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PowerBook 14x or 170, 180 Battery NiMH recell

IlikeTech

Well-known member
So I recently replaced the cells in my PowerBook 145B battery, and it works great, charges without a problem, and gets decent life.  The only issue is the fact that the battery monitor build into the OS is designed for NiCAD Cells, when I recelled with NiMH as you can't get NiCADs anymore.  Is their any way to patch the power meter to make it so that the estimate is half accurate/the system doesn't go nuts when the voltage sags a little?

Thanks!

 

ian1035nr

Well-known member
I'll be honest, I have no idea how to modify the system's power meter. But would you mind sharing which cells you used and how you wired them up? I just recelled my PowerBook 170's battery last week with NiMh cells, and the power meter seems to work okay, I don't get any warning chimes until I've used the machine for about 2 hours or so. Mine has 10 1.2V cells in total, but they're divided into 2 banks of 5 cells, so that might send out a more constant voltage?

 

IlikeTech

Well-known member
I actually just have 5 cells in series.  I just wanted to give it a shot and not spend the money on a ton of cells.  They are literally just amazonbasics rechargeable AAs

 

ian1035nr

Well-known member
That’s sensible, especially if you don’t plan on using it untethered too frequently. I bought a 3rd party battery back in 2011 that used 10 NiMh cells. When that one died, I just bought identical cells and copied their layout. The cost was about $80 Canadian. Definitely pricey, but I still use my 170 on the go a lot. I wouldn’t have invested that kind of money if I didn’t have that aftermarket battery to show how to build something similar in performance to the original battery. 
 

I used the PowerBook to play music and transfer files over serial while I was at work last night, and it was still going strong after 3 hours, so at least I’m getting my money’s worth out of it. 
 

Too bad there aren’t any companies making 1xx series batteries anymore, it would make our lives a lot easier. 

 
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