How to Replace the Battery on the 2012 Retina MacBook Pro A1398 full tutorial

[@hughnicklin1563]

Excellent video thank you. Taking it slowly really is the answer. A day of research followed by a day removing the obstinate 12 year old glue and a day of installing the new battery and calibration. That seems to have worked well.

[@francisco.amorim]

Great tutorial. I've followed advice from the comments which warns about isopropyl alcohol leaking to the screen, so I packed it with plastic film. In the end of process, there was isopropyl alcohol leaking from the keyboard, so protecting the screen is mandatory. I ended up replacing the speakers from another tutorial, now my rMBP feels brand new. Thank you!

[@rosmeartoo]

Thanks for this very clear video, I'm in the process of cleaning the old glue. Two observations: 1) I and my wife between us have taken more than 2 hours to clear the glue from the outer two bays, we still have to tackle the loose central plate !! 2) I now understand why the Apple charge is so high, imagine a qualified technician spending 2 hours + to clear off glue. It is about time that Apple reverted to using screws and straps instead of glue/sticky tape. There is no reason why this battery needs to be glued in place. THe chassis could have ridges to give full lateral location and the vertical security could be by a moulded plastic cover secured by the existing battery screws and the 2 speaker housing screws. This use of glue is why I moved away from an iMac (when my 2008/ failed) to a Hackintosh on a fully customisable PC as all post 2013 iMacs are assembled with double-sided tape for which Apple ask £25.00 for a replacement pack and official repairers have told me that only the Apple tape works !!

[@richardsth1]

Excellent video. I’ve just done mine this evening and it took me approximately an hour. You should add that the new battery needs to be calibrated after it’s been installed though. Also, once the case is open, you should take the opportunity to blow out the dust from the fans and grills. You’d be surprised at how much fluff accumulates in a 2012 laptop.

[@contractorwolf]

how do you "calibrate the battery"?

[@JamieTheEnby]

@@contractorwolf charge it fully then let it drain fully.

[@tymcat]

@@contractorwolf with my battery came an instruction: BEFORE glueing it in, connect it, turn around the MBP, holding everything in place, start it and run it for 5 minutes on battery. If it doesn't start, connect the charger cable and run then on battery. Check the charging level, it should be around 50%. If the new battery is damaged, at least you didn't glue it in 😉 and can return it. Then charge for 5 minutes. The process moves the ions in the battery first time after storage. The batteries are charged to about 50% before storage. If you have a battery app like accubattery, the charging cycle counter should show 0 - zero. You can finish the repair and then run the Mac on battery until it turns off. Charge then to 100%. Your officially first charge, life starts over 🙂 My second battery lasted 3 years, running the Mac every day.

[@MusicPhotographer]

Definitely worth mentioning to put a sheet of foil between the keyboard and the screen to stop excess IPA from leaking through and damaging the screens anti reflective coating.

[@ar_xiv]

unless youve meticulously removed the coating because it has gone bad looking absolutely horrible. probably still a good idea though

[@mark88keys]

Woud have been good to mention that in the video. I installed the new battery and had to remove it to put in that plate as I didn't notice it was stuck to the old battery. What a hassle....

[@mijawy]

Worked for me- I had massively swollen batteries. I think make sure you tilt the mac so that excess IPA goes towards the battery side and away from the boards. Just go slow and you'll be fine! Bonus: this fixed my touch pad too (couldn't click due to the older swollen batteries...)

[@joseerazevedo]

Where does that brown card (?) peice over the trackpad back (at 6:17) came from?

[@FarSideOfMoon]

Great video. All advice should be followed. I use isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol (about 1 ounce) to soften the adhesive. I drizzled it over the top of the battery and then used an old, flimsy credit card to push the alcohol into the gaps. My new battery was slightly shorter (front to back) so I was able to line up the two screw holes first and then let the battery flop into place. Once the bottom plate was on I flipped the laptop over and wiped away any alcohol that had seeped through the trackpad. Overall took about an hour including cleanup. Charged overnight and now working perfectly.

[@Panter73]

Why at minnute 6:17 a black pad appears in the center of the battery space?

[@tymcat]

1:06 right where you are pointing at, 1cm higher, there is a connector with a 6-wire cable running across the left screw (1). It doesn't seem to exist in your case... 🧐 Remove before unscrewing. It is tricky because the plug is encased in a thin plastic wall. A spudger is too wide to get under the cables, so, gently pulling it in all directions helps and it popps off.

[@vannonchiang666]

Can I use rubbing alcohol instead of the IPA?

[@sircasino614]

I'm so thankful for this video and the helpful comments. I'll be repairing mine soon instead of spending so much more at a repair store.

[@lordlucan529]

You are a star! Just purchased a battery, opened the case and looked at the 50 steps iFixIt would have me do to completely remove the motherboard and all modules... but one look and I thought all that seemed unnecessary. One google search later and you've confirmed my thoughts. Cheers!

[@michaelbrady2339]

Hi At 6:18, there is a new cover over the touch pad. Is that from the old battery?

[@Panter73]

I saw that and asked the same

[@michaelbrady2339]

@@Panter73 I yanked it off the old battery, bent it, banged it back in to shape and reused it. Works good enough.

[@GonzaloCaoCabezadeVaca]

Thank you, just used your method instead of the full disassembly proposed by other people.

[@astridk14]

How can I get my computer to read the battery percentage? I cannot figure out how to change it in settings. I have no idea if the battery is charged or not.

[@Manocheher.A]

Kelly, if your using macbook, then follow this. On top left corner of menu bar , click on apple logo and choose System Preferences. Locate Energy Saver (it has a yellow bulb sign) and click on it. At the bottom left corner, above the lock sign, tick mark Show battery status in menu bar.

