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| PowerBook Powercord |
Posted by: Macbeeb on 2026-01-02 18:37:10
Greetings,
I have dug out an old PowerBook 160, and a PowerBook 165 from storage.
I have one original power adapter cable between the two of them. (I think it belonged to the 160)
There seems to be absolutely no power at all on either of the units using this cord. No little electronic click sound. No boot. No nothing.
I have left the power adapter plugged in to wall socket for some time, trying to gauge if I can feel any warmth on the brick. It's completely cold. Is this normal? Or should it be warm when plugged into power?
My point is I'm trying to determine if the power adapter unit is bad (buy a new AC adapter cord), rather than the internal power manage unit / fuse / PRAM battery, etc.?
Thanks for any thoughts. |
Posted by: luRaichu on 2026-01-02 18:40:43
Get a multimeter and see if there's voltage |
Posted by: A24A on 2026-01-03 07:43:53
You should see 7.5 V DC output at the tip (centre-positive). The power adapter may not be warm unless a certain amount of power is used by the computer. 2.0 A maximum output current power adapters should be OK, but a 3.0 A model (intended for the 180c) will work as well.
It may also be worth checking the internal fuse (typically, F1) inside the PowerBook computers. |
Posted by: Macbeeb on 2026-01-03 16:30:24
Don't know why it didn't occur to me to check with multimeter. However, now I can't get a reading on my multimeter.
I'm no electrician. So I checked to be sure I was contacting at correct points, and that meter is on correct settings. But nothing. I've tried on a few different barrel plug power adapters. Nothing.
Will have to dig deeper into this to figure what's going on (and what I am doing)
Thanks to all |
Posted by: luRaichu on 2026-01-03 16:41:51
Have you tried a different mains outlet? |
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2026-01-06 11:07:04
The 7.5V 2A power supply for the 100 Series PowerBooks fails nearly 100% of the time due to the ELNA-brand capacitors inside of it spilling their guts. There's a specific method where you can use a hammer/mallet and a flat-head screwdriver to cleanly bust the brick open, after which you can replace the capacitors, clean up the electrolyte gloop, and the supply may work again.
Or....you could just buy a cheap aftermarket supply. That's the route I took. |
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