DEFECT IN M4896 POWER ADAPTER FOR 1400 OR NOT?

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Can you post the link to the article that you mention, please?

You need to keep in mind that, even if you are the original owner of the AC adapter, the battery, and the PB, it now at least eight years since they were in active production.

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My AC adapters for three PB 1400s are permanently active, unless I am travelling. I have two M4896 AC adapters with the additional legend HI-POT on a paper label, one with the supposedly suspect REV 3A/3A label, and a much more recent and compact Taiwanese adapter 'M4328' for the PB 2400. The new one is also rated 45W, and has the correct plug to fit the PB 1400.

The 3A/3A does not run any hotter than the HI-POTs, nor has it done any battery in. While I do not doubt the information given to Grant Baxter, neither must I believe that it was either accurate or universal. I suggest that the risk of normal old-battery deterioration is greater than the risk of damage from an adapter. It is too soon to gauge the performance of the 'M4328' adapter, but, at USD19 new, if its technology is up to the mark, it should be a satisfactory replacement when the others fail, as they will.


Apple IIe; 15 x 68K; 7 x PPC; 5 x G3 System 6.0.8 to OS 10.4.x

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You cannot know, but you can absorb what is there for you to read. I mentioned four adapters in my possession:

I have two M4896 AC adapters with the additional legend HI-POT on a paper label,
one with the supposedly suspect REV 3A/3A label, and
a much more recent and compact Taiwanese adapter 'M4328' for the PB 2400.

If your adapter does not have a label with the legend REV 3A/3A on it, there is at least a chance that it is not a REV 3A/3A. The possibility is even greater if there is a label with another legend, such as HI 0 6 POT.


Apple IIe; 15 x 68K; 7 x PPC; 5 x G3 System 6.0.8 to OS 10.4.x

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You could go on worrying about your gear, and asking question after question, and never get anything useful done with your PB because of indecision. If the adapter's case is broken, and it is possible that any part of the circuitry carrying mains voltage (the 110VAC) may be exposed, you should either repair the adapter or throw it away. Apple's lawyers would long since have told you to take it to your nearest AASP for repair (as if ...) for even a minuscule crack.

Only you can make the decision, not people half-way around the world from you, nor even in an adjoining State. I cannot know how warm 'this warm' is from where I am. It is quite normal for adapters to get warm to the touch when they are 'idling': powering the PB by themselves, or maintaining the battery charge. They get distinctly warm when they are recharging a depleted battery, but not uncomfortably so unless heat dissipation is prevented. I always stand adapters with their broadest faces to the sides, so as to aid heat loss. If the battery is internally short-circuited the adapter may get uncomfortably hot, in which case the battery also will need to be replaced. You may all along have been mistaking the logic board and the adapter as responsible for heating that is caused entirely by the battery.

Again, only you can make the necessary decision. It doesn't matter what the battery's labels show. It is performance in service that matters, and if that is unsatisfactory, you have to respond to that, not the labels.


Apple IIe; 15 x 68K; 7 x PPC; 5 x G3 System 6.0.8 to OS 10.4.x

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So you did. But did you appreciate the more important part of the answer to your question: how to gauge whether heat production may be excessive, and why it may be so? That is, your batteries may not just be feeble, but internally short-circuited.

Yes, it is perfectly possible for almost all of the NiMH batteries produced during the currency of the PB 1400 to have deteriorated seriously in the years since then. The converse case will be the remarkable one.

The battery case of the M4915 is easily disassembled, because it clips together. If you have any concerns about a case, and wish to keep the battery, you can always repair the case.

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Do you remember this thread?

If one of the terminal pairs mentioned in that reply shows much less than 5-or-so volts when other pairs show much more, and if the battery seriously overheats when the adapter is connected, a short-circuit in the relevant stack of cells can reasonably be suspected.



Apple IIe; 15 x 68K; 7 x PPC; 5 x G3 System 6.0.8 to OS 10.4.x