CPS2 battery life and replacement

[Krispearman]

Fair enough ill bear that in mind then Im still interested in looking at replacing a battery though just because its another skill I can have just in case I ever need it.

Ill go have a fiddle around with some flat head screwdrivers to see if i can get into one later because regardless what i do i still need to be able to open the damn thing

[thechop]

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=11520"

[Krispearman]

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=11520

Perfect, ill grab one of them and when its a bit more warm out ill get round to testing the board again and decide whether i should just get it phoenixed or learn to solder again and do the batteries.

Thanks guys

[penrhos]

Batteries are best - then it's 100% original, Phoenix is only one step up from a bootleg IMHO.

[thechop]

Batteries are best - then it's 100% original, Phoenix is only one step up from a bootleg IMHO.

Here here, Phoenix is evil, but understandable(i suppose) if your board dies suddenly on you, they play better with a battery tho

[Krispearman]

Batteries are best - then it's 100% original, Phoenix is only one step up from a bootleg IMHO.

That was my thoughts on it when I started looking into this, it still seems it'll be easier just to replace the battery because if I got it phoenixed i'd have to pull all the roms off and such and having done that before I know how easily they can bend/break.

[thegreathopper]

change the battery it is very simple and will taken just a few minutes.

[George]

Hey bud im frigen hopeless and even i managed to replace a battery on my board, took me like 5 mins

[ReplicaX]

Two simple rules to follow.

- Use Flux
- DO NOT USE A DAMN BATTERY HOLDER. SOLDER IN ONLY

[Artemio]

I agree with the guys above, change the batteries. At first I was scared about static charge, didn't know how long they could survive while I was soldering, etc. All this due to the general respect to the operation, because of fear of killing the game.

I did have experience soldering, but it is really really easy to do. Just get one of those suction desoldering pumps, and a decent soldering iron. You will be done in no time. Just FYI, I Phoenixed a couple of boards as well (ones that I didn't want in their native language, tough decision) and in one case I had to leave it for 8 hours without battery for it to discharge. This si not to say that you should wait that long while changing it, just to relieve the pressure while you change the battery, you have plenty of time to do it calmly. A couple of minutes is the most you can take doing it with all the time on your side and that will be ok.

In any case, you'll keep them as original as possible, and if you really want to Phoenix them later, you will still be able to do so.

[Spectre]

With the greatest respect to the opinions of others, what a load of crap some of you spout. It stops being "original" the second you remove the security seals, who gives a crud whether it runs with a battery or not. Once you've tampered with it, you've tampered with it. It's not the original battery, is it? I don't see that it makes a blind bit of difference on that front. These steps are necessary to keep original arcade hardware running. If you want it truely original and untouched, it's going to be an original and untouched doorstop inside 5 years!

Personally I think if you're going to open the case once, you might as well pop 2-6 roms off the board and have them phoenixed forever. I do understand the preference many people have of a battery swap over phoenix jobs however, whatever floats your boat. But to say once it doesn't run off battery it is in some way not "proper" is, imvho, at best utter nonsense and at worst elitist propaganda.

Still, we're all different innit.

[MrSandman]

Hi all!

I am also about to replace my batteries soon, and no, phoenixing is not an option (yet)
I have a question though that has bugged me for a while and hoped you could help me out.

I have read on CPS2 Shock, that Lithium batteries keep their voltage nearly until the end (link here)

Once the voltage of this battery is below 2v, the stored encryption key will be lost. The condition of this battery is not measurable due to the fact that lithium batteries will hold their voltage almost constant until the end of their life

So how can I figure out if or when i need to replace the batteries or if they really have been replaced "recently" ?
Is a dead board the only sure way to tell that the battery has run out of juice ?

Many thanks.

[thegreathopper]

Hi all!

I am also about to replace my batteries soon, and no, phoenixing is not an option (yet)
I have a question though that has bugged me for a while and hoped you could help me out.

I have read on CPS2 Shock, that Lithium batteries keep their voltage nearly until the end (link here)

Once the voltage of this battery is below 2v, the stored encryption key will be lost. The condition of this battery is not measurable due to the fact that lithium batteries will hold their voltage almost constant until the end of their life

So how can I figure out if or when i need to replace the batteries or if they really have been replaced "recently" ?
Is a dead board the only sure way to tell that the battery has run out of juice ?

Many thanks.

You cannot tell but the battery should last for 5 years easily, The batteries are less than £5 so change yours now and make a note of the date and replace in 2016.

[Rossyra]

I've always changed mine as soon as I got a board, unless the seller has supplied an exact date.

For the sake of £5 its not worth leaving it to chance.

The batteries are supposed to be up to 10 years use. I've had one that was still working after 14. Kernow's SSF2X was something like that too.

5 years would definitely keep you well within safe use

[porchio]

always change my batteries straight away too.
there is a cps2 suicide test program available on cps2sock which will only run if the board has suicided. If it hasnt suicided or the decryption key is corrupt then it will not run.
just burn it to a 27c4096 and replaced the eprom in socket #3

[MrSandman]

Hi!

Thanks for the quick reply and confirmation .

I will change them (this WE), as I have received my batteries today. Its a shame you can't tell cause I wouln't want to mess around with my boards unless I *really* have too.

Well, I had a peek at the date of my "recently" (according to the eBay seller) replaced batteries, and I saw something on it that looked like a date (94-07 is this possible ).
If any of you guys are interested in what sort of batteries i pull out from my beloved boards this WE, I will post fotos of 'em here as soon as they are out.

Thanks!

[Rossyra]

It's the mfr date of the battery. It's most likely the original, so the installation would be around the time of the datestamp on the software itself.

Is it a Maxell battery?

[MrSandman]

Hi Rossyra!

Do you mean "manufacturing" date?

How (where) can I read the datestamp of the software?

The battery lookes similar to this one (link from http://www.pchub.com/uph/photos/item/63 ... _ER3Sz.JPG", 05.01.2011).

I know that if the board was used in arcades (an thus is operated nearly 24/7) that the battery is hardly used, if used at all.

[Rossyra]

Every CPS2 I've seen had a Maxell battery installed originally, like the ones you pictured (but with axial leads of course) so it probably is that old.

The datestamp is on the boot screen under the game title e.g

Street Fighter Alpha 3
980629

(=29 June 1998)

That's the date of the software of course, but it gives some idea

[MrSandman]

Hi all!

I have just swapped the 6 batteries of my CPS2 games and as promised here are the pictures of the batteries (with a date printed upon them) and the software date/time stamps of the games.

The batteries are from the games (top battery to bottom battery): Street Fighter Zero, Street Fighter Zero 2, Street Fighter Zero 3, Vampire Saviour, Xmen Vs. Street Fighter and Marvel Vs. Capcom.

It seems that the MvC board already had it's original batter swapped.

HOWEVER: while trying to remove the battery from my SFZ2 board something (bad, i guess) happened. Iremoved the battery first by cutting the soldering pins; then I used a vaccum-pump/suck-thingy to get rid of the solder liquid around the pins. When trying to remove the pin, I tore the surface of the PCB a little lifting the very thin green layer a bit (this i when i realised that not all of the solder liquid was removed). Anyway, I cleaned up, removing the remaining solder liquid, replaced the battery and soldered it to the PCB

Now my question: How bad is the damage that was done (I guess by tomorrow night I should find out if it killed my board)? Can it be fixed or was this the last battery change this board has ever seen?

Many thanks.