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Having scouerd the internet, I gather keeping a lithium battery at 100% charge for prolonged periods is a bad idea. While there seems to be a workaround for magsafe macs (How do I keep a MacBook battery charged to only 70%?), there doesn't seem to be a straightforward approach for the usb c version. When plugged into a 15 watt usb c phone charger, the mac indicates power source - AC, battery not charging. Is powering this way a good idea? Could it limit battery cycles and potentially prolong it's life?

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  • that depends on how many volts the mac needs to charge/run. connect a power meter to the phone charger and see if any power is flowing into the macbook.
    – Jasen
    Dec 29, 2019 at 22:33
  • You're hoping that by using a low amperage charger your mac will not try to charge when it's full?
    – Ram
    Dec 30, 2019 at 1:13
  • @Jasen As per my usual usage, the power consumption varies between 6 - 12 watts. With an 18 watt pixel charger, coconut battery app shows the mac taking in about 11 watts.
    – Kanav
    Dec 30, 2019 at 5:07
  • @Ram Overcharging is not the concern here, modern machines are quite adept at handling that. The goal here is to run the mac off AC, without charging or discharging the battery.
    – Kanav
    Dec 30, 2019 at 5:12
  • If you plug in an underpowered charger, something else may happen: The PC will draw power from the battery to cover for load spikes the charger cannot handle. These spikes are usually so short, you wouldn’t be able to see them using regular monitoring methods.
    – Daniel B
    Dec 31, 2019 at 13:04

1 Answer 1

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Your mac should correctly manage the power coming in. Using a low amperage charger vs a high amperage one should not affect your macs power switching logic.

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  • I'm sure it will. But could it be possible to stop the battery form charging, while still running on AC, using a low amp charger..
    – Kanav
    Dec 31, 2019 at 11:40
  • To rephrase, if your battery is at 100% your mac will not try to charge it.
    – Ram
    Dec 31, 2019 at 15:51
  • I agree. But what I'm trying to do is not get to a 100 percent at all. I want to get to, say, 70% charge, and then stay there. Without charging, or discharging any further. Drawing power from an (lower amp) adapter, so it gives enough power for the mac to operate, without charging the battery any further.
    – Kanav
    Dec 31, 2019 at 18:24
  • Good luck to you
    – Ram
    Dec 31, 2019 at 20:08
  • Thank you, good sir!
    – Kanav
    Dec 31, 2019 at 23:08

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