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replacing the battery in old genesis carts

Shinshiro - Feb 3, 2002

		Shinshiro		Feb 3, 2002
			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		Feb 3, 2002
			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		Feb 3, 2002
			the battery may be the cr 2032, but it is like soldered in place.

		IceDigger		Feb 3, 2002
			most games use a CR2032 with solder tabs. easy to replace.

		Mike G		Feb 4, 2002
			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		Feb 4, 2002
			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		Feb 4, 2002
			are these the battery holders your talking about? http://www.digikey.com/scripts/us/dksus.dll?Criter... would the carts need the horizontal or verticle ones?

		Mike G		Feb 5, 2002
			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		Feb 21, 2002
			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		Feb 21, 2002
			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		Feb 21, 2002
			Pirates Gold is an amazing game and quite the rarity as well.

		Mike G		Feb 22, 2002
			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		Feb 22, 2002
			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		Feb 23, 2002
			use small pliers or even a small screwdriver to push against the screw heads till they move.