hot-swapping battery packs

Just curious if battery packs in systems like CF28's and CF18's (since I have one of each!) can be hot-swapped? Reason being I have the two new yellow-tab batterys for the CF28 and I was wondering if I can drop out the existing one and put in a new one with the system running on external power...

Bit more tricky with the 28 since I need to pull the bottom cover off to get the battery replaced, but at least the 18 has a much easier way to get at the battery (from the side instead of underneath).

Craig.

 

That would be unwise to say the least. Never, ever remove anything while the computer is on, except for network or usb cables (well, and speaker/headphone cord too ). You could harm your computer otherwise.

 

Hoo boy...

Yet another uninformed response from the Forum Divers/Apple Division...

Just because most your laptop has a battery that's INSIDE or screws into place, don't assume other people's laptops are such a pain in the arse.
Yes, ToughBooks are designed with hot-swappable batteries. Of course, you need to have the AC adapter plugged in when you do it, or the machine in HIBERNATE (No, standby won't work) mode before you unplug the battery.

They're SUPPOSED to have hot swappable Floppy/CDROMs, too, but the implementation SOMETIMES doesn't work so well - WinBloze tends to take it personally when you disrupt the IDE bus, even with the special patches used by most laptop manufacturers when they design a machine with modular bays.

mnem
What's a nice way to say RTFM?

 

Absolutely right in both cases i've hot swapped batteries on 28s and 29s. in fact I do it alot when i come across a bad one I toss in a good one. as for the drives, windows locks up on me some times when I eject the floppy drive to put in the CDROM but it usually frees up after 30 seconds or so

 

Thanks for the replies so far - I want to try out one of the new yellow-tab batts in the CF28 before I drive to Sydney tomorrow so it can charge up tonight... As I don't think I have a way to wangle up a power cable to go to the Ledco docking station I obtained until I get back home for my holiday, the system will need to run on batt and I'll use my Lind power adaptor to keep it charged and run the system off the car batt when driving.

Craig.

 

For media bay drives use the feature in windows on the taskbar

Safely Remove Hardware Icon
And stop the hardware

Alex

 

have just swapped out the old blue-tab battery for one of the brand new yellow-tab ones on the CF-28 and it worked without a hitch. System immediately recognised the new battery correctly and has started charging it.

Ok well it recognised it, but it hasn't charged it. Still saying 0 percent charged after a few hours. Hmmm.

Craig.

 

Wow... you're right, mnem - that really was indeed an asinine comment from this intrepid forum-hopper. We ought to randomly reply to NBR posts with "ME TOO!!!1" Oh well.

But back to the topic - It's always been my understanding that nearly every laptop's batteries are hot swappable. It used to be that the battery often needed to be present for continuity (as in, you couldn't use the laptop, even on external power, if the battery was absent) - this is how my old Dell 486 laptop was.

But, aside from some pre-Pentium systems, aren't all laptop batteries hot-swappable? This isn't to dismiss the OP as a dumb question (it isn't), I'm just curious.

 

Craig,
My new yellow bat did the same earlier today to me too.
Give it some more time, It'l charge up ok.

Chuck

 

I've hot swapped Toughbook batteries hundreds of times. I pop my media bay drive out whenever I feel like it and will hot insert a media bay battery as well.

Of course, I've also hot swapped hard drives in other computers, and have even tried hot swapping PCI. (Didn't work though, the computer didn't recognise the card).

 

Well it's made a liar out of me! Seems that the battery monitor can't measure less than about 10 percent as once the charge level reached 10 percent it started displaying the correct charge level. Currently up to 27 percent after about 3 hours.

Craig.

 

Yes... Of course they are hot swappable... However to get the proper "Time Remaining" it will need to have the battery calibation done. (Battery Refresh on the CF-28 BIOS)

 

Ah ok thanks for the tip there. Now I've had a sleep the battery is sitting at 98 percent charge but the battery LED is red and slowly flashing.

Craig.

 

Alex -

That's part of the patch I was talking about; the it's specific to each chipset. Yes, it's SUPPOSED to work. But like many things Micro$oft, it isn't quite ready for prime time yet.

mnem
That's not a BUG; it's an UNDISCLOSED FEATURE...

 

Well, the guy asked if the ToughBooks had hot-swappable batteries, and the answer is yes; actually, pretty much ANY ACPI compliant laptop PC does; however, some Apple products have batteries that are screwed in place, or worse yet, are internal. I've been told that some of the whitebox/beigebox MacBooks would sometimes spontaneously wig out if you changed the battery live on AC instead of making it hibernate first; these are relatively recent machines. I don't call that hot-swappable.

mnem
Swippable,swappable... kickable, droppable...

 

Hmm,
Pardon my ignorance but I'm very new to the toughbook world. I got my cf-18 a week ago and when i removed the batt with the system on AC power it powered it down completely. Is this normal or is it a sign that my power system may potentionaly be buggered?

 

What happens if you leave the battery out and power-up with just the AC adaptor connected?

I am staying in a motel overnight on my trip to Sydney and have the battery calibration running on the CF-28 right now so it'll be all done by the morning. I was able to remove the old battery and put a new one it with the system running off the external power unit.

Craig.

 

Craig -

You should be able to do so without any issue; however, if your AC adapter is old and not exactly producing the cleanest power (weak capacitors, etc) it CAN make your laptop a bit squirrely without the "buffer effect" of having a battery installed. I routinely do so with all my laptops; if I intend to leave them plugged in for any time longer than a day or two, I take the battery out.

mnem
Frogs are not good at baguette battista...