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Run a PB 170 with no battery ?
Posted by: smp on 2016-10-28 14:55:01
Hi all,

I'm new here, and here is my first question:

I have a PowerBook 170 that I cherish.  The battery gave up its ghost long ago.  I have a second PB 170 that I acquired along the way, only to find the battery had leaked and damaged the main board.  So, I have removed the battery from my good PB 170, and I find that I can power up just fine using the AC adapter only, without the battery installed.  I've used it this way several times, never for more than a half hour or an hour.

My question (finally) is, will I do any damage to the PB 170 using it with the AC adapter and no battery installed?

Thanks very much, in advance, for your thoughts, either way.

smp

Posted by: Juror22 on 2016-10-28 19:53:34
I don't believe that there is any issue with using a PB 170, without the battery.  I have done this, without issue, for years on a couple of my powerbooks.  They don't have the issue that is present on the Macintosh portable that requires both batteries and the correct adapter.  If you have an un-recapped power supply, I would suggest that you periodically check the output, to be sure that it is still putting out the stated voltage.

Posted by: Strimkind on 2016-10-28 21:37:43
You can also easily remove the battery cover from the dead battery and put it on the PB 170.  It will make it look better, and lighter 🙂 .

Posted by: smp on 2016-10-29 05:24:35
I don't believe that there is any issue with using a PB 170, without the battery.  I have done this, without issue, for years on a couple of my powerbooks.
Thanks very much for the affirmation!

smp

Posted by: smp on 2016-10-29 05:25:22
You can also easily remove the battery cover from the dead battery and put it on the PB 170.  It will make it look better, and lighter 🙂 .
Yews, I've done that, and (of course) the PB looks normal from the outside.

Thanks,

smp

Posted by: techknight on 2016-10-29 16:16:13
the only machine you cannot run without a battery is the macintosh portable. 

Everything else is fair game! 

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