5 minute battery life

Question

I have a Late 2011 Mac Book Pro 15" and recently the battery has very quickly gone from several hours of battery life to all of a sudden only apparently having 5-10 minutes

and by quickly I mean over the course of just a few weeks..

What i want to know is is this the End of life for my battery or is it malfunctioning and need a battery reset

If this a battery reset issue how do I do this on a mac I used to do this in the BIOS when I owned a PC Laptop but no idea how to do this with a Mac Book since there isn't one

Is this something that can be done through AHT?

  Battery Information:

  Model Information:
  Serial Number:    D86130308TRDGDLAW
  Manufacturer: SMP
  Device Name:  bq20z451
  Pack Lot Code:    0
  PCB Lot Code: 0
  Firmware Version: 406
  Hardware Revision:    2
  Cell Revision:    158
  Charge Information:
  Charge Remaining (mAh):   156
  Fully Charged:    Yes
  Charging: No
  Full Charge Capacity (mAh):   156
  Health Information:
  Cycle Count:  358
  Condition:    Service Battery
  Battery Installed:    Yes
  Amperage (mA):    0
  Voltage (mV): 11896

System Power Settings:

  AC Power:
  System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
  Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes):   10
  Display Sleep Timer (Minutes):    10
  Wake on AC Change:    No
  Wake on Clamshell Open:   Yes
  Wake on LAN:  Yes
  Current Power Source: Yes
  Display Sleep Uses Dim:   Yes
  GPUSwitch:    2
  PrioritizeNetworkReachabilityOverSleep:   0
  Standby Delay:    4200
  Standby Enabled:  0
  Battery Power:
  System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
  Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes):   10
  Display Sleep Timer (Minutes):    2
  Wake on AC Change:    No
  Wake on Clamshell Open:   Yes
  Display Sleep Uses Dim:   Yes
  GPUSwitch:    2
  Reduce Brightness:    Yes
  Standby Delay:    4200
  Standby Enabled:  0

Hardware Configuration:

  UPS Installed:    No

AC Charger Information:

  Connected:    Yes
  ID:   0x0100
  Wattage (W):  85
  Revision: 0x0000
  Family:   0x0085
  Serial Number:    0x0058432a
  Charging: No

Answer 1

Possibly your battery has developed a phenomenon called internal temporary short or known as Whisker.

A whisker is a deposits growth inside the batter between the positive and negative pole consisting of Lithium crystals.

Eventually this deposit shorts the poles leading to battery life time shortage and erratic behavior.

There is not much you can do about that other than getting a new battery.

Sources: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/sulfation_and_how_to_prevent_it/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121204194246.htm

https://web.ornl.gov/ccsd_registrations/battery/abstracts/abstract.pdf

In summary:

Because of those internal whiskers your battery does not hold the charge any longer.

Answer 2

While I can't explain the rapid loss in battery life, the best way to determine the battery health would be through the system profiler. There are instructions on how to check the battery cycle count on a Mac here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1519

Along with benchmarks for healthy cycle counts.

For what it's worth, my 15" MacBook Pro needed a replacement battery a few months ago. Although the decline in battery life was a little bit more prolonged.

Answer 3

Option + Click on the battery percentage in the menu bar. this will show the condition of the battery.