-=> Quoting Dan Ceppa to Bruce Clark <=-

 
 DC> Did you get it new or used?  

 DC> And you laughed at that comment!  

Nope. 

The number of years old comment. 

 
 DC> Over all, a battery is really only good in a pinch.  Fortunately, 
 DC> the AC adapters are getting smaller and lighter.  Plus, there 
 DC> is support for alternate sources, like cigarette lighters.  
 
When brand new, the batteries for mine were only good for aprox 
an hour. That's why I eventually bought so many of them, plus 
multiple AC adaptors to keep the ones not in the computer charged, 
and one in the car. 
Unfortunately, there never was a 12v car adapter made for the 
HandBook486, but I did get a couple of 120watt 12v to 120v inverters 
so that I could run it and a few other accessories that always had 
trouble with their battery dying in the middle of a job while mobile 
in the car. 
I replaced the original alternator and regulator with rebuilt large 
ones, and the battery with a large RV/Marine/DeepCycle. 


 BC> I think the display backlight circuit has a cold solder joint 
 BC> somewhere, as it keeps wanting to go into a bright mode that is a 
 BC> little brighter then the controls adjust for. 

 DC> My display gets quite dim when I run it off of battery.  

Mine has never had that problem. 
Maybe it's because the battery has to be in the circuit, since the 
AC adaptor plugs into the battery. 

There was a battery holder made for the HandBook(286) that I wish I 
would have bought a few more of. 
The HandBook(286) would run on the battery holder when it had 6 AA 
alkaline or Ni-Cad batteries in it. 
The HandBook486 requires 6 AA NMh or Lithium batteries. 

 
 BC> The biggest problem with dropping a laptop is crashing the hard drive 
 BC> heads into the platters while they are spinning. 

 DC> Try the fragile cabling that runs(ran) my 486 system...  
 
The ribbon cables on the HandBook486 are the same thickness as 
those in a desktop system, just short. 
The ones connecting the two halves are long enough that the thing 
can be opened up like a book, without unplugging those cables. 


 
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