine. Depending on charge level and load I've seen it even 10340mV once.

Anyway it seems to be dipping under 11000mV even at pretty high (reported) charge levels.
 

0906742

Cancelled
Apr 11, 2018
2,313
612
For example right now battery at 92,6% (load 8W, FCC 5178) 12205mV.
Here is another just taken 84,6% 11962mV (load changing around 8 - 10W).

Here are some random measurements at different levels and they are not taken in any particular order, I just ordered them to this list based on charge percentage, so you see how voltage is all f***** up:
99,9% 12952mV
94,5% 12279mV (right after Cinebench run)
89,7% 12322mV
56,1% 12395mV
47,2% 11440mV
42,8% 11191mV
37,1% 11191mV (right after Cinebench run)
36% 11189mV
24% 11100mV
20,3% 10340mV (right after Cinebench run)
Battery charge level percentages have been taken from CoconutBattery on all readings I listed in this message!

Those are just randomly taken numbers from different date at different charge levels. Some are right after Cinebench run but still, those numbers do not make much sense, like I could have had higher voltage at 56,1% charge than at 89,7%.
Not sure are the batteries so unstable under even slight load in these or is measuring system just wildly incorrect?? Also it seems that voltage reading is not updated in any predictable way, it looks as if may update every 10 minutes or so but sometimes more often, like when you just powered the machine up and then very soon after that. It is weird all in all, as Full Charge Capacity, load and current charge level reading it updated every minute.

Anyone else seeing as wild voltage readings as I?
 
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Hercaz

macrumors newbie
Aug 10, 2019
10
2
For those that got a replacement, does Apple replace just the battery or hand you a new unit? Just want to know whether I should wipe the thing before heading to the Apple Store this week.
They give a brand new unit without extending two weeks return window, at least in Canada. After return window runs out they will either repair or replace with refurbished even though the replacement suffers from same issues and was the main and only reason why it was replaced. Of course you can ask to accept return after two weeks but then it will be at store manager's discretion and you will have to prove that it has manufacturing defects, which is not always easy.
 

oldtime

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2007
436
396
At what battery level your ran test and did you make sure you took the lowest FCC reading during test? Because these values update only once per minute and it takes a while when test is running to see the possible dips. So please make sure you can see in CoonutBattery that your machine draw about 40W power, to make sure reading is really during test run, also as test takes about 3 minutes to complete it is usually the last reading taken during test that shows to biggest dips.

Please try another Cinebench test at different battery levels and report your readings.
Also please report your voltage readings at different battery levels. it would be interesting to see if they get as low as what I see in my unit.

What is your unit FCC when machine is running idle?

90% the first time I ran the test. FCC varied from 5122 to 5188 during the test. Ran again at 50% with same results.

I didn't take exact notes, but voltage trickled down from high 12000s at full charge to about 11100 at 10% when I plugged in the charger. Dipped to a low point of about 10700 during the CB test at 50%.

FCC at idle fluctuates between 5100 and 5200.

This last discharge I got 7 hours on 90% and no abrupt shutdown, which I'm thrilled with.
 

0906742

Cancelled
Apr 11, 2018
2,313
612
What kind of battery temperatures other Entry MBP 2019 owners are seeing in the machine when it has been running on battery for say 1 hour and you have some light to moderate load so that the machine feels warm? I mean at normal room temperatures (like about 23c at my place right now) without AC blowing at you directly.

Mine is circling around 35c (maybe around 1-2c less in light load) and I though it was normal. Just saw on other thread person who before confirmed seeing no issues with his battery and no FCC drop in load test reporting battery temp only 26c!
[doublepost=1565636670][/doublepost]
90% the first time I ran the test. FCC varied from 5122 to 5188 during the test. Ran again at 50% with same results.
That is amazing that unit which suffered from shutdowns and low battery run times no see nearly no drops in Cinebench load test. You are sure you took that reading when machine was drawing 40W on battery and you confirmed that reading in CoconutBattery? Like I mentioned, those reading do not update constantly but like 1 minute apart so the first readind or two during test might not show the worst condition, it is usually the last just before test ends.

Can you check that?

Also you did run test so that machine had been running on battery for w while and not just before test pulled the charger off?

I didn't take exact notes, but voltage trickled down from high 12000s at full charge to about 11100 at 10% when I plugged in the charger. Dipped to a low point of about 10700 during the CB test at 50%.
So about similar readings as in the list I posted above?

