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I have a 2012 13" Macbook Air running 10.9.5. I seem to be losing battery life as of late. This, itself, isn't a huge deal, as I usually use the laptop near an outlet, but as of late the more annoying problem is that it doesn't know when it's about to be fully drained. Often it just goes into instant sleep around 20%. I go find the power cable, plug it in and then it shows it was actually at 0%. It's as if it just can't "see it coming" anymore.

Today, the oddest thing happened. I saw it jump from 25% directly to 2%. This triggered me to go find the power cable and I was able to plug it in at 0% before it went to sleep. As soon as I plugged in the cable, it jumped to 36%.

What is this a sign of? It seems more software related than hardware, but I really don't know.

Is this a hardware issue worthy of a trip into the Apple Store? Or is this something I can some how 'reset' myself?

The most annoying part is the battery just not knowing when it's about to force my machine to sleep. If I can fix that, even with shorter battery life, I'd be thrilled.

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1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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I have a 2012 MBA as well.

The battery is still doing it, at 510 cycles now.

In your case try the SMC reset to fix that problem.

If you hold the "alt" key then click on the battery, it will give you some information including what is consuming it.

If you open the Activity Monitor in your Utility folder, then click on the Energy tab, there will be a display of Battery performance for the last 12 hours:

battery

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  • Oh wow, I never alt-clicked the battery before. In doing so, I get the service battery warning. Ugh. I guess I'm heading into the apple store. Do they replace Air batteries or am I looking at a new machine?
    – DA.
    Commented Jan 10, 2015 at 6:50
  • Ah...I'm not alone: zdnet.com/article/… Looks like this is an issue with Mavericks. Crap.
    – DA.
    Commented Jan 10, 2015 at 6:55
  • I have the Service Battery for months now, just ignore it. When it displays Replace soon or Replace now, then do it.
    – Ruskes
    Commented Jan 10, 2015 at 7:25
  • I did the SMC reset. Still have 'service battery' but we'll see if at least can warn me now when it's about to die.
    – DA.
    Commented Jan 10, 2015 at 7:30

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