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Making a Macbook Pro - pro
  • FrameFrame

    I do not need 8 hrs of promised battery life. 1 hr is enough. I feel unconfortable with the fact that my 17" Macbook Pro consumes battery power with processor intensive tasks and only runs on half he speed when the battery is removed.

    So much space wasted witha BIG battery. I already swapped the dvd drive for a hard drive, but why not replacing the battery by a smaller one and use the space for another 2 harddrives, 4 total, all in one laptop? I recently stumbledover the fact, that the 17" 2011 Macbook Pro has six Sata ports. Only two are used, for the internal hard disk and DVD-drive Also, there is one USB port unconnected. I do not know, wether there are any physical Sta/USB connections on the logic board to attach or solder cables to. But I can imagine, (with some mechanical skills on micro-chirurgical level) that the FW-800 port could be daisy chained: Cut the traces to the FW800 connector (If accessible) "rewire" to those extra harddrives (cannibalized from 2.5" FW-800 enclosures) connect back.

    There are many technically experienced people in this forum, maybe you can answer me some questions:

    Power: The Macbooks use Lithium-Polymer batteries. The harness of (I think) 9 cables going from the motherboard to the battery indicates, that the Macbook does the complete job of charging and balancing the individual Li-Po cells of the batteries. The Macbook has sensors for measuring the current of the batteries. Measurement of voltage is not mentioned. Does anyone know wether the capacity of Li-Po cells is important for the circuitry charging them? If not, I could replace the battry for a smaller one without doing any harm...?

    Charlie Miller managed to hack the firmware for the batteries, up to the point where they could be destroyed.

    http://arstechnica.com/apple/2011/07/how-charlie-miller-discovered-the-apple-battery-hackhow-a-security-researcher-discovered-the-apple-battery-hack/

    The alternative: Does anyone know, wether the Macbook can be tricked to run at full speed without the battery? I guess, a more powerful AC adaptor, stronger than 85 watt, would be needed as well. Does anyone know the voltage of the Macbooks DC Input?

    About the Locic board: ARE the spared Sata ports accessible? Does anyone know? Anyone looked at the FW800 port wether it has accessible traces?

    Thanks a lot, Frame

  • 2 Replies sorted by
  • dtrdtr

    About Li-Po-type batteries, in DIY circles these are known as notoriously dangerous when mis-charged/handled. They burn and explode. You better know what you're doing...

  • FrameFrame

    This is why I am asking, because I do not intend to blow myself up. But I also heard stories of RC model-flyers dropping batteries from great hights or crshing their planees, and expecting the worst, but nothing happens. I also got 9800 aH battreies for my GH2, sent all the way from China in cheap bubble-bags, full of dents. If they sent them likethis do this every day, It is a wonder, that no real transport plane crashed yet.

    Safety is why I started this thread. First question again: Will the charging device / circuitry SAFELY work with batteries pf lesser capacity? A general rule of thumb? Gretings, Frame

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