Makeshift Battery for PB180

[3lectr1cPPC]

I think there may be a fuse for the battery computer side - check that maybe?

 

[GRudolf94]

Why I ask: Powerbooks are cranky about battery management, and if they think the battery is too flat, they'll either sleep as soon as it's inserted, or refuse to power up. PB1x0 are also rather dumb: besides the battery's two terminals, all else that exists is a thermistor affixed to the battery cage and wired via a small flatcable to the motherboard. In your situation, I'd disassemble the machine, take just the base, check the thermistor, check that the cage is in place (the heatstakes holding it tend to break), and that all else fits good, stabbing and locking the battery in, and then measuring for 6V directly on the motherboard, after the springloaded connector.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I've had mine boot fine with a dead or very low battery just fine. I've got an intact Apple original that will take a couple volts and an aftermarket one from [some time] that somewhat works. The only time I've had one keep a laptop from starting is if it was shorted, which I assume this one isn't.

Which laptops have you run into that do this as you describe? The 100 might, but it's an oddball. Mine works fine with its dead one installed though. Well, it takes a couple hundred millivolts but that's good as dead. I still need to pick up an alaska360 battery for mine.

 

[GRudolf94]

Anything using PMGR, as it's baked into the 68HC05 code for that, regardless of whether it's set for Pb or Ni batteries. It also applies to laptops where the vbat sense circuitry has failed and misreports it as constantly empty.

I should add: this behavior is when the battery is flat _and_ not taking a sufficiently acceptable charging current to raise vbat, or at all.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

So if I'm understanding right, this would happen when a battery isn't attempting to charge at all, or in the event of a system failure?

 

[AEChadwick]

Anything using PMGR, as it's baked into the 68HC05 code for that, regardless of whether it's set for Pb or Ni batteries. It also applies to laptops where the vbat sense circuitry has failed and misreports it as constantly empty.

i appreciate all of this. i will get down to the motherboard asap and let you all know what i find.

 

[GRudolf94]

When it sees there's a battery, but it doesn't act as expected. Let me rummage thru my junk and review my notes.

 

[GRudolf94]

Ok, I have made a stupid: it's actually not the case on a 180 - only machines with a Motorola PMGR. I forgot that's not the case here, was misremembering and extrapolating from the 150 which is in fact a repackaged Duo 270.

However, the sense circuitry is gonna be still relevant. For a 180, U2 (LT1179).

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Ah, ok. And the 150 remains a very weird system, no surprises there

 

[GRudolf94]

Lack of ports and the meh acer-built "quality" aside, the 150 is a great machine.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Yeah I’ve got one. Not a bad system at all. Mines functionally sound. Fully recapped and the VARTA battery out with zero corrosion, was replaced sometime in the 2000s and the new one hadn’t leaked yet.
My issue is that the plastic is in a sorry state. I need a parts donor, this one’s beyond 3D prints. Not too bothered to find one fast though since mine works at least.

Oh and the keyboard mech is different on the 150, and it’s worse. Probably wouldn’t hurt to swap over a different keyboard, if I had a spare that is.

 

[GRudolf94]

Mine is currently in a spare 180 case, waiting for me to figure out what to do with the wrong aspect ratio bezel.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I can’t imagine the hackery that you’ve had to do to get that to work lol.
Cheap solution for the screen: set the resolution to 640x400 and go about your day.
Bonus points if you show up to a convention with it and then confuse the crap out of someone who knows their PowerBooks.

 

[GRudolf94]

I have actually started work on getting my toasted-polarizer 180 screen to mate with the 150 board so no lid/bezel mods are needed, but it's not a matter of just setting resolution in Sys7. The machine is ignorant of panel specs as that's an unidirectional channel, and the GSC (F65210) probably needs to be told how many lines there are, whether via config registers by ROM, or by strapping a pin, since regardless of the OS displaying 400 or 480 lines, the panel will always have to have the line equivalent to HSYNC toggled 400 or 480 times per frame. That's another task on the todo list. After it, it's a matter of hoping I wired it up right, and that GSC sets itself up properly for that panel's timings. It could be that I could get away by making it believe it's an expanded 270, but I don't have a 270 for reference, and ROM hackery is beyond my skills.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

That’s pretty in-depth! Now that I think about it though, if you could get the 150 to output to an active matrix screen (maybe even a 180c screen??? I mean, the 270 is a color system), and then do the ADB hack, you’ve got a better 100 series PowerBook than apple ever made. If you have maxed out RAM that is.
I also wonder how if there’s any way to get an FPU hacked in.

 

[GRudolf94]

Color needs a CSC chip, the 65210 won't do. The 180c has a whole PC-esque graphics chip plus an interface ASIC. ADB can be tapped off the interconnect PCB (that's already done on my 150) or from the trackball, the 2nd serial will be pulled from the modem header, and I need a RAM card. I've thought about an FPU but the benefits vs the cost of air-wiring >60 signals (to the very annoying QFP '030), running a questionable 33MHz is probably not worth it. The alternative is designing a PCB what fits around the 030 pins (ugh) and soldering it on and I kind of don't want to try and get the mechanical aspect of that right. Who knows if the 150 ROM will even care about an FPU being present. We'll see, this is all contingent on the screen being sorted first of anything.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

All this modding is definitely a lot of fun. Would love to see a dedicated thread on it!

The end goal for my unit is a lot more tame - intact plastics and the ADB mod.

 

[AEChadwick]

check the thermistor

sunuvabitch... on some prior job, pastAE never reconnected the battery cage thermistor, it was just that simple. 180 works great and recognizes the new battery. i might have found that on my own--but i really appreciate the assist. folks, check the cables before you close the case.

 

[GRudolf94]

Hey, great that it was something simple

 

[jcs]

I did some research and found out that you can buy NIMH packs with 4/3 AF cells (I went with these ones).

That battery page says:

A 70° thermostat is installed inside battery pack to protect the battery from overcharging

Is that not enough to be safe that you still want to install your own fuse/thermostat?