replacing snes save batteries

[calgon]

How much time/money is involved with this? My Final Fantasy II save battery seems to have bit the dust. I was wondering if it's worth my time to replace the battery myself or just buy a new cart.

[eugenek]

It's not expensive, or particularly hard. At any rate, I don't know how much it would help to buy another cart...outside of the obvious expense and difficulty finding a cart that's already had a replacement done, we're at a point in time that all of them are failing.

Edit: To clarify, I meant they're all at risk of failing, not that every single one is failing at the moment.

[j1e]

I've been fortunate enough to not have a battery die on me yet. But when one does, I was definitely going to hit some people up on DP to find out the best way to replace one without a soldering job. I wouldn't buy another one because chances are it will be going out sooner than later due to the age of the game no matter what condition it's in. It seems like I remember someone on gamefaqs.com saying you can take the old one out easily and "tape" a new one in. You might want to google that. Good luck.

[Misto]

Yea, I have an Orge Battle with a dead battery as well. It's probably better to just replace the battery.

That being said, can anyone tell me how to replace it without soldering. I want to double check I'm doing it the right way before I mess up that game.

[izarate]

I really think that, to achieve the best results, you'd have to solder a little bit. Soldering the battery directly to the tabs is pretty hard so I usually do this instead:





For SNES carts I have to cut the battery holder legs and grind the bottom a little to make it smaller.

[j1e]

Hmm. Probably some shit I wouldn't want to even attempt. I believe the guy on here and runs gamereproductions.com will do it for a charge. Necrosaurus i believe is his name.

edit: Naw, I was thinking of the dude on nesreproductions.com although I can't vouch for him on this service. On his homepage under his services, it reads:

Replace batteries in different carts (NES, SNES, Genesis)

[jb143]

It's probally one of the easier repairs you can do. The sodlering isn't too hard. There's actually quite a few threads in the Technical and Restoration Society giving directions and tips for doing it.

[aclbandit]

I've been meaning to get around to grabbing a few battery clips to solder in so the job is a simple one for the next time, but I've never gotten around to that, so...

...anyway. The easiest way? Get the old battery out (carefully, with a tiny craft knife or something), then simply slide a new battery in and use some black tape to hold it down. Don't break the battery tabs, though, or you'll have to solder anyway.

Tape'll do it, though.

[c0ldb33r]

IIRC, there's already a good thread in the tech and restoration forum about this. I'd search that.

[jb143]

...anyway. The easiest way? Get the old battery out (carefully, with a tiny craft knife or something), then simply slide a new battery in and use some black tape to hold it down. Don't break the battery tabs, though, or you'll have to solder anyway.

Tape'll do it, though.

I woudn't trust tape. It's sticky wears out and one wrong bump and your saves are gone.

[Draven]

I've heard of people using glue. Personally, I would try to solder it. What do you have to lose? If your game is pretty much worthless without battery backup (unless its rare and someone else can fix it for you) I'd take the chance and attempt it myself. I'd check with the tech/resto section for a walkthrough, as suggested.

[aaron7]

Carve out the back and put a twin AA holder in there. It'll looks snazzy

But yah, I've never had luck replacing the battery itself... even bought a cold weld tool thing (as you can't solder to batteries) and I couldn't get it to work.

Ended up desoldering a button battery holder off an old motherboard and doing what's in the pix above.

[Aussie2B]

I know it's intimidating at first and I hummed and hawed over it for quite some time trying to gather enough information to form a plan of attack, but having one replacement under my belt (no need for any more just yet) and having played through said game entirely with the new battery, I realize that it really was quite easy despite my trepidation through the process and I highly recommend it. If anything, think of about the game. I like to think we all care about the preservation of gaming's past, so why throw out a game that's perfectly working with a little TLC that you or someone else can enjoy? If you drop it in the trash, that's one less copy that anyone will have access to in the future.

Anyway, from all the information I gathered, I recommend the following tools: a 3.5mm bit to open the game (careful, there are a lot of poorly-made bits out there), CR2032 batteries (obviously), coin cell holders with mounts (search the technical forum for links to the proper size), and a soldering kit. You really don't want to solder directly onto batteries, so that's what the holders are for and if you ever need to replace the battery again they'll make your life much easier. The old battery is in there tight as hell, but you can simply heat the solder at where the mounts meet the board and wriggle them out. Then you'll have a nice clean board. I took the holder and situated it on the board, and I believe I ended up cutting one mount because I couldn't get it through the hole. Solder it down to the board just so you know it's secure and each mount is connected so it can pass the signal. Slide your battery in and voila. Depending on your holder, it might be a real tight squeeze. After closing it up, there's some pressure on my cart, but not so much that I'm worried about it (it's a cheap game, though). The next time I have to do it, I'm going to just keep the battery off the board, with some wires leading to it like in izarate's pictures. Feel free to skip my first experiment and do it that way if you wish. Hope my experience is helpful to you!