Forums | MacLife

reece_james · 2005-01-31 4:32 am

I've found a site that exposes the guts of the Pismo's battery. What I want to know, can you buy the cells to replace the guts of the thing. I know there are a few re-packers around the place, but I'm willing to risk injury to try a repack.

This is the site

Last edited by reece_james (2005-01-31 4:56 am)

ironhawk · 2005-01-31 11:25 am

Sure, you just need find the part number and manufacturer of the cells ( which are likely printed on them ).
Google should then provide plenty of reseller info.
Better still, if you can find out what cells MCE is using in their longer-life replacement batteries.

When reworking batteries, there's usually some soldering involved, but it appears, from the photo, that such may not be the case with the Pismo's battery.

Last edited by ironhawk (2005-01-31 11:30 am)

spaz2 · 2005-01-31 4:30 pm

If your battery (like one of my old Wallstreet batterys) is totally unresponsive can you still re-cell it? I was wondering if this is possible as I thought that there was a little onboard controller that limits the total cycles and shuts down disallowing additional chargeing once the cells crystalize out... is this correct? If there is a chip or controller that does this can it be reset by simply re-celling the battery??? Or I am wrong again?

:0)

reece_james · 2005-01-31 5:56 pm

Well I have had some success with Open firmware reseting the controller. I managed to get 3 hours back from a 'dead' battery on eBay. Most of the time, you can trick it into taking a full charge, but then the lock kicks back in. I'm guessing it would be the same on the Lombard and Wallstreet batteries. However, if the cells haven't formed lithium metal, then the controller should just reset to the new parameters. I know of a re-packer in Australia that does the Pismo batteries, he repacks them to 6600mah up from the 5200-5600 stock and the 4800 Lombard.

I tried looking for the cells on google and drew a blank. They are larger than AA batteries, could they be Lithum A Cells?

reece_james · 2005-02-11 4:45 pm

I've done some more searching, they appear to be 4/3 A batteries. My next question is about the lithium batteries themselves. They are just your normal lithium cells? Would they be rechargeable or un-rechargeable?

ironhawk · 2005-02-13 3:45 pm

As far as I know, they are rechargeable. That's pretty much the purpose of lithium cells.
The label in the photo shows Sony info printed on the labels. I would start with Sony's website, or give 'em a call, to track down a means of ordering the cells.

D'Eyncourt · 2005-02-13 5:08 pm

You should consider the price of doing this yourself versus buying a replacement like those here at Other World Computing.

reece_james · 2005-02-15 3:55 pm

Unfortunatly the replacements are usually @ 4800 rather than the Pismo's 5200-5600mAh. Re-packers can do it to 6600 for about the same price as buying a new one.

The reason I asked about the rechargeable bit is the circuit may be designed to recharge a straight lithium cell, and not have the charging circuit in each cell.

D'Eyncourt · 2005-02-15 4:07 pm

Um, the OWC link is for 5400/6600/7200 mAh Pismo batteries for US $140/150/160. I suspect that they might be comparable to repackers due to volume buying by Newer Technologies (which are the makers of the batteries sold by OWC).

spaz2 · 2005-02-16 10:21 pm

Did you ever notice that the NewerTech battery that NewerTech is supposed to make looks an aweful lot likt the ultra cell battery?

http://www.truedataonline.com/xq/asp/fi … /index.htm

http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item. … WTBAPLLIWS (The photo is kinda washed out... it is Blue writing on black).

reece_james · 2005-02-17 7:31 am

well for a 6600 repack its about 280 AUD so yeah, its about the same.

spaz2, those batteries are for the wallstreet, not lombard/pismo, close but no banana. those are easier to find new. sad sorry about the lack of capitals, i'm soo tired at the moment. :yawn:

oatmeal · 2005-02-17 12:01 pm

spaz2 wrote:
Did you ever notice that the NewerTech battery that NewerTech is supposed to make looks an aweful lot likt the ultra cell battery?

http://www.truedataonline.com/xq/asp/fi … /index.htm

Our low price: $129.00

BUY NOW and save an
additional $0.66

lol

spaz2 · 2005-02-17 6:45 pm

As oatmeal notes you can save 66 cents to.... Anyway sorry for just linking to the wallstreet battery... there were others of the Pismo and Lombard batterys to. But anyway the link is dead now... and a deeper search thru the Trudata site seems to generate lots of product listings but ultra-cell photos are all gone. No more pictures of the batterys. So... why? It (the link) was good yesterday and now gone after it was posted? I wonder why? Who makes those batterys? Who is "ultra-cell"?

I remember when Sonnet used to sell an ATA66 controller card as their own. No mention was every made that it was an Acard product rebadged as Sonnet product... funny.

reece_james · 2005-02-17 9:54 pm

Yeah it would be interesting to see. I knew about the Acard and sonnet compatibility and similarities. Very interesting.

TheUltimateMacUser · 2005-03-16 7:29 pm

reece_james wrote:
Well I have had some success with Open firmware reseting the controller. I managed to get 3 hours back from a 'dead' battery on eBay. Most of the time, you can trick it into taking a full charge, but then the lock kicks back in. I'm guessing it would be the same on the Lombard and Wallstreet batteries. However, if the cells haven't formed lithium metal, then the controller should just reset to the new parameters.

