reloading PB 1400 batteries...
rob shaw
Hi,
Prompted partly by a post by Hagen Lang, I thought I'd try and reload the
cells in my 1400 powerbook battery pack. I've now done this twice, once
with an original Apple battery, and once with a BTI battery. This
exercise was not "cost effective", but it was fun.
The hardest part was opening up the batteries. Using an exacto knife,
I worked along the glue line, and separated the upper cover from the
lower battery case. I only cut my hand a little bit. Both batteries
contained basically the same components, though laid out a bit differently.
In opening the BTI battery I did cut a few internal wires, it's probably
a good idea to make sure the battery is fully discharged.
Inside you will find eight 1.2 volt nickel-metal-hydride 4/3A size
batteries connected in series. On the web I was able to find Sanyo size
4/3A cells, with solder tabs, 4000 mAH capacity, HR-4/3AU, at $5 each,
and 4500 mAH capacity, HR-4/3FAUX, at $6 each, plus shipping, from
batterystation.com. I ordered eight of each type, they arrived promptly. Be
sure to specify solder tabs, the original batteries are assembled with spot
welds, soldering directly to batteries is difficult and not recommended.
Additional components inside the battery pack were as follows:
1) A thermal cutout component, in series midway in the battery pack.
In the BTI battery this item was marked 93 degrees Celsius, and coded
D090, I found it listed at elmwoodsensors.com.
2) Also in series, a "klixon" device, which is sensitive to both ambient
temperature and current, and will temporarily interrupt the circuit
with given combinations. This provides both battery pack overcharge
and short-circuit protection. Specifications are available at
www.ti.com/snc/docs/prot/6mm.htm. Once I happened to be watching
the current supplied to the powerbook that was charging a brand new
battery. There was a five second burst of current, followed by maybe
a minute of no current, then another five second burst, etc. At the time
I was mystified, but now it is clear, the high current into an empty
battery was repeatedly triggering the klixon. This explains why they
tell you to charge a new battery for ten hours. For the record, the
Apple battery used klixon 4mm75x-09, and the BTI, klixon 6mm06aa-03.
3) A thermistor, in the BTI battery it is stuck to the internal cells with
a dab of thermal grease, and marked 303AA.
4) The battery id chip, I guess. By the way, I've had two BTI batteries,
and they both had the same id number, as reported by Jeremy's
"MyBattery" utility (http://members.aol.com/jbkezer/index.html).
Apparently BTI didn't bother to give their batteries unique id's.
The 1400 battery has five terminals, if you orient the battery so that
the terminals are at the upper left, and number them from left to right,
terminals 1 and 5 are the battery's positive and negative, terminals
2 and 3 go to the thermistor, and terminals 3 and 4 go to the id circuitry.
Reloading the original Apple battery was straightforward, I dissected
out the cellophane and other attachments of the old cells, and soldered
in the new cells, keeping the positions of the other components. I did
make a clumsy solder joint, which blew the central thermal fuse, which
didn't recover, so I had to wire around it.
Reloading the BTI battery was a little trickier, as I was using the higher
capacity 4500 mAH cells. A weak point of the 1400 is limited battery
life, so I thought I'd try these, however they are an extra one millimeter
fatter in diameter. This makes for a tight fit in the battery case, I had to
move the id chip from the back of the case into a depression in the bottom
half, and use several C clamps in glueing the case back together. Even so,
the reloaded battery is a snugger fit into the 1400. But it works, finally
I have well over two hours of battery life, at full power.
So you can reload a 1400 battery for about half-price, though if you pay
yourself a reasonable hourly wage, the effort may not be sensible.
However a full reality-based accounting doesn't include the education, and
the not-inconsiderable satisfaction of, in a small way, beating the system.
Good luck!
Rob Shaw
Gareth John
>
[fascinating and helpful procedure snipped]
>
> Rob Shaw
Bravo, Rob! Definitely saved into my 'got-to-have' folder.
Now I've got to find a British source for those Sanyos.
Thanks,
Gareth John.
A.Lee
> rob shaw wrote:
> >
> [fascinating and helpful procedure snipped]
> >
> > Rob Shaw
>
> Bravo, Rob! Definitely saved into my 'got-to-have' folder.
> Now I've got to find a British source for those Sanyos.
If you do find one would you post it here please?
Alan.
Eric Bear Albrecht
> The hardest part was opening up the batteries. Using an exacto knife,
What kind of blade did you use? #11 is pretty popular but I wonder if a
nice fresh #16 would do a good job. The tip is a lot stronger.
