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Repair information for PowerBook G4 Aluminum laptops with 15-inch displays.

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PowerBook G4 Aluminum 15" 1.5-1.67 GHz PRAM Battery Replacement

Hi:

My pram battery is clearly dead. Time, date, and wi-fi settings are not saved once the Powerbook is unplugged.

I appreciate the iFixit guide for removing the pram battery! That part I can manage relatively easily.

My issue is that only used battery module replacements are available from eBay. Their remaining battery life is dubious, to say the least.

I would like to desolder and solder a brand-new pram battery onto the small printed-circuit module that holds it.

Does anyone have any experience doing this? Is it safely doable? Suggestions welcome.

Thanks in advance for any help you may have to offer.

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@dschind post some good, clear and large enough pictures of the PRAM battery module with your Question. Let's see what we can come up with,

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@dschind the battery is a simple single cell 3V Li Ion coin cell with solder tabs. Something like a Panasonic VL2020 or the ML2020 Looks like this one. It is soldered to the battery controller. Yes, you can replace this pretty easily yourself for as long as you have some experience soldering. If you tear the outside wrapping of the battery assembly, simply get some kapton tape to replace that after the battery replacement.

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Carefully, open the battery package as you will likely need to reuse it. Hopefully you can identify the battery which is mounted to the circuit board, I believe there are three cells, that’s from my dusty memory!

Do post some clear images on what you find I’m sure there is a way to replace the cells.

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