Recycled Computing

Taking Apart a PowerBook G3 (Lombard or Pismo) Battery

- 2008.09.24

This is not for the foolhardy and clumsy, but that didn't stop me! I happened to have a spare PowerBook G3 (Pismo) battery that was holding an ever decreasing number of milliamps, so I figured why not? I'd always wanted to see the inside. (The Lombard battery is identical to the Pismo's.)

A word of caution. All I'm going to do at this point is take apart the battery. Since it involves lithium batteries, please be careful if you decide that you want to follow in my footsteps. I assume no liability for you or your battery. Neither does Low End Mac. So let's be careful!

Using a sharp edge, score along the seam that separates the two halves of the battery case.

battery seam

Slow and steady. Don't try to force anything. Since this is an "intelligent" battery, there are circuit boards at the front and back of the case, so if you forcefully try to pry it apart, bad things could happen!

circuit board inside battery

My battery case was more strongly fastened at the back than at the front. As a result, I was very careful on the rear of the case.

back of battery case

Watch the area around the power coupling as well. I very slowly pried the case apart at this point in the process.

battery case taken apart

There you are - the battery case is split in two, and 9 lithium-ion 4400 mAh cells are visible. You can pry out the cells and unsolder them, but I am going to wait until I can lay my hands on some cheap cells.

cells removed from battery case

You should be sure to get cells with the tabs soldered on. Soldering tabs onto regular batteries is not something you can do yourself. I'm waiting to try to find a supplier who has a good price on the cells. When I do, I will post another article on how to solder the new cells into place and how to get the whole thing back together.

Until then, happy Pismoing!

Join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Google+, or subscribe to our RSS news feed

Today's Links

Mac of the Day: PowerBook 500 Series, introduced 1994.05.16. 'Blackbird' includes a 25 to 33 MHz 68040 along with smart batteries and grayscale or color displays.
Support Low End Mac

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Opinions expressed are those of their authors and may not reflect the opinion of Cobweb Publishing. Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all.
Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2016 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Low End Mac, LowEndMac, and lowendmac.com are trademarks of Cobweb Publishing Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad, iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, Mac Pro, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it, and we don't share the information we have with others. For more details, see our Terms of Use.

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac on Facebook

Page not found | Low End Mac

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching, or one of the links below, can help.

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching, or one of the links below, can help.

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching, or one of the links below, can help.

Recycled Computing

Taking Apart a PowerBook G3 (Lombard or Pismo) Battery

Today's Links

Recent Content

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Welcome Image and Text

Main menu

Welcome to Low End Mac

Navigation Bar

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Archives

Tags

Welcome Image and Text

Main menu

Welcome to Low End Mac

Navigation Bar

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Archives

Tags

Favorite Sites

Affiliates

Advertise

Welcome Image and Text

Main menu

Welcome to Low End Mac

Navigation Bar

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Archives

Tags