--
Eric Bear Albrecht - - Taos, New Mexico USA
ebear a t n e w m e x dotcom
Asking for email replies is poor netiquette
- unless you can show us a note from your mother.
bbj
that..
Jon
James R.C. Garry
bb...@altavista.com (bbj) wrote:
>> Now I've got to find a British source for those Sanyos.
Ye seek in vain, for I have travelled in uncommon realms of mailorder
battery suppliers, the kingdoms of RS and Farnell were far behind, and
yea, I said "soddit" and bought my cells from the US.
http://www.advanced-battery.com/nimh.html
My Duo is sittting here as I type, perkily giving 4 hours plus of good
use.
-James Garry
(http://www.fastlight.demon.co.uk/jg/duobatt.html)
Gareth John
Thanks James, for saving me a heap of effort!!
Gareth.
rik...@earthlink.net
I wish, though, that the cells were rechargable lithiums rather than
NiMH. The former are the true Everready bunnies: high density and very
long life. They don't discharge much when unused. NiMH's , like the
Apple cells in the 1400, run down while unused and lose maximum
capacity over time. Some of my old packs are worth 5 to 10 minutes.
The lithiums are of a different voltage and must be charged differently.
Any ideas on how to substitute lithiums in the 1400 pack?
Again, thanks for a great posting.
Rick
In article <rob-080401...@rshaw.sc.scruznet.com>, rob shaw
<r...@scruznet.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Prompted partly by a post by Hagen Lang, I thought I'd try and reload the
> cells in my 1400 powerbook battery pack. I've now done this twice, once
> with an original Apple battery, and once with a BTI battery. This
> exercise was not "cost effective", but it was fun.
John A. Johnson
<rik...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Good job, Rob!!!! Two hours is most impressive.
>
> I wish, though, that the cells were rechargable lithiums rather than
> NiMH. The former are the true Everready bunnies: high density and very
> long life. They don't discharge much when unused. NiMH's , like the
> Apple cells in the 1400, run down while unused and lose maximum
> capacity over time. Some of my old packs are worth 5 to 10 minutes.
>
> The lithiums are of a different voltage and must be charged differently.
>
> Any ideas on how to substitute lithiums in the 1400 pack?
>
> Again, thanks for a great posting.
>
> Rick
You cannot load Li-ion cells (or any other Li technology rechargable) into
another pack and expect it to do anything other than explode. Li
batteries require very carefully controlled charge conditions,and without
some sort of controller, you are SOL. You might want to visit
sci.chem.electrochem.battery and look around the old posts there. This
subject has come up fairly often with good answers to quite a number of
related questions.
--
Later,
John A. Johnson
joha...@indiana.edu
"The Crystal Wind is the storm, and the storm is data, and data is
life." -The Player's Litany from "The Long Run" by Daniel K. Moran
Steve Bell
----------
In article <johajohn-120...@computerlab-2.goodbody.indiana.edu>,
You are right re Li-ion batteries. After reading these posts, of interest as
I have a PB 1400cs battery that lasts only 30 minutes, I opened up a PB 3400
Li-ion battery that wouldn't accept any charge. As well as 4 batteries, it
contained a PCB running its full legnth. It was populated both sides with
SMD components and one was recogniseable as a micro controller. This was a
lot more than I expected.
Steve Bell
jcl...@mediaone.net
battery problem (PRAM??) - the desktop date changes, there are bad
modification and creation dates.
Is this fixable and if so, how?
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Bob Winingham
> The hardest part was opening up the batteries. Using an exacto knife,
> I worked along the glue line, and separated the upper cover from the
> lower battery case. I only cut my hand a little bit.
Good information, thanks.
I did the same with a Li-ion battery pack.
Try Using DRY-ICE on the glue lines.
not easy to do, but try to get a matched set of cells in any battery pack you
recondition..
Also as cell age their voltage end points change and this can cause the charging
circuits to cut off sooner and not
give the cells a full charge.
regards,
Bob
Dan Brown
--------
That's probably a PRAM battery failing.
The ONLY cure is a new PRAM battery.
There is an organization selling a collection of mac repair
instructions to show you how to take the PB1400 apart.
Go to ebay ; you will find such a CD (MacTech CD Update) almost all the
time. This CD shows in great detail take-apart diagrams.
As for parts, go the "powerbookguy.com" web site , and there will be
suggestions on who/where these PRAM's are being sold.
Good Luck!
Dan Brown
Dallas AppleCorps