WANTED -- DEAD OR ALIVE: 701C Battery

[Paul Pennington]

I need to upgrade my BIOS, and I'm looking for a battery that goes in a 700C or 700CS "Butterfly" ThinkPad. I plan to rebuild it, so working time is not important. It can even have minor leakage, as long as the contacts on the end are not corroded. MUST be a NiMH type, don't need NiCd. One FRU for the NiMH type is 25H4862 -- there are probably others. Original IBM only, please, no third-party substitutes. Please PM with description, price, and shipping to 30907.

[RealBlackStuff]

Probably one of the very few options:
http://www.ebatts.com/ibm_thinkpad-701c ... ories.aspx

I repaired George's (ajkula66) 701c and put a new CMOS battery from these guys in it.
It's a Siemens battery, and works absolutely perfect.
On his motherboard the battery connector was corroded, so I took it out and put the connector from an old T23 motherboard on it (which was identical).

[Paul Pennington]

Thanks Dominic, I was not aware of that option. Too expensive for me, at $230 or $330! I only paid $15 for my 701C at a swapmeet. The size is actually bigger than the computer itself, even with the keyboard expanded!

How about it -- does anyone have an old battery for a Butterfly in their junk box?

[RealBlackStuff]

Too big? It's the same size as the one it replaces! (The dimensions given are wrong anyway.)
And the price is $18.86
http://www.ebatts.com/ibm_thinkpad-701c ... b-422.aspx
Here's another source: http://batteryfinder.fedcoelectronics.c ... &_fid=2791

If you want just the battery alone, and do your own wiring, this one will work:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 9717282508

[qviri]

.

[Paul Pennington]

Yes, I'm looking for a NiMH main battery.

RBS: The link in your message points to an external Li-ION external battery that sits under the notebook.

[RealBlackStuff]

Funny, I don't remember ever having seen a main battery in NiMh, only LiIon.
That's why I kept referring to the CMOS battery, and never bothered to check the given P/N 25H4862

Doing a Google gave me this (and a whole lot more): http://www.elec-shopping.com/laptop-bat ... 5H4862.htm

[Paul Pennington]

Did you mean to say only NiCd? I don't believe there ever was a Li-Ion battery for the 701. Both of mine are NiCd's. The PSREF spec sheet for the 701 models (there's only one page) gives the FRU for a NiCd and a NiMH battery. I'm looking for one of the NiMH models.

I don't believe that Elec-Shopping web site is real. If you look closely, nowhere on the site do they list a phone number or an address. I emailed them saying I was interested in buying a battery and asking for a phone number or address. They never replied. Caveat emptor.

But thanks for bumping my WTB listing

[RealBlackStuff]

Sorry about that.
How about this one? http://www.intelligentbatteries.com/ord ... 04ZZZZZ064
They are in Canada.
Battery US$35.00
Shipping US$14.50

[BillMorrow]

i HAD:
many 701 batteries, NOS..
not sure if i tossed them or packed them and moved them when i moved..

i HAVE: several system boards including one tricked out with the 100mhz cpu, 72meg memory and maybe more..
half a dozen (at least) NEW 701 keyboards and about a dozen 701C's (C not Cs) in varying states of condition from excellent to barely there..

it will take some incentive to get me to go dig througn the boxes for the batteries though there MIGHT be one or two still in one of the 701C systems that are stacked all over the place..

[Paul Pennington]

Bill;

I thought you got rid of your cache of 701C parts or I would have PM'd you. I already have an upgrade board with the memory chip (that's 133 MHz and 64 MB, by the way). I would like to get a couple NiMH batteries, one of the new keyboards, a good TFT screen for the 701C (perhaps in a parts machine, some hard disk caddies, and a few accessories and cables. If you find your stash, I would be willing to drive down I-20 from Augusta to Eatonton and pick it up, and perhaps make you an offer for all of it. You would have to verify that you at least have the NiMH batteries, new keyboard and screen to make it worthwhile to burn the gas.

You'll probably want to pull the batteries out of the systems anyway before they leak and ruin the computers.

Thanks for the offer, and let me know by email or PM,

--Paul

[Paul Pennington]

RealBlackStuff;

Intelligent Batteries looks iffy: at least they list phone numbers and an address on their web site. I found a rating site that listed several happy customers and one who said they never answer their phones. Sure enough, I called both numbers today at 11:00 their time and no answer on either one. I sent them an email asking if the 701C battery was in stock, so we'll see if they respond. Thanks for trying, but so far you're swinging but no chips are flying

[BillMorrow]

Bill;

I thought you got rid of your cache of 701C parts or I would have PM'd you. I already have an upgrade board with the memory chip (that's 133 MHz and 64 MB, by the way). I would like to get a couple NiMH batteries, one of the new keyboards, a good TFT screen for the 701C (perhaps in a parts machine, some hard disk caddies, and a few accessories and cables. If you find your stash, I would be willing to drive down I-20 from Augusta to Eatonton and pick it up, and perhaps make you an offer for all of it. You would have to verify that you at least have the NiMH batteries, new keyboard and screen to make it worthwhile to burn the gas.

You'll probably want to pull the batteries out of the systems anyway before they leak and ruin the computers.

Thanks for the offer, and let me know by email or PM,

--Paul

uhmmm..
i normally do/did pull all the batteries..
i DID have a bunch of NOS but i need to ask my assistant if we packed those or dumped them..

72meg.. 64meg memory part + 8meg on board..
and you're right, 133mhz..

ok, i just spent about an hour+ digging through boxes..
found: museum qual 701C with IM leather folio case, thinkpad 860 power PC, 770Z museum, a whole bunch of 750,755 thinkpads..
the upgrade parts for the super 701C, caddys, HDD doors, trackpoint caps of all kinds, the spare UXGA display for my T60p, and other misc things but NO batteries at all..

so i must ask if these were packed (see above) and its too late to do that this AM..

if you want to drive and fish through this stuff you are welcome..

[Paul Pennington]

Bill;

Thanks for digging through your treasure trove. I'll PM you with my contact information so we can set something up.

Just for the record: the 64 MB SODIMM only gives you 64 MB of memory total. Adding a 4, 8, 16, or 32 MB module does add the two memories together as you say, but this is an exception. They hacked on the SODIMM to disable the first (last?) 8K. My guess is that the 701C is limited to 64 MB total memory, so the only way they could keep the added memory from conflicting with the built-in 8 MB memory was to disable it on the SODIMM. I'll be posting some pictures in a few days of the modification.

[Paul Pennington]

Good news: Intelligent Batteries emailed me back.

Bad news: The 701C battery on their web site has been discontinued. They also fired the only guy who knows how to update the web site, evidently.

So, back to the original WTB: one or two 701C NiMH batteries.

[BovineMage]

Here, try these guys on Ebay:

Click on this

It took some digging, since they didn't show up when I searched for Thinkpad 701 stuff normally, but hopefully they can help you out.

Cheers,

- Bovine Mage

[Paul Pennington]

Thanks for the lead -- I'll look into that.

It's located in the UK, no warranty, no returns and 30 bucks with shipping for a non-IBM battery, so I'm still looking at this point.

[phr]

I don't think you should expect good operation from any battery that old. I'd grab it anyway though, with the idea of prying it apart and replacing the cells inside. There are a bunch of different web sites about how to do that, and a few commercial services, though the commercial places have apparently started to suck.