Thanks. I’ve seen you post this guidance in relation to this issue. I’d rather find a solution other than shutting it on and off all day or wiping my hard drive.
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OWC or Apple Replacement Battery?
- Thread starter LarryJoe33
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Well, my "issue" doesn't seem to have anything to do with movement, it did it while asleep on battery overnight. I did do an SMC and PRAM reset after installing the battery, and Console isn't showing any panics, it's just shutting down unexpectedly.
Ugh that sucks. Hate to say this but it sounds like the battery. What else could it be? That’s the only change. Rest the SMC again if you have not already.
[doublepost=1522007378][/doublepost]Give it a conditioning too.
I am in my second fixit battery, same problem here, suddenly dropping to 7% and sometimes just random shut down. Don't know what to do...
That's exactly what mine was doing right out of the box. Reset SMC, etc. and after 3 or 4 cycles of it doing this, I returned it. I just popped in the OWC NuPower on Wednesday and it's performed as expected. iFixit obviously got a bad batch.
Li-ion has a self discharge rate of maybe 1% per month. Once it reaches 0%, there's damage to the cells. Two years is probably ok. Three would be questionable unless there's some significant discount.
Pretty much any OEM battery out there is going to be 3+ years old. Apple considers unibody MBPs at end of life and stopped servicing them. I’m guessing when they stopped, they stopped making batteries (or their supplier did). Any “new” OEM battery on eBay or similar is going to be old and probably B stock. I have a “new” OEM I bought off eBay the same time I bought my NewTech Nu Power. It was only $35 bucks. I never even opened the package after I found out that hallux’s was from 2015. I bought it from the same seller at the same time. I’m happy with my NewTech battery.
I'm pretty well satisfied with the battery I got from OWC. It's been in my early 2009 17" MBP for at least a couple years, if not more.
OWC has the same battery I got. I went through B&H as they ship quicker, have no tax and shipping from NY to Boston is overnight.
Hey Larry,
I read your entire feed as I am replacing my battery for the first time and wanting to purchase a battery that I will not have to replace within a year. I did as you did and went through Apple first. I have now looked into rewatechnology.com and I am waiting on a quote. I read what you said about OEM batteries possibly being 3 years old and sitting on a shelf somewhere and I’m still deciding on if I should even purchase one through them, (if it’s available and in stock, and in good condition) as opposed to some unknown reputable company/seller. After reading the entire feed I’ll probably go with B&H as well. The only question I have is about the voltage. There is no specified voltage for the battery I am purchasing.
It’s been a couple of months since you’ve replaced your battery. How is your computer functioning? Macsales.com (OWC) states that their NuPower battery offers 23% more capacity than the OEM battery that came with my computer. When I spoke with someone at Apple, the only advice they gave me was to watch out for the voltage. They told me that the voltage of the replacement battery must match exactly to the OEM battery, in order for my older computer to not malfunction. I couldn’t find anywhere in this feed where anyone mentioned anything about voltage. Is the NuPower replacement battery that you purchased through B&H working out for you as well as the original? If you could tell me the status of how well everything is working out for you with the NuPower replacement battery that would be great! I’m leaning towards that one and not one from ifixit. Thanks Larry!
[doublepost=1533078163][/doublepost]
Hey Larry,
I read your entire feed as I am replacing my battery for the first time and wanting to purchase a battery that I will not have to replace within a year. I did as you did and went through Apple first. I have now looked into rewatechnology.com and I am waiting on a quote. I read what you said about OEM batteries possibly being 3 years old and sitting on a shelf somewhere and I’m still deciding on if I should even purchase one through them, (if it’s available and in stock, and in good condition) as opposed to some unknown reputable company/seller. After reading the entire feed I’ll probably go with B&H as well. The only question I have is about the voltage. There is no specified voltage for the battery I am purchasing.
It’s been a couple of months since you’ve replaced your battery. How is your computer functioning? Macsales.com (OWC) states that their NuPower battery offers 23% more capacity than the OEM battery that came with my computer. When I spoke with someone at Apple, the only advice they gave me was to watch out for the voltage. They told me that the voltage of the replacement battery must match exactly to the OEM battery, in order for my older computer to not malfunction. I couldn’t find anywhere in this feed where anyone mentioned anything about voltage. Is the NuPower replacement battery that you purchased through B&H working out for you as well as the original? If you could tell me the status of how well everything is working out for you with the NuPower replacement battery that would be great! I’m leaning towards that one and not one from ifixit. Thanks Larry!
Hey Zoe, sorry so late to the game, I don't come here much these days. The battery from B&H (NuPower) is functioning well, still at max capacity. I still have the 3-year old "new" Apple battery I bought from ebay and never had or felt the need to put it in. It's just getting older I guess.
I'll sell it to you for a reasonable price if you want to try it out. PM me. I am guessing I will buy a new MBP before I ever have the need to install it.
It’s good that it’s working out for ya.
I just wanted to chime in on this as well with a similar story...
