How to change a Snes game-save battery!
#31
CAG Veteran
Posted 01 July 2006 - 04:03 PM
#32
Posted 23 July 2006 - 09:07 PM
Huh... I changed the battery in Lufia but it still won't retain saves. I played through the intro, saved, reset, and my saves were there. After that, I took the cart out, tossed it around, tried playing again and my saves were gone.
Maybe my cartridge is just screwed.
that's because it got detached from the battery after you threw it around

also, sorry for the empty promises for pics and all that. I kinda don't play regular snes any more or have any games...after going through the battery changing process, I decided that it was easier to DL a rom, rather than potentially break a good game.
#33
Perfectionist
Posted 31 July 2006 - 01:07 AM
#34
CAGiversary!
Posted 29 August 2006 - 12:59 AM
#35
Original Transported Man
Posted 22 September 2006 - 09:23 AM
That's pretty high wattage which isn't used for PCB work. For soldering things onto a PCB, I'd try to get at the most 20w, 15 if you can find it.
[quote]4. Plug in your soldering iron, wait for it to heat up(it'll change color when it's done.) Set your razor against it, for a minute or 2. Slide the hot razor between the battery the top connector, push it against the first solder point. You will need to find a safe and comfortable position to push from-- you will need a bit of leverage, but also be careful of your fingers and chips on the game. Be VERY patient-- with enough reheating, pushing, and some cutting, the first point will come loose.
[/quote]
I don't know what this looks like, but if there's room it's possible to use a desoldering braid to wick the solder away. That might make things easier to cut through, or you might not need to cut it at all.
[quote] 6. Either solder the New battery back on if you know how or tape it into place.[/quote]
Be careful if you don't know how to solder, especially with a 45w iron. Batteries aren't meant to be heated, so it could leak maybe even theoretically explode.
[quote]
here's another FAQ about it, but it's not too clear. I think it basically says the same thing(except he is saying to pry the battery off without heating or scraping, which seems a little crazy)-- but he seems to be against the idea of taping it back[/quote]
Taping batteries on isn't a very reliable way of maintaining electrical flow through for a circuit. If one contact point misaligns, there goes your game saves. The fact that you have to tape it so the battery does not lie horizontally can also cause shifting due to gravity.
[quote]just out of curiosity... how long should the GBA batteries last[/quote]
Not all GBA games use battery-based saving (SRAM). However, it's likely to use the same lithium battery technology, so several years at least.
[quote]Anyway: Most GBA titles (at least originals) don't use batteries any more, so it's a non-issue, but I don't know of an easy way to check whether a certain game uses batteries (other than to open it).
[/quote]
Some do, so it is an issue. Since you own the game, you can legally download the ROM. If you use a ROM editing tool, it will tell you the save-type of the game. If it's SRAM it's battery based, Flash or EEPROM you're pretty safe for the next several thousand saves.
[quote]
Flash memory isn't going to last forever either. I lost all my data on Castlevania: Circle of the Moon when I had more the 95% of the game complete. It was a legit copy I bought at Circuity City too. The cart won't save anymore. I really wish GBA games had removable storage like memory cards.[/quote] Memory cards are also flash memory based. Although, you could've backed up the save to another card before it died I suppose.
[quote]
Flash memory is guaranteed for tens of thousands of writes at the very least.
Do you know if this game uses batteries or not?[/quote]
The guarantee is more conservative for game-related memory cards and game cartridges. Usually they say at least 1,000 rewrite cycles, but these are all estimated based on accelerated lab testing. Quality control isn't perfect either, so it's feasible for a cart to fail long before 1,000 saves are done. Additionally, most game-related guarantees are time based first and foremost, and most of these warranties are less than a year. So by the time you get to your first ten thousand writes, the warranty is pretty much dead.
[quote]I hgeard if you play your SNES games once a month or so that the battery retains ebough of a charge to keep/add saves. Any validity to that?[/quote]
It's not true. These types of lithium batteries are not designed to take a charge.
[quote]
Looks like I'm going to lose my FFIII data that has two Economizers.

