second battery pack CF 28

Hello,

are some of you using a second battery pack?
Is it worth the price they ask for it, or can you make one out of a cd caddy?

There are two of them on ebay now, a new one and the other ???

 

Can't see how you would save money by building your own, a CD-drive sell for around $80.00-$100.00 and a new battery about the same so it would cost you about $200. to build your own. So unless they are asking for ridiculous amounts on Ebay I wopuld say you are best off buying a new one. As to wether it would be useful I guess that would depend on how long you need to be away from a power source while using your computer.

 

Are you talking about converting something to put in the Media Pocket so that the TB can have two batteries at the same time?

 

Picoshark,

i don't have to invent those battery's, they already exist.
But they are expensive, and some sold them second hand (working time???)
If you can build one in too a cd caddy it must work too (if there is not some chip in it to prevent loading properly).

 

Now if you could build one out of a floppy drive caddy, you'd have something!

 

Indeed. I've got two of those useless floppy drives. They are good for loading BIOS only.

 

I dunno guys - Looking at the only one of these I could find on eBay (For nearly ($500US!!!), it seems like a lot of expense & tradeoff to gain 3600 mah extra capacity. Original battery is 5400 mah, while newr upgrade models are 6600mah. Seems a much better deal just to get into a new, upgrade main battery.

Modly - the battery pack I was looking at appears to use that little pinpad connector to the right of the x15 connector in the mediabay... I suspect THAT would be pretty hard to duplicate.

http://cgi.ebay.com/PANASONIC-TOUGH...ageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m122

mnem

 

I bought my second battery for $135US new in box. I rather enjoy it at work since I can usually leave it in stand by until needed and will last about a week on the charges. I can get a full day of using the computer at work with it constantly powered up. There are definately better deals than that out there. I'd have to pass on that price!

 

Mmmmhmmm... at that price, even I would think about it...

mnem <~~~ not A CHEAP bastahd... THE cheap bastahd*

 

I have a question on this. I have a CF-28Msomething. I purchased the secondary battery pack for it. I was assured the battery would work with it, but when I opened it up it says "will not work with CF-28M"

Does anyone know why? Its the battery that goes in where the floppy drive is.

 

That's a weird one, but let me go look at some stuff fast.

How much did you pay for it, if you don't mind me asking?

And if you can, get me a picture of the connector on back. It'll help me figure stuff out. I've got both a 600 and an 800 ripped apart right now, so it's the perfect time

Edit; So far I can't see any reason it won't work... the on-board connectors are different, but the part that I'm assuming runs power has all the same wires leading to the mobo.

Have you tried it out yet?

 

No I havnt tried it out yet. I just opened the box, and theres a peice of paper in it that says its not compatable with the CF-28M series.

If you wish I can post a picture.

I paid 140 for it.

 

I'd try it out just for the hell of it.
Post up a picture of the connector, so I can see what it uses.

 

It doesn't work on the MK1 because it is not supported in the BIOS, you can tell because if you press the Fn F9 on the MK1 you will only see one battery icon. On the MK2 and MK3 as well as the CF-29's you will see two battery icons which indicates that the second battery pack is supported. I think that Panasonic just decided they didn't want to write a BIOS with that feature on the older MK1's.

 

Well.. That answers that one.

I suppose it's time to start hacking the BIOS now...

 

Mmmhmmmm... while yer at it, lets add USB boot support so we don't NEED that bogus $80 + whatever drive you WANT in it JUST to install Winbloze...

mnem
Well, isn't that a lovely shade of suck...

 

I thought there was a software update that was needed by calling the manufacture...thought I read that in an older thread. Perhaps that was just with some Mk2s.

Jeff

 

1. Heeellllloooo? McFly?????

http://cgi.ebay.com/Panasonic-CF-28...ryZ11169QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

How does $89 sound?

2. One of the issues that you MAY run into is that the laptop runs off the media bay battery first... Then the main battery. The problem is that when the media bay battery gets to 3% it wants to shut off instead of switching to the main battery. Panasonic supposedly has a BIOS fix for this but is is for only two specific models of CF-28... I'm dying to see if mine works on the 29 I just bought... It should.

