Strange Pismo battery recharging glitch

[ziggy29]

We just completed a cross-country move where we put our Pismo and batteries into storage for a while (about 3 months). When we just got everything out of storage and I started setting up my old Macs and testing everything, I noticed something weird about one of the batteries. It's a 6600 mAh aftermarket battery I've had for years.

It was completely drained. And at first it didn't want to recharge, but then it started recharging. But it only recharges about 6-7% before it stops charging. I can remove the battery and re-insert it immediately... and it takes another 6-7% (on average) and then stops charging again. It's back up over 70% charged now, still charging, and it works.... it just won't continuously charge to full. I have another Apple-branded battery that charged all the way up to 100% without intervention.

Anyone seen something like this, and if so, has anyone managed to resolve it?

 

[Raging Dufus]

I've experienced what you describe with a Pismo I used to own, although it was with an Apple OEM battery, not an aftermarket one...but unfortunately, I was not able to resolve the problem.

Mine would get stuck in the same place as yours, charged to 6% or 7%, sometimes as much as 11%, but it would stall there no matter how long I left it plugged in to AC. There were also times when, after I would drain the battery completely and perform a PMU reset on the PowerBook, the displayed level would be in the neighborhood of 60-70%, but when I unplugged it, the battery wouldn't last any longer than it had when it said 6% (10 minutes if I was lucky). Then it would only recharge to 6-7% again, so the appearance of having a greater charge was simply an anomaly. I never figured out a solution to the problem; and given the scarcity and high cost of Pismo-compatible batteries, I just threw in the towel and sold the machine.

There was another option that I considered, but decided against (prices too high for my taste; this was about 6 years ago): a battery rebuild service. I can't vouch for the quality of any of them, since I've never tried one, but here's one example I found in a Google search.

There's also plenty of DIY resources if you want to crack that battery open and re-cell it yourself. One of these days I'll do that, because it's getting near impossible to find even aftermarket replacements for any PPC-based Apple portable.