SNES game battery replacement q's

matt167

[H]ard|Gawd
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I know people do these all the time, but I have yet to do one, and I have several to do.

Donky Kong Country 2, I have owned since new and the battery still works. My saves from 20-25 years ago are still on it, so I want to try to jumper the power to a couple AA batteries while I replace the battery.

Then I have others that I don't care too much about the saves, if they are still working, but most don't anyway.

I just got a new 937D soldering station, some thin 60/40 leadded Rosin core solder, a desoldering pump, some desoldering wick and a helping hands for another project ( Arduino powered thermostat interface ).


What temp should I run the iron at? I'm used to $5 30w self regulating irons, or 100w Weller guns. And once I find a jumper pad that has voltage across it for saving the save games, couldn't I just hot glue some temp jumpers down?
 
I've done a few of these. There was only one time that I had to keep the save data intact and what I did was trace the pads to alternate solder-able points and temporarily solder jumper wires to them.
If you really care about the data then using hot glue or tape is not the way to go.
As far as temperature, around 350C is usually good depending on the solder. As long as you keep it above the solder melting point the thermal mass of the iron and the wattage is more important.
Depending on the PCB layout the ground side of the battery may have some decent thermal mass that may take a bit more time and/or temperature to warm up.
Make sure to document (photograph even) the polarity of the battery before you remove it just in case.
 
If you can afford it, get a flux pen and some 63/37 solder. They will make your job a lot easier
 
I actually realized the solder that I have is 63/37 and I'll add a flux pen to my order when I get the batteries.

I'm going to get one of the flash carts from 1upretro that also acts as a rom dumper, and I'll also dump the rom of Donkey Kong, so that I can for sure keep those saves. I really should have a flash cart anyway
 
So clean the area with isopropyl alcohol, then use the flux pen, then the wick, and wick up as much solder as possible.

Using the soldering iron and a pair of needle nose pliers (CAREFULLY) you should be able to pull the existing stuff off.

Clean again, flux, then solder new stuff, clean again afterwards with iso.

If it gives you trouble, add some new solder then get the old stuff off.

Depending on your soldering iron tip, higher temperatures will work better for desoldering so 375-390, but obviously don't leave the tip on there for very long or you will lift tracks.

The solder wick (width and quality), type and amount of solder originally used, size/shape of the tip of the soldering iron, and the size/shape of the pads will all affect the temperature.

It's about thermal mass, the size/density of the materials that need to be heated
 
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I ordered the UFO Pro 8 from 1upretro, and from another review on it, it can copy off save games onto an SD card, and then write them back, along with dumping roms and playing roms downloaded onto an SD card

Would the solder pump work better? I'll start with Sim City, as it's about a $4 game

I have 5 different tips with the soldering station
 
Some people like solder pumps but I have never really had much success with them. Wick always works for me
 
Solder pumps work best for clearing the solder out of the through holes and wick is better at clearing pads.
 
I bought the solder pump and 2 coils of wick as a kit for like $8. Going to try the wick first
 
I bought the solder pump and 2 coils of wick as a kit for like $8. Going to try the wick first

Make sure you use a little extra flux, it helps, just clean it off afterwards

You can never have too much flux when doing rework - so long as you clean
 
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Successfully did Super Mario World.. And the UFO pro 8 works dandy. The flash card needs to be Fat32, so 16gb or less but it works good. Only thing that sucks now, is the SPES system I got has broken likely in the cartridge connector. was getting finicky now it's dead.. I'll go back to the original. I just need to order new Power/ AV cables.
 
Successfully did Super Mario World.. And the UFO pro 8 works dandy. The flash card needs to be Fat32, so 16gb or less but it works good. Only thing that sucks now, is the SPES system I got has broken likely in the cartridge connector. was getting finicky now it's dead.. I'll go back to the original. I just need to order new Power/ AV cables.

The cartridge connector could have fractured solder joints on the back of the board the connector is soldered to - you could reflow these with new solder and see if it works?
 
The cartridge connector could have fractured solder joints on the back of the board the connector is soldered to - you could reflow these with new solder and see if it works?

Most likely. It does not have the metal protector/ slot like a 'real' SNES. You look right into the slot and see the pcb. And it holds the cartridges way too tight and does not have an eject button ( SNES Mini clone ). It was the one complaint that people seemed to have with the console.. Once I get the real console working, I'll investigate that one. Since I have the tools to fix it, I might as well try

I ordered an OEM Nintendo 10v power adapter and the best rated cables I could find for my original SNES. It worked last time I used it but I've never used it with A/V cables. only the RF adapter, which of course was lost in a move as well
 
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