Taking the piss

[ffutures]

When I got my iBook the battery was capable of 2-3 hours operation, more if I turn off WiFi. Since I wanted to use it at trade shows where they charge £100+ for the use of a mains socket I got a second battery fairly cheap on eBay, which had about the same life.

Today the original battery has about an hour's capacity, and the second one is below two hours. So I went along to the big Apple shop in Regent Street and asked prices tonight. And it turns out they cost £89.95 each. And unless I can find replacements a hell of a lot cheaper than that I'm afraid that my days as a Mac user may be somewhat more limited than I'd anticipated.

So if anyone sees anyone selling genuine batteries for a 14" screen iBook G4 cheapish please let me know.

Comments

Li-ion batteries

[nojay.livejournal.com]

The problem is that lithium-ion (and the rarer lithium-polymer) batteries have a fixed lifespan of a couple of years before they start to deteriorate. Four or five years after manufacture they don't hold a charge particularly well and the laptop's charging circuit will give up on them at that point. In contrast I've got nickel-cadmium packs for a cordless drill that are over a decade old and they still hold about 70% of the original rated capacity.

The manufacturers went for Li-ion because it gives the best capacity for the volume and weight, two important factors in laptop marketing. There's a newer technology on the horizon from Toshiba with rechargeable cells that last over ten years and which can be charged very rapidly (5-10 minutes if the charger can deliver the juice!). The downside is they're not as capacious as Li-ion.

As for price, I've been quoted 115 quid for a new battery pack for my small Japanese Lifebook laptop. There doesn't seem to be any aftermarket suppliers for that model, unlike the Apple laptops. The one thing to watch out for is that second-hand batteries are likely to be on their way out; buy new even if they are OEM. The other solution is to buy three cheap 6V gel-cell lead acid batteries from Maplin or similar (the sort used in electric kiddy bikes and go-cars) and assemble an 18V external pack you can take with you to the trade shows, plugging it into the laptop where the regular mains adaptor goes.

As for me I'm waiting for a couple of rechargeable camera battery packs I've ordered to arrive. Whwn that happens I'm pulling the fresh Li-ion cells out of them and refurbishing a dead battery pack for my laptop. It works out at about 20quid or so, plus my time and effort desoldering and resoldering the cells.

Re: Li-ion batteries

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit leery of the Mac power pack socket with the glow-in-the-dark plug etc.; if I went the external power pack route would there be any unusual problems, or is it just a straightforward connection?

Re: Li-ion batteries

[nojay.livejournal.com]

Point -- Apple are renowned for designing in weird power connections that nobody else can build to.

Here's a second solution for you -- 12V-240V converter (150W) @ 14.99:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=1&ModuleNo=218810&doy=14m12

plus two of Maplin's L21AC 6V lead-acid gel-cell batteries on special offer right now at 3.99 each. That will run your laptop for about as long as a regular Apple battery would (3-4 hours) plus it'll drive anything else main-powered you want to run off it like a phone charger etc. Extra batteries are cheap to stretch your power-on time too. No hacking at the Apple's power port required.

I suspect if you dug around you could get a better price for the power converter and batteries but Maplin are, well, there.

Re: Li-ion batteries

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Heavy, but certainly a possibility.