[quote]
I don't understand how long these batteries last[/quote]
Yeah, they do seem to be inconsistent. I still have NES games that retain saves. The only thing I can think of is temperature. If you live in a temperate climate year round, it's better for battery longevity. Extreme weather (both cold and hot) will affect a battery's performance.
[quote]Huh... I changed the battery in Lufia but it still won't retain saves. I played through the intro, saved, reset, and my saves were there. After that, I took the cart out, tossed it around, tried playing again and my saves were gone.
Maybe my cartridge is just screwed.
[/quote] I think it's likely what Apossum said, the battery became loose.
[quote]Is there any way to back up my saves, like you can with a PS2 mem card? And about How long do SNES batteries last?[/quote] No. And it varies wildly, several years at least, sometimes more than a decade.[quote]
I've never attempted to open up a SNES game, but I have opened up a Legend of Zelda for NES. Rather than taking the battery out, I taped two wires to the battery clip (one on top and one on the bottom). I then taped a battery to the opposite ends of the wires and put the game back together. And now it saves like new. Again, I'm not sure how much free room is in a SNES game as there is in a NES game, but this method would probably avoid loosing data saved on the game and bring life back to it if caught before the battery completely went dead.[/quote] This is a good way to maintain power flow while replacing the battery. However, I don't know if there is a detrimental effect to leaving a dead battery connected. I don't think there is but it's possible.
#36
CAG Veteran
Posted 16 October 2006 - 12:00 AM
That is what I used to unscrew Super Mario All-Stars and Mario World. I replaced the batteries with standard watch batteries (if I remember right). The original batteries did have to be carefully removed as they were sodered in place.
Off topic note:
However, another problem with old SNES games is capacitors going bad. This causes some strange video effects in many games. I don't know how to test capacitors and I wouldn't mess with them unless you know what you are doing. To replace them you have to have the precise voltage and microfarad capacitance.
#37
Grand Pawn Shop Champ!
Posted 29 December 2006 - 10:27 PM
#38
is now a coupon
Posted 31 December 2006 - 08:38 PM
I have a quite extensive collection of Nes and SNES battery based RPGs, and I dont believe I have lost any data yet. I put in a lot of time to getting almost everything in FF3 and lvl 99 everyone so I hope I dont loose all this stuff.
Like it was written in the OP, as soon as the battery dies, or you change the battery, all that stuff is long gone, so it's inevitable, sadly enough. I've got a ton of saved games from when I was a kid and it's sad to think they will all disappear.
I've got a ton of NES / SNES games (mostly RPG's) too and I'm *this* close to selling them now, while the batteries still work, and let some other fool figure out what to do when the battery eventually dies. Once the battery dies, I'm not going through the effort to replace it, and these games will be worth $0 when it does die.
I figure all of this stuff will show up on the Virtual Console anyways.
Like Apossum wrote, this process looks to be a hassle and it's alot easier to wait on the VC or wait for companies to just port the really good games over to the VC, the GBA, something.
This whole battery idea, I guess companies didn't think we'd still be playing NES / SNES this far into the future.
#39
Zune Duck!
Posted 01 January 2007 - 12:52 AM
#40
Posted 01 January 2007 - 08:23 AM
#41
Cheap Ass Super-Ninja
Posted 01 January 2007 - 08:39 AM
#42
Zune Duck!
Posted 01 January 2007 - 08:56 AM
they can flash base and not a battery. PSOne memory card will only die after a certain number of use, and that should be a very high number. Also you can easily back them up.Is the same thing going to happen to PS1 memory cards? Will those just dissapear too? I have some genesis games I might have to check on, I don't even remember if those saved or if you wrote down passwords, LOL.
#43
Sumerland holds me
Posted 19 February 2007 - 03:46 AM
I tried desoldering, but the contacts are under the clip. Not easy to do. After about 10 minutes of that I ended up just prying out the old battery.
OK, no biggie right, just solder in the new one. OK, not so easy. you cannot heat up the battery too much so you have to get it right the first or second time.
Ended up working, but it was not fun.
As for taping the battery in there. Yeah, right. If you have an old cart you dont care about, go for it, but for the rest of you just forget that idea all together. It will rarely work.
After this, there is NO WAY I am going to open up Megaman 7, Chrono Trigger, or Ninja Gaiden Trilogy.
#44
CAG Veteran
Posted 22 April 2007 - 02:25 PM
As long as you unsolder the battery terminals from the board first there is zero chance of damaging your cartridge as long as you dont drop blobs of solder all over it but and i cant stress this enough make sure you take note of the battery polarity.
I can give pics or maybe even a short vid to show the process if anyone would like

