[rsgunther]

Apple just sent me a free battery for my 1.25GHZ Powerbook. I had some problems & had to get Applecare to repair so they sent me a free battery for my troubles.

However, I just moved & it delivered to my vacant house (up for sale) and sat on the porch for a couple of days in the snow / ice / cold weather.

The box did not get wet (must have had it in a bag or something) and the battery appears to be fine (no outside issues at all).

Should I

A) Keep my original battery (it was a refurbished unit so battery had been used)?

B) Keep the new one despite the cold weather it experienced?

I am planning on selling 1 of them on ebay, but don't know what to do. I am charging the new one in the book now just to test it & make sure it works ok.

What do you think?

[chipchen]

umm... first, you better make sure you don't have to send the other battery back, that's usually the drill.

second... sitting in the cold is a lot better for batteries that sitting in heat. i know some people who keep their batteries in the fridge to prolong its life.

third, you're thinking about keeping your old battery and selling the one you made apple gave you? do you make these things a habit? complain about other new stuff you buy, get replacement parts, and sell those on ebay again? maybe after you sell the replacement you can call apple and complain for more batteries? maybe you can become a reseller for PowerBook batteries?

last, even IF apple doesn't want the battery back, and IF you keep the new one, you're gonna sell a potentially defective battery on ebay and screw someone else?

I guess unless your problems have nothing to with your battery... then please excuse my accusations above...

there's a script in terminal that you can type in to check your battery status or a battery monitor you can download for OSX that you use.. they check battery capacity. it should be up to 4600... mine is 4400.. before my battery replacement, it was 3210 or something like that. keep the one that is higher. batteries stored in cold are no problem.

[rsgunther]

Originally posted by chipchen:
umm... first, you better make sure you don't have to send the other battery back, that's usually the drill.

second... sitting in the cold is a lot better for batteries that sitting in heat. i know some people who keep their batteries in the fridge to prolong its life.

third, you're thinking about keeping your old battery and selling the one you made apple gave you? do you make these things a habit? complain about other new stuff you buy, get replacement parts, and sell those on ebay again? maybe after you sell the replacement you can call apple and complain for more batteries? maybe you can become a reseller for PowerBook batteries?

last, even IF apple doesn't want the battery back, and IF you keep the new one, you're gonna sell a potentially defective battery on ebay and screw someone else?

I guess unless your problems have nothing to with your battery... then please excuse my accusations above...

there's a script in terminal that you can type in to check your battery status or a battery monitor you can download for OSX that you use.. they check battery capacity. it should be up to 4600... mine is 4400.. before my battery replacement, it was 3210 or something like that. keep the one that is higher. batteries stored in cold are no problem.

Chipchen,

thank you for the reply.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with my original battery.

I understand your thoughts & concerns but you are jumping to conclusions.

I bought a refurbished Powerbook G4 1.25GHZ w/Superdrive. It took about 8 days to arrive. When I got it, the keyboard didn't work (certain keys), the case was actually dented / cracked, the hard drive was making a terrible noise, etc. It was basically dead-on arrival. I called Apple & shipped it back.

They called me the next day and informed me that it would be $630.00 to replace the case since it had damage. I explained the situation, they looked in their computer, and saw my original comments from when I called in the repair (the day of delivery). (They got the Powerbook back to me 2 days after the phone call)


However, they had to transfer me to a manager. The manager did an override on the account to get the Powerbook repaired for free & offered me a free battery or AC adapter for my troubles.


I choose the free battery (I wasn't going to pass up a freebie).

I got the battery (but it was dropped off at my old residence as I mentioned in the original post). I figured I would keep the new battery in my machine & sell the old one (about 2 weeks old) since it was probably used previously since the machine was a refurb. I really don't have a need for 2 batteries. I was trying to decide what the right thing to do was (sell the new one or the old one) and that is why I posted originally.

After reading your post, I will keep the new one & sell the old one for 2 reasons. 1) I don't want to sell a possible bad battery to someone 2) It seems the new one will probably be fine since it was only exposed to cold temperatures.

Thank you again,

RsGunther

Also - check out my link to the pictures of unpackaging the powerbook

http://homepage.mac.com/rsgunther/PhotoAlbum3.html

[chipchen]

hehe... my apologies then... i too, never pass up on freebies... good luck with everything... i've never had bad luck with refurbs... in fact, I've seen a whole lot more DOA units new than refurb.