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PowerBook G3 Pismo - main battery reset?

A

AlpineRaven

6502
Good evening all, 

Was there an Open Firmware key to reset the PowerBook G3 Battery if you decided to rebuild it and reset it - I am trying to work out about rebuilding this dead battery that I have here - I dont want to waste money if I cant reset it.
Cheers

AP

 
Did you find a way to reset the packs?  I have two packs I am going to rebuild and have the cells.  It would be a shame if they don't work after all the work.

 
Zippy Zapp said:
Did you find a way to reset the packs?  I have two packs I am going to rebuild and have the cells.  It would be a shame if they don't work after all the work.
Click to expand...
No I haven't actually found concrete information, only closest info I could see was to reset nvram in open firmware.

I'm still skeptical rebuilding it because its $80 for the batteries on its own and it doesnt even have solder tags on them either and its a gamble that I dont even know if it would work or not - don't want to waste $80 if it doesn't work.

Cheers

AP

 
Thanks for the response.  Does the pismo take the same cells as the Lombard?  I think they are the same battery packs, if I am not mistaken.  Anyway the cells for my pack were $25 for 10.  They have gone up slightly but they include tabs. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/272359448176

On a related note I want to rebuild the PRAM battery pack too.  The PRAM battery pack is made of coin cell rechargeable lithium batteries that are VL2330, 4 of them.  They are very expensive.    But I don't see why you couldn't sub those for the much cheaper ML2032 which are also rechargeable lithium coin cells @ 3V.  They are a tad bit smaller.  

I recently fixed a PowerBook G4 (1st gen with bad inverter) and it had a dead PRAM battery.  I left it plugged in for two days and it seemed to charge the PRAM battery so I am going to try the same with the G3 to see if there is any life left in those coin cells.  

 
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I wouldn't worry about the PRAM battery in Lombard/Pismos because the clock remains/keeps going *IF* you have the main batteries in its compartment, and if you need to take the battery out, you always can leave it plugged in - That is what I have been doing with mine for a while now.

As for the batteries - that is a good price, for some reason why I didnt see it/it didnt come up in my search... (what Ive noticed about ebay's items is starting to become limiting/cannot be found - which I have to go to other ebay ie. ebay.com instead of ebay.com.au to find what I am looking for - half the time I forget that its there but hasnt come up with my searches)

Yes Lombard and Pismos shares the same battery I believe.

I am lending towards doing that - currently the ones I have is holding charge - its doing 2.5 hours which is plenty but I have 2 and on other night I was using it for 4 hours sorting and playing games on dual batteries so considering its pretty good but i know you can do better. I do have 3rd battery which only has 15 mins of charge - I might as well do it on that battery.

Cheers

AP

 
Good point about the PRAM.  I have two battery packs and both are completely dead and won't accept a charge.  I opened them up and in the process I broke two wires on the ribbon cable to the small pcb that is inside.  Ugg.  I can repair it with wires though.  That battery pack all the cells were leaking and corroded. 

Sounds like you still have working ones so that is cool.  Yeah that one that lasts 15 minutes is a great candidate.   Maybe you wont need to reset it since it takes a charge?

I think I will give it a shot. 

 
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Zippy Zapp said:
Good point about the PRAM.  I have two battery packs and both are completely dead and won't accept a charge.  I opened them up and in the process I broke two wires on the ribbon cable to the small pcb that is inside.  Ugg.  I can repair it with wires though.  That battery pack all the cells were leaking and corroded. 

Sounds like you still have working ones so that is cool.  Yeah that one that lasts 15 minutes is a great candidate.   Maybe you wont need to reset it since it takes a charge?

I think I will give it a shot. 
Click to expand...
That what I am thinking - while its "working" would be good one to start off with.

Cheers

AP

 
Well I tried to replace the cells today and had no luck.  Wasted my afternoon hehe.  I soldered everything together ok although tabs are a royal pain to solder together.  I ended up using solder braid (wick) to bridge the tabs and that worked really well.  I managed to get everything back together and the battery light was still flashing rapidly when I attempted to charge it.  I tried running the reset-nvram and set-defaults etc but it just would not see the battery as good.  On top of that I couldn't quite get it to fit back in the battery bay.  What a pain.  

I wish a third party was making these, like they do the PowerBook G4 that came out 1 year later.  I can still get batteries for that cheaply.  Oh well, I tried.

 
Did you use some sort of battery reset software, as there was one for much older NiMH PowerBook's batteries?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Zippy Zapp said:
Well I tried to replace the cells today and had no luck. Wasted my afternoon hehe. I soldered everything together ok although tabs are a royal pain to solder together. I ended up using solder braid (wick) to bridge the tabs and that worked really well. I managed to get everything back together and the battery light was still flashing rapidly when I attempted to charge it. I tried running the reset-nvram and set-defaults etc but it just would not see the battery as good. On top of that I couldn't quite get it to fit back in the battery bay. What a pain.

I wish a third party was making these, like they do the PowerBook G4 that came out 1 year later. I can still get batteries for that cheaply. Oh well, I tried.
Click to expand...
Ouch at least you tried, I just spoke to someone about it this morning - the memory chip in it - if the battery has small charge in it, keeps the memory going, if the battery becomes dead-dead/ zero volts can brick it. He was saying to keep the batteries powered while being worked on - it kinda makes sense I suppose? Still researching....Cheers

AP

 
Probably the suicide fuse is blow, it can be replaced with a suitable thin wire. Located on the main battery PCB. 3 pin device.

Had this happen on two occasions.

 
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