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Home Forums SE/30, Installing Battery Packs, *Crazy Idea* — #18 SE/30, Installing Battery Packs, *Crazy Idea* — #18
Post #18 by Bunsen
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that sealed lead acid battery is 4.5 lbs.i wonder if i could use NiMH with the UPS board?
NO. Do NOT mix and match battery chemistries and charger technologies. NiMHs and PbAs require *totally* different charging regimes. You will destroy your batteries for sure, possibly your UPS board or your Mac.

The *only* exception to this is that NiMHs and NiCads are similar enough that they can *usually* work in the same charger. LiPos and LiFePos have a similar relationship to each other (*only* to each other, *not* to NiMHs and NiCads) but given their tendency to splode, I would only recommend charging each type in a charger that *is guaranteed* to work with that type (ie, you can get chargers that do both lipo and lifepo).

i mean heck i could make a battery pack with D cell NiMHfrom harbor freight,

i am thinking 4 (4) packs series/parallel to make 12vdc.
Uh....

NiMHs are 1.2V each. Four of them = 4.8V. 16 of = 19.2V. Neither of these is 12V. For 12V, you need ten, in series.

I would suggest either of the following courses of action:

• Use as large a 12V SLA (sealed lead-acid) as you can fit [*] in the Mac, a small MiniITX DC-DC board (and a thingum for -5V if required), and an external, readymade SLA charger (one rated for SLAs, not car batteries)

• Step away from the hack and research moar.

[*] Remember, with the mITX DC board, you can remove the SE/30s original power supply for even more room.

mp.ls