I recently purchased an iBook G4 off of eBay. The iBook itself is a very nice sorta retro computer, good for web browsing with TenFourFox too. However, the battery's serial number begins with 6C548, which is in the range of first-5-digits on this page https://www.apple.com/support/batteryexchange/2006/faq/us_body.html. However, it says "ending with S9WA, S9WC or S9WD", while the other serial number ranges do not have an "ending in" part. Mine ends in S9ZD. Does this mean my battery was not affected? They are not clear on that, only stating "if the first 5 digits of your serial number match, get a replacement battery immediately blah blah blah". Any advice is appreciated!
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iBook G4 battery recall?
- Thread starter theima88
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Any betting man would say that you'd "loose your shirt" on expecting to get a replacement battery from the exchange program that was run at the time.
Given that the last model of G4 iBooks were phased out in Mid 2006, and I guess stocks remained and continued to be sold until say 2007. That battery exchange program was first launched in 2006, but I'd be surprised if it continued later than 2009- 2010ish - this being a guessitmate on my part, someone else here may know the official cut-off date, I've looked and can find it nowhere. Needless to say the youngest iBooks are now 11 years old!
If you can find anyone at Apple who will still commit to this exchange, you will have found a friend for life,
but I'd rather put my money on a rocking horse winning at the local derby......
I second @CooperBox on this one. You won't get a replacement battery from Apple now, even if it was marked for recall. Your best option is to buy a cheap non-genuine replacement from eBay or rebuild the battery pack yourself.
Even the official 3rd party battery manufacturers like NewerTech and OWC are no longer stocking iBook batteries.
Even the official 3rd party battery manufacturers like NewerTech and OWC are no longer stocking iBook batteries.
How do you rebuild an iBook/PowerBook G4 battery? I thought they were different from the iBook G3's.
They all use the same 18650 type cells. It’s a bit of a job but if you buy quality cells (like the 3000mAh LG HG2s) then doing the rebuild yourself should mean better capacity than the original factory fit cells.
Just be sure to do your homework first and be aware of, and prepared for the fire danger of working with the bare cells.
But I mean, I don't need to get a replacement battery, I just need to know if it's safe to use or not (does the serial number ending matter?). Rebuilding battery packs sounds like quite a job considering I have a fear of rechargeable batteries due to past experiences (Oh, and, I know that exchange thing ended looong ago. I was just seeing if it was affected to know if I could use it or not )
(Oh, and, I know that exchange thing ended looong ago. I was just seeing if it was affected to know if I could use it or not )
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If your battery serial doesn’t end with the codes specified by Apple then it appears that it is not affected by the faulty Sony cells mentioned on the recall.
The first five characters of the serial number signify country of origin, year and week of the build and the last 4 digits indicate a specific configuration of parts. Your battery while manufactured in the “6C” location during the timeframe of week 19, 2005 through to week 52, 2005, does not have the parts configuration which includes the defective cells.
The first five characters of the serial number signify country of origin, year and week of the build and the last 4 digits indicate a specific configuration of parts. Your battery while manufactured in the “6C” location during the timeframe of week 19, 2005 through to week 52, 2005, does not have the parts configuration which includes the defective cells.