Apple MacBook Air A1496 Replacement Battery 7.6V 7150mAh

Apple MacBook Air 13" A1466 2013 — 7.6V Li-Polymer Replacement Battery (A1496)

This is a 7.6V, 7150mAh (54.34Wh) lithium-polymer battery for the Apple MacBook Air 13" A1466, covering the Mid-2013 Core i5 1.3 and Core i7 1.7 variants including MD760LL/A. It replaces OEM part numbers A1496, 020-8142-A, and 661-7474. If your original cell holds no charge or macOS reports poor battery health, this is a direct cell swap.

• A1466 Mid-2013 model coverage: The Core i5 1.3 and Core i7 1.7 versions of the 2013 A1466 share the same battery connector, voltage rail, and BMS handshake protocol — all are served by the A1496 cell without any electrical modification.
• Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this cell on an A1466 logic board under mixed CPU and display load. The BMS held the charge curve cleanly, hit the 8.7V charge termination point correctly, and did not trigger premature cutoff at the low-end voltage floor.
• Post-install calibration on macOS: After fitting this cell, run the MacBook down to automatic hibernate cutoff, then charge uninterrupted to 100% without interruption. This resets the SMC battery learn cycle and clears the inaccurate health warning that macOS flags after every cell swap.

Why macOS reports "Service Battery" or poor health after fitting a new A1496

The System Management Controller on the A1466 retains cycle count and health data from the old cell in EEPROM. When a new cell is installed, that stored data no longer matches the actual charge characteristics of the new cell, so macOS flags a health warning immediately. This is an SMC data mismatch, not a fault with the replacement battery. Running one full discharge-to-hibernate followed by a full uninterrupted charge allows the fuel gauge IC to recalibrate against the new cell's actual capacity. After one to three calibration cycles, the health indicator in System Information will update correctly.

MacBook Air shutting down at 20–30% charge shown on the menu bar

This is a voltage cliff symptom — the cell voltage drops sharply under combined CPU and display load before the fuel gauge reads zero, triggering an emergency shutdown. The root cause is usually a fuel gauge IC that was calibrated against the old cell's discharge curve and has not yet learned the new cell's profile. It is not a sign of a faulty replacement cell. Force a full discharge to hibernate cutoff, then charge to 100% without interruption; repeat twice and the shutdowns will stop once the gauge IC locks onto the correct voltage-to-capacity mapping for the new cell at its 3.0V per cell floor.