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I installed a new Apple battery in my MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011) myself (bought the battery new from iFixIt).

Installation worked great, extra 4 hours of battery life - fantastic.

Then I decided to get all smarty-pants and "recalibrate the battery". I let the battery run empty, and the system entered "deep sleep"/"hibernation" mode as expected.

THEN I broke it when I did an SMC reset, as found here.

Ever since the SMC reset, when my battery meter in the menu bar gets to ~9%, the system completely shuts off without warning. No hibernation, nothing - complete power off.

Can anyone tell me how to get the system to properly recognize that the battery is almost dead, so it enters deep-sleep as it used to?

Things I've tried: Resetting SMC again, running battery dead and charging back to full.
Battery Charge Cycle counts looks normal; here are possibly relevant specs form system profiler:

Battery Info > Charge Information:

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 5683
Health Information:
Cycle Count:    100
Condition:  Normal

System Power Settings > Battery

Hibernate Mode: 7
Reduce Brightness:  Yes
Standby Delay:  4200
Standby Enabled:    0
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  • Have you tried recalibrating (yet again)? Remember to fully charge the battery, leave it for at least 2 hours, discharge it, and leave it in sleep/power down for at least 5 hours. Then recharge.
    – Arc676
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 7:21
  • I believe so - both times (before & after SMC reset) I drained the battery I left it overnight, and then charged it by leaving it plugged in all day. I can try again though...
    – Demis
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 17:03
  • Honestly I would write iFixit customer service, explain the issue and see if they can either replace it or offer a definitive fix.
    – Steve Chambers
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 17:11
  • Arc, where did you get these 2hr & 5hr times from? I am doing that procedure right now, just curious about where you found that. Thanks.
    – Demis
    Commented Nov 15, 2015 at 2:34
  • Tried it yesterday, computer still dies (hard-power off) @ 7%. It might be my imagination but the % at which it dies might be getting lower... Is there a way to set the percentage at which it hibernates (ie. set it to hibernate at 10%)?
    – Demis
    Commented Nov 16, 2015 at 17:50

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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If a new battery doesn’t work with your hardware - I would return it to the vendor or seek service. Some aftermarket batteries may not work properly and the failure you describe isn’t likely to be something you (or any technician) messed up with cabling or connectors not seated.

When you reset the SMC it perhaps did a full read of the battery details and something isn’t correct for it’s code to predict when to send the low voltage / low charge warnings and begin an orderly shutdown.

This failure mode is different than the shutting off too high a remaining change - but it could be the same fix - get another battery.

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    This was indeed correct, I replaced the battery (years ago) with an after-market (ie. used) Apple-branded one and things got a lot better.
    – Demis
    Commented Sep 23, 2018 at 5:31

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