 

Not sure about the quality of the info, but this page suggests you might be in luck:

http://www.industrialpartner.com/batteries/specialty-product-batteries/panasonic/cf-vzsu1428w/

 

Got one - $85 buck with shipping - new still in the box - works great - switches between batteries perfectly - guess I got lucky. Takes a while to fully charge both batteries - only charges one at a time - just bought a external charger to I can keep it charged if I have my DVD drive in. Adds more weight to but figure already heavy so at least I a can run on batteries for a while - Great addon -

 

Mega, mind sharing where you got that? I'm thinking about getting one myself.

Thanks,

Paul

 

Yep - EBAY - match20t was the seller, not a regular on the TB stuff so my guess is he did not know what it was - snagged it about 5 minutes after he listed it with buy it now - I think it was a freak snag but a good one none the less - been looking for one for months - good luck

 

There is another seller Horizon Electronics... He sells them for $85 also... He usually has a bunch for sale. I saw them earlier but not now.

 

TB, I just got my 2ndary battery today...did you find a way for the batteries to switch over without the machine powering down...is this an issue with the 29?

 

I would say no about the 29 issue. TB is correct about the media bay battery being used up first. On my 29, the switchover from the media bay battery to the main battery is seamless.

The only thing that tricked me at first, is that the media bay batt didn't start charging inside the machine with the A/C plugged in until the main battery was fully charged.

 

Update your Bios first. The airlines will not allow a loose battery but if it’s in your Toughbook no problem. I get about as 2.40 hrs out of my Media Bay battery. My total time with both batteries is close to 6 hrs. Bought the 2nd from williamj4616 he said it was new. I'm thinking of turning a floppy into a tool box or better yet turning it into flask for whiskey.That baby should hold 12oz easy. I did open my media battery and looked at the connections and I said humm would this be a possible power source. Radar Detector, Home Made Laser it can light matches, pop balloons, cut electrical tape, and so forth. This site was encouraging

http://www.felesmagus.com/pages/lasers-howto.html

Just imagine popping open your media bay and have a beam of light coming out and then light a match.

I was at one Portland OR many brew pubs at happy hour tonight and pulled out my beat up $130 and have been making payments ever since TB-28 and they could not stop looking at it. Little did they know it was a 28 because they all look the same. It's been fun to slowly mode this computer. Thanks guys

 

Randy; When I finally get out there we'll have to hit up some pubs!

I like the idea of a whiskey flask floppy drive too, that sounds right up my alley.
My next plane ride might have some Jameson on it

 

Have ye never tasted the nectar of the Gods, Tullamore Dew?

 

I have not, but it looks very smooth, and of quality. I don't drink much whiskey (I took a whole year sipping on my bottle of 12 year Jameson, and finally finished it off on St. Pats), and I had a shot of Glenlivet 18 Whisky the last time I was at my old man's place. Both were of high quality!

I'm more of a quality beer guy myself, and any time I see a new beer on the shelf at the local liquor store I pick it up (With exceptions for Hefeweizen and anything brewed by Miller or Busch).

Mmmmm, Hops!

 

Modly, I would have pegged you as a "brew-it-youself" type of guy. I used to make my own and turned out some pretty good brew. I am just not a "patient" man, and waiting for fermentation was just too time consuming...

 

I might start after I move, but right now I don't have the space to do it with. I'm essentially renting out a room in a house right now, so I get a bedroom to sleep in, and a corner in the basement to do my hobby stuff.

My friend that I'm moving in with though, he's a beer guy so I think that might be possible to start brewing

 

Since were a little OT... If you brew your own beer or have in the past and have the fermentation buckets and glass carboys... And if you like champagne... Try making your own champagne. (Sparkling Wine to you purists!) I make it every now and then and it is better than anything you can buy... For any price.

 

OT, whaddya mean OT. I thought Toughbooks and alcoholic beverages went hand in hand...

 

Sparkling wines, sparkling wines? You've completely crushed my image of my hero, "Toughbook"! Next, you'll cop to eating aged brie on a crossiont.

 

Portland's got lots of Brew Pubs and as a back up I brew a good brew myself. I'll lay out the brew mat for ya. Your going to love it here.