• Updated 2023-07-12: Hello, Guest! Welcome back, and be sure to check out this follow-up post about our outage a week or so ago.

25,000mAh PowerBook 1xx battery

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
Sorry, didn't mean to come off as blunt.

You said "the original battery is" without specifying the model. That's implying that all the 100 series packs are lead acid, when it was only the one. The thread is titled PB 1x0 but the STL models and links and all else are referring to the 140-180c packs, not the one-off 100 pack. I don't think OP owns a 100 either.

OP didn't write NiMH, but the batteries they showed are Duracell NiMH rechargeable AAs. I don't think any of the major brands sell NiCad AAs anymore, from what I've seen they can be pretty tricky to find nowadays. In either case they're going to be one of the two though.
 

Phipli

Well-known member
Sorry, didn't mean to come off as blunt.

You said "the original battery is" without specifying the model. That's implying that all the 100 series packs are lead acid, when it was only the one. The thread is titled PB 1x0 but the STL models and links and all else are referring to the 140-180c packs, not the one-off 100 pack. I don't think OP owns a 100 either.

OP didn't write NiMH, but the batteries they showed are Duracell NiMH rechargeable AAs. I don't think any of the major brands sell NiCad AAs anymore, from what I've seen they can be pretty tricky to find nowadays. In either case they're going to be one of the two though.
All I'm checking is that they're not abusing batteries and the thread didn't identify either chemistry. I don't really do Powerbooks, so I googled what battery the PB 100 had.

If we're happy that they're replacing the original batteries with ones that use a similar charging process, there aren't any sensors needing sorting etc and nobody is going to burn a house down, then that's all fine and I'll go back to what I was doing.

I used to have a webpage saved that went into excellent detail in how each type of battery should be charged. It was great for charging weird battery packs from my bench PSU. Can't see the page after searching though.
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
I'd be interested in seeing that website as well. That's something I'd like to learn. I know a bit about that stuff but not much.
But yeah, for the future, the PB100 is different in every single way from the rest of the series. Sounds like you got caught by Apple's naming confusion.
 

360alaska

Well-known member
This is the design I sell:
 

luRaichu

Well-known member
Yeah, I'm rebuilding the battery pack used in the PB 140-180 series machines. Original PB 100 batteries are lead-acid, but there are no modern replacement cells for that specific chemistry. Unless I'm mistaken, 360alaska's PB 100 batteries are Li-Po with a diode to prevent the PB 100 from charging it. The Li-Po battery uses its own charging circuit.

PowerBook 140-180 battery packs originally used 10 Ni-Cd "A" cells, with (what I think is?) a single thermal fuse buried inside. Modern Ni–MH cells are similar enough to the old Ni-Cd that they can be used interchangeably and as a suitable replacement. I want to use Ni–MH AA cells as they're readily available and I have many at hand.
 

luRaichu

Well-known member
I don't think it's possible to use battery holders inside the original PB battery shell. There's simply not enough room for that.
Which means I'll likely copy this design, although I won't be able to remove those Duracells very easily.
 

luRaichu

Well-known member
I got my PowerBook 180 now, with a weird aftermarket 1xx battery pack that was too dangerous to open. I need a 3D-printed shell, however there aren't any really good models available.
There's this one but for some reason it doesn't seem to have rails for the battery door
 

luRaichu

Well-known member
I sent jcs a DM last Friday asking for his PowerBook battery 3D model. Haven't heard back since.
I'll have to take a chance with the models that are publicly available.
 
Top