They didn't. That tiny little battery pack with the external charging jack was an "aftermarket" thing. I think it was installed by a company that did VAR resales of 8300s into industrial label printing applications.
By the way the 5-cell NiMH solution works really nice. Keeps the voltage way up in the acceptable range throughout the discharge cycle. I definitely recommend the solution Brian highlighted. On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 10:32 PM Philip Avery <pav...@xtra.co.nz> wrote: > > Why did NEC go with such a small battery for the PC-8300? > > I've just rebuilt my PC-8201a pack and it had 4 x AA Ni-Cd's originally. I > replaced these with 4 x Eneloop AA's (2000mAh) & lowered the charging > resistor value so it will charge them in a reasonable time-frame, ie > overnight. > > Philip > > On 24/07/2020 3:40 pm, Gary Weber wrote: > > Brian, > > Those are precisely the same batteries I've been using to build up > refurbished 5-cell rechargeable packs for my machines also. They've been > working very well. > I got my battery sets off of eBay and they arrived within 10 days or so. > They still sell them there so you'll be able to find 'em. > > Gary > > > > > On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 8:34 PM Brian K. White <b.kenyo...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> My PC-8300 came with a rechargeable battery pack that had a tiny 60mah >> battery originally, a 5 button cell nicd hot-glued in the middle, with a >> couple diodes & a resistor and it's own barrel jack to charge the pack. >> All corroded and dead of course. >> >> I determined that you could fit 5 x 1/2AA nimh cells in the same case, >> same voltage, same charger, and get 800mah instead of 60. >> >> 1/2AA is a size that exists, but is pretty hard to find. >> >> I found this on Amazon, welded tabs already, and even sold in sets of 5, >> exactly the number needed, perfect. >> http://amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZNZ535F/ >> >> Not so perfect, it took over 4 months to arrive (March 17 to July 21). >> >> But they did finally arrive, and the size worked out. >> >> Everything fits, and it's easy to replicate the original wiring just >> moved around. >> >> https://photos.app.goo.gl/JRVp71Govw49PXaM6 >> >> -- >> bkw > >
