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Solar Bookcover for PB 1400

P

p8712

6502
Hello everyone. I'm a longtime lurker but just had to post this find. I was cleaning out a buddy's junk closet and found a solar charger for the powerbook 1400I It's complete in the original box with all the parts and documentation and works great. It was made by Keep It Simple Solutions in 1998.

It's pretty cool, it just slips in like a regular bookcover when not in use. I don't have a 1400 to test it on, but it charged both my pismo's batteries in about 4 hrs.

I'm guessing this is pretty rare, but does anyone know for sure?

 
Very nice! I remember hearing about those back in the day, back then I actually had a 1400 as my main machine (which I still have, and is still alive and kicking today, just not as my main machine), and I remember how much i wanted one of these. Quite a nifty little piece of gear.

 
Niiiice! Hopefully you can sell it to a 1400 user on these forums. It would be great if it were used as a bookcover as originally designed - very cool!

 
Thanks for the response everyone. I'd love to find a 1400 to use it with, I really wanted one when they were new. It looks so cool I'm sure it'd be the center of attention when in use. Plus I love the ecological angle - a recycled powerbook powered by renewable energy. The documentation says it'll work for 20 years, so it'll outlive pretty much any 1400.

On the other hand, 1400 replacement batteries seem to be really hard to find and expensive. Maybe I'll sell, I'm not sure what it's worth.

 
The PB1400's cells should be much more easily replaceable as a DIY project than other more recent PowerBook batteries, as they are of the non-life-and-limb-threatening NiMh variety. The cost of the cells is low, too, and you ought to be able to get good life from new ones.

This, in my judgement, would be another VERY GOOD reason to get yourself a nice 1400, as you will be able to make your own batteries for it indefinitely. That is not possible, or is certainly not to be recommended, with the Li-Ion cells in a Wallstreet or the like.

Just be sure to keep your NiMh cells' terminals -ve to +ve, or else you'll get glowing metal within seconds (enough to melt solder) and thus possible fire. Apart from that, it's not especially difficult or dangerous to recell a NiMh battery, and I have read somewhere that the 1400 is one of the easier ones to work on. Tabbed cells are a must for this, if a little harder to find and generally lower capacity than the standard ones you buy off the shelf these days.

There are some threads here to search re. NiMh re-celling ventures, and very likely, if you Google for it, an illustrated guide out there somewhere to working on a 1400 battery specifically.

I have a solar charger for the Newton that is able to run a Newton and charge its battery at the same time. My favourite use for it is for writing outside on an eMate, with me in the shade and the charger in the sun. However, a PowerBook solar charger is one better than that. That's quite a find.

 
Thanks for the information beachycove! I never knew the 1400 batteries were so easy to work on. I don't have any experience doing such a thing, and don't trust myself too, so I'd probably pay someone to do it for me. Would the cells of nimh duo batteries be as easy to replace? This panel ought to work with everything from a duo to pismo, and maybe the later PBs and ibooks with a power slot adapter.

I too remember the newton chargers. They were much cheaper at the time since they used smaller panels. It was called 'Luna' I believe? I love the suction cup on mine - easy to window mount, and great to use in the car or a plane.

 
Excellent find!

I too like the idea of powering an eco-friendly laptop with the rays of the sun.

The big question is, can you charge the PB and use it at the same time?

 
A former employer was a KISS dealer, but I never got to see that particular product, 'cause they just drop-shipped the things directly to the customer. More fashion statement than anything else, you'd some how have to provide full sunlight to the thing, and even then, it'll only extend run times at best, because it's far too small to be a full-blown charger.

 
Yes, Temetka, you can charge and use the PB at the same time. With the PB powered off it's a charger, and will totally recharge the battery. With the PB on it also charges, just a a much slower rate. Even if you don't get full sun, it would still double or triple runtime and an extender. It all depends how bright the light source is. Luckily the bright light here is Florida gets me a quick charge! :)

4seasonphoto - I don't know how much of a fashion statement it is, considering apple's been looking to add tiny panels to ipods and ipnones. Well, patenting the technology anyway.

 
4seasonphoto - I don't know how much of a fashion statement it is, considering apple's been looking to add tiny panels to ipods and ipnones. Well, patenting the technology anyway.
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Figuring that the stock 1400 charger is at least 35 watts, and that solar panel is maybe 5-7 watts under ideal conditions, tops, I'll stick to the "fashion statement" label. You can scarcely read a 1400's LCD in bright sun, anyhow.

 
Very, very nice score. Put it this way - charge one battery in the morning, another in the afternoon, and you'll have two to four hours of computer use in the evening.

If you do decide to attempt to recell the Powerbook 1400 battery, I'd suggest doing as the sig below says. Search these forums first ("recell" or "cell") to find the most useful links to how-to sites.

 
Ten strips of cells / 24V = 2.4V per strip. Six cells per strip = 0.8V per cell. That sounds about right. As they are (thus, probably) connected in series, I would assume the whole thing is only putting out a few milliamps of current.

a maximum of 15% per hour of sunlight is added to the batteries.
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Again, sounds about right. How many mAh are the original 1400 batteries?

an attachment that lets you charge the battery outside of the PB.
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Neat. Given that it's got a standard PB plug on it, I would assume you could connect it to any of the third party external charger/dock doodads as well.

I also found this letter
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on the airplane / put the panel on my window
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Given that he's flying above the clouds, that would be pretty close to the maximum possible solar input.

I started the flight with 73% battery left and ended with 68% after 2 hours of Web design / On the flight from Dallas to SFO / 3 hours and 19 minutes and I never even got close to shut down power.
On the 1 hour trip from the airport to Orinda I plugged just the battery into the panel. When I started up at my folks house I had 78% power.
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That's fairly impressive, I must say.

 
You know, there's nothing stopping any of us from making up a similar, or even better device.

Check out these cheap cells, for example. I ordered one of them to to trickle charge my transparent Palm.

Copper Indium Diselenide.* / 60mm (2-3/8") square / 4.5V/90mA. / 2 solder tabs
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{ * Newer technology, and much more efficient than the SiO2 cells in the Bookcover}

Five in series gives you 90mA @ 23.8V, which is close enough to 24V that I bet it would work.

That would be $16 + shipping, plus some plastic to mount, a dead PS for the plug & lead, and a few minutes of soldering. You'd end up with a strip around 1ft long and 2.5" wide.

But if you think 90mA isn't much of a charge rate, get ten and get the bulk discount! That would cost you $28+P&P, and give you 180mA, and a panel about a foot x 5".

And so forth in multiples of five (ie five in wired in series = 23.8V; each group of five added in parallel pumps another 90mA of current). A 5 x 4 panel would be roughly the size of a Powerbook (11.9" x 9.5"), $56, and 360mA.

If that's all too complicated: just get a matching pair of whatever size 12V panels you can find/afford and series them to 24V.

 
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