Battery life on a Mac - How typical is my cycle count average?
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I've had a MacBook Pro R 15" mid-2015 since the start of Sept and looking at my batteries Cycle Count I'm already at 229. The max cycles for this machine is around 1000 according to Apple which at this rate (((229/257)*1000)/365) will give me ~2.4yrs of battery life.
Am I using this a bit too aggressively or on track with how others use their Mac?
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@larsen161 said in Battery life on a Mac - How typical is my cycle count average?:
I've had a MacBook Pro R 15" mid-2015 since the start of Sept and looking at my batteries Cycle Count I'm already at 229. The max cycles for this machine is around 1000 according to Apple which at this rate (((229/257)*1000)/365) will give me ~2.4yrs of battery life.
Am I using this a bit too aggressively or on track with how others use their Mac?
Not surpised. 2 yrs or so is about how long batteries in laptops usually seem to have a useful life.
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@Jason said in Battery life on a Mac - How typical is my cycle count average?:
@larsen161 said in Battery life on a Mac - How typical is my cycle count average?:
I've had a MacBook Pro R 15" mid-2015 since the start of Sept and looking at my batteries Cycle Count I'm already at 229. The max cycles for this machine is around 1000 according to Apple which at this rate (((229/257)*1000)/365) will give me ~2.4yrs of battery life.
Am I using this a bit too aggressively or on track with how others use their Mac?
Not surpised. 2 yrs or so is about how long batteries in laptops usually seem to have a useful life.
My late 2011 MacBook Pro was draining battery fast last year and the fans were spinning high. took it in for repair, paid them like $150 or something and they replaced the mobo. Fans were still always spinning, so the replaced more things including the battery. so now I am only at 66 cycles
Also, I always fully drain my stuff as often as possible. @scottalanmiller is a bit anal about it. I am not that bad, but my stuff goes to 0% often.
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@JaredBusch Hopefully that 0% is more like 15-20%, otherwise lithium ion batteries get ruined quick. Being a Mac, they probably manage that and will work it so when it displays 0%, it's not detrimental to the battery yet.
Lithium batteries need treated much differently than NiCads used to. If a LiPo actually hits 0%, the internal components break down and the battery is ruined. Try to use it after that and you've got a fire starter, not a battery. My current hobby of making quadcopters made me memorize all the different safety and usage of the new batteries.
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@travisdh1 said in Battery life on a Mac - How typical is my cycle count average?:
@JaredBusch Hopefully that 0% is more like 15-20%, otherwise lithium ion batteries get ruined quick. Being a Mac, they probably manage that and will work it so when it displays 0%, it's not detrimental to the battery yet.
Lithium batteries need treated much differently than NiCads used to. If a LiPo actually hits 0%, the internal components break down and the battery is ruined. Try to use it after that and you've got a fire starter, not a battery. My current hobby of making quadcopters made me memorize all the different safety and usage of the new batteries.
I have to trust the device manufacturers for that. For me it is just a habit. I know batteries and devices are smarter about it. But even lithium batteries need to hit < 20% for best lifespan.
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@JaredBusch said in Battery life on a Mac - How typical is my cycle count average?:
@travisdh1 said in Battery life on a Mac - How typical is my cycle count average?:
@JaredBusch Hopefully that 0% is more like 15-20%, otherwise lithium ion batteries get ruined quick. Being a Mac, they probably manage that and will work it so when it displays 0%, it's not detrimental to the battery yet.
Lithium batteries need treated much differently than NiCads used to. If a LiPo actually hits 0%, the internal components break down and the battery is ruined. Try to use it after that and you've got a fire starter, not a battery. My current hobby of making quadcopters made me memorize all the different safety and usage of the new batteries.
I have to trust the device manufacturers for that. For me it is just a habit. I know batteries and devices are smarter about it. But even lithium batteries need to hit < 20% for best lifespan.
Yeah, Lithiums are just that much more difficult to manage properly. I've heard of some very simple things that can be done to improve the lifespan and durability of them. Hopefully they'll be available soon, I wanna get rid of that extra 6 grams I need for a battery monitor!
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@JaredBusch said in Battery life on a Mac - How typical is my cycle count average?:
@travisdh1 said in Battery life on a Mac - How typical is my cycle count average?:
@JaredBusch Hopefully that 0% is more like 15-20%, otherwise lithium ion batteries get ruined quick. Being a Mac, they probably manage that and will work it so when it displays 0%, it's not detrimental to the battery yet.
Lithium batteries need treated much differently than NiCads used to. If a LiPo actually hits 0%, the internal components break down and the battery is ruined. Try to use it after that and you've got a fire starter, not a battery. My current hobby of making quadcopters made me memorize all the different safety and usage of the new batteries.
I have to trust the device manufacturers for that. For me it is just a habit. I know batteries and devices are smarter about it. But even lithium batteries need to hit < 20% for best lifespan.
Yeah, any iOS device I've had, you don't let it hit 0% (according to the device at least) regularly and the lifespan of the battery plummets. You can notice the loss of durability after just a few short charges. Doing a full discharge / recharge cycle and you eventually gain in back in most cases, but it takes months of training it to get it back.
We have so many devices like that that get full charge and discharge daily and we have original iPads and such that last for like five years or longer with battery life the same as when they were new.
