PowerBook G4 17" battery hunt

[feelingsupersonic]

I have my 17" PB up and running finally (posting from it now) and want to use it for more than my "laying in bed and winding down at night" laptop. Trouble is, the battery is only good for 30-60 minutes of use with mixed workloads. Replacements don't seem to be offered anymore.

First choice is to source a good-as-new battery. I am not optimistic but wanted to check with you guys.

If indeed this is not tenable, I have seen other batteries being rebuilt by enterprising enthusiasts, for example earlier iBook batteries. I would be interested in having a go at it. Does anyone know if this is even possible? The 17" model uses a unique battery and due to relative obscurity, i cannot find much info online.

If someone is willing to sent me a bad battery (I would pay a small amount plus shipping and time) I would be interested to dissect one and report back with some findings. It is probably the same general methodology for other Apple laptops of the era, so perhaps would be valuable information to have documented somewhere.

 

[dbdjre0143]

They're expensive, but if you're interested in getting a brand new battery for it, as of a couple years ago Operator Headgap (http://www.headgapstore.com/) still had them in stock. They don't list them on the website, but I called and they said they had them available still. I can't remember the price exactly but it was over $100.

 

[Captain Trips]

I just bought a new third party battery for my 2010 MacBook Pro 17" from eBay and the seller has more for sale: https://www.ebay.com/itm/274773970844

I got it yesterday, put it in my MBP 17 this morning, and charged it. Once it got to around 98% or so, I unplugged the AC charger and ran off the battery for a while. So far it is working well.

 

[DouglasCarroll]

Does anyone know where you can get the p-ram battery for the last 17" powerbook g4? I found a battery that kind of works to take the place of the swollen one I had to get rid of, but it seems that I need a p-ram battery now.

Thanks!

 

[weckart]

Does anyone know where you can get the p-ram battery for the last 17" powerbook g4? I found a battery that kind of works to take the place of the swollen one I had to get rid of, but it seems that I need a p-ram battery now.

Thanks!

eBay would be the quickest if you can find one, otherwise you could take a punt with this far east outfit

Apple PowerBook G4 Aluminum A1139 1.67GHz/17" Battery - Cmos / Resume / RTC 3.7V

3.7V RTC Battery Apple PowerBook G4 Aluminum A1139 1.67GHz/17" Battery - Cmos / Resume / RTC

pchub.com

I have ordered from them years ago and it took a while to arrive even then. If you are happy to tinker or get the soldering iron out, you can try to identify the actual battery pack and see if you can find a replacement from Mouser/Farnell/Rs-online or whichever online electrical outfit is near you. This would give you the newest battery as the PRAM units for PowerBooks still sold are getting on in years and might not last that long even from "new".

 

[DouglasCarroll]

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it!

 

[JohnKCG]

Also on the same boat, I expect to receive a PB17 soon , which actual battery is said to be failing by the current owner, I expected to find it on Amazon given that it's Apple and The fruit products tend to have a good plethora of accessories and the like... In any case, after investigating a little I believe that A1139 batteries (not the PRAM ones at least) are interchangeable with earlier models, as long as they are 58wh lilon batteries, am I right?

 

[B S Magnet]

Also on the same boat, I expect to receive a PB17 soon , which actual battery is said to be failing by the current owner, I expected to find it on Amazon given that it's Apple and The fruit products tend to have a good plethora of accessories and the like... In any case, after investigating a little I believe that A1139 batteries (not the PRAM ones at least) are interchangeable with earlier models, as long as they are 58wh lilon batteries, am I right?

The OEM battery in the A1139 is the A1140.

 

[JohnKCG]

The OEM battery in the A1139 is the A1140.

Since I just received the PB and it's in mint condition, I believe the battery is OK, is there a test or calibration for these batteries @B S Magnet ? I also found this:

Original Apple A1057 Rechargeable Battery for 17-inch PowerBook G4 for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Original Apple A1057 Rechargeable Battery for 17-inch PowerBook G4 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

I think that that battery could also work since it's also 58wh

 

[ajacocks]

I disassembled my failed NuPower 67 watt hour pack, and the internals look like this:

I'm guessing that the label of 6400mAh 3s is for all 3 pouches, with each being 6400mAh 3.7v. Those _should_ be possible to find, in the specified size of 1050100 (10mm thick, 50mm wide and 100mm long), but I haven't found them, so far.

