Power supply question

[steve30]

Is it OK to power a G3 Lombard from a PowerBook 1400's power supply?

I had two 1400 style PSUs which unfortunately broke so I bought a new one a couple of years ago. I started using that with a Lombard which I obtained last year and about 6 months ago, it also broke. So now I have no power supplies and no way of powering either the 1400 or the Lombard.

Did I ought to get separate power supplies for both computers?

[J English Smith]

I use mine interchangeably. I think there is a little difference in the wattage. But the UFO type and the 1400 type will work with both computers.

I think some of the new, flat style Apple power supplies are better than either of the early ones. I guess the China UFOs can cause shorts, although I am still using mine sometimes and thus far have not had a problem.

[Unknown_K]

It depends on the AMP rating, the power supply and the laptops should both have amp ratings so check them out. The UFO models had issues with shorting as was mentioned. I have one good UFO and one regular brick type Apple PS for my Wallstreets.

[Scott Baret]

The problem with the UFO is indeed shorting. The one that came with my clamshell started shorting around the connector. After a while, it no longer would work without jiggling it a bit, and eventually it died altogether. I'm using a third party one right now and have been for five years but am looking for a replacement Apple one simply because the third party device doesn't appear to charge the battery--I used to always blame this on the batteries being without any charge for two weeks, but now I'm thinking it's simply the adapter not being a charger--a similar thing happened to my cousin, whose iBook G4 would no longer charge once she got a third party adapter but suddenly started charging again when she got an Apple.

I think I'll be looking for a non-UFO and would advise anyone else to do the same.

[Strimkind]

I don't the UFO style adapters too bad. The 2 that I have been using for a few years now seem perfectly fine to me.

Also, I use them in any of my laptops with that socket like my Duo's, 3400c, 1400c, wallstreets when I had them, lombard, clamshell when I had one, and my Pismo.

I did not even think to check the voltages but I did not think it would be a big deal...I could be wrong though.


To answer the original question...I think it should be OK to boot the G3 off the 1400c adapter. They all have the same Wattage

[PowerPup]

Oh yeah, they're compatible. (Or at least compatible enough.) I've been using a Duo (think I got from a Duo 280) AC adapter with a Lombard G3 for years. Haven't had a single problem.

Though I would like to get the another AC adapter for it. The AC adapter I have was spliced back together to repair a cord issue. So it's cord is really short. (Like 4 inches.)

[steve30]

Just checked on the bottom of both PowerBooks. They do indeed have the same maximum current rating.

Can anyone recommend a good quality third party power supply? There don't seem to be any official Apple ones on ebay at the moment.

[steve30]

I bought a cheap thrid party PSU from ebay. It works, but the plug needs wiggling about a bit to get the computer to notice it.

Then, I plugged in the Apple PSU, which I thought ha broken, and it turns out that it actually works fine. So I don't know what happeed there.

I'm just glad I have my 1400 back .