Here is my question?

Does anyone make a notebook PC that has a hot swappable battery, ie you put your notebook to sleep, then have say 30-45 seconds to swap out the battery with a fully charged one. If no one has one of these then why not, is it that difficult to do?

that would be tough... good idea though.

Hambug said:

Does anyone make a notebook PC that has a hot swappable battery, ie you put your notebook to sleep, then have say 30-45 seconds to swap out the battery with a fully charged one. If no one has one of these then why not, is it that difficult to do?

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The G3 Powerbook 'Pismo' (aka the last black powerbook) had this feature. It also had a drive bay that could accept a second battery. crazy battery life those things. The way they do the hot swap thing is just to have a more powerful PRAM battery than what is strictly necessary.

jhelm007 said:

The G3 Powerbook 'Pismo' (aka the last black powerbook) had this feature. It also had a drive bay that could accept a second battery. crazy battery life those things. The way they do the hot swap thing is just to have a more powerful PRAM battery than what is strictly necessary.

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Any idea why they didn't continue this with the new PowerBooks/MacBooks?

The Dell's did (The D600 and D610 definitely did). I believe the PowerBook G4 Titaniums did too. Vicky

Hambug said:

Does anyone make a notebook PC that has a hot swappable battery, ie you put your notebook to sleep, then have say 30-45 seconds to swap out the battery with a fully charged one. If no one has one of these then why not, is it that difficult to do?

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Yes, the PowerBook G3 series could swap a battery while in sleep mode, but by definition that is not "hot-swapping". "Hot-swapping" happens while the computer is up and running and active... not in sleep mode. You could exchange the drive bays while the computer was running, but not the battery. If you only had one battery and tried to hot-swap it without shutting the comptuer down or putting it to sleep, you would simply cut the primary power source and shut down the computer.

Apple's Support Site said:

Question 10: Are the PowerBook G3 Series computer's batteries hot-swappable?

Answer: If the system is connected to AC power or operating with two batteries, then the batteries can be hot swapped. When using a single battery, the battery should be swapped only when the system is in sleep mode or shut down. Otherwise, the system will crash because you have removed the primary power source.

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link

So yes, according to your explaination, it was able to be done. Just realize that it is not technically hot-swapping if you do that. :black:

If I put my PowerBook in sleep mode it'll let me swap the battery out for a fresh one.

D3v1L80Y said:

Yes, the PowerBook G3 series could swap a battery while in sleep mode, but by definition that is not "hot-swapping". "Hot-swapping" happens while the computer is up and running and active... not in sleep mode. You could exchange the drive bays while the computer was running, but not the battery. If you only had one battery and tried to hot-swap it without shutting the comptuer down or putting it to sleep, you would simply cut the primary power source and shut down the computer.
link

So yes, according to your explaination, it was able to be done. Just realize that it is not technically hot-swapping if you do that. :black:

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The Pismo battery (though not the "G3 series"{wallstreets?}) was literaly hot swapable if you take the battery out the battery icon changes and if you don't change the battery in ~20 seconds it puts itself to sleep, but if you DO put the fresh battery in it just keeps on chugging. No sleeping. No down time. Just awsomeness. Its one of the reasons I still use mine.

Edit: oops! that was incorrect. I do have to put it to sleep first. maybe it was my powerbook 3400 that did that or maybe it only worked in OS 9, but I know I have hotswapped a battery on a mac OS laptop in the not too distant past. [Scratches head] now where did I leave that geritol. [shuffles off to ask the nurse when lunch is]

to_tough_to_die said:

If I put my PowerBook in sleep mode it'll let me swap the battery out for a fresh one.

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Help me out here, I have a PowerBook G4 15 inch, are you saying that if I put it in sleep mode I can chage batteries?

isn't there some deep sleep mode enabled on newer powerbooks?

and if it doesn't, wouldn't this work?

http://www.andrewescobar.com/archive/2005/11/11/how-to-safe-sleep-your-mac/

jhelm007 said:

I know I have hotswapped a battery on a mac OS laptop in the not too distant past.

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I would have to disagree. It is more likely that your memory is just a little hazy. :black:
Simply put, no laptop has ever been able to hot-swap a battery if the battery is the only source powering the laptop. Look at it this way... if you were on a call with your cell phone and the battery was about to die, you could not change out your battery whilst on your call and not have the call drop. You would have to end your call, power down the phone, change the battery and then resume your call. Laptops function under the same principle. You cannot have your laptop currently active and running and change out the battery if it is the primary power source. You have to at least partially power it down (put it to sleep) before you can change out the battery. I am sure that sometime computer manufacturers will come up with some super-powerful CMOS battery that will power your laptop for say, five minutes with no external AC or battery, like some sort of internal emergency backup power source. This would allow you to save your work or change out the battery without putting the laptop to sleep, but for now it neither exists nor has it ever to my knowledge. Heck, with my old PowerBook 1400cs, you even had to sleep the computer to change out expansion bays as they weren't even hot-swappable on that model.
In short, you cannot cut the power to something that is active and expect it to continue running at full steam.
:black:

Hambug said:

Help me out here, I have a PowerBook G4 15 inch, are you saying that if I put it in sleep mode I can chage batteries?

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Thats exactly what he is saying.

Its called Safe Sleep and its available on the MacBook Pro. It was also on the 15 and 17 PB. Here is a list of Unsupported Models.

my 12" PB G4 lets me do this (1.5gig)
Alex

alexmaccoll said:

my 12" PB G4 lets me do this (1.5gig)
Alex

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That would be 1.5Ghz?

IronMac said:

Its called Safe Sleep and its available on the MacBook Pro. It was also on the 15 and 17 PB. Here is a list of Unsupported Models.

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According to this post http://www.andrewescobar.com/archive/2005/11/11/how-to-safe-sleep-your-mac/ Safe Sleep is a hack, and it is not something "built in" to the current options of Restart -Sleep-Cancel-Shut Down when you tap the power button.

Hambug said:

According to this post http://www.andrewescobar.com/archive/2005/11/11/how-to-safe-sleep-your-mac/ Safe Sleep is a hack, and it is not something "built in" to the current options of Restart -Sleep-Cancel-Shut Down when you tap the power button.

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Thats not what the article says. It says it was introduced in the October 05 PB revisions. But it can be enabled as a "hack" through the terminal commands it provides.

D3v1L80Y said:

Simply put, no laptop has ever been able to hot-swap a battery if the battery is the only source powering the laptop.

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Yes and there is a small back-up/PRAM battery in almost every mac laptop. That is why you can sleep-swap the batteries, as even in sleep mode a power source is required (for the RAM mainly). All it would take is a backup battery that provides enough power to keep the processor and not just the RAM running for a few seconds.

To answer the question of the originator of this thread (in case it hasn't already been answered): yes, you can sleep swap your batteries.

jhelm007 said:

Yes and there is a small back-up/PRAM battery in almost every mac laptop. That is why you can sleep-swap the batteries, as even in sleep mode a power source is required (for the RAM mainly). All it would take is a backup battery that provides enough power to keep the processor and not just the RAM running for a few seconds.

To answer the question of the originator of this thread (in case it hasn't already been answered): yes, you can sleep swap your batteries.

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Thanks!

I put my PowerBook G4 to sleep, (while unplugged) took out the battery,waited approx 30 seconds, the time it might take to swap a battery with boxing gloves on, then put the battery back in, and the G4 came right back on-line just like it was before I put it to sleep - SWEET!!! Now it's time to go buy a spare battery for those longggggg, meetings where I can't get to a wall outlet.