Battery in my MacBook Pro 13" Mid-2012 has just passed 490 cycles and doesn't hold a decent charge like it used to. So I hunted around for a new OEM battery online as I didn't want to pay the price Apple is asking for a battery replacement and yesterday I've bought what seems to be a brand new, "genuine" OEM Apple battery from an eBay seller @ £43 (including postage) who had great feedback (after much research from various sellers).
I was a bit wary of the price but if it didn't work well or wasn't a genuine OEM part, I was going to return it. It arrived earlier today via DPD, opened the package and the new replacement battery looked exactly identical to the original Apple battery I have with markings/warning labels and part numbers being spot on (just like yours).
Just installed the new battery into my MBP, reset SMC and coconutBattery reports the following (initially had 67% charge from cold boot) ...
Looks promising. Will calibrate the battery once it's fully charged and see how well it holds up. Happy with the purchase so far!
That’s just so insightful feedback. Experience? Cycles? Capacity%? Experience with OWC?
Yeah “$18 used battery on eBay with 10 cycles on it”. Right, that’s the way to go. If you are going to take a position try to substantiate it. There are a few people in this thread that actually have experience with both options and many other options (like me). Your comments aren’t really helpful without facts.
One I bought for my 2012 15" rMBP was Husan. Bought off amazon for $60. Zero cycles on install, manufacture date a year ago.
No difference between it and apple's original so far. Installation took 30mins (damned sticky tape) and it's performing well (7-8 hrs of usage)
If it holds up for 2-3 years I'm definitely buying another one if needed.
No difference between it and apple's original so far. Installation took 30mins (damned sticky tape) and it's performing well (7-8 hrs of usage)
If it holds up for 2-3 years I'm definitely buying another one if needed.
Well, I just joined the eBay battery club x2 and it was a very good experience. I had said previously that OEM batteries sold on eBay at could be older stock and not really as good as you're expecting. I was wrong (at least with the seller I went through).
The pricey NuPower battery that I bought for my wife's 2012 Unibody MBP started to expand and as it expanded it started to perform erratically leading to premature shut downs and the trackpad not working because the battery was pressing up on it. The NuPower was about 2 years old.
My wife only uses her computer at home and didn't really need a robust battery so I wasn't going to get a NuPower again. Even if I got a 4 year old OEM battery that could only be counted on for 80% of its normal strength, it'd be fine. It only needed to last an hour.
I got a replacement from this seller:
https://www.ebay.com/usr/huguinc
It cost $47.50. It's only $10-$20 more expensive than the non-OEM batteries. I wasn't expecting much, but I got a battery that had a manufacture date that was about 6 months ago and it definitely looked like it was an Apple battery. Coconut Battery reported a design capacity of 97% of it out of the box so it's possible it's B stock, normal variation, or random fluctuation in battery readings.
I was encouraged by that purchase so I decided to also make a long overdue battery replacement in a 2009 MBP that I have as a backup/loaner machine. The battery for the 2009 was only $40 and again had every appearance of being OEM and had 100% design capacity out of the box. The manufacture date was about 18 months from the date that I got it.
I havent' soured on NuPower batteries. I've bought a good number of them over the years and this is the first one to crap out prematurely on me, but if recently manufactured OEM batteries can be had for 1/2 the price, there's no reason to go that route.
I see a lot of rave reviews of Nupower/OWC, but here's the thing--can anyone tell me how many cells a Newertech battery has? No? Doesn't that seem strange to anyone else?
I asked the company directly how many cells and what the mAh rating was. They replied that the number of cells is not something they disclose (!!!), and sent me to a website where I can enter other specs for the battery and mathematically calculate the mAh rating for a battery.
What the heck is going on with that? Why not just put in the specs how may cells their battery has, and what the mAh rating is, instead of being absolutely dodgy with specs that ought to be basic and forthrightly listed for the product? That's like buying a car and asking what the engine size is, and the dealer suddenly won't make eye contact and awkwardly explains that you're welcome to try to figure that out online using a combination of other public information about the car, but they won't directly reveal that information to you themselves, but trust them, it's a good engine.
I asked the company directly how many cells and what the mAh rating was. They replied that the number of cells is not something they disclose (!!!), and sent me to a website where I can enter other specs for the battery and mathematically calculate the mAh rating for a battery.
What the heck is going on with that? Why not just put in the specs how may cells their battery has, and what the mAh rating is, instead of being absolutely dodgy with specs that ought to be basic and forthrightly listed for the product? That's like buying a car and asking what the engine size is, and the dealer suddenly won't make eye contact and awkwardly explains that you're welcome to try to figure that out online using a combination of other public information about the car, but they won't directly reveal that information to you themselves, but trust them, it's a good engine.
I don't know how many cells they have, but the Nupower batteries do indeed have a modestly higher capacity than replacement OEM batteries. That said, you can get good quality replacement OEM batteries for less than half the price off eBay.
And that said, you get what you pay for. eBay cheap batteries suck.