- Alex

 

[Abramski]

A couple of years ago, i went to my local recycling center (i did this a lot in the past, just to see what people would throw away and the dude was really chill and let me take stuff home), and i was looking through the discarded electronics, when i saw this box with an apple logo on it, it was a freakin' PowerBook G4 17 inch battery, new in box, sealed and all, offcourse i took the box (i even still have the box for this battery), i was stunned, why would somebody throw this away?? Well, i found the answer, there was a powerbook g4 17 inch laptop that was dented like crazy, i think somebody raged and the poor laptop had to take the beating. I left the laptop, i took the charger and the battery, now i was left with this unusable battery and a charger i didn't need, so what did i do next? Sell the battery and the charger? No offcourse not, i bought a 17 inch powerbook obviously and i have to say, i am now typing this on my PB17 inch, on battery, she still works perfectly fine, i don't use it all that much, she has 50 cycles and has about 80 percent of life left, i think it's because of age that the percentage is this low, it's a wonder this battery worked in the first place, she left the factory many many years ago and i am happy that she works so well as she does now! I love to use my PowerBook from time to time i try to keep this battery as healthy as possible for as long as possible, she is degrading though which is sad, but hey, i get around 2 to 3 hours still out of her so she isn't bad at all

 

[ww2_1943]

A couple of years ago, i went to my local recycling center (i did this a lot in the past, just to see what people would throw away and the dude was really chill and let me take stuff home), and i was looking through the discarded electronics, when i saw this box with an apple logo on it, it was a freakin' PowerBook G4 17 inch battery, new in box, sealed and all, offcourse i took the box (i even still have the box for this battery), i was stunned, why would somebody throw this away?? Well, i found the answer, there was a powerbook g4 17 inch laptop that was dented like crazy, i think somebody raged and the poor laptop had to take the beating. I left the laptop, i took the charger and the battery, now i was left with this unusable battery and a charger i didn't need, so what did i do next? Sell the battery and the charger? No offcourse not, i bought a 17 inch powerbook obviously and i have to say, i am now typing this on my PB17 inch, on battery, she still works perfectly fine, i don't use it all that much, she has 50 cycles and has about 80 percent of life left, i think it's because of age that the percentage is this low, it's a wonder this battery worked in the first place, she left the factory many many years ago and i am happy that she works so well as she does now! I love to use my PowerBook from time to time i try to keep this battery as healthy as possible for as long as possible, she is degrading though which is sad, but hey, i get around 2 to 3 hours still out of her so she isn't bad at all

I have been thinking of taking a chance on a new old stock PowerBook battery from the early 2000s. I just don't know what to expect. It would really suck if it just didn't work at all.

 

[netsrot39]

I have been thinking of taking a chance on a new old stock PowerBook battery from the early 2000s. I just don't know what to expect. It would really suck if it just didn't work at all.

I also once took a gamble on a new old stock A1181 MacBook battery. That was 2017 or 2018 I believe so at that time the battery was at least already 10 years old. In the end it was a waste of money as the battery had maybe a couple of minutes life in it when fully charged.

In my opinion it is just not worth it to have the battery replaced on older PowerPC laptops. I have 3 fully assembled 17 inch PowerBook G4s and only one has a good battery (good means about 30 mins of lasting ...). The other 2 have batteries that allow me to unplug the device for a couple of minutes and plug it in somewhere else (in standby they do last for hours though). Nobody really manufactures batteries anymore for PowerBooks and iBooks. I purchased new third party batteries a couple of years ago for my 15 inch PowerBook G4 and 14 inch iBook G4 and they do last BUT they are nowhere near an original Apple battery. At least the PowerPC notebooks don't clock down with a bad battery (only the TiBook does I believe). Also I've never found a problem with a bad PRAM battery on a PowerBook so I never replaced them (needless to say all PRAM batteries of my PowerBooks are bad ...). If I can up my soldering game I'll eventually try it but IMO replacement of the batteries is not a priority (for me at least since I hardly ever carry my PowerBooks around).

