PRAM replacement on later Powerbook G4?

[jenna32bit]

So I have a 1.33GHZ/17" Powerbook 5,3. It gets quite upset if the main battery runs out of charge. Boots to a shrill alarm unless I give it a few minutes to juice up, and loses date & time. Basically, exactly the expected symptoms of a dead PRAM battery.

In these, the battery is on a board with several of the ports and it is not a distinct part. Any advice on replacing these, is there a best option that's got all the right tabs on it already? I'm hoping to beef up this machine, but want to get the foundations solid first.

 

[jenna32bit]

Okay maybe an easier question - it looks like these are a pair of tagged 3032 rechargeable coin batteries? And it runs them in tandem?

I'm thinking of grabbing a few of the Panasonic VL3032-F2n to pair together, thoughts?

 

[jenna32bit]

Keeping my own thread up to date for other folks to follow along.

I bought some spare parts on eBay of a matching model PBG4. Here’s a photo of the PRAM module that lives by the DVD drive. These are “CGL2430” batteries from Panasonic. Wired in series, I think? 3.7V.

At least one tab is both under the battery and surface mount, so this will be fun. That’s why I bought a spare to try instead!

Edit - not quite so bad! It’s three thru hole pins. Two on the same side as the USB port, one opposite.

 

[Jockelill]

On the G3 Lombard it’s a similar solution, but with 6 in series. Bad thing is that you have to take the whole computer apart…

 

[AdeptRapier]

Hello,

Thanks for the thread. I have the same issue with my 1.67Ghz Powerbook G4 17".

How did you complete the replacement repair? Did you solder the batteries or some other way?

I would love to hear a detailed post on your complete repair and if it was successful, etc.

Thanks!!

 

[S. Pupp]

Hello,

Thanks for the thread. I have the same issue with my 1.67Ghz Powerbook G4 17".

How did you complete the replacement repair? Did you solder the batteries or some other way?

I would love to hear a detailed post on your complete repair and if it was successful, etc.

Thanks!!

I’m new to this thread (and forum) but thought I’d make a comment about my own rebuild of PRAM batteries on a few of my 17” PowerBooks a few years ago. I used copper foil with electrically conductive adhesive to connect the batteries in parallel, and then soldered tabs of the foil to the remnants of the original battery tabs that I had left on the board. I also used a variation of this by applying conductive adhesive to thin copper sheeting. This looked better.

I rebuilt PB G3 Lombard and PDQ batteries the same way, until obtaining a cheap Kerpu battery spot welder from Amazon, and a one-handed spot weld pen. At the mid setting, the spot welder punched a small hole in one of the coin cells. At the low setting, it worked fine. The foil method was definitely safer for coin cells, though.