consumer and otherwise electronics questions

[jeremy at itassist.net.au]

> Well the LCD changes when you plug it in, so it knows. Don't think all
> Thinkpad batteries are the same though, and most old laptop batteries
> seem to be dead most of the time. I am looking for a source of cells I
> can use the re-pack the battery for my Compaq 486. If you don't mind
> having them seperate, an ordinary Nicad battery shoudl be OK (they won't
> run the laptop as long, but if it's only to put the laptop into
> hibernation *shrug*)

Don't do this to a ThinkPad.  Most laptops now have microcontrollers in
the batteries to control charging, smooth the voltage and report
statistics back to the laptop.

If you do this the very best you can hope for is that the laptop will
sulk until you remove the batteries.  At worst, the laptop could keep
charging the batteries until they melt because it can't get status on
the batteries.

Older laptops that actually used cells are fine, but if you open up a
battery on a new laptop you will find that they aren't just using 15 AA
cells.

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