How did you do this? I've got an old battery from my Lombard that i'd like to try to reset.

oatmeal · 2005-03-16 7:31 pm

TheUltimateMacUser wrote:
reece_james wrote:
Well I have had some success with Open firmware reseting the controller. I managed to get 3 hours back from a 'dead' battery on eBay. Most of the time, you can trick it into taking a full charge, but then the lock kicks back in. I'm guessing it would be the same on the Lombard and Wallstreet batteries. However, if the cells haven't formed lithium metal, then the controller should just reset to the new parameters.
How did you do this? I've got an old battery from my Lombard that i'd like to try to reset.

2 on my Pismo I'd like to try...

Alien · 2005-03-17 3:23 am

These are Li-Ion cells, which aren't easily available to the general public. And for good reason: a bursting or leaking Li-Ion cell can kill you.

Re-celling NiMH batteries is a walk in the park, but don't touch the Li-Ion stuff. Seriously.

,xtG
.tsooJ

reece_james · 2005-03-17 11:38 pm

K, forget the Lithium repack, but I will post up the instructions to reset the battery. It is done in the Firmware and is similar to the iBook battery reset.

TheUltimateMacUser · 2005-03-18 2:53 pm

Im looking for the info on resetting the Li-ion battery for a Lombard. If you can post it, thanks.

reece_james · 2005-03-18 9:56 pm

Yep, got assessments today. I'll get onto it Monday or Tuesday night. It works quite well. I had one battery I got off eBay marked as 'dead'. I did the little reset trick and poof, 3 hours of battery life. In some cases, the batteries don't recover, or recover for a few charges before going back to where they were. My guess is that I've found a way to trick the kill circuit that slowly kills the battery if Lithum metal starts to form and thus will only work on batteries that may have sensed the metal even though there isn't any.

reece_james · 2005-03-21 12:26 am

OK this is how to do a reset of the Pismo and I guess the Lombard Batteries...

1. Make sure the battery is as charged as it will go and keep the power in.

2. Boot into Open Firmware (Command-Option-O-F at Boot)

3. Unplug the power.

4. Run these commands.
reset nvram
set defaults
reset all

5. Boot into Open Firmware (Do not let it boot into the OS at any time or you will have to start at step 1 again.)

6. Leave it to drain the battery.

7. Once the battery is drained, insert the power and quickly boot into open firmware and repeat step 3-6.

8. Plug in the power again, boot into OF and leave to charge.

9. Once fully charged (will take about 3 hours) repeat steps 4-6 again. (There should be a good difference in run time)

10. Leave to charge while turned off.

11. Boot into OF and run the commands in step 4.

12. Let it boot into OS X.

13. Turn off all powersave functions and let it drain till it sleeps.

Alien · 2005-03-21 12:53 am

reece_james wrote:
4. Run these commands.
reset nvram
set defaults
reset all

That should be:

reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all

Note the dashes. They are important.

,xtG
.tsooJ

reece_james · 2005-03-21 5:54 am

O, whoops thanks for the correction. It's been a while since I've used them.

spaz2 · 2005-03-25 12:15 am

Heh I have a question... in step 4 you note to type "reset-all"... if you hit return at this point it boots to the OS... but then the next step you say to boot into OF again and nto to let it load the OS... how... doesn't "reset-all" boot to the OS? Can you interrupt this by slamming the cmd+opt+o+f key combo after hitting the return ket after "reset-all"?

Do you think that this sequence will work with Wallstreets but instead of typing "reset-nvram" type "init-nvram"... I have had issues with my NewerTech Battery... it slowly refuses to charge. When new it charged to 100% according to BatteryX and the battery Gauge in OSX.3... then it would only charge to 96... then after awhile to 82%.... but it will reset and return to a full charge when I reset the PMU and then pull all power and then reset the PMU and then return wallpower and reset teh PMU again and then insert the battery... I suppose I will need to try it...

Last edited by spaz2 (2005-03-25 12:21 am)

ironhawk · 2005-03-25 10:50 am

spaz2 wrote:
... doesn't "reset-all" boot to the OS? Can you interrupt this by slamming the cmd+opt+o+f key combo after hitting the return ket after "reset-all"?

Yes.

Forums | MacLife

#1 2005-01-31 4:32 am

Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#2 2005-01-31 11:25 am

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#3 2005-01-31 4:30 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#4 2005-01-31 5:56 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#5 2005-02-11 4:45 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#6 2005-02-13 3:45 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#7 2005-02-13 5:08 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#8 2005-02-15 3:55 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#9 2005-02-15 4:07 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#10 2005-02-16 10:21 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#11 2005-02-17 7:31 am

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#12 2005-02-17 12:01 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

spaz2 wrote:

#13 2005-02-17 6:45 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#14 2005-02-17 9:54 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#15 2005-03-16 7:29 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

reece_james wrote:

#16 2005-03-16 7:31 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

TheUltimateMacUser wrote:

reece_james wrote:

#17 2005-03-17 3:23 am

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#18 2005-03-17 11:38 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#19 2005-03-18 2:53 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#20 2005-03-18 9:56 pm

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#21 2005-03-21 12:26 am

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#22 2005-03-21 12:53 am

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

reece_james wrote:

#23 2005-03-21 5:54 am

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#24 2005-03-25 12:15 am

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

#25 2005-03-25 10:50 am

Re: Hacking the Pismo's Battery.

spaz2 wrote:

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