[SPARCbook] Sparcbook experiences from new list member

[Liam]

Hi Julian,

Apropos batteries: THAT, as you will well know, looks like a damned good
idea! I would be particularly intrigued as to how you get on. 

My apologies for not jumping straight into it myself (time restrictions, you
understand), but if you can do it, I will try it.

I have installed physically oversized memory on at least a couple of my
SB3s, which means the battery doesn't fit in again. However, if I could get
an internal battery working, I would search for smaller modules.

As a point of interest, I have never tried an external battery on these
machines. After finishing my latest project (nothing fancy; just reloading
an Amrel Rocky II for the kids to use as soon as they are able to lift it),
I had in mind to try the universal external batteries I have. One is a
dubious one which claims to take various input voltages and to produce
specific output voltages, which, although the 12V doesn't quite match the
4amp spec, MAY work. The other one is a Maplin own brand, and I was
wondering about trying the 15V output. Not sure on that one, but, doubtless,
one day, Guinness will get the upper hand and reckless experimentation will
ensue. I'll let you know how I get on.

The CF card adapter sounds great. I think I've missed the boat on a device
like that, though. I recently bought a CF drive, at a ridiculous clearance
price, for my Tadpole Talin 15, but have not tried it out yet. 

I'd be really interested to hear how you get on.

Cheers, Liam



-----Original Message-----
From: Julian Coleman [mailto:jdc at coris.org.uk] 
Sent: 29 January 2009 11:46
To: sparcbook at sunhelp.org
Subject: Re: [SPARCbook] Sparcbook experiences from new list member

Hi,

[Sparcbook 3]
> A battery stick can be built from 10 AA-size nimh cells, 

I have pulled my battery apart and was thinking about replacing the cells
with standard AA cells.  Looking at:

  http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=31427

it should be possible to make a 10xAA holder from two of the 6AA Battery
box (long) and solder the connectors from the original circuit board to it.
With any luck, it will all fit back in the original case too.

> Sparcbook external battery pack:
> I got hold of one of these with good cells and it works o.k. 

I have one of these and it did work at one point.  However, if I connect
it now, my S3GX won't power on.  I need to look more closely at it to work
out how to open it without destroying it ;-)  It should be possible to
replace the batteries in this too.

As I have a disk sled with the SCSI-IDE adapter, I am considering replacing
the IDE disk with an IDE-CF adapter and a CF card.  The adapters are about
#2.50 now and 8GB of CF is #11.  It might be a bit slow, but the SCSI-IDE
adapter doesn't seem very fast anyway.  It should also help the battery
life ;-)

Thanks,

J

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