PowerBook 3400/Kanga Battery

[AlpineRaven]

G'day all,
I really LOVE both of my PowerBook 3400 and Kanga but I am not using it because of the battery. I don't want to plug to powerpoint just to use it as I might as well use the desktop mac if I do that hence I don't use it.

HAS anyone came up a solution to rebuild the battery for it?

I have already tried to re-cell several of them without success - which I think the board has been bricked.

Is there a solution?
Cheers
AP

 

[Byrd]

Dunno but welcome back mate!

 

[AlpineRaven]

Dunno but welcome back mate!

Thanks mate!!! Been hellva of ride - been so busy with work and this and that - All is well
Cheers
AP

 

[timoog]

Aha really, just ordered new cells you think the board gets bricked as part of reconstruction or after long term battery degradation?

 

[AlpineRaven]

Aha really, just ordered new cells you think the board gets bricked as part of reconstruction or after long term battery degradation?

Yep - it gets bricked as soon you disconnect the terminals.
I've even had the board powered (to keep the board alive) while working on it didn't work either as It was a good battery that I killed it.
I'd be interested to hear from you if you succeed.
Cheers
AP

 

[FABIO]

Hello,
just tried the same and got same result.
No power is flowing. Logic Board inside the Battery Pack looks dead.
Had anybody success to resuscitate the Logic Board?
Thank you in advance
Cheers
Fabio

 

[timoog]

same, put the pack together last weekend. Disconnected all the cables from the board joined the batteries together and then reattached the board, dead, not recognised by the mac.

 

[FABIO]

Hello timoog thank you for your reply.
It must be possible to reinitialize the logic board
if only someone had the specification and/or the "operation / installation handbook" for the board......

The only information I found on the board is "NCMK-MIX" (R)....

 

[galgot]

Wasn't there a battery reset utility with the original install disks ? Wonder if that would be useful for "waking up" the board. Or maybe i'm mistaken, and it came with later model models...

 

[FABIO]

HI galgot, that was close. I have researched and you are right there was a Battery Reset 2.0 Utility that was working with G3 (Wallstreet) and Clamshell iBook but not for classic OS or previous models.
Nevertheless something like this must have existed alone for the fact that the battery after the assembly must have been initialized.
So the question is: does by anybody the company name NCMK-M1X ring a bell ? Internet normally doesn't forget, but until now I was not able to find any usable reference.....

 

[galgot]

HI galgot, that was close. I have researched and you are right there was a Battery Reset 2.0 Utility that was working with G3 (Wallstreet) and Clamshell iBook but not for classic OS or previous models.
Nevertheless something like this must have existed alone for the fact that the battery after the assembly must have been initialized.
So the question is: does by anybody the company name NCMK-M1X ring a bell ? Internet normally doesn't forget, but until now I was not able to find any usable reference.....

So that got me interested...
The Kanga was delivered new with Mac OS 8 and disks for it.
You can find these here :

Mac OS 8.0 & 8.1 - Macintosh Garden

This is Mac OS 8.0. It was first available to have Platinum theme, a PowerPC native, multi-threaded Finder, greater customization of the user interface, performance improvements, and many more. Mac OS 8.0 Mac OS 8.0 CD-ROM scan toc_collapse=0; Table of Contents Mac OS 8.0

macintoshgarden.org

Check download #21 "PBG3CD_80.ZIP" , this is the original Kanga system CD.
I've downloaded it and checked around...
With TomeViewer if you open the file "Installation Tome" located in -> PowerBook G3 CD/Software Installers/System Software/Mac OS 8/ ,
line 95, there is indeed an APPL (application) called "Battery recondition".
Maybe worth trying?

 

[FABIO]

Hello galgot that is more than worth trying thank you for the hint.
I have a 3400c running now Mac OS 9 but my understanding is that the 34400c and the G3 Kanga are (besides the processor) very similar and use the same battery pack. I have to reassemble the logic board (I was experimenting around ) with the new Li-Ion Cells and then I will give it a try.

 

[timoog]

So that got me interested...
The Kanga was delivered new with Mac OS 8 and disks for it.
You can find these here :

Mac OS 8.0 & 8.1 - Macintosh Garden

This is Mac OS 8.0. It was first available to have Platinum theme, a PowerPC native, multi-threaded Finder, greater customization of the user interface, performance improvements, and many more. Mac OS 8.0 Mac OS 8.0 CD-ROM scan toc_collapse=0; Table of Contents Mac OS 8.0

macintoshgarden.org

Check download #21 "PBG3CD_80.ZIP" , this is the original Kanga system CD.
I've downloaded it and checked around...
With TomeViewer if you open the file "Installation Tome" located in -> PowerBook G3 CD/Software Installers/System Software/Mac OS 8/ ,
line 95, there is indeed an APPL (application) called "Battery recondition".
Maybe worth trying?

Thanks @galgot good suggestion unfortunately just gave it a go and just get an error with "No battery could be found. Please try and reseat it"