VOGONS


First post, by Baoran

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Rank l33t
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l33t

I have a 386 motherboard that I would like to use. It doesn't have cmos battery on the motherboard at all and it only has a external battery connector with 4 pins. The battery connector seems to want to charge the battery that I would connect to it because there is 5V between pins 1 and 4 (4.84V to be exact). Any advice on what kind of battery I should connect to it. First I was thinking just battery holder for 3 AA rechargeable batteries, but then I realized that AA rechargeable batteries seem to have 1.3V at most when comparing them to 1.5V alkaline batteries. 3x1.3V would only be 3.9V so I am not sure if that would be ok. Is there anything else I could use there or are rechargeable AA batteries the only option?

Reply 1 of 1, by quicknick

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Rank Oldbie
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Oldbie

The charging circuit is usually a diode in series with a resistor. That's why, without a load (a battery pack to be charged) you'll measure almost the full 5 volts across the terminals (minus the diode drop which is insignifiant at very low current). Connect a 3xAAA rechargeable pack and measure the charging current, should be a few mA...