Dead GBC Battery?

[Porksta]

I sold Pokemon Gold a while back, and the guy I mailed it to said the battery doesn't work. Before I mailed it out I played for a few minutes then saved it. I then turned the GB on and loaded the game. Deeming it working I mailed it off. Now I am told that after leaving the GB off for a while after saving the file is deleted. Is this a dead battery or a cart error?

[izarate]

The battery is barely alive. Pokemon Gold uses a RTC so that drains the battery faster.

[jb143]

I know my Mario Land 2 will save games for a few minutes but powered off any longer than that and the saves will vanish.

[BetaWolf47]

Yeah, for future reference, you should test to make sure the save lasts longer than 30 minutes with the system turned off. I had a Pokemon Gold like that too once.

[Aussie2B]

Yeah, a battery will retain a charge for a short while from when the system was on, but it'll dissipate within an hour or so tops.

[alec006]

The battery is also very easy to replace,and can be replaced with a longer lasting CR-2032.

http://www.serebiiforums.com/showthread.php?p=7536459

All my Gold,Silver and Crystal games now have fresh CR-2032's in them with pieces of electrical tape holding the connector points, you don't have to solder them back at all,cause well, the battery will last only oh,5 to 7 years if your lucky and the next time you want to change the battery,it will be much easier.

[BetaWolf47]

Does anyone have tips for soldering the battery in by the way? I have a copy of Pokemon Sapphire with a dead "berry battery." Me and my dad tried soldering in a new one, but the solder wouldn't stick to it. Should I try a different kind of solder than ordinary lead solder?

[izarate]

It's possible to solder batteries but with run of the mill soldering irons there's also the danger of bursting the battery. Batteries with tabs are soldered with industrial equipment.

You're better of buying batteries with tabs although for some reason they are very hard to find... well not really but most places that stock them usually sell them in bulk.

[jb143]

All my Gold,Silver and Crystal games now have fresh CR-2032's in them with pieces of electrical tape holding the connector points, you don't have to solder them back at all,cause well, the battery will last only oh,5 to 7 years if your lucky and the next time you want to change the battery,it will be much easier.

You have more faith in electrical tape than I do then. I hope you never drop or bump it.


Does anyone have tips for soldering the battery in by the way? I have a copy of Pokemon Sapphire with a dead "berry battery." Me and my dad tried soldering in a new one, but the solder wouldn't stick to it. Should I try a different kind of solder than ordinary lead solder?

You're trying to heat up a big hunk of metal (the battery) and that takes time/power. What wattage is your iron? You may need higher power. You might also need to hold it on the battery longer. The battery has to get to the temperature to melt solder, then it will stick. If you're just melting the solder with the iron and trying to stick it to the battery you will get a cold solder joint at best. Don't overheat the battery though. As soon as it will take the solder, make your connection and be done with it. Good solder joints take practice, so you might want to find something similar to try a few times with first.

[BetaWolf47]

Oh, the battery needs to be hot? That's going to be... tricky. I forgot to mention this funny story...

When me and my dad were trying to solder, we actually got it to work. By holding the iron to the clip over the battery for a long moment, we took the iron off and it stayed. I celebrated. "Yes! It worked!" Then, POP! The battery blew, dismantling itself from the solder in the process. It sounded like a little firecracker! BAM! "Fffffuuuuu...!!!"

[alec006]

You have more faith in electrical tape than I do then. I hope you never drop or bump it.

Duct tape works as well,but I guess the electrical tape I have must be the good kind,cause I have dropped the games a few times and the battery didn't come loose. Even if it did,I backed up all my games on the Pelican Monster Brain =3

[Aussie2B]

the battery will last only oh,5 to 7 years if your lucky

Then how do you explain the fact that the vast majority of batteries inside NES carts still work (ditto for all games with batteries that came later)?

The rumors of the early death of game batteries are greatly exaggerated.

[izarate]

Then how do you explain the fact that the vast majority of batteries inside NES carts still work (ditto for all games with batteries that came later)?

He was referring to Pokemon Gold. 5-7 years on a CR2032 seems accurate.

[jb143]

But if you replace that battery with a better one then it only makes sense to do the job right. Tape can work great for a quick fix to connect 2 speaker wires and such, but to trust it to hold a battery down isn't the best solution. Old electrical tape gets nasty. Old duct tape gets brittle. Old solder pretty much stays the same.

