How to avoid a MacBook battery disaster
As any insurance company TV ad will tell you, accidents happen. When it comes to laptop batteries, however, some accidents can be worse than others, especially when consumers are caught completely by surprise, from a device they would never expect it to turn into an explosive fire-hazard.
In mid September, Florida resident Gil Sanderford had the shock of his life when his Apple MacBook burst into flames and nearly burnt his home to the ground, after having the battery replaced with an aftermarket unit from a Battery Plus location in Tampa FL.
Fortunately, Sanderford was quick enough to be able to take the laptop outside on the curb, where the blazes could do less harm, and at the cost of a few burnt fingertips, and damaged furniture. If Sanderford hadn’t been as quick to act as he was, the defective aftermarket battery would have been free to carry through with the destruction of Sanderford’s property, and most likely, harm to his loved ones who were inside the house, and unaware of what was happening.
To give you a sense of how powerful and destructing a laptop battery can be, Lithium-Ion batteries commonly found in MacBooks and Windows laptops are created using the same technology as those powering electric and hybrid motor vehicles, like the Tesla Roadster, or the Chevy Volt. These batteries, under unstable conditions, can be extremely dangerous and reach temperature peaks where they can produce fires, or even explode.
Fortunately, the operating conditions of laptop batteries, are monitored in various ways, via software, and many modern laptops provide hardware-based redundancies that prevent a number of hazardous situations to occur, except when the battery itself is catastrophically defective.
How to care for your MacBook’s battery
The great thing about a MacBook, is that everything is designed to work together at optimal levels, because every component is designed according to Apple’s own, very strict specifications.
MacBook batteries are designed to run at top efficiency, for a set number of cycles that can be monitored easily by clicking on About This Mac > System Report > Power > Health Information. On this screen, you’ll find how many cycles are left before the battery needs to be replaced.
This is important as any battery will lose its ability to retain a charge overtime until it’s completely dead.
A MacBook’s battery is able to go through up to 30 days of standby time, however if you plan to not use your MacBook for an extended period of time, for instance when leaving on vacation where an iPad Pro is a more lightweight and portable option, your MacBook should be charged up to 50%, and then completely powered down and disconnected from any outlet. This will ensure that the MAcBook does not enter a “deep discharge” state from which it may not wake up without some assistance.
Advanced diagnostics
If something seems odd about the way your MacBook’s battery charges, or doesn’t charge, there is at least one more way to identify potential issues before taking the MacBook to get serviced. Apple Diagnostics is a tool introduced in 2013, which runs as a standalone application on startup, outside of Mac OS X. The tool can be activated by powering down the MacBook, and boot it up while pressing the D key, which will trigger Apple Diagnostics. This will generate a report showing possible issues that affect the correct functioning of your MacBook’s battery.
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