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I have a macbook pro 15 inch (2017) that I connect to a 32" external monitor via usb-c. Usb-c is also 'partially' charging the mac but not enough to fully charge battery since voltage from monitor to mac is low. In turn, this causes the battery to discharge while power source is set to power adapter.

Therefore the mac battery is discharging while connected to power. In this case when the battery gets really low no 'low battery' notification is displayed since it is technically 'charging'. Is this an issue apple should fix or do they expect us to check the battery percentage every minute in this kind of scenario.

I was previously very reliant on the low battery notification so now the mac is powering off just because I am not alerted to connect the proper charger.

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  • When you have a low battery condition, macOS "tells" you to plug in a charger which you have done already and which you know is insufficient to charge your MB. The MB is working as expected.
    – Allan
    Commented Nov 7, 2018 at 15:19
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    @allan you are right but if apple adds support to charging from an external monitor don't you think they should make the experience slightly better?
    – user134132523
    Commented Nov 7, 2018 at 15:36

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Whether or not this is something Apple ought to fix is entirely a matter of opinion. You can report the case to Apple as a bug and hope that they will change the way it currently works.

In the mean time you can install a third party app to monitor your battery that can alert you when the battery charge is low. For example you can install SlimBatteryMonitor, which you can get for free here:

http://www.orange-carb.org/SBM/

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  • on the same note is it bad for the battery to have this kind of setup? where due to an external monitor on usb-c the power is constantly coming in?
    – user134132523
    Commented Nov 7, 2018 at 13:47
  • It's not something I would worry about. In general, it is not possible to over-charge the battery - so you can leave it on charger indefinitely without that causing any problems in itself. Normally you measure wear on the battery in the number of charge cycles (i.e. fully charged to fully de-charged). On the other hand, never discharging the battery at all is not ideal over long time periods either. Somewhere in the middle is the ideal - but even a non-ideal setup will generally last you several years.
    – jksoegaard
    Commented Nov 7, 2018 at 22:48

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