[eScrib]

Where's the best place to get a Pismo battery? Mine is dead.

Thanks!

[Patcarla]

Originally posted by eScrib:
Where's the best place to get a Pismo battery? Mine is dead.

Thanks!

eBay?

[milhous]

Hi eScrib:

I was in the same situation as you were. Refusing to no longer hunt for an outlet from class-to-class, I decided to finally get some new batteries.

APC (The company that makes Uninterruptable Power Supplys) now makes laptop batteries. What you need is model# LBCAP8R and retails for $139.99. I called APC directly because their online resellers did not have them in stock. I suggest that you call up your local CompUSA and do an inventory/availability check and lookup CompUSA part no. 294102. Luckily I was able to find a CompUSA near me that had 3 of them in stock and I purchased 2 of them. 2 new batteries and $280 poorer

I think they're a brand that you can trust. They also have a one-year product warranty. If you get these be sure to also register the serial numbers for both of them, which you can do online.

Also, be sure to follow the directions below to ensure that you get maximum battery performance:

http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_en...PTE*&p_li=

I know there's another company called BTi or something similar that also makes notebook batteries. I've never heard of them and I wouldn't bother trying them out.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask if you have more questions.

edit: Also, Apple no longer makes batteries for the Pismo. The APC batteries are the best out there as of now.

[robot prom]

milhous:

how long are those batteries lasting?

[milhous]

Not quite sure. I have to go through several calibration cycles in order to get maximum performance.

However, on my Pismo running 10.2.4 with lowest possible brightness setting and both batteries installed indicated that it could run for 9 hours 20 minutes. We'll have to see how good these batteries really are. The charge seems to be holding up pretty well. It has been almost 3 hours now and one of my batteries is down to a 1/3 of a charge.

Once i get the batteries broken into, I'll post more accurate battery life results.

[milhous]

Update:

Let me list the machine specifics before I state the battery life.


SPECIFICATIONS

-500 mhz Pismo
-512mb RAM
-running 10.2.4 6I32
-PowerLogix Cache Control running at 250mhz (2:1)
-APC Laptop batteries installed in both bays fully charged for the first time with optical drive removed
-Energy Saver Settings:
*Computer goes to sleep after 25 mins of inactivity
*Display goes to sleep after 10 mins
*Hard disk goes to sleep when possible
*SCREEN BRIGHTNESS SETTING SET TO 1 BAR OF BRIGHTNESS. IN OTHER WORDS, BACKLIGHT IS TURNED OFF AND BACKLIGHT KEY IS HIT ONCE FOR ILLUMINATION.


Ok, with that out of the way, the Pismo was used in a class environment such as taking notes, reading/writing email, Instant Messaging and so fourth. Times in which the notebook was used were tallied and while the Pismo was being transported or not in use, it was put to sleep.

With the two batteries, I have received a battery life of 9 hours, 12 minutes with a 35 minute warning prior to the system automatically entering sleep. This does NOT include times where the Pismo went to sleep.

As my early post stinks, new batteries must be charged and drained several times for maximum storage. I will keep recording the battery life for the next few attempts to see if indeed the battery life will increase. After the battery is calibrated, I will also try using the two batteries with the full backlight turned on, which should reduce the battery life. That will be done to give everyone a general idea of how much of an impact that the backlight has.

These batteries are awesome!

[tooki]

BTI is a very well-established battery vendor that has been selling replacement PowerBook batteries for far longer than APC. I'd have no qualms about buying a battery from either of those companies.

tooki

[mrmister]

Very impressive!

[eScrib]

Impressive indeed!!!

[legionare]

My pair of two-year old pismo batteries can barely give me four hours of juice (combined!) in 10.2.4. I can get ~5 hours in 9.2.2. My brightness setting's usually 3-5 bars from the maximum, with my power-hungry Travelstar 32GH 5411RPM hdd and AirPort on.