PB 540c — advice please

[ArmorAlley]

Hi all,

 I've come across a PB 540c going for the equivalent of USD60 (+ 10 for shipping). It has two dead batteries and no power-supply.

It is a nice machine and the price is not at all bad.

The seller has posted pictures of it working by means of a universal power supply.

It seems that one cannot get batteries rebuilt for the 500-series PB.

I have a few questions:

 1. Will any PB 500-series power supply work or do I need one specific for the PB 540c?

 2. How often do power supplies turn up on eBay etc?

 3. Are there known problems with these power-supplies and can they switch voltage (110V - 240V)?

 4. If anyone has one that they are willing to part with, would you PM me please?

Thanks very much

aa

 

[EvilCapitalist]

Back when I had a 540c and a 520 (greyscale) I only had one charger between the two of them and it worked fine for each. 

If I'm not mistaken, the PB5xx series all use the same charger since they all have the same motherboard.  I think the only difference between them (520/520c/540/540c) was the CPU card that was installed and whether the screen was greyscale, passive matrix color, or active matrix color.  I've seen a handful of 5xx chargers pop up now and then, though it seems like they sell pretty quick.  I believe they are auto switching on the voltage side and as far as problems go I seem to recall someone saying they had to recap theirs though I don't know if that's as widespread as say the need to recap LC power supplies or SE/30 motherboards.

EDIT: As it turns out there are a few chargers on eBay right now, three of which say they'll ship worldwide.  They're all around $30 before shipping.

This one has a nice shot of the regulatory label on the back that would confirm that they do auto switch voltage

https://www.ebay.com/itm/112913067687

And here are the other two:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/222859394909

https://www.ebay.com/itm/282911277768

Also found the thread about recapping the charger.  Again, not sure whether this is necessary for all of them or not since I don't own the 540c or 520 anymore.

 

[ArmorAlley]

Well done sir!

I can now tell the seller that I'll take it.

Thanks very much for the links.

aa

 

[techknight]

Careful when shipping the AC adapter especially, they are as brittle as anything else. 

 

[Charadis]

Nice find (and price). Looks like you've already got answers to your questions. I've also switched between using the power adapter that came with my 550c with a 520 I bought recently. It also looks like it can handle both 100 - 120V and 200 - 240V, so you should be fine. 

 

[ArmorAlley]

Careful when shipping the AC adapter especially, they are as brittle as anything else. 

Thanks for the warning. This is good to know. I'll ask the seller to pack it well.

 

[MikeatOSX]

3. Are there known problems with these power-supplies and can they switch voltage (110V - 240V)?

The power supply of the PB 500 series have two +16V DC pinouts: one is for loading the main battery and one is for powering up the PowerBook.

I have one, which doesn't load the battery, because one side only delivers 0 volts. 

 

[ArmorAlley]

Thanks to everyone who posted with help. The PB 540c arrived last Friday and the power supply from the States yesterday. I plugged her in and she runs nicely.

I guess that the SCSI2SD PB edition is next.

To anybody in the States who'd like one, I have the dark grey power cable to give away for the price of postage. We have different sockets over here.

 

[Iesca]

Hi ArmorAlley,

I'll take that power cable off your hands if you still have it.

 

[ArmorAlley]

Hi Iesca, 

the power cable is yours. Send me a PM and we can sort out details.

ta,

aa