Of course, if you don't have access to the equipment or know how to solder... or know anyone who does... then taping it may be an acceptable quick fix, just not the best one. It is just a save game after all, not a pacemaker.

[Aussie2B]

He was referring to Pokemon Gold. 5-7 years on a CR2032 seems accurate.

NES games use CR2032 batteries as well. I'd also venture to guess that the vast majority of Pokemon Gold batteries still work as well. The Pokemon games in general do seem to have a higher rate of death that the average cart, though, but that can easily be pinned on the fact that they're played so dang much that the batteries wear out.

[izarate]

NES games use CR2032 batteries as well. I'd also venture to guess that the vast majority of Pokemon Gold batteries still work as well. The Pokemon games in general do seem to have a higher rate of death that the average cart, though, but that can easily be pinned on the fact that they're played so dang much that the batteries wear out.

No, it's not because they are played more. It's because some of them (Pokemons) use an RTC (real time clock) which takes power from the battery to run. Pokemon Gold has an RTC and it's not uncommon for the CR1616 that they're shipped with to be dead in a few years, specially if the battery wasn't manufactured properly. That's why 5-7 years of life for a CR2032 battery in a Pokemon Gold cart sounds reasonable.

Pokemon Sapphire/Emerald use FeRAM to save but it still uses a battery to run the RTC. The DS Pokemons won't have any issue because the RTC is in the console.

[Aussie2B]

I was speaking about Pokemon games in general. Even Red/Blue seem to have a higher rate of dead batteries.

[jb143]

Playing the games more often should actually take some of the work off of the save battery. In theory anyways. Either way, it shouldn't run them down more unless the gameboy itself was leaching power from the battery. I'd imagine it would work the other way around though.

[izarate]

I was speaking about Pokemon games in general. Even Red/Blue seem to have a higher rate of dead batteries.

CR1616s usually have around 40mAh (varies from maker to maker) while CR2032s have around 220mAh. Is expected for CR1616s to last less.


Anyway, everyone is talking about Pokemon Gold but then NES games are brought up as some sort of counterpoint even though they aren't really comparable:



the battery will last only oh,5 to 7 years if your lucky

Then how do you explain the fact that the vast majority of batteries inside NES carts still work (ditto for all games with batteries that came later)?

The rumors of the early death of game batteries are greatly exaggerated.

NES games use a CR2032 which has way more charge than a CR1616 plus the battery isn't constantly drained by an RTC. It's no wonder that they last longer.







Playing the games more often should actually take some of the work off of the save battery. In theory anyways. Either way, it shouldn't run them down more unless the gameboy itself was leaching power from the battery. I'd imagine it would work the other way around though.

Indeed. The cart's battery is only drained when the system is off. If anything playing them more would make the batteries last longer.

[izarate]

Duct tape works as well,but I guess the electrical tape I have must be the good kind,cause I have dropped the games a few times and the battery didn't come loose. Even if it did,I backed up all my games on the Pelican Monster Brain =3

I wouldn't worry a lot either. It's not like the 2032s would have a lot of space to move in there, specially after two or three layers of electrical tape. I have a few GB/GBC games in the same situation.

[alec006]

I was speaking about Pokemon games in general. Even Red/Blue seem to have a higher rate of dead batteries.

Really,my Red & Blue still work and save perfectly and I've had them ever since they came out. Granted I don't play them all the time like I used to but every time I turn them on the save file is still there. Now my Yellow version in recent years has gone in and out, but that's only because I used the Gameshark a few times with it,and from what I heard, the Gameshark drains the batteries substantially. Now I have opened up both my Red and Blue versions and according to the date on the batteries,they should last till 2012, how ironic :P

[Aussie2B]

Anyway, everyone is talking about Pokemon Gold but then NES games are brought up as some sort of counterpoint even though they aren't really comparable

I brought up NES games because I (possibly incorrectly) interpreted the 5-7 years quote as being about the life span of batteries in games in general. I'm accustomed to reading comments like that online, where people who don't know what they're talking about claim that game batteries in general only last 5/10/15/"insert small number here" years when obviously history has proven otherwise. I get kind of weary having to sublate the fear mongering. I've seen people even refuse to buy games as recent as GBA because they're convinced that every cart will have a dead battery or is like a ticking time bomb ready to crap out at any moment.

I can understand that certain games may be prone to having their batteries die sooner than others, but even in Pokemon Gold's case, the majority of copies still have working batteries.