Toughbook CF-54 Media Bay Battery Socket

A year ago I purchased a Toughbook CF-54 that had a DVD multi-player installed. After experiencing deficient run time on the larger mAh main battery, it became clear it needed the secondary battery, which was easily obtained.

To my surprised, upon opening the panel to remove the DVD player, it became clear that the interface socket for the DVD was in a different location than for the secondary battery and that socket with its associated ribbon cable was not present. From Heartland I learned that recent changes at the company required all integration or alterations to be pre-approved by Panasonic, who denied the request.

I am now in search of the required parts and any installation details beyond the obvious. If anyone here has performed this upgrade or sourced these parts I'd be interested in learning from where. Even a list of parts and part numbers would be useful at this stage.

My thanks in advance.

 

What they mean is that Panasonic bought Heartlands back a few years ago.
What I have heard about the second battery is this upgrade had to be done at the factory when ordering the 54.
@Shawn @SHEEPMAN! @Toyo

This is all I could find so far

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/life-with-the-54-after-a-few-months.786109/#post-10169404

 

Interesting

 

It would seem the reason it might have had to be configured from the factory is that the ribbon cable that connects the DVD player power/SATA socket to the motherboard bus is the same bus location the secondary battery connector would be connected. I don't have another CF-54 with the secondary batter to confirm this. It just visually appears to be the case. There is a space for the secondary battery socket with threaded holes to mount it to. I would simply need that socket and the ribbon cable to make the upgrade, assuming there are no other non-obvious parts. I suppose it could even be possible to relocate the multiplayer socket, assuming they are identical, but that would still require the ribbon cable. Thus, I am in search of the parts and some confirmation the process has no other complications.

 

Were you asking them to do the upgrade or were you asking about buying the parts ? They must have a good reason for not doing the upgrade. The question is why ??

 

It is possible that they use different mainboards.

 

I was willing to have them perform another integration to add this feature, was willing to purchase parts to conduct the installation on my own and asked if they would at least provide part numbers for the needed components after denial by Panasonic. They advised me they could not.

As far as the reason for the denial, Panasonic responded that they did not have a configuration for the CF-54 that included all my features and would therefor not authorize the customization. This despite the fact that Heartland had performed the previous integration on this unit. That said, the reason is entirely irrelevant to the outcome. I'm still in search of the part numbers and/or parts. If their reason was irrational, the denial would still have the same outcome. Thus, I'm disinterested in Panasonic's internal policies or in changing their mind. Instead, I'm in search of a solution.

This circles back to the beginning of the thread. Does anyone know a source for the needed parts, the part numbers involved, and any details needed to conduct the work?

 

This is confusing. What exact things did they already add?
What exactly do you want done now, if Heartlands already did it to this exact unit?
If it is already done, then why get it done again?

 

The reason does matter.
It may be impossible physically or electronically to have all the options you want.
It may create a fire hazard.(exploding battery)
The BIOS may not support all of the options you want.

There are ZERO parts or service manuals publicly available for a CF 54.
Panasonic is your only option for those numbers.
I know as I have collected several GB's of Toughbook manuals.
(FOR FUTURE READERS---don't bother to ask me for manuals unless you have 20 or more relevant posts in this forum.) I still may refuse if I don't like you. I don't do demands either.

 

On a lighter note, I love my 54 that was involved in a west coast/east coast trade for a Q1.
I don't love the price of the optional DVD drive.
Good thing I have one inside my 30, 31, 52, & 53

 

Here are a couple pages from 2 different CF-D1 parts manuals.
Panasonic makes a different parts manual for EVERY sub model they make.
Example CF-D1abcdefg and CF-D1tuvwxyz will have different parts lists.

I will attach pages to show what I mean. This makes adding options challenging at times.
In order to get the correct parts that will work with all the options, I need the parts manual
for a model that has all of those options or get parts from several sub models and hope they fit.

That does not always work. An example is a CF-31. While the motherboard has the connectors, a model with a smartcard reader and expresscard reader uses a totally different ribbon cable than a model without a smartcard reader.And another cable is used for smartcard only models.
If I have manuals for both models, I can see the difference and find the correct parts. BUT I need to examine every part on both parts manuals to discover all the different required parts. This is very time consuming and detailed work. Work that is more than the average Joe in a parts department is able or willing to do. Not to mention bosses can frown on a service tech spending 3 hours to find numbers to sell $15 worth of parts.
At times I have had to examine a dozen or more separate parts manuals to find the part numbers required for an option addition.

Also many manuals don't list some part numbers. Find the part number to order the power port door for the CF-D1 on these manuals for me. It's not there!

Notice how even what seem to be common parts have different numbers of different sub models.
Panasonic builds each sub model to very detailed specs and that is why they are so durable and expensive.

 

I have the mediabay battery in my cf-54 mk3 (not a factory purchace) buyed the battery in the Netherlans, got it in the cf, and it worked.
I have to say, there was no dvd in it, only a dummy plastic caddy.
Configuration is CF-54J2489TE Windows 10, gloved touchschreen LTE UK backlight keyboard

 

RESOLVED