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PowerBook G4 Battery
- Thread starter rawweb
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You can take your chances and spend $20-30 for one on Ebay, or buy a Newertech one from OWC for $80 or so.
The Newertech ones are excellent.
The Ebay ones are a mixed bag-I end up requesting replacement for one out of about every three I buy(Powerbook, iBook, Macbook, and Macbook Pro batteries across a variety of models). I've had ones that simply wouldn't charge, would charge once and then discharge, or would only charge halfway. If you get one, test it immediately and contact the seller if you have issues.
I've also had fit issues with cheap ones. TiBooks seem to suffer from this the worst(I've had batteries that wouldn't even correctly make contact) but iBook and AlBook batteries seem to sometimes stand a little bit proud of the case. One of my Macbooks came to me with an almost new aftermarket battery, and I had non-stop problems with the computer randomly turning off on battery power. It finally died completely with about 60 cycles(wouldn't charge) and I replaced it with a nearly unused Apple old stock one that has been perfect(these particular batteries can still be bought new from Apple, although I paid about half Apple's price).
The Newertech ones are excellent.
The Ebay ones are a mixed bag-I end up requesting replacement for one out of about every three I buy(Powerbook, iBook, Macbook, and Macbook Pro batteries across a variety of models). I've had ones that simply wouldn't charge, would charge once and then discharge, or would only charge halfway. If you get one, test it immediately and contact the seller if you have issues.
I've also had fit issues with cheap ones. TiBooks seem to suffer from this the worst(I've had batteries that wouldn't even correctly make contact) but iBook and AlBook batteries seem to sometimes stand a little bit proud of the case. One of my Macbooks came to me with an almost new aftermarket battery, and I had non-stop problems with the computer randomly turning off on battery power. It finally died completely with about 60 cycles(wouldn't charge) and I replaced it with a nearly unused Apple old stock one that has been perfect(these particular batteries can still be bought new from Apple, although I paid about half Apple's price).
Technically you could do it on your own, but it's complicated! I bought a cheap $13 battery for my PBG4 off eBay, at 59 cycles, it is at 69% of its original capacity. They use really cheap cells that don't last and advertise more capacity then they really have
Thank you! I'll do this when it arrives, which, I'm sure will be a while. Free shipping!
It it works, 15 bucks for a new lease on life will be cool.
I got a cheap $15 one on eBay a few months back for my 12" PowerBook. It started out at 100% health, then within a few cycles fell down to 80, and has been holding steady there for several months and several dozen cycles. I generally get around 4 hours out of it, so I'm happy enough. I only really use it on the battery when I'm not in my classroom, or if I'm out running errands after school and waiting around for something.
It's a shame that OWC doesn't seem to make batteries for the 12" PowerBook; you'd think that they would be one of the more popular sellers, especially seeing as how they still have batteries available for the TiBooks.
It's a shame that OWC doesn't seem to make batteries for the 12" PowerBook; you'd think that they would be one of the more popular sellers, especially seeing as how they still have batteries available for the TiBooks.
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Well this is strange. Not sure if I did something wrong or not, but I might have somehow bricked this battery...
After taking it out of the package I made notice when pressing the button that two green dots appeared and showed a charge. I installed it in the laptop, plugged in the AC adapter and booted into OS X. The AC adapter shows orange, which I expected. Booting into OS X I was presented with this:
Removing the power cord shuts down the computer entirely. Very confused here. When it first turned on I detected the odor of...well..a battery and the battery was warm to the touch. Now I don't really feel much heat at all and no green dots when pressing the battery indicator.
After taking it out of the package I made notice when pressing the button that two green dots appeared and showed a charge. I installed it in the laptop, plugged in the AC adapter and booted into OS X. The AC adapter shows orange, which I expected. Booting into OS X I was presented with this:
Removing the power cord shuts down the computer entirely. Very confused here. When it first turned on I detected the odor of...well..a battery and the battery was warm to the touch. Now I don't really feel much heat at all and no green dots when pressing the battery indicator.
Update on this posting, unfortunately, I never did get the battery to work. I only had it fully charged maybe once or twice then it was completely dead, wouldn't charge. I initiated a return with the ebay seller.
Sad, I was hoping to get the old PB running on her own again. I fear buying another battery, perhaps something is either wrong with the PB or charger itself. I have no way to test as I don't know anyone else currently with a PowerBook.
Sad, I was hoping to get the old PB running on her own again. I fear buying another battery, perhaps something is either wrong with the PB or charger itself. I have no way to test as I don't know anyone else currently with a PowerBook.
The first screenshot showed a voltage of 8.5 volts which was way too low. These batteries should never get under 9v (3v/cell) as such a low voltage kills a li-ion battery pack.
I highly recommend AGPTEK batteries (they happen to make 15in Batteries, was planning to get one before I killed my laptop by accident). I have a 12-cell mega capacity battery for my Dell that works extremely well and isn't "cheap" by any means. The advertised information matches the battery and it lasts for a really long time under normal usage. Here's a link to the PBG4 one: http://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/130651739299
Thank you! At this point I'm only out the return packaging I had to get with USPS. Honestly shocked this shady seller wanted the item back, it cost more for them to return ship (and original free shipping) it than to just let me junk it. They'll probably try to rebuild it and sell it to another hopeful bright eyed dude like me.
@Gamer9430, I will give that link some consideration, thanks for pointing it out!
