A few impressions of the #repair of my #Apple #PowerBook100 with lots of leaky caps. I had to open the HDD, too, to free the heads that were stuck in parking position. But now it boots again. I have to take a closer look at the LCD, though, the contrast is way too low and the potentiometer has no effect. Maybe the LA5316 is broken, or the leakage spread further than I noticed. I had to clean the side behind the caps in the picture, too. A replacement screen is no option, so I might have to abandon this project when I can't fix it. The #powersupply is beyond repair, and the battery is dead, too.
#retrocomputing #PowerBook #soldering #recapping #leakycaps #electronics

Anuncio de Tv sobre el Apple PowerBook series 100...
#retrocomputingmx #apple #powerbook100

El 21 de octubre de 1991, Apple introduce la PowerBook 100, 140 y 170 en el COMDEX de las Vegas. Estos modelos vienen siendo las verdaderas primeras portátiles de la marca y sentó las bases para los diseños futuros y fue la primer laptop en tener un trackball. Costaban 2500 usd y descontinuadas un año después
#retrocomputingmx #apple #powerbook100

Upgrading the PowerBook 100 With A Fresh New Battery

The PowerBook 100 was one of the earliest Apple laptops released, coming not long after the breakout Macintosh Portable. Unlike modern hardware, it relied on sealed lead acid batteries. [360alaska] has such a laptop whose original battery is long dead, so they set about building a replacement battery with lithium cells instead.

The battery and its associated support circuitry is a mite unconventional in its design, but it gets the job done. The build uses two lithium polymer pouch cells in place of the original four cell sealed-lead acid battery, to replicate the roughly 7.2V nominal voltage. Because of this, unfortunately the stock PowerBook charger can't provide enough voltage to fully charge the LiPo cells up to their full 8.4 volts.

The workaround selected is that when the batteries fall below 80% state of charge, relays disconnect the cells from their series configuration powering the laptop, and instead connect each cell to its own single-cell charger board. Once charging is complete, the relays switch back out of charging mode so the batteries power the laptop once more. The only major drawback is that withdrawing the power adapter while the batteries are on charge will cut all power to the laptop.

It may not be perfect, but [360alaska] has succeeded in building a drop-in battery solution for the PowerBook 100 that can be used with the stock charger. Laptop batteries can be a fraught thing to deal with; often there are safeguards or DRM-type issues to navigate to get them to work around. Sometimes open-source designs are the best solution out there.

#laptopshacks #battery #laptop #laptopbattery #macintosh #powerbook #powerbook100