replacing the battery in old genesis carts

[Shinshiro]

i recently won Shining Force 1, 2 and Phantasy Star 4 off ebay and found that none of them holds any saved games after turning off the system power (this didnt surprise me, i was expecting this to happen cuz of the age of all genesis carts) so:

1 - is there a way to replace the cart batteries?

2 - do i need a special gamebit screwdriver to open the carts (i saw one on ebay for $20 US, i hope there are places cheaper then that)??

3 - do the right batteries even exsist anymore???

4 - if so where could i find a bunch of these batteries for sale (hopefully not extremely expensive either)????

5 - is there a site with instructions on how to replace the battery or is it straight forward stuff with nothing complicated about it?????

 

[megametalgreymon]

you can get new gamebits from liksang

they are around $14 iirc

ive not opened up a cart to look, but id imagine any battery with the same voltage would work fine, although youd have to find some way of mounting it in there

i cant look either , since i lost my gamebit a while ago 🙁

 

[Ratamahatta]

the battery may be the cr 2032, but it is like soldered in place.

 

[IceDigger]

most games use a CR2032 with solder tabs. easy to replace.

 

[Mike G]

If you want the CR2032 batteries with solder tabs, you can get them from http://www.digikey.com I think - or you can just solder in a battery holder and use normal CR2032s, available from just about anywhere.

It's possible to improvise a Game Bit screwdriver; have a look at my SMSReader tutorial at http://www.smspower.org/smsreader/cartridge.html - it's not perfect I'll admit, but it does the job.

Mike

(Edited by Mike G at 2:22 pm on Feb. 4, 2002)

 

[IceDigger]

also, on genny carts the screws are very close to the surface, so it's rather easy to get them out with small pliers or even scissors. I recommend replacing them with normal ones afterwards, tho.

 

[Shinshiro]

are these the battery holders your talking about?

http://www.digikey.com/scripts/us/dksus.dll?Criteria?Ref=33358&Cat=22282660

would the carts need the horizontal or verticle ones?

 

[Mike G]

I can't see the page you're referring to ("your dataset has expired" it tells me), but you do need a horizontal mounted battery or battery holder.

Mike

 

[IUG]

Man, I hope this never happens to me. I still have Shining Force II with a working battery. After all these years, I can still see Shade use the Gismere blade to slice up the Prism Flowers 😀. Come to think of it, all of my batteries still work. I've checked Beyond Oasis, my SegaCD's battery, Saturn, all working.

 

[Shinshiro]

yeah its strange for me too cuz i read somewhere that these batteries are supposed to last up to 5 or so years, but i have a Pirates Gold cart, man i was smart to buy that back in the day 🙂 and the battery still works over 7 years after i bought the game (i bought it a few months after it came out)!

strange aint it

 

[Ratamahatta]

Pirates Gold is an amazing game and quite the rarity as well.

 

[Mike G]

5 years is really a *minimum* lifespan for a cart battery - I have a SMS Miracle Warriors cart that's 13 years old and the battery is still fine 🙂

Mike

 

[Shinshiro]

wow those are some good batteries, i wish my watch battery could last that long 🙁

now all i need to do is find a cheap gamebit somewhere to crack open my genesis carts (and $15 US isnt cheap, cuz i live in Canada)

 

[IceDigger]

use small pliers or even a small screwdriver to push against the screw heads till they move.