[rescue] Casting around for Powerbook goodies

[Mike Hebel]

SH> All work OK, but in the case of both Powerbooks, the batteries are
SH> toast. If any of you have semi-functional batteries for one of these or 

The 500 series batteries are expensive!  The best cost I could find was $50
on E-Bay for an "as-is" model.  You might have to refurb them yourself
to get the best deal.  I don't have the link handy - I honestly lost
it in all my list of bookmarks - but you can fairly easily replace the
cels in the "smart" batteries on the 520 if you're careful.  I just
did this and got a 1 hour battery which is about the best you can do
with the 500 series.  I personally found a 9.6V, yes that's the right
size, RC car pack which contained 8 - 1.2V NIMH cels which fit quite
nicely into the original battery shell.

I'll post the actual refurb link as soon as I can find it but here are
a couple of pointers besides pointing you to the Powerbooks list at
http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml :

1) The intelligent EEPROM in the "smart" batteries is connected to the
batteries via a laminated bus.  If you've ever opened a cel-phone
battery or one of the sub-notebooks you'll know what I'm talking
about.  Be careful cutting/prying the battery case apart as it's easy
to damage that bus.  When putting the replacement batteries in note
that the first two are reversed in direction due to the sensor
(thermal?) soldered in series into the battery pack.  You'll have to
make sure you swap the first two batteries before soldering in the
sensor between batteries two and three.  If you don't flip the first
two then you'll have to run a wire to ground from the other physical
end of the battery because that's where the bus solder tab it.
I know this works but IIRC it will change the resistance of the battery
and decrease the maximum charge capacity. IANABE though.
(IANABE - I Am Not A Battery Expert.)

2) The original batteries in the pack were 6 - 1.5V, and 2 - 1.4V
cels.  Several references I found online via your friendly
neighborhood Google search made it very clear that using the 1.2V NIMH
cels would function properly and give about the same amount of
run-time as well as be less expensive.  You can probably find tabbed
cels of 1.5V variety online somewhere but I really haven't run across
them.  Regardless the size in question that you need is AA.

3) If you replace the cels you'll probably go from a 1700mah battery
to a 1200mah battery.  The run time tested with Battery Amnesia which
runs down the PowerBook is about 53 minutes for both types.  YMMV but
personally it's easier for me to live with a $20 battery pack from the
Rat Shack than $60 worth of cels from somewhere online.

4) Finally, (whew!), download these utilities because you'll need
them:
Battery Amnesia (www.tucows.com)
EMMpathy 2.1 or 2.11  (Google search)
BU500 Deluxe by Lind  (Google search)

Hope those at least help you with the 520!

Mike                         mailto:nimitz at owc.net

http://drone8of9.crosswinds.net/documents/Mike_Hebel_Current_3.html

http://drone8of9.crosswinds.net/documents/Mike_Hebel_Current_3.doc