NiCd battery replacement in vintage computers
Lyndon Nerenberg
lyndon at orthanc.ca
Sat Feb 6 19:39:11 CST 2016
> On Feb 6, 2016, at 5:31 PM, Maciej W. Rozycki <macro at linux-mips.org> wrote:
>
>> Voltage? Recharging circuits? Current sinking capacity. It's not
>> always a 1:1 mapping.
>
> Sure, but does it really matter in a typical battery-backed-up RAM or RTC
> application seen in computers? I swapped the dead original NiCd pack for
> a compatible NiMH one in my DECstation 2100 some half a year ago and the
> machine seems rather happy about the replacement.
It all depends on your definition of 'typical'. In most cases, a NiMH coin cell will happily replace a NiCd one. But it's not always a 1:1 mapping. It never is if 'recharge' is uttered in the sentence.
You need to spend a minute looking at the circuit before declaring MH <==> NH. It's no different than when you make any other part substitution. But when you're mucking around with something that *feeds* power into a circuit, it's worth paying a bit of attention, lest surprises come along.
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