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PowerBook 1400 battery - what cell type?

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
Looking to rebuild my 1400c's battery at SOME point, would like to know what size cells they use. I remember seeing it somewhere before but I can't find it now. @LaPorta - do you know? You've rebuilt these before.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
Yes, you need cells called 4/3A, 8 of them. Make sure to get the ones that do NOT have the nubs at the end, as they won’t fit in the battery case. If you have a Batteries Plus store near you, it’s easy: bring in the original cells to them. They will shrink wrap the new cells in series 2 each, and duplicate the tabs between the cells by tack welding them on in the same orientation…for free. Makes it a whole lot easier.

Here is an example of the cells:

 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
They will shrink wrap the cells in series 2 each, and duplicate the tabs between the cells by tack welding them on in the same orientation…for free. Makes it a whole lot easier.
I feel a bit like how other people in my life must feel when talking about recapping and fixing these macs... are you saying that they can take care of the welding for me? That would indeed be quite helpful. Could they do the whole pack in fact? I've got a 500 series battery too, already cracked open, electronics removed. Just need to get new cells on.
1400 battery as well, got the cells disconnected from all the internal electronics. No damage to the important stuff.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
I’m not sure I ever documented my battery pack rebuild…I’ll have to rectify that.

So, I’m brief: the pack has the cells either connected one to the other, or connected to electronics and what I believe is a thermistor. They will duplicate the orientation of those tabs if you ask…so like if cell 5 has a tab between its positive and the negative of cell 6, they will weld a similar flat metal strip between the two corresponding new cells. They will also weld and bend into place “free” tabs (welded to one spot, then leading to nothing), so that you can manually solder the original electronic part where it should go.

I’ve got good pics of this, I’ll have to get them at home tonight. I don’t believe they will attach the electronics…that’s beyond what they do.
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
Thanks for the explanation - if batteries+bulbs (seems to be the same place to me, the naming is confusing) can weld the cells themselves together, I think I could handle the rest. Sounds like I have a plan! Will probably do my 500 series pack first though.

And yes, any documentation that you have on the 1400 battery would be very useful! I'm making a page on MacDat with a table with all the different cell types of these batteries, will eventually add info too on rebuilding each pack.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
So, in case you hadn't opened it yet, here is the original pack:

4F6A0AD5-EAE3-4C05-8384-83E40A8F2ECA_1_105_c.jpeg

242B09A1-1BFE-498F-9F47-DBD98664B159_1_105_c.jpeg


You can see how the strips are tack welded and run at certain angles to meet certain things.
I then received the new cells shrink wrapped end to end, and labeled them 1-4 from one end to the other to line up where each tab went.

7FBB6593-D780-4D68-A112-08164AF2F116_1_105_c.jpeg

80284448-7E8A-43DD-AC17-6EDC92263254_1_105_c.jpeg

There was tape used to simulate the spacers, but I removed that and added the original spacers. Lastly, I clipped off the electronics at the tabs half-way through, and then soldered those to the new tabs as can be seen in the next photo. You can see the long strap at the top how in the right-upper corner, the original PCB strip is soldered after the 90 degree bend to the tab coming up from the new battery. Same with the others, but harder to see:

4414DDA1-D995-4B1E-9CC6-ECCF3E95A7A1_1_105_c.jpeg
 
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