Gateway Handbook 486

[natcha]

I just acquired a Gateway Handbook 486DX2/50. It was really clean. Came with the floppy drive, but no drive cable or power supply. Based from what I could find on the web, the first battery terminal is negative and the second it positive. I tried a 6V lantern battery and got no response from the computer.

Did I get the contacts wrong? Is there anything I should look at in particular for a dead unit.

It's a pretty neat computer & I'd like to bring it back to life. It came with two dead battery packs, so I thought I'd open one up and replace with AA batteries.

Appreciate any help.

Bill
Smithville, NJ

 

[barythrin]

Cool, let us know how that surgery goes! I never tried to figure out the pins.. if I can track one of mine down and the power supply perhaps I can meter it out of the battery leads. How many amps does your battery supply btw? Per the specs it needs 2200mA. If it didn't have enough it wouldn't power on either. You probably found the main sites already on rebuilding a battery.

 

[natcha]

Okay, I got the battery opened. Used a Dremel tool to cut it open. I put a quick charge into the battery and was able to measure the contact points. From left to right (from the offset side of the battery), first tab is Negative, Second Tab is ????? (Maybe the negative from the A/c power supply?), third and fourth tabs are tied together and is the positive.

So I tried applying a power supply to the first and third/fourth tabs, but still no go on getting the unit to power up.

Next step is to open up and see what I discover in the unit.

Bill
Smithville, NJ

 

[Dizzious]

Hey Bill/Natcha,

Do you still have one of the batteries from this unit? I have a Handbook 486 and I have the opposite problem as you had - I have the power adapter, but I have no batteries.

I realize this post is over five years old at this point, but I really want to test out my Handbook and I'm looking to avoid spending $75 on a new battery for it before even knowing if the machine works. If I can buy one of your dead batteries then I'm sure I can replace the cells in it and make it work at least well enough to test my machine.

I hope you're still on this forum :D
Thanks!