{"id":349,"date":"2014-10-31T17:15:07","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T17:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/installingcats.com\/?p=349"},"modified":"2014-10-31T17:15:07","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T17:15:07","slug":"macbook-fix-fast-battery-drain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/installingcats.com\/2014\/10\/31\/macbook-fix-fast-battery-drain\/","title":{"rendered":"MacBook Fix Fast Battery Drain"},"content":{"rendered":"

To debug and fix a MacBook fast draining battery try the following solutions \/ fixes.<\/p>\n

First find out how fast your MacBook is draining its battery by using System Information (Apple logo top left corner, About This Mac, More Info, System Report, Power).<\/p>\n

Look at the Amperage (mA) value. \u00a0Unplug your MacBook if you’re running on AC power \/ plugged into the wall outlet. \u00a0This negative number shows how fast your MacBook is draining its battery. \u00a0The Amperage value can be used to estimate hours of battery life remaining on your current MacBook charge. \u00a0Divide the Charge Remaining number by Amperage and that will give you the number of hours of remaining battery time for your laptop. \u00a0The larger the Amperage value, the less battery life you’ll have. \u00a0For a 2012 Macbook Pro 15″ the Charge Remaining with a full battery is around 8000 mA (milliAmps) and my lowest Amperage doing nothing is about 690 mA. \u00a0The Amperage value can jump to 1400 (while using WordPress on Chrome) or even 1900 at times after loading an application. \u00a0(Use Command + R to refresh the System Information window to see the new Amperage value which gets updated every 15 seconds or so).<\/p>\n

On average your Amperage shouldn’t be above 1000 mA if you’re to meet the claimed battery life expectations Apple has published on their website about MacBooks. \u00a0So if you’re seeing Amperage values while on battery power not too far above and below 1000 mA, then you’re likely seeing around 8 hours battery life, which is pretty good and meets expectations. \u00a0If your Amperage value is constantly above 1000 and never gets below that value, you can try some changes and hopefully fixes.<\/p>\n

Remember: Your goal is to minimize the Amperage value. \u00a0Fixes \/ Solutions to try<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Reset PRAM<\/strong> – Shut down \/ Turn Off MacBook. Start\/Turn On MacBook. \u00a0Immediately press and hold Option + Command + P + R. \u00a0The normal start-up chime will sound. Then immediately after the screen will go black and the startup chime will sound again (perhaps louder and the screen at full brightness). \u00a0Let go of Option + Command + P + R keyboard combination. \u00a0PRAM has been reset<\/a>. \u00a0Adjust your volume and brightness to your previous desired settings.<\/li>\n
  2. Delete a plist file and restart the Dock process. \u00a0In Terminal (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal), delete the file: rm ~\/Library\/Preferences\/com.apple.desktop.plist<\/em> then kill the Dock process. killall Dock<\/em>.<\/li>\n
  3. Turn off TimeMachine (Click on arrow around clock icon in the Dock, top right corner, Open Time Machine Preferences. \u00a0Move slider to the left to Off)<\/li>\n
  4. Quit Google Drive sync application (looks like a black yield sign, click it, Quit Google Drive. \u00a0Restart Google Drive to update the version if you’re using OS X Mavericks. This may be enough as there was a confirmed bug in OS X Mavericks and Google Drive<\/a>. \u00a0If not, leave it off until you need to sync files or you are back on AC power)<\/li>\n
  5. Use Safari browser as opposed to Chrome or Firefox. \u00a0I found that Safari is less power hungry than Chrome. \u00a0But that may be due to the extensions I have running in Chrome. \u00a0Using Private Browsing on Chrome may also help (Command + Shift + N).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    After doing each of these changes, spend some time watching your System Information application, paying attention to the Amperage number. \u00a0Keep refreshing every 15-30 seconds to check the change to how much battery you are currently draining.<\/p>\n

    Hopefully one of these changes will solve your fast draining battery on your MacBook!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    To debug and fix a MacBook fast draining battery try the following solutions \/ fixes. First find out how fast your MacBook is draining its battery by using System Information (Apple logo top left corner, About This Mac, More Info, System Report, Power). Look at the Amperage (mA) value. \u00a0Unplug your MacBook if you’re running […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/installingcats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/installingcats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/installingcats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/installingcats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/installingcats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/installingcats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/installingcats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/installingcats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/installingcats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}