FCC at idle fluctuates between 5100 and 5200.
This is also similar to mine. it is usually the highest in idle, even over 5200 at times and the depending on load it goes toward 5100 in normal use (like when there is 6W or mode load and gradually lowers with higher load), but dips in high load like Cinebench at 40W load.
 

oldtime

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2007
436
396
Yeah I kept a close eye on coconut battery while running cinebench. The last time I did the test it had been running on battery about 4 hrs. This last discharge it behaved like a normal battery and not a lemon. I'm hoping that since it was 99 days old at time of purchase that it just needed the cobwebs knocked off after sitting in storage a while, and now it'll be properly functional. I guess we'll see.

The voltage dips are normal though, no? I don't know enough about batteries to say definitively but I would think any other MacBook would see a fairly similar pattern.

I did lose 3.7% overnight while the laptop was sleeping, which seems too much.
 

0906742

Cancelled
Apr 11, 2018
2,313
612
So you ran it several times until battery 0% (or so that it turned off) and then charged it normally. Did you keep machine on or off during charging and did you just fully charge and unplug right after or left it for longer time charging?

Interesting that you first saw similar dips as I do constantly in Cinebench but no more after doing that. I wonder if mine has simply bad battery, since almost everyone here do not seem to see that or they see it first and it heels itself later...

What kind of battery charge percentage drops you see during CB load test? Total from begin to end and does it dip lower in the middle of the test and then return back higher? Mine takes total about 3,5% per run but it dips in the middle depending on battery charge level (usually more at lower charge).

How does Charge Cycle calculation in your unit match your actual battery use? You get to use 100% battery before charge cycle increase? In my unit it increase about every 80% of battery use.

What kind of battery temps you see when it has been running on battery for 1 hour or more?
 
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leoshaun

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 3, 2019
63
25
They give a brand new unit without extending two weeks return window, at least in Canada. After return window runs out they will either repair or replace with refurbished even though the replacement suffers from same issues and was the main and only reason why it was replaced. Of course you can ask to accept return after two weeks but then it will be at store manager's discretion and you will have to prove that it has manufacturing defects, which is not always easy.
Im in the UK and they exchanged the whole unit, giving me another 2 weeks to return/exchange.
[doublepost=1565646967][/doublepost]
Update: Just exchanged for a new MacBook Pro again. I have a theory for why this may be happening to us. My first laptop arrived with 97% battery charge and while using the laptop and charging it to full again, I put it to sleep and it would drain 60% out of nowhere and I thought my battery was faulty. It turns out, it wasn't really charged to 100% and drained 60%. The actual battery percentage was hovering around 40% and the system reader was wrong.
I thought you fixed yours with the SMC reset etc. How come you returned, due to high cycle counts?
 

oldtime

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2007
436
396
So you ran it several times until battery 0% (or so that it turned off) and then charged it normally. Did you keep machine on or off during charging and did you just fully charge and unplug right after or left it for longer time charging?
Kept it on during charge as I was working. Fully charged and unplugged after Full charge + 90 min the first two times. Third time I let it charge overnight. I'm thinking this is what brought the battery to "normal."
Interesting that you first saw similar dips as I do constantly in Cinebench but no more after doing that. I wonder if mine has simply bad battery, since almost everyone here do not seem to see that or they see it first and it heels itself later...

What kind of battery charge percentage drops you see during CB load test? Total from begin to end and does it dip lower in the middle of the test and then return back higher? Mine takes total about 3,5% per run but it dips in the middle depending on battery charge level (usually more at lower charge).
2.7% drop. Dipped in most recent test from 5118 to 5114 and bounced up to 5152 after completion.
How does Charge Cycle calculation in your unit match your actual battery use? You get to use 100% battery before charge cycle increase? In my unit it increase about every 80% of battery use.
I think it's cycling properly since the count goes up by one every time I drop from 100 to around 50%. This would mean the battery had 1.5 cycles when I got it. Since I plugged in at 10% this last time I'll be checking to see if the count goes up at 40%. If it doesn't and ticks up meaningfully earlier that's obviously no bueno.
What kind of battery temps you see when it has been running on battery for 1 hour or more?
30-35 under regular use. Ramps up quickly to 60+ when I run W10 in a VM and then the fans kick on. This seems to be normal for these machines, as they do run a little warm.
 

Hercaz

macrumors newbie
Aug 10, 2019
10
2
Im in the UK and they exchanged the whole unit, giving me another 2 weeks to return
That’s what I thought too except when I returned replacement with even worse symptoms they refused to exchange because I was close to the end of return window for original purchase and suggested I return&rebuy or leave it for repair. Apple retail store in Toronto. Rules vary by country I guess or simply they didn’t like me.
 
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