Replace battery warning on 2012 Macbook Air with only 85 cycle count

[licnyguy]

Hello,

I have a Macbook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012) running OS X Yosemite and after just 85 battery cycle count I have the "replace battery" warning under the power section of System Report. And it appears to be the case because as soon as I unplug the AC Power cord the Macbook powers off immediately. I was under the assumption that I would get several hundred cycles from the battery that came with the laptop.

Also, I already tried doing an SMC reset and that didn't help at all.

Any suggestions or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much!

JK in NYC

 

[pigoo3]

I can only think of two things:

1. The battery has been seriously abused…resulting in dramatically reduced service life. One sort of abuse is letting the battery get COMPLETELY drained multiple times (I mean like almost 0% life left in it). This can happen if the computer is not used for a long time & not plugged in. Resulting in a seriously drained battery. Another form of abuse is exposure to extreme temps.

2. The battery is defective. I'm guessing that this MacBook Air no longer has Applecare remaining on it. But even so…I have heard of folks getting a free replacement battery even outside of Applecare. And since this battery only has 85 cycles on it…this proves that it certainly has not been used very much.

Good luck,

- Nick

p.s. It also helps to "condition" the battery occasionally…especially with laptops that are plugged into the power for most of it's life. Usually at least once/month the laptop is purposely run on battery power to like the 50% level…just to get the electrons moving around.

 

[licnyguy]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for your feedback. The battery in my Macbook has run down to 0% a handful of times over the past 18 months that I've owned the computer but my understanding was that was actually a good thing to "condition" the battery, not abuse it.

In any event, I believe it is still under Applecare so I will reach out to the mothership to seek assistance and hopefully they will provide me with a battery replacement.

Best,

JK in NYC

 

[pigoo3]

Thanks for your feedback. The battery in my Macbook has run down to 0% a handful of times over the past 18 months that I've owned the computer but my understanding was that was actually a good thing to "condition" the battery, not abuse it.

There's a lot of bad info out there about how to treat laptop batteries. I don't think that allowing a laptop battery to drain all the way to 0% is good for the battery.

If you are interested in learning more about battery care…give this link a read (below)…and check the "Battery" link in my signature:

Apple - Batteries - Maximizing Performance

In any event, I believe it is still under Applecare so I will reach out to the mothership to seek assistance and hopefully they will provide me with a battery replacement.

It's very possible the battery is defective in some way…and not at all related to any sort of battery "abuse". I was just mentioning the "abuse info" just for completeness sake.

Please let us know how things turn out. Always great to hear how Apple handles various situations!

- Nick