Actually found a good battery for my 17" PowerBook!!!

[DouglasCarroll]

Wow, I can't believe it but I shockingly was able to find a "still in good shape" original battery for my 17" PowerBook G4. At work there is a recycle bin where old electronics get thrown and in there I found an old 17" PowerBook G4. I already had the last 17" powerbook made, the DLSD, but I needed a battery so I grabbed the battery out of it and thought, what the hell I'll give it a try. DAMN, yesterday I had the chance and plugged the battery in and it charged up right away, only shows 33 cycles on the battery, and ran on battery power only for over an hour before I finally had to leave and turned the Powerbook off...it STILL showed over 90% when I shut the machine off and I was streaming music from the internet the whole time.

I NEVER thought I'd find another good battery for that machine again, let alone an Apple original, let alone one for free.

Nice!

Now all I need is to find a new clock battery for the Powerbook and I'm gold!

 

[wicknix]

Nice score. Sadly i need a battery for all 3 of mine. 12", 15", and 17". There are some out there, but untested and $100-$200 each isn't worth it.

 

[netsrot39]

Nice score. Sadly i need a battery for all 3 of mine. 12", 15", and 17". There are some out there, but untested and $100-$200 each isn't worth it.

I agree with you. Not only are they usually untested but also +15 years of age and batteries degrade considerably over time. As much as I love PowerPC Macs I think you can hardly use them as (productive) daily drivers anymore for which the reason is a much heavier web every year. So I personally do not mind having a battery that only lasts 10-15 minutes. The only viable way to get a good battery for those old Macs now is to crack open the battery enclosure and replace the cells. I'm not sure if they are soldered or welded. I might try it when my batteries are fully dead but from what I can see that seems to be the best option in 2022 (since I noticed that you can't really get reliable aftermarket battery packs either)