Rebuilding a 2100 battery pack - can an idiot do it?

[Pinstripes]

The idiot being me, of course

I have a 2100 sitting around, and the battery is just about toast. I'd like to get my hands on the AA battery tray, but Newton bits & pieces are very hard to come by in Japan now. Is it possible to rebuild the battery pack? How? How hard is it?

 

[beachycove]

Yes, and it is not especially difficult. There are excellent, idiot-proof instructions on the web.

My one piece of additional advice would be to used leaded solder, as its melting point is lower than that of leadless solder. Also use a low-wattage soldering iron. By such means, you are less likely to ruin the components that get re-used, and less likely to compromise the brand new cells, through overheating. You will also not die of lead poisoning from such a small piece of work.

I am no electronics whiz, but I have re-packed an eMate battery with excellent results, and plan soon to do my MP2100, as I recently acquired a spent rechargeable battery for it. For over a decade, however I have used Alkalines (my Newton is still used daily), so it will be interesting to see if and how this changes my experience of using the fabulous little machine.

 

[Osgeld]

Also use a low-wattage soldering iron. By such means, you are less likely to ruin the components that get re-used, and less likely to compromise the brand new cells,

em er ... maybe I always recommend a mid wattage iron, the idea goes:

With a low wattage iron on larger parts (ie battery cases) the iron can not keep up with the heat sinking ability of the object and so if you want solder to flow you have to heat the whole thing up until the object is saturated, electronics (especially ones that are chemicals in sealed metal cases) usually do not like this

with a mid powered iron you dont run into this problem, you can heat just a spot to high enough temperature for soldering and move on, reducing soaking

 

[beachycove]

I always recommend a mid wattage iron, the idea goes:
With a low wattage iron on larger parts (ie battery cases) the iron can not keep up with the heat sinking ability of the object and so if you want solder to flow you have to heat the whole thing up until the object is saturated, electronics (especially ones that are chemicals in sealed metal cases) usually do not like this

with a mid powered iron you dont run into this problem, you can heat just a spot to high enough temperature for soldering and move on, reducing soaking

Good advice from someone who looks a good deal more like an electronics whiz than I do.