Old PowerBook Questions - Macintosh Garden

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2014, April 13 - 2:41pm

SuperMew98

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Joined: 2013 Mar 14

Old PowerBook Questions

Greetings Mac users!

I just dug out my Macintosh PowerBook Duo 230 from the basement and tried it out. It worked fine, but from what I remember the last time I had used it, the battery wouldn't charge, nor would it let me even power it on with it in. So, just to see if my luck would turn, I put in the battery, plugged the laptop into the wall, and booted it up. Hooray! It worked, and it seemed to hold a charge.

But the question I wanted to ask is, will my PowerBook charge if it's not turned on, just plugged in? And, is it safe to keep the battery in the laptop even when I'm not using it?

Thanks for your time,
SuperMew98

EDIT: One last question: Does anybody know what this means on the battery? There's a little switch on it. One side has a picture of a battery that appears to be filled (all white) and the other side has the same thing only it's half filled (white on bottom, grey on top).

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2014, April 13 - 4:16pm

max1zzz

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Joined: 2010 Oct 3

There isn't any real saftey issue keeping the battery in the laptop, it might be a idea to remove it as it could leak and damage the laptop

I might advise recelling the battery, that way you get a full charge again and it won't leak I found the perfect cells for duo battries (AAA, 950mah, So same capacity as the orig's and slightly smaller)

2014, April 13 - 5:36pm

SuperMew98

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Joined: 2013 Mar 14

Thanks for the tip. Don't want to sound like a noob when I say this but, how do I recell one of these batteries? I never even heard of recelling before...

2014, April 13 - 6:22pm

max1zzz

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Joined: 2010 Oct 3

Recelling is the act of replacing the Cell's in these batteries

To do it you need to carefully cut open the battery, remove the old cells and replace them with new ones

The cell's in the duo battery are essentially just tabbed AA's, theatrically you could use bog standard rechargeable AA's but there was some debate over at 68kmla weather the charging circuit could charge them correctly (as most will have a higher capacity than the old cells), so it's best to match them to the old cells (which are 950mah capacity Ni-MH cells)

Tbh - if the battery is charging there isn't any immediate need to change the cells, i would just keep it in mind for the future

2014, April 13 - 7:07pm

SuperMew98

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Joined: 2013 Mar 14

Thank you! Do you by any chance know about the tab thing I was talking about?

2014, April 13 - 9:10pm

max1zzz

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Joined: 2010 Oct 3

From my dissected duo 230 battery i believe it is just a little flag you can set to remind you if the battery is charged (if you had more than one)

it has no electrical or mechanical connection to anything inside the battery

2014, April 13 - 11:28pm

SuperMew98

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Joined: 2013 Mar 14

Oh, ok. Thanks a bunch.