#45
CAG Veteran
Posted 13 May 2007 - 02:30 AM



#46
CAG Veteran
Posted 30 July 2007 - 09:53 PM
#47
Drug-Dealer-Keeper-Awayer
Posted 30 July 2007 - 09:57 PM
#48
Engineer of the Software
Posted 30 July 2007 - 10:00 PM
Flash memory isn't going to last forever either. I lost all my data on Castlevania: Circle of the Moon when I had more the 95% of the game complete. It was a legit copy I bought at Circuity City too. The cart won't save anymore. I really wish GBA games had removable storage like memory cards.
Circle of the Moon was a launch title if I remember correctly. GBA games didn't rid themselves of batteries for a while after launch so that is 99% likely to have a battery which is most likely dead if it was heavily used.
#49
CAG Veteran
Posted 30 July 2007 - 10:52 PM
#50
CAG Veteran
Posted 10 August 2007 - 03:07 AM
ok, so im an IT manager, and one of my assignments is to replace about 20-30 of these f-in little batteries in desktop computers every few years. apparently computers piss through them quicker. my idea here, is that the comp motherboards have a small black socket on them, that hold a cr2032 battery in place. im wondering if its possible to replace the cart battery with one of these sockets, then pop a new cr2032 battery in it, and then when it dies in another 15-20 years, its not a painstaking ordeal to switch it out. i say this because i put together collections of NES, SNES, and N64 systems and games, and for the nes and snes this would be a lifesaver not to have to jherry rig this up every time. anyone have experience with this technique?
#51
CAGiversary!
Posted 27 June 2008 - 02:04 PM
http://www.jjgames.c...ce-snes-battery
I had to do it with my Earthbound game. The secret is buying the CR-2032 1F2 battery. It works in NES, SNES, and Gameboy Color games with almost no modification.
#52
Sipping hot tea like a sir with my pinky out!
Posted 16 August 2008 - 12:45 AM
What about other games on Genesis, N64, NES, and Gameboy...would i run into this problem with these too?
#53
CheapassSinceGradeSchool
Posted 16 August 2008 - 01:37 AM
they can flash base and not a battery. PSOne memory card will only die after a certain number of use, and that should be a very high number. Also you can easily back them up.
One question about that. Once they run out of write cycles, does the card's data just fuse? Still usable, but you cannot write to it ever again? That it he impression I have of flash memory, one day you just can't write to it any more. But the data still is available.
Which would be awesome, cuz you could then just copy the data of the fused card to another card with write cycles left.
(BTW, wonderful thread in general, thanks OP)
#54
Sipping hot tea like a sir with my pinky out!
Posted 17 August 2008 - 05:25 PM
I was just looking into buying a Genesis, N64, and games for my SNES. But i dont want to waste my money if they will be useless. So is there a list of games that save and dont need to save somewhere?
#55
i'll buy that for a dolla
Posted 24 April 2009 - 10:45 AM
Damn does this mean most SNES games are useless because you wont be able to save games?
What about other games on Genesis, N64, NES, and Gameboy...would i run into this problem with these too?
MOST of the nes games you type out a long ass password like kid icarus or faxanadu. Some of them like zelda, final fantasy and dragon warriors have the battery.
i havent had to replace any of these but of course its been years since i fired up ff3.
some games like zelda 1 i remember beating in one sitting, so i dont mind doing that again. Maybe its just worth it to keep a gamecube and find the zealda collectors edition?
i dont want to mess with this, i guess i could pay someone who was better equiped than me to do this, i wont risk it because I know i might do it good for the first few times, then when i want to switch up the ff3 i will just

#56
CAG Veteran
Posted 23 November 2009 - 08:13 AM
#57
Zune Duck!
Posted 23 November 2009 - 08:23 AM
One question about that. Once they run out of write cycles, does the card's data just fuse? Still usable, but you cannot write to it ever again? That it he impression I have of flash memory, one day you just can't write to it any more. But the data still is available.
Which would be awesome, cuz you could then just copy the data of the fused card to another card with write cycles left.
(BTW, wonderful thread in general, thanks OP)
OK late reply but once it die, the data is lost.
#58
CAGiversary!
Posted 23 April 2011 - 07:39 AM
#59
Laser Orchestra Empress
Posted 29 January 2012 - 12:17 PM
#60
CAG Veteran
Posted 25 May 2013 - 09:04 PM
nice write up ...