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Caravan power supply, G4 PowerBook cutting out
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Author:  paulzolo [ Wed May 23, 2018 8:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Caravan power supply, G4 PowerBook cutting out

Here’s one. When we go to the static caravan my parents have on a holiday site, we take an old G4 PowerBook. It’’s a 17 inch screen and is great for DVDs. Pretty much the only reason I have it. The battery doesn't hold much of a charge these days, but it runs off the mains, mostly. In the caravan, it will suddenly lose power and go into sleep mode. By “lose power” I mean that the plug that plugs into the computer usually has a light - orange for charging, green for running off the mains and not charging. That light goes out, and the computer goes into low power mode. The thing is, if I unplug and plug it back in, normal functionality is restored. So If I catch it quickly, DVD playback isn’t affected.

If I leave it plugged in overnight, the light on the power plug has gone out by the morning. This doesn’t happen back at home.

I have two power packs for this machine (because an old, now dead, G4 PowerBook I had uses the same model), so I’ve been able to rule out the power pack being a problem. My assumption is that the voltages for the caravan’s power supply is not as good/regular/smooth (or whatever the keyword is) as at home, and this is somehow causing the machine to stop working. This doesn’t seem to affect more recent machines.

Just wondering if anyone here may have any theories about such things.

Author:  timark_uk [ Tue Jun 05, 2018 6:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Caravan power supply, G4 PowerBook cutting out

Hiya Paul,

I know first-hand how sketchy static caravan power supplies can be, but this is a bit of an odd one you have here.

Have you tried different power sockets to see if the results can be replicated?
This laptop sounds like it might have an easily removable batter on the underside of it, have you tried removing the battery and seeing if the issue still happens?
Also, are there any other items running in the caravan at the same time? If the boiler/fridge suddenly kicks in and generates a small dip in power, it could be disrupting the supply to the sockets your laptop is plugged in to.

Just a few suggestions.

Mark

Author:  paulzolo [ Thu Jun 07, 2018 7:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Caravan power supply, G4 PowerBook cutting out

timark_uk wrote:
Hiya Paul,

I know first-hand how sketchy static caravan power supplies can be, but this is a bit of an odd one you have here.

Have you tried different power sockets to see if the results can be replicated?
This laptop sounds like it might have an easily removable batter on the underside of it, have you tried removing the battery and seeing if the issue still happens?
Also, are there any other items running in the caravan at the same time? If the boiler/fridge suddenly kicks in and generates a small dip in power, it could be disrupting the supply to the sockets your laptop is plugged in to.

Just a few suggestions.

Mark


Thanks. I’ll try running it with the battery out next time I’m down there. It’s from the era when Apple bothered to let you replace stuff like that easily. I’ve not tried a different power socket. I’m guessing that they will all be pretty much the same.

Author:  paulzolo [ Sun Sep 23, 2018 9:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Caravan power supply, G4 PowerBook cutting out

Not been able to get there until this weekend. Lots of things stopping us getting away, or other family members using it.

Anyway, I tried Mark's suggestion. I took the battery out to at ha DVD and it ran properly. No cutting out like it did before. I put the battery back afterwards, and sure enough the power light on the plug went out after a while.. Obviously the power supply is enough for some ofvwhat the computer needs, but not all.

Thanks! I know what to do now.

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