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Hi! A few days ago the MagSafe connector stoped turning its LED on, and with that, it stopped charging the battery. The computer can still be used with the adapter plugged-in (from the menu-bar: “Battery not charging”, “Power source: Power Adapter”) and it works as usual, it’s just the battery that doesn’t charge. Once in a while the connectors LED may turn non, charge for a bit, and then back off, following what seems a random pattern. If its fully charged, it may be green for a while, and otherwise it turns orange. I’ve already cleaned the Magsafe connector both on the adapter and on the side of the computer (more than once, following Apples instructions) and reset the SMC more than once too. The adapter has been the same since I bought the machine and the battery too (reaching about 2000 cycles right now, way past the maximum recommended). I was wondering if there was anything else I could try before buying a new adapter and/or battery. There aren’t any Apple Stores in my country, so checking with them is not an option, but if I find someone with a MacBook with the same adapter (85w) will try to see if it works with mine to start discarding other things as the problem. Huge thanks in advance! Agustin.
Well you have a few issues here the first is the battery! You’ve gotten your moneys worth its time to replace it. Your battery has 1931 cycles! The battery has long since lost its ability to hold a charge the limit is around 1000 cycles, you’ve pushed is to almost twice the batteries rating. Review these: Determine battery cycle count for Mac notebooksCharging Lithium-ion Batteries Basically, I can tell you’re a deep cycler! Someone who unplugs letting the battery to fully discharge before recharging. Think how one eats food sitting down to a full table gorging out to your ready to burst! Now, you don’t eat for a week! Not very healthy is it? But if you eat a bunch of smaller meals your gut won’t pain you from overeating and you’ll be healthier! LiOn batteries are just the same. Mostly you want small charges not deep charges. The goal is to not burn the deep cycles as each time you do you weaken the battery. Yes, it can be tough! If you are constantly on the run or working on projects that burn the battery down. OK, lets move on … Your next issue is the MagSafe connector on the system, the charger and its MagSafe connector and cord. Do make sure the cord is not damaged or knotted up. Don’t use the foldouts to wrap your cord! Where I was working we had over 200 MacBook Pro’s in the field. We glued down all of the foldouts as they would damage the cable so our users wouldn’t use them. Instead we put on velcro cable ties on and taught our users how a sailer coils a rope! Take the time to review this Apple T/N Apple Portables: Troubleshooting MagSafe adapters. Make sure you are using a Real MagSafe charger and the MagSafe connectors on the cord and system are clean and not damaged. Replace the MagSafe charger if needed and here is the system part MacBook Pro Unibody 13" and 15" MagSafe DC-In Board and the guide to put it in MacBook Pro 15" Unibody Early 2011 MagSafe DC-In Board Replacement
The charging circuit (also known as one-wire circuit) on a MacBook is designed to charge up the macbook then stop charging once it hits or gets close to 100% battery charge. Once the magsafe light turns green it’ll draw power from charger and let the battery drain a bit to around 95% then charge again with orange magsafe light indicator. This is the case on a 85W charger is what the MacBook comes with. If a 60W charger is used you may see that it’ll decide to go green occasionally because the MacBook requests more power than what the charger can supply. More info about magsafe chargers here: https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201700…