Atari STBook

Battery replacement

The original STBook batteries are NiCd packs rated at 9.6V, 1300mAh. By now, all of them are dead, raising the question: what can be done?

Option one is reconditioning the original battery, which involves opening up the old pack, removing the insides, adding a new battery pack, and then likely gluing it back together.

Option two is making a new one—so I did. With 3D printing being affordable, I modeled a replacement battery and merged two solutions. One is a simple rechargeable battery that replaces the original and charges as usual. The other is a lesser-known solution: an AA alkaline battery adapter that Atari designed. Yes, the STBook can run on seven AA alkaline batteries for hours due to its low power consumption.

My solution combines both approaches: a 3D-printed battery case that supports both modes. While I don’t think running on 7x AA alkalines is ideal, it’s included to provide a complete solution. However, space inside the case is very limited.

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Red - Positive pin

Green - GND

For chargeable batteries the middle positive pin is used, while AA batteries connected to the one on the side. These pins must be connected according to the configuration.

I also made a small adapter board to accomodate the batteries.