Hello, I have a 14 hour plane flight coming up and, wanting to watch movies/play games the whole time, I built a 15 D-cell battery pack. The fully charged voltage is 24.2 volts. I searched on Google and found that the power port on Apple's new laptops are standard 2.5mm stereo audio jacks (surprise!) so I connected the pack (with the polarity in mind) to a 2.5mm plug, connected to the ibook, and it works. My question is: at what voltage will the iBook so into sleep mode, if at all? I heard somewhere not to go under 12 volts, to avoid damage to the iBook; is this true?
I don't think it's going to matter. When the menu bar ICON switches from Charged to On Battery you may have reached the point where the external battery pack isn't helping. I say may because it might still be providing some power to run the computer and the iBook's battery is providing the rest, I don't know for sure, it depends on the internal power circuitry. You could test it by monitoring the current from the battery pack and reduce the voltage (use fewer and fewer cells). When the "On Battery" ICON comes on if the pack is still supplying significant current then it is helping.
I would at a minimum put a fuse right off the battery pack.
Have you checked into auto/air adapters (and if your flight has outlets). -- Clark Martin Redwood City, CA, USA Macintosh / Internet Consulting
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