[@tinacalle3599]

Minute 5:52 - cleaning the residue. Make sure you emphasize to put the pressure plate back over the trackpad. I missed that step and had to redo it. You show it there at minute 6:20 but you never say to make sure it's there. I missed that once I shut down the laptop to do the process. Oops ! LOL. Easy fix.

[@ADrowning]

Why does ifixit have you remove so many components not even near the battery??

[@dirtyhype]

Great video doing mine tomorrow Thanks buddy

[@GSHElectrical]

Great video 👍

[@appletopic]

HELP this won't make the trackpad stop working right? I'm attempting this in a mid 2012 MacBook pro 15 inch a1398....

[@Jedum]

Nice! How many hours does it run for before needing a charge?

[@karljay7473]

I would have left the plastic on the back side, at least on most of that glue. There is no reason for that much glue, it's just Apple being Apple. I wonder if they make a larger battery for those models. I got a 33% larger battery for my iPhone 6S and there should be one made for this. I just watched another video that removed EVERYTHING before they got to the battery removal... Glad I watched this one :D

[@richardsth1]

Yeah, I saw that one also and couldn’t figure out why they did it.

[@maccentric]

@@richardsth1 Because you can damage things if the solvent gets on them.

[@larine4459]

So the battery is slowly swells up over time, that extra half a millimeter of the plastic will actually make a big difference eventually

[@eccoulet]

Move your camera to the front i can only see your hands.

[@mitridig]

Hi, was it an original apple battery or a replacement one? If it was an original one, where did u get one?

[@dyanulytv9585]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mYDPkKl4acyJoK8

[@brucestrauss]

PC all the way. This is nuts.

[@altafpatel1739]

what do you mean by game over when referring to damaging the battery. Will that fry the motherboard or something else?

[@aldenkaiser248]

Puncturing a lithium cell can start a fire or cause an explosion, and then you have battery acid poppin off

[@larine4459]

You die in the game and in real life, also a random puppy somewhere explodes

[@MrCameronpalmer]

Is apple battery the best?Or is aftermarket ok ?

[@EVMYT]

Most batteries ive tried are junk if im honest. Even the seller in that video had reset the battery chip so it didnt last long. Macupgrades offers an OWC one which is good

[@MrCameronpalmer]

@@EVMYT ok i will get one and they are more capacity :)

[@EVMYT]

@@MrCameronpalmer let me know how you get on and if you are happy with the OWC one 👍

[@bobingram1890]

CAUTION: EVMYT indicates his screwdriver is TOREX (6 Teeth). It is a PENTALOBE (5 teeth). They look the same and fine if one comes with your battery but don't use your TOREX bits for this.

[@adamkobylarz1131]

That IPA stuff doesn’t mess the board up?

[@mustyshagcarpet]

you can use IPA on a cotton bud to clean motherboards! it's great stuff

[@mcslender2965]

No, isopropyl alcohol does not leave residue when evaporate, so as long as you leave it long enough it will dry quickly and does not mess with electronics. I recommend using it to clean most electronics components

[@AL_1981]

What is this coverage of your MacBook on its top?? :D

[@EVMYT]

I just used some car wrap, it's been on there years.

[@chrisc4733]

what scew driver did you use

[@EVMYT]

The screw driver came with the battery, its a Torx

[@chrisc4733]

@@EVMYT thanks

[@LongValleyPoetics]

Thank you!

[@christienavarrete5915]

I did step by step u.u and didn't work 😭

[@alanshiell4244]

Worth pointing out that you have to use the alcohol very, very sparingly and work very, very slowly. I didn't and the excess alcohol seeped under the keyboard and has damaged the logic board. One dead lap top with a new battery!

[@RCALivingStereo]

Handy video but that music was very distracting :(

[@jkyoft78]

Your hand is always in the way of the camera.

[@EVMYT]

So sorry, the battery supplied ended up being garbage anyway. I'm certain 99% of the replacement batteries on eBay are counterfeit with the BMS chips reset in China.

[@kaistockman6443]

They won’t even replace the battery on mine they said it’s too old. 😜

[@2pb]

Don't you feel even the slightest bit guilty at depriving poor apple of £130 in revenue? Think of all the poor workers at Genius bars who will be made redundant! .... JUST KiDDING 😄. Thank you for going to the effort of making this video and sharing with the KZbin community. I will be using it to replace the battery in my unit. One small bit of constructive criticism - I would suggest temporarily connecting and testing the new battery BEFORE removing its protective plastic from the adhesive pads. That way you do not have to go through the hassle of remvoing it if it does not work and furthermore you can return it in good condition. PS - If I didn't know any better I would swear that Apple deliberately made replacing the battery as user unfriendly as possible in order to maximise profits from repairs and to encourage purchase of later Macbook Pro models.

[@EVMYT]

My advice is to buy a NuPower battery. The one I fitted in that video was useless. I ended up replacing it with a NuPower battery and it's been brilliant ever since. I suspect eBay sellers are resetting the cycle count and selling poor quality batteries.

[@2pb]

@@EVMYT Thanks for the advice. Purchasing replacment batteries on Ebay/Amazon seems a bit of minefield - even the so called "Genuine, original" batteries . There is still savings to be made even with purchasing the NewerTech NuPower battery.

[@evenhermansen]

Broke my MacBook yesterday. Alcohol went through the keyboard and damaged my screen. Fuck my life 😫

[@nielsdefeyter6994]

Omy I should have read the comments before starting my replacement. Also broken screen now 😑

[@JohnFuhrmann]

Great tutorial, Terrible music.

[@robertbongard1325]

The music is very annoying.

[@mikesalz]

Jesus dude, your ridiculous music is so loud, I can't even hear what you're saying.

[@dave-3187]

why have you got that f****** music blasting