 

[ww2_1943]

I also once took a gamble on a new old stock A1181 MacBook battery. That was 2017 or 2018 I believe so at that time the battery was at least already 10 years old. In the end it was a waste of money as the battery had maybe a couple of minutes life in it when fully charged.

In my opinion it is just not worth it to have the battery replaced on older PowerPC laptops. I have 3 fully assembled 17 inch PowerBook G4s and only one has a good battery (good means about 30 mins of lasting ...). The other 2 have batteries that allow me to unplug the device for a couple of minutes and plug it in somewhere else (in standby they do last for hours though). Nobody really manufactures batteries anymore for PowerBooks and iBooks. I purchased new third party batteries a couple of years ago for my 15 inch PowerBook G4 and 14 inch iBook G4 and they do last BUT they are nowhere near an original Apple battery. At least the PowerPC notebooks don't clock down with a bad battery (only the TiBook does I believe). Also I've never found a problem with a bad PRAM battery on a PowerBook so I never replaced them (needless to say all PRAM batteries of my PowerBooks are bad ...). If I can up my soldering game I'll eventually try it but IMO replacement of the batteries is not a priority (for me at least since I hardly ever carry my PowerBooks around).

Yeah, that is my fear. I really don't need a portable PowerBook. I guess it is more the novelty of it that is appealing!

 

[Amethyst1]

The problem, as @netsrot39 says, is that some PowerBooks annoyingly downclock the CPU and disable the L3 cache if the battery is dead/missing. So unless you're happy with reduced performance you do need some sort of battery in there.

 

[ww2_1943]

The problem, as @netsrot39 says, is that some PowerBooks annoyingly downclock the CPU and disable the L3 cache if the battery is dead/missing. So unless you're happy with reduced performance you do need some sort of battery in there.

All of my PowerBooks have batteries. Some even hold just enough charge to keep the time and date settings

 

[netsrot39]

All of my PowerBooks have batteries. Some even hold just enough charge to keep the time and date settings

Same in my case. They all have batteries but the capacity of most is miniscule. The funny thing is my TiBook batteries last over an hour and are the oldest PowerBook batteries I have (I got the DVI model). Maybe it is just me or they were better built or in a different way as opposed to the alu ones. Even if the battery were completely flat I'd pop it inside because the computer looks weird with a hole at the bottom (just my opinion).

 

[PowerPCFan]

I have a heavily used for 20 years, dropped multiple times, dented, scraped, clicky-hard-drive computer (PowerBook G4 12'' 867MHz, Aluminum) and when fully charged and in power save mode and processor set to half speed, the battery lasts for about 2 hours 45 minutes! I don't understand that a computer so used that it seems as if it will fall apart in seconds still has a perfect battery! The only downside is that my PowerBook overheats so bad I have to turn A/C to 65° and put PowerBook over the A/C vent!

 

[ww2_1943]

I have a heavily used for 20 years, dropped multiple times, dented, scraped, clicky-hard-drive computer (PowerBook G4 12'' 867MHz, Aluminum) and when fully charged and in power save mode and processor set to half speed, the battery lasts for about 2 hours 45 minutes! I don't understand that a computer so used that it seems as if it will fall apart in seconds still has a perfect battery! The only downside is that my PowerBook overheats so bad I have to turn A/C to 65° and put PowerBook over the A/C vent!

That sounds like my old IBM ThinkPad T22. I had to use it in front of the AC.

If you're up to the task, I would take the PowerBook apart, clean out any dust, verify that the fan is working, and replace the processor thermal pad or paste.

 

[PowerPCFan]

I would reapply thermal paste but the PowerBook 12" is the hardest to take apart and I don't have any of Tue correct screwdrivers to get the job done. I don't hear the fan that much but one time when it was on for a few hours downloading a large dmg I heard the fan kick on at fullspeed.

That sounds like my old IBM ThinkPad T22. I had to use it in front of the AC.

If you're up to the task, I would take the PowerBook apart, clean out any dust, verify that the fan is working, and replace the